What happened in marketing: More AI, EU vs Big Tech and Brand wars: SpongeBob vs Kai Cenat
This Week: We have EU wanting in on algorithms, more AI at Microsoft & Google + McDonald's Kai Cenat rollout vs Wendy's krabby patty. ⚱️
A week full of entertaining updates. Well, it depends. Too much AI is included in this list. But we got Pizza: YT shorts are longer, Krabby Patty is real, Chicken Big Mac is back and more.
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Top 6 Updates of the Week
Youtube expands Shorts to 3 minute limit, new templates and more. (YT)
Microsoft announces new Bing search, Windows 11 and Copilot updates. (read)
Meta introduces new Facebook local tab, messenger communities, AI integrations and more. (NS)
Google announces new updates, introduction of ads in AI overviews and AI-organised search and more. (BG)
Pinterest launches Performance+ suite, a new collection of AI and automation tools. (MH)
EU Commission sends requests for Information on TikTok, Snapchat and TikTok algorithms under DMA. (SG)
Trending 🏂
Microsoft is changing how ads appear in Copilot and announces GenAI tools for advertisers. (TF)
WHO/HBSC report highlights rise in problematic social media use, The proportion of adolescents classified as problematic social media users increased from 7% in 2018 to 11% in 2022. Girls reported higher levels of problematic use than boys (13% vs 9%). (read)
Nike withdraws annual forecast, signals weak holiday season. (SC)
Amazon to increase number of ads on Prime Video in 2025. (FT)
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The WordPress Drama continues:
Executive Director of Wordpress resigns. (SL)
8% of Automattic Employees choose to resign. (SJ)
WP Engine posted their legal complaint against Wordpress.
Matt Mullenweg: ‘Wordpress.org just belongs to me’.
Harvard duo hacks Meta Ray-Bans to dox strangers on sight in seconds. (TR)
Reddit is making site wide protests basically impossible, mods will need to submit a request to make subreddits private. (TV)
OpenAI closes largest VC round of all time, the company announced it raised $6.6B at $157 billion post-money valuation. (BG)
Pinterest rolls out genie tools for product imagery to advertisers. (TC)
Snapchat’s new Footsteps feature tracks your location history. (RT)
Change Who Pays: New Google Ads process for client account transfers. (SL)
Paypal opted users into data sharing without their knowledge. (404)
Wendy’s is celebrating SpongeBob's 25th anniversary with an all-new Krabby Patty burger. (SN)
US Navy is recruiting submariners with a puzzle game on reddit. (AG)
Apple expands Search Ads to Turkey and 20 additional countries. (MC)
Peet’s Coffee takes a bold stand for simplicity in ‘Coffee for Coffee People’. (TD)
Omnicom Media Group and Snapchat partner for creator collaborations. (SO)
UGG and Post Malone visit the not-so-Wild West in a cute ad spot. (BJ)
Pizza Pizza trolls current political landscape in ad campaign ‘Left Wing’. (AF)
The Problem with a crowd of new Online Polls. (NY Times)
Paramount can potentially drop Nielsen TV ratings due to contract dispute. (VN)
LVMH is betting on Gen-Z’s interest in alcohol-free beverages, acquiring 30% stake in French Bloom. (LK)
US Charter cable customers to get free NBC streaming in latest deal. (BG)
Uber Eats Australia’s ‘Get Almost Almost Anything’ campaign starring George Constanza with laughter-tracks. (AF)
Snap employees admit tens of thousands of minors were being abused on the platform. (NR)
Forbes is finally getting what it deserves, a traffic decline on Google search. (ST)
McDonald’s debuts Chicken Big Mac with dupe restaurant, Sphere takeover and Twitch star Kai Cent. (AX)
Snapchat’s Phantom House is returning with new brand partners: State Farm and Hulu. (DF)
Roblox increases their focus on programmatic advertising, the company is hiring for eight advertising roles. (DD)
Kodak launches tool to break new ground in therapy for Dementia Patients. (LB)
Sephora renews global partnership with Selena Gomez for World Mental Health Day. (MP)
Pinterest releases 2024 Halloween Trend Report. (NY)
The rise, stall and fall of Oracle’s ad business. (DD)
Discord launches its second ad format, Video Quests. (DB)
Governor Newsom joins Demi Lovato to sign legislation to protect the financial security of child influencers. (FV)
TikTok 🎶
Bytedance, TikTok’s parent launched a web scraper that’s eating up the world’s online data faster than OpenAI. (FT)
TikTok launches new feature called ‘Flip Stories’, you hold the story to flip and see the hidden content. (NR)
TikTok is showing trending search topics on profile pages, to help creators with video creation. (TM)
TikTok publishes new ‘Holiday for You’ marketing report for businesses. (OK)
1 in 7 internet users purchased or subscribed to something as a result of discovery on TikTok within the last 30 days.
