Things are about to get real — OpenAI is poised to take on the fight of its life. And the battle could shape the future of search advertising forever. Also, the surprising price of virtual influencers. Google is planning to reveal your sales data to the public. And how much brand damage have I done to this podcast with the high ad frequency on the …

Everything they've ever bought — imagine using that to target people in your ads. Well, that time has come. Also: Threads plans to reveal your view counts. Pinterest adds a new certification. And the Apple ad that everyone seems to be mad about. 🚨 THIS WEEK ONLY: Get 50% off the Premium Podcast 📰 Get our free daily newsletter 📈 Advertising: Reach T…

Meta's new subscription plans are out and I sure hope you like being disappointed. Shopify's stock plunges after a quarterly loss. Amazon extends an olive branch to sellers. And a soul-destroying look at the Google ad platform's bizarre discrepancies. 🚨 THIS WEEK ONLY: Get 50% off the Premium Podcast 📰 Get our free daily newsletter 📈 Advertising: R…

How curvy is the font you're using in your product ads? It could make a difference. Also, TikTok isn't going down without a fight. How Amazon wants to close the funnel gap. And Google removes one of its oldest features. 🚨 THIS WEEK ONLY: Get 50% off the Premium Podcast 📰 Get our free daily newsletter 📈 Advertising: Reach Thousands of Marketing Deci…

Why Meta no longer lets you pick which product to advertise. YouTube's new AI might be costing your brand viewers. Instagram's new Sticker could flood your inbox. And the new feature on Threads that might be a brand safety tool in disguise. 📰 Get our free daily newsletter 📈 Advertising: Reach Thousands of Marketing Decision-Makers 🌍 Follow us on so…

Is it possible that the perceived gender of the AI voice you choose for your TikTok ads could be one of the most important factors in whether you’ll get a sale? Or, if you market a charity, whether you should use one of those "trembling" voices to evoke empathy? In this special deep-dive episode, Tod speaks with Fotis Efthymiou, co-author of two pa…

Physical stores are closing and it's all your fault. The music is back on TikTok. People are watching less ad-supported content. And the prices of podcast ads continue to drop. 📰 Get our free daily newsletter 📈 Advertising: Reach Thousands of Marketing Decision-Makers 🌍 Follow us on social media or contact us Links to all of today’s stories here GO…

The court case that could dramatically change the Facebook feed as we know it. Why Google is automatically pausing your keywords. Pinterest's user numbers jump, but at what cost? And the game heard around the world — and at LinkedIn. 📰 Get our free daily newsletter 📈 Advertising: Reach Thousands of Marketing Decision-Makers 🌍 Follow us on social me…

The sales boost you could get by telling your customers how to write their reviews. Instagram tweaks its algorithm to favour smaller accounts. Why does Apple hate advertisers so much? And collateral damage: The video app that might go down with the TikTok ship. 📰 Get our free daily newsletter 📈 Advertising: Reach Thousands of Marketing Decision-Mak…

You mocked them at first, but now the results on pause ads are in — and they're kind of amazing. Also: Threads makes a big move. Does the ad business need its own 'nutrition label'? And Google's video ads push beyond YouTube. 📰 Get our free daily newsletter 📈 Advertising: Reach Thousands of Marketing Decision-Makers 🌍 Follow us on social media or c…

Ban or no ban, were TikTok's days as the marketers' darling numbered anyway? The world's largest ad agency may be considering breaking up. And getting your AI to explain its recommendations to consumers might boost your sales. 📰 Get our free daily newsletter 📈 Advertising: Reach Thousands of Marketing Decision-Makers 🌍 Follow us on social media or …

Revenues up but stock price down — what caused the crash of Meta's stock? Just two letters. Also: You're not imagining it: Your Google clicks are costing more. And young TikTok creators say please, for the love of god, don't make us use Instagram! 📰 Get our free daily newsletter 📈 Advertising: Reach Thousands of Marketing Decision-Makers 🌍 Follow u…

