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 Media’s TV Ad Spend Heist: Walmart and Amazon Double Down on Data-Driven Domination
Walmart and Amazon are aggressively converting TV ad dollars into retail media spend, leveraging AI and shopper data to outpace traditional advertising. The era of broad TV buys is over.
Read →
Retail Media’s Land Grab: How Walmart and Amazon Are Poaching TV Dollars with AI-Driven Data Schemes
Walmart and Amazon are aggressively poaching traditional TV ad budgets, using AI and data-driven retail media pitches that promise precision but often deliver hype. The industry’s lazy acceptance of these claims is setting marketers up for disappointment.
Read →
Live Sports Aren’t Just TV Shows: They’re the Last Real Appointment Viewing—and Advertisers Know It
Live sports remain the last true appointment viewing, commanding premium ad slots amid media fragmentation. Following fans across platforms isn’t optional—it’s survival.
Read →
Mobile Gaming’s Measurement Migration Nightmare: How They Keep Performance From Crashing and Burning
Mobile gaming companies face a brutal challenge migrating measurement systems amid privacy upheavals and AI integration. Adjust reveals how surgical infrastructure work keeps performance intact.
Read →
Biscoff Ditches Control Freakery, Hands Creators the Keys to the Biscuit Kingdom
Biscoff’s UK marketing chief reveals the brand’s radical strategy of handing full creative control to trusted creators, proving that trust beats control every time.
Read →
Marketing's Big Lie: Why Chasing Buzz Over Business Kills Investment
Marketing’s obsession with buzz over business is killing investment. The Marketing Week Awards judges demand a brutal realignment: tie your work to the company narrative or get cut.
Read →
AI-Fueled ‘Meaningful’ Brands Surge 129% as Marketing’s Smoke and Mirrors Get Exposed
Kantar BrandZ reveals that brands delivering genuine consumer value with AI-driven insights have surged 129%, shattering the $13.1 trillion valuation barrier for the top 100 global brands.
Read →
Marketing Accountability Is a Smokescreen: ROI Obsession Hides Real Misalignment
Marketing accountability isn’t about chasing elusive ROI figures. The real issue is the chronic misalignment between marketing and finance goals, disguised by lazy metrics and agency lip service.
Read →
Burberry’s Brand Turnaround: Marketing or Overhyped Spin?
Burberry credits marketing as the key driver in its brand turnaround, but the real story is more complex — and less glamorous. The luxury giant’s PR spin masks deeper challenges.
Read →
Cannes Lions’ New Entry Rules Are a Pain, But They’re the Anti-Grift We Desperately Needed
Cannes Lions’ revamped entry rules are a pain for agencies used to gaming the system, but this crackdown on fluff is exactly what the marketing awards world needed.
Read →
Hinge’s New Campaign Glorifies Gen Z’s Swipe Near-Misses—Because Love Is a Series of Almosts
Hinge’s new campaign under Tamika Young celebrates the near misses and almosts that shape Gen Z’s digital dating stories, cutting through the usual polished success myths.
Read →
Jim O’Leary Ditches Weber Shandwick for Penta Amid Omnicom-IPG Shakeup
Jim O’Leary’s departure from Weber Shandwick to lead Penta’s North America operations signals a sharp pivot away from bloated agencies toward lean advisory models amid the Omnicom-IPG merger fallout.
Read →
Supergoop’s Lauren Weinberg Dismantles AI Marketing Hype: Human-Centered Strategy Isn’t Dead Yet
Lauren Weinberg of Supergoop exposes the AI marketing hype and champions human-centered teams as the real secret to success in 2026.
Read →
AI Agents in Programmatic Buying: Marketers Scramble to Install Guardrails Amid the Hype
As AI agents take over programmatic advertising, marketers are pushing back, installing guardrails to maintain transparency and control in an industry addicted to automation hype.
Read →
BuzzFeed’s $120M Fire Sale Is the Death Knell for Platform-Era Media Delusions
Byron Allen’s $120 million acquisition of BuzzFeed is the brutal confirmation that the platform-era media bubble has burst, exposing the rot beneath viral scale fantasies.
Read →
Ad Tech’s Mixed Quarter: AI and CTV Spark Hope Amid Lingering Industry Turmoil
Ad tech’s latest quarter offers mixed results, with AI and CTV fueling investor hype but underlying structural issues dragging the industry down.
Read →
Hershey’s AI-Powered Media Mix Modeling: Why Owning Your Martech Beats Renting the Hype
Hershey’s programmatic chief is ditching agency handouts and building an AI-powered media mix modeling system in-house, calling out the industry’s vendor dependency for what it is: a grift.
Read →
Heineken’s Shameless World Cup Cash Grab: Soccer-Themed 12-Packs to Flood U.S. Shelves This Summer
Heineken’s latest World Cup marketing move is a tired, lazy play: limited-edition soccer-themed beer packs that do nothing to genuinely engage fans.
Read →