TikTok testing new feeds for Society, Entertainment and Culture topics. (NS)
TikTok announces TikTok Awards in UK and Ireland with presenting partner Sky. (NM)
TikTok partners with InMarket to measure the real-world impact of ad campaigns. (HJ)
TikTok adds the ability to edit captions in different languages. (KR)
Impala comes out against TikTok’s ‘attempt to boycott Merlin’. (NS)
Instagram & Threads 🗂️
Instagram is now showing a section of the second slide to make people swipe. (TR)
Threads users can now see who follows them and likes their content from other fediverse servers. (TR)
Instagram introduces ‘Best Practices’ tab to Professional dashboards. (CS)
Threads users now have up-to 15 minutes to make edits to their posts. (TR)
Instagram encouraging users to watch unwatched stories. (TR)
IG adds ‘Create a Thread’ feature for comments. (LG)
Threads showing ‘account location tag’ on posts in main feed. (ZO)
Meta 😅
Meta introduces new ‘Movie Gen’ AI model to create videos from text prompts. (BG)
Meta launches new monetization program for Facebook creators. (FB)
Meta faces data retention limits on its EU ad business after top court ruling. (TC)
Meta partners with UK Banks to combat scams on their platforms. (TC)
Revolut is against this move from Meta.
Meta will train their AI on any image you ask Ray-Ban Meta AI to analyze. (TH)
Telekom calls out Meta on its recent changes relating to data traffic. (read)
WhatsApp introduces Filters and Background for Video Calls. (PL)
WhatsApp launches new Status feature, likes and private mentions. (RD)
Facebook adds new in-app ad goal ‘Get more visits’. (ON)
A new Ray-Ban Meta update adds reminders and voice messages. (AN)
X (Twitter) 💡
X is adding a profile search button on web. (LS)
Australian court upholds order for Musk's X to pay $418,000 fine over anti-child abuse probe. (RT)
X will soon move the ‘Sort Replies’ button on the iOS app. (AP)
X will soon remove text formatting from main feed. (DL)
Youtube 🕹️
Youtube adding blackout squares over ads to hide the ‘skip’ button. (RT)
Youtube added a new ‘Poll’ sticker for shorts creators. (NT)
Google 🔦
Google launches summary cards in Gmail. (GH)
Google Discover on Android not loading fresh content. (SJ)
Google Search Console performance report filters now stick. (SL)
Google Shopping ads now available in Google Lens Results. (SL)
Google expands structured data support for product certifications. (JD)
Google testing “Search Instead for” section. (ST)
Google expands visual & audio search with new AI tools. (SL)
Google Shopping Interface updated with expandable refinements. (ST)
Google Photos starts rolling out AI-powered ‘Ask Photos'. (GH)
Google is testing verified checkmarks in search. (ST)
Google’s 2 new Chromebooks and new AI features to get more done. (KK)
Agency News
WFA launches new call for agency cost data. (AG)
General Mills adds three new agencies to its roaster. (JN)
Dentsu launches new BX practice to transform clients’ growth. (MP)
Unilever revamps media agency roaster, onboarding Publicis & Denstu. (MW)
Stagwell named global lead for creative campaigns and social content at Adobe. (SG)
MSQ, UK marketing group acquires SPCSHP, New York-based creative agency. (SL)
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts names Havas their AOR. (AT)
Red Bull launches UK media review. (LM)
Publicis Groupe UK launches LeSHOP – its first creative agency specialising in commerce. (PG)
Parkdean picks two agencies following media pitch. (CL)
Adobe awards global scaled creative and content to Dentsu Creative. (LP)
Spectrum puts creative and media accounts in review. (AG)
Hilltop Honey appoints Bountiful Cow as UK Media Agency. (LJ)
iProspect appointed as SME media agency for MYOB. (M3)
Creative network GUT expands into Asia with SG office. (CN)
Chartered Instituite of Marketing appoints Five by Five. (BO)
Tree Hut hired Bakery as first AOR. (AG)
Erich & Kallmann appointed creative agency for Cupcake Vineyards and Franzia Wines. (LJ)
Bargain Chemist appoints Yarn as new creative agency. (LB)
Brands & Ads 🏓
The Best: Levi’s launches global campaign featuring Beyoncé, remixing their classic campaign.
