What we are thinking about.
Notes from running 8 publications and building tools for them. Restaurant SEO, local marketing, the boring parts that move the needle.
Retail’s Viral Mirage: Why Chasing Gen Z FOMO Is Making Brands Dumber (and Poorer)
Stop blaming 'unpredictable consumers.' The real problem is lazy retail strategy and a tech stack built on buzzwords. Build something worth caring about—or get
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Yoast 25.0 Is Bloatware Poison: News Publishers, Rip It Out by August
Yoast 25.0 hit WordPress sites in June 2024 with 500k+ installs, but news publishers are losing speed and search slots fast. Plugin bloat has a body count.
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LePub Milan Snags Cannes Lions Agency of the Year—But Don’t Call It Innovation
LePub Milan bagged Cannes Lions Agency of the Year for Heineken’s docu-ad. Don’t confuse it with innovation: it’s just agency groupthink in a new
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Ogilvy Snags Cannes Lions Network of the Year—But Let’s Not Pretend This Is About Creative Bravery
Ogilvy just bagged Network of the Year at Cannes Lions 2026, but don’t mistake this for creative revolution. It’s holding-company
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Stop Pretending Your Brand Campaign is a ‘Cultural Moment’: Here’s Why You’re Not Nike (and Never Will Be)
Brands can’t manufacture cultural moments—no matter how many Adobe panels or LinkedIn thinkpieces suggest otherwise. Quit the agency
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Cannes Lions 2026 Day 4: The Champagne’s Flat, the Selfies Are Not
Day 4 at Cannes Lions 2026 is all empty hype and Instagram hustle. The real creatives left; the rest are milking the last drop of
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Paramount’s ‘Dynamic’ Ad Gambit: New Tech, Same Old Streaming Snake Oil
Paramount and Omnicom Media are hyping 'dynamic' ad units for streaming premieres, but it’s lipstick on a laggard tech stack. Don’t buy the
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CBS Mornings Finally Wakes Up, But NBC’s Today Still Eats Their Breakfast
CBS Mornings is talking up some minor ratings growth, but NBC’s Today is still the only morning show that matters—21 weeks strong and
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Heineken’s Cannes Sweep: Another Year, Another Trophy Case for the Industry’s Favorite Safe Bet
Heineken just grabbed another Grand Prix at Cannes Lions 2026, but let’s stop pretending this is creative leadership. It’s safe, shiny, forgettable—and the
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Uber Eats Wins Cannes Lions, Proving Data-Driven Marketing Isn’t Dead—It’s Just Weaponized by the Big Boys
Uber Eats took home a Cannes Lions Grand Prix by flexing data muscle, not just clever ads—reminding everyone that in 2026, creative wins are powered by
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QR Codes Are Dead—Computer Vision Is Eating Their Lunch, and Your Brand Isn’t Ready
QR codes are over. Computer vision AI is finally letting brands kill the clunky, ugly squares and connect with consumers in the real world—no more
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Brand Safety Theater: GM, Trade Desk, and the Myth of 'Safe' News Inventory
ADWEEK House was all smiles for 'safe' news advertising, but don’t believe the hype—brand safety is still a dodge, not a fix. The real opportunity lies where
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Instacart’s Co-Creation Gimmick: Mascot-Crammed Ads Won’t Save You From Digital Irrelevance
Instacart’s latest mascot-stuffed ad push is a desperate play for relevance, not innovation. Co-creation won’t fix their real product
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Hightouch’s $2.75B Valuation: Real Metrics, Zero Deck-Fluff, and a Middle Finger to the VC Slide Circus
Hightouch torched the deck-driven funding dance and raised $322 million the old-fashioned way: by delivering real metrics and customer traction that made VCs
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ESPN’s ‘Interactive Fan Hub’ Is Just QR Spam—But You’ll Eat It Up Anyway
ESPN’s new 'interactive fan hub' launching in August is just QR code spam dressed up as engagement. It’s not about fans—it’s about data and
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Marketing Academy Foundation Slaps on New Paint, Swears It's a 'New Era'—But Who's Actually Getting Helped?
The Marketing Academy Foundation just got itself a brand refresh and a new board—but unless they put real money and power in new hands, it’s just another PR
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Meta’s Commerce Desperation, $2M Retail Upfronts, and Pinterest’s AI Flex: Welcome to Summer Grift Season
Meta’s latest e-commerce stunt, executive reshuffles at Sephora and Lowe’s, and Pinterest’s AI PR parade—none of it matters if your tech still
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Google AI Overviews Gut Publisher Traffic—And Yoast 25.0 Sells You Snake Oil
In May 2024, Google’s AI Overviews started cannibalizing publisher clicks—some sites lost 60%. Meanwhile, Yoast 25.0 spins this as 'opportunity'.
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