They're baaack — third-party cookies: Will they ever die? Stripe makes a big move away from payments. Threads now has more daily users than X. And a review of Meta's spanky new AI: Spoiler alert — it's not great. 📰 Get our free daily newsletter 📈 Advertising: Reach Thousands of Marketing Decision-Makers 🌍 Follow us on social media or contact us Lin…

Now even Reddit comments are filling up with AI spam — and a whole new generation of bots are lined up to take marketers' money. Why your buyers are willing to wait up to five days longer for their purchase. What media buyers are saying about the proposed TikTok sale. And Europe says TikTok's latest promotion is as addictive as cigarettes. 📰 Get ou…

Your ad costs are going up — is it all Temu's fault? TikTok influencers say their peers are going into brand deals too hard. And the hilarious glitch at Microsoft which is sowing confusion among the Mikes. 📰 Get our free daily newsletter 📈 Advertising: Reach Thousands of Marketing Decision-Makers 🌍 Follow us on social media or contact us Links to a…

Fake company, real products — inside the elaborate secret Amazon scheme. Also: How to get your ads beside the most popular Shorts content. Your brand's Facebook group might break on Monday. And X is having another very bad week. 📰 Get our free daily newsletter 📈 Advertising: Reach Thousands of Marketing Decision-Makers 🌍 Follow us on social media o…

Companies are now selling their users' brainwave data to target consumers with ads, and lawmakers are just now catching wind of it. Also: What to expect from ads on Threads. Why ad tech AI is watching episodes of The Office. And a long-time Google ad extension is going away. 📰 Get our free daily newsletter 📈 Advertising: Reach Thousands of Marketin…

It's happening — tappable links might be coming to TikTok videos. LinkedIn's new Premium company pages have a creepy but probably very effective new feature. The digital ad industry didn't suck as much as you think it did last year. And Elon has a plan for ridding X of bots: Give him more money. 📰 Get our free daily newsletter 📈 Advertising: Reach …

What a difference an S makes — why one single letter could change the future of your brand. Also: Amazon runs in where others have bolted out. DMs are coming to Threads, only they're not. The self-fulfilling prophecy of one heavily SEOed article. And the brilliant reason McDonald's latest billboards have nothing on them — literally, not even their …

Tod speaks with Dr. Cat Armstrong Soule who co-authored a marketing research paper about how marketers should use numbers and percentage in marketing copy. The paper is called “Manipulating Consumers with the Truth: Relative-Difference Claims in Advertising and Inferences of Manipulative Intent.” Since Mondays tend to be slow days for actual market…

Your product sales could be on autopilot, after TikTok unveils its latest scheme. Roblox branches into the programmatic market. Amazon's not preferring its own products over yours any more (well, not as much, anyway). And how Wordpress's latest plugin can tell the future. 📰 Get our free daily newsletter 📈 Advertising: Reach Thousands of Marketing D…

CPMs up, morale down: Is Temu behind the recent downturn in Meta ads? LinkedIn's scam solution will cost you. YouTube videos for kids are getting comments back. And why TikTok says videos in two languages will get you better results. 📰 Get our free daily newsletter 📈 Advertising: Reach Thousands of Marketing Decision-Makers 🌍 Follow us on social me…

A new report on the PPC industry is out; we have expert analysis. Google is training its AI on your public Google Docs... Hootsuite buys a major social listening platform. And the guy selling an empty bottle might just be the year's most innovative product marketer. 📰 Get our free daily newsletter 📈 Advertising: Reach Thousands of Marketing Decisio…

Under Pressure: TikTok is about to push out a new app, as Instagram says "Let's Dance." The Modern Love between third-party platforms and APIs. And Life on Mars might seem easier than the Space Oddity we're seeing in Meta's ad auction these days. 📰 Get our free daily newsletter 📈 Advertising: Reach Thousands of Marketing Decision-Makers 🌍 Follow us…

In this special deep-dive episode, Tod speaks with Ioannis Evangelidis, Associate Professor of Marketing at Ramon Llull University in Spain. He recently published a research paper in the Journal of Marketing Science called “Shrinkflation Aversion: When and Why Product Size Decreases Are Seen as More Unfair than Equivalent Price Increases” 📰 Get our…