Dr. Squatch launches new 2017-coded ad campaign with Sydney Sweeney as ‘Body Wash Genie’. (MD)
Heinz launches new Halloween ad campaign ‘Heinz Smiles’ referencing Joker movie releases and fans love for the brand. (MB)
Campbell’s Chunky brand campaign celebrates beefy hunks like Jason Kelce. (LM)
Ad collab alert: Tui serves up a jet-lag free holiday with Hello Fresh recipes. (UK)
Shake Shack highlights their quality burger making process in ‘Worth It’ ad campaign. (TF)
Lloyds unveils new brand platform with doting dad spot. (CL)
Ebay scraps selling fees for UK sellers and launches new campaign promoting the changes. (DL)
Roku launches “Less Screaming. More Streaming.” ad campaign. (AW)
Honda nods to F1 icon Ayrton Senna in emotional ‘Unstoppable Dreams’ ad. (MD)
Capital One’s humorous ad campaign ‘No Nasty Surprises’ stars a badger and is voiced by Diane Morgan. (MK)
Meow Wolf opens in Houston with a trippy campaign called ‘Change your Frequency’. (CN)
Pringles and Movember open cafe to encourage men to check in on mates. (CL)
Buffy’s Sarah Michelle Gellar takes the fear out of retinol in Philosophy’s spooky ad. (TD)
Kate McKinnon wants consumers to make the 'Sonicare Switch' in Philips ad campaign. (DR)
Squarespace ‘Change Your World’ ad campaign is filled with FX-heavy visuals and characters. (LB)
Adam DeVine tells tax filers to break up with their tax pros & get cozy with TurboTax. (AW)
Cheez-It makes UK debut with hypnotic £18m marketing push. (LB)
Creepy Clown terrorises park goers in Six Flags' Halloween horror campaign. (LB)
Samsung takes narrative route to Fiji to promote Health and Galaxy AI features. (MA)
Chicago Town invests £4.5m to challenge frozen pizza stereotypes. (LB)
Dr. Rick brought ‘The Burn’ as first brand mascot on The Hot Ones. (AW)
Waitrose unveils new campaign for new premium No.1 range. (MG)
Johnnie Walker and Squid Game come together for an epic collaboration inviting fans to ‘Pick Your Player’. (NS)
M&S Clothing rolls out second phase of ‘Big autumn energy’ campaign for menswear. (MD)
AI 🤨
Character.ai abandons making AI models after $2.7 billion Google deal. (FT)
Sam Altman’s new interview with David Perell: AI won’t replace human writers. (watch)
OpenAI asks investors not to back rival start-ups such as Elon Musk’s xAI. (FT)
Adobe Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements updated with new AI features. (JM)
OpenAI launches new features for developers at Dev Day event: Realtime API, prompt caching in the API and more. (GH)
Amazon’s new AI chatbot will help you find everything but won’t help you find dupes of expensive products. (BN)
Google’s Gemini 1.5 Pro in Gemini Advanced just got a major upgrade. (TG)
Zapier launches new AI and automation features at ZapConnect’24. (YR)
Video editing app Captions launches an AI-powered social media manager for sites. (TC)
Google is testing Gemini-powered video search in India. (KM)
California governor blocks landmark AI safety bill. (KJ)
Twilio announces integration with OpenAI’s realtime API for building conversational AI applications. (YH)
Microsoft & LinkedIn
LinkedIn experimenting with ‘Community Chats’ feature built around shared career journeys. (NH)
Microsoft to make $4.8B AI and cloud investment in Italy. (RT)
Microsoft Copilot integration into WhatsApp isn’t going well. (TPK)
Microsoft to face higher competition scrutiny in Germany, including over its use of AI. (HJ)
Microsoft outlines their plan to fight deepfakes and shares more transparency about AI. (OL)
Marketing & AdTech
Epic Games is suing Google and Samsung, accusing them of illegally conspiring to undermine third-party app stores. (TV)
Madhive selects Samba TV as preferred ACR partner for audience targeting. (SN)
Nectar360 partners with Root to make online ad experience more relevant for Sainsbury’s and Argos customers. (EG)
Tesco cites loyalty card and retail media offerings as the key growth factors behind 10% profit increase. (MB)
Lumen and Qualtrics build new customer insights platform to boost customer service and qualifications. (JK)
Optimizely to acquire NetSpring, launches personalisation. (TN)
Lyft Media expands measurement and targeting capabilities. (MT)
Coldplay ‘Moon Music’ album campaign lands on TikTok and Roblox. (MK)
Dutch advertising board finds against MSC Cruise in greenwashing complaint. (RT)
Social media posts cost DraftKings $200,000. (ST)
Experian introduces Contextually-Indexed audiences. (SR)
Toluna adds Probe tool to grow AI offerings. (MB)
Twitch now counts raids towards Partner status. (HJ)
Amazon adds content scheduling feature for the Amazon Influencer program. (TR)
IAS extends quality attention product to publishers to drive yield and maxmize revenue. (CL)
In UK and Ireland, September box office up by a fifth. (ML)
Zillow introduces First Street's comprehensive climate risk data on for-sale listings across the US. (ND)
Zeta Global unveils connected mobile experience and AI agents. (KM)
MarTech releases & AI
MoveableInk - The AI-native marketing platform launches new adobe integration.
