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.
IndexNow Is a Lie: Why Microsoft’s Ping Protocol Adds Zero Real Value to Your SEO
Microsoft launched IndexNow in 2021 claiming instant indexing benefits. Yet, evidence shows it