Understanding Attribution — 7DC, 1DV... which do you use now? Also: What post type on LinkedIn will get you more engagement. Snapchat bolsters its agency program. And the new retail media network with more purchase data than you can imagine. 📰 Get our free daily newsletter 📈 Advertising: Reach Thousands of Marketing Decision-Makers 🌍 Follow us on s…

Google's new ad format might hide your ad behind a scroll — but it's not as bad as you think. Your LinkedIn campaigns can now run on TV. Everything's going vertical on Facebook. And the massive company thinking of buying Hubspot — would be its biggest deal ever. 📰 Get our free daily newsletter 📈 Advertising: Reach Thousands of Marketing Decision-Ma…

We know what will kill TV in the end, and it turns out, you're listening to one. Gmail is blocking some Outlook emails. Walmart keeps chipping away at Amazon's ad business. X suffers a 30% drop in usage. And some new conversion tracking from Microsoft's ad platform. 📰 Get our free daily newsletter 📈 Advertising: Reach Thousands of Marketing Decisio…

AI is writing more marketing copy these days — but how many consumers can tell you cheaped out? Also: LinkedIn tries its hand at a TikTok clone. Amazon abandons one of its most talked about technologies. And Google promises to stop doing what none of us realized it was doing. We're looking for a writer and production assistant! LEARN MORE HERE. 📰 G…

There are a lot of things to consider when you make a product video, or a promotional video for your company. Do we make it look polished? Or go with the amateur look popular on TikTok? Do we focus the viewer’s attention? Or employ the one-cut-every-second technique? Well, add one more to the list: Whether you should show your products being used i…

Copycat tactics — how you can target customers of your competitors and not run afoul of Google's ad policies. LinkedIn now has DMs for Pages. The ad market keeps defying reports of its death. And YouTube gives marketers more control over their channels — why you should steer clear. We're looking for a writer and production assistant! LEARN MORE HER…

It's not a rumour, it's official now: Deleting videos from your brand's YouTube channel can hurt your reach. And now we know why. Also: A study finds half of Google ads are being pushed down by a new content block designed to keep people away from your web site. And Instagram adds a fantastic new engagement feature in the most awkward way possible.…

It's happening again — Meta charging way more than your daily budget allows. But is this a case of Operating as Intended? Also, a deep dive into the three main bid strategies and which you should be using. The myth of the TikTok watch time might be busted. And that anonymous review you left the other day — yeah, it might have your real name on it n…

The Pin Sin: How bad actors are pushing their competitors off Google Maps. Google makes things a little easier for data nerds. Threads makes its first real steps into the Fediverse. And the social media trend of the week could very well be the single laziest content idea the industry has seen yet. 📰 Get our free daily newsletter 📈 Advertising: Reac…

Marketing agencies say trust is disappearing in their client relationships and client CEOs are partially to blame. Also: Some updates for Google media buyers, and why is YouTube letting any random person edit your brand video captions? Trust me. You actually want this. 📰 Get our free daily newsletter 📈 Advertising: Reach Thousands of Marketing Deci…

Under Pressure — Meta might be forced by Europe to slash the price of its Verified subscription plans. When being enthusiastic backfires for influencer marketing. Instagram is testing longer Reels. And the Facebook Poke is back, and Gen-Z are loving it. 📰 Get our free daily newsletter 📈 Advertising: Reach Thousands of Marketing Decision-Makers 🌍 Fo…

As Google battles AI spam in a fight for its relevancy, will TikTok’s pushes in Search topple the King? Also: Is this the end of "being real"? YouTube adds more disclosure requirements. And LinkedIn decides what is business users really want... is to play cheap mobile games. 📰 Get our free daily newsletter 📈 Advertising: Reach Thousands of Marketin…

Reddit's new ad format mimics a popular organic post format. LinkedIn will now let you sponsor almost anyone. Microsoft cleans up its Ads UI. And YouTube finally lets you clean those embarrassing moments from your livestream. 📰 Get our free daily newsletter 📈 Advertising: Reach Thousands of Marketing Decision-Makers 🌍 Follow us on social media or c…