United Robots - An AI news automation for content marketers and PR experts.
Agility - The content management system, focused on web.
Sinequa - A Search-powered AI assistant platform.
Cakemail - The email marketing platform for growing businesses.
Content Opportunities / Ideas of the week
7 October: World Architecture Day / National Bathtub Day / World Habitat Day / National Propane Day / World Day of Bullying Prevention Day / National Frappe Day / International Trigeminal Neuralgia Awareness Day / National Child Health Day.
8 October: World Octopus Day / Own Business Day / Animal Action Day / International Newspaper Carrier Day / International Podiatry Day / International Birth Registration Day / National Pierogi Day.
9 October: Canadian Beer Day / National Emergency Nurses Day / International Top Spinning Day / International Beer and Pizza Day / Curious Events Day / Scrubs Day / World Post Day / Fire Prevention Day / National Curves Day.
10 October: World Sight Day / World Homeless Day / World Gulab Jamun Day / World Day Against the Death Penalty / National Cake Decorating Day / Day of Respect for Cultural Diversity / World Mental Health Day / National Handbag Day / World Porridge Day.
11 October: World Egg Day / Vet Nurse Day / International Day of the Girl Child / National Sausage Pizza Day / National Coming Out Day / Yom Kippur / It’s My Party Day.
12 October: World Arthritis Day / Universal Music Day / National Chess Day / I love Yarn Day / International Astronomy Day / National Day of Spain / Love Your Bookshop Day / National Farmers Day / National Savings Day.
13 October: International Day for Failure / International Skeptics Day / National M&M Day / Disaster Day / National Train Your Brain Day / National Yorkshire Pudding Day / National No Bra Day.
The Pulped; Market Data & Studies of the week
Agencies vs Brands, Some 65% of agencies have reported longer sales pipelines compared with the previous year, and client retention rate has been slipping in the same time frame (82% to 78%). (MB)
Nearly two in three people in the U.S. use Reddit as a search engine at least once a week, and 41% of Reddit users believe it’s a better search engine than Google.
6% of small business owners get more revenue from Reddit than Google. (Adobe)
New report from SponsorUnited, most successful influencers and celebrities when it comes to securing brand deals fall between 25 and 44 years old, with this age range accounting for 58% of total deals across the top 100 celebrities and influencers. (ST)
New report shares when AI overviews show up for health, finance and legal-related queries:
Legal queries triggered AIOs most frequently (77.67%)
Health-related searches followed closely (65.33%)
Financial topics saw moderate AIO presence (41.67%)
Political searches had the lowest AIO rate (16.67%)
Almost all Gen Z adults (88%) report following at least one influencer on social media, and nearly 1 in 4 (22%) report following more than 50. Roughly a third (32%) of the young cohort say they want to see even more influencer content. (report)
UK’s top 75 most valuable brands are now worth an estimated £173 billion, marking an overall decline of 5% on 2023. (MB)
Frequent context switching is another major obstacle, with nearly half (47%) of workers struggling to focus as they juggle competing tasks. (research)
During first 8 months of 2024, Retail Media grew +33% YoY in the same period, contributing to an overall +8% YoY in the US advertising market. Plus, programmatic ecosystem led to +47% growth YoY in the Premium Programmatic market. (Guideline)
44% of Black travelers consider the cultural and racial diversity of a destination as the primary factor in determining its safety, more than any other consideration.
45% of Black travelers are more likely than the general population to prefer urban areas. (Tripadvisor)
The majority of consumers (36%) say that they would need to see a product promoted by a creator or influencer two to three times before considering purchasing; with 23% of Gen Z saying they would need to see a product promoted four to five times. (Mavely)
LG Ad Solution’s study shares brands incorporating a full TV experience – spanning CTV Video, Native ads, and Mobile Video – into their campaigns saw significant improvements in performance. Brand awareness increased by 4.7 times, ad recall surged by 8.7 times, and brand consideration grew by 11.2 times, all while reducing cost per visit by 23%. (read)
88% of industry professionals feel Google’s decision to reverse the phase-out of third-party cookies has caused major confusion in digital advertising. (IAB)
Chief Marketing Officers have a head start on AI training, with 84% upskilling their existing employees and new hires (95%). Plus, 4 out of 5 organizations saying they have prioritized AI literacy for their employee base. (Seismic)
VAB report shares upon TV campaign launch, the average advertiser saw an immediate influx of over 300K website visitors.
Mid-funnel impact was achieved by first-time advertisers at all investment levels—as brands below $500K investment saw a 20% increase in website traffic; brands at $2M-$5M investment saw a 25% increase; and brands at $10M and above saw a 42% increase. (read)
54% of Gen Z men advocate for a more traditional division of labor, where men are the primary breadwinners and women assume domestic responsibilities. In stark contrast, only 28% of women support such roles. (Study)
The Misogyny of Gen Z Men has been overstated. (Opinion)
Triplelift report shares there is an increased trust in big tech, showing more than 2x the average increase in trust since 2021. Plus, 96% of respondents agree that 'The future of programmatic advertising is going to open up new opportunities for success.' (Data)
44% of parents interact daily with their kids at college, up from 37% in 2023, according to polls by ESP, a platform to help colleges boost parent engagement. (read)
50.5% of the patients With Type 2 Diabetes sought treatment from government hospitals, while 28.7% preferred private healthcare. (India-Study)
New global research study On the new F1 Fan Culture and Behaviours.
Over half of new fans said access to races was the biggest pain point. Music is their biggest passion point outside of F1, followed by travel. Interesting and varied race locations is something F1 excels at, appreciated by nearly 50% of new fans. (read)
UK companies that currently offshore content production:
28% have been offshoring creative production for over five years, with 48% starting in the past three years.
50% are saving 40% or more across all services.
48% have their offshore hub/partner in India, making it the top choice for the 5th consecutive year. (more)
VML research shows that quick-turn influencer campaigns have greater engagement, and cost around 25% less per post than one-off campaigns, on both Instagram and TikTok. (read)
US job market shows improvement with addition of 254,000 jobs added in September. (FC)
86.35% of Indian consumers are planning to purchase apparel and accessories during Diwali, followed by personal gifts (72.84%), home décor (70.83%), electronics (60.92%), and jewellery (48.13%). (report)
55% of consumers report that they have decided not to buy from retailers or ecommerce stores due to the restrictions of their return policies. (WER)
Almost three-quarters of U.S. consumers used payment accounts such as PayPal, Venmo and Cash App in 2023, according to the Atlanta Federal Reserve — up from 68 percent in 2022. (WaPo)
49% of all U.S. voters consider a pro-crypto stance important, “with voters 13 points more likely to cross party lines for favorable policies.” (SDX)
56% consumers would rather deal with common life annoyances — like sitting in traffic (10%), living with their parents again (19%), or attending a concert of an artist they don’t like (24%) — than go through the complexity of insurance enrollment. (report)
71% CPG Leaders said they adopted AI in at least one business function of their organizations (up from 42 percent in 2023), while 56 percent said they were regularly using gen AI. (more)
A third of Brits (33.4%) feel pressured to reach life milestones, rising to 54.5% among Gen Z. (SF)
3 in 5 Americans (60%), including 50% of Gen Z (ages 18-27), believe personal finance is one of the most useful subjects in adulthood that can be taught in high school. A quarter (25%) of Gen Z feel a lack of personal finance skills has prevented them from achieving financial goals over the past 12 months. (MS)
Consumers reject AI in emails: ‘79% would consider switching to a competitor brand’. (PMS)
65% and 69% Gen Z and Millennial business owners, respectively, have used AI in their business, compared to 44 percent of Baby Boomers and 48 percent of Gen X owners. (Inc)
Did I miss your take on Strava’s new (and hated) AI feature?
OpenAI BLEEDS SO MUCH MONEY and they're still so far away from being profitable.