Meta is thinking of beefing up its paid checkmark program — but will it ever be worth it to marketers? Amazon will set your products up in one click. Where the money would go if TikTok disappears from America. And exploiting gap topics on the video apps for fun and profit. 📰 Get our free daily newsletter 📈 Advertising: Reach Thousands of Marketing …

A final answer — perhaps — on the age-old question: How much does user experience matter to your Google ranking? Meta adds some new tricks to its ad campaigns. TikTok now offers more performance data, even from opted-out users, and Instagram is working on a very meme-worthy update. 📰 Get our free daily newsletter 📈 Advertising: Reach Thousands of M…

Is its reign finally over? TikTok starts losing users. Also: The social media posts you might not realize are being broadcast. The skyrocketing growth of out-of-home. And Apple is about to have a big ads year ahead. 📰 Get our free daily newsletter 📈 Advertising: Reach Thousands of Marketing Decision-Makers 🌍 Follow us on social media or contact us …

Millions of dollars still going wasted on the web's worst ad placements. Pinterest's new filter could skyrocket engagement. Why is Google showing your competitors on your ads? And YouTube thumbnail advice from the world's most successful video producer. 📰 Get our free daily newsletter 📈 Advertising: Reach Thousands of Marketing Decision-Makers 🌍 Fo…

Is it a bug or a feature? Meta's AI is hallucinating return policies now. Plus: TikTok's anti-ban campaign appears to have backfired. Why do women make up a majority of marketing roles, but a fraction of visibility in ads? And Google's change to negative country targeting. 📰 Get our free daily newsletter 📈 Advertising: Reach Thousands of Marketing …

Here come the penalties — Google starts bringing down the ban hammer. Why engagement is not your brand's best social friend. PayPal rolls out a new iPhone payment method. And you would not believe how much Temu has spent on Facebook ads. 📰 Get our free daily newsletter 📈 Advertising: Reach Thousands of Marketing Decision-Makers 🌍 Follow us on socia…

Why do Germans hate social media? Will a government threat finally convince Meta to better support hacking victims? YouTube Shorts gets easier to measure. And Facebook abandoned it, but LinkedIn picks it up. 📰 Get our free daily newsletter 📈 Advertising: Reach Thousands of Marketing Decision-Makers 🌍 Follow us on social media or contact us Links to…

Meta's platforms crash in the most terrifying way possible. TikTok engagement is dropping like a rock. Why you're probably pricing your bundles wrong. And is Google's announcement today, finally, mercifully, the end of AI spam in its search engine? 📰 Get our free daily newsletter 📈 Advertising: Reach Thousands of Marketing Decision-Makers 🌍 Follow …

Caught in the crossfire — how good marketers being penalized for the actions of bad actors. Also: Threads finally gets an API. Performance Max rolls out to more Microsoft advertisers. Are p.r. people aiming at the wrong target? And some very welcome updates to Instagram messaging. 📰 Get our free daily newsletter 📈 Advertising: Reach Thousands of Ma…

Does Meta keep logging you out of your account? You're not alone. Also: Wordpress might already be selling your brand's content. The two TikTok trends you might want to consider stealing. Social media engagement continues to decline. And Google's in hot maple-flavoured water. 📰 Get our free daily newsletter 📈 Advertising: Reach Thousands of Marketi…

Google caves under industry pressure and lets marketers more finely control their ad campaigns. Money is flowing back into ad-tech. TikTok pulls even more music off their app. And marketers are worried that AI will take their jobs. 📰 Get our free daily newsletter 📈 Advertising: Reach Thousands of Marketing Decision-Makers 🌍 Follow us on social medi…

Riza Casidy, Associate Professor of Marketing at Macquarie University, is the co-author of a research paper called "Religious Belief, Religious Priming, and Negative Word of Mouth." He joined Tod to walk through his findings. It's going to happen. Someone from your company's going to do something dumb, and that will result in a negative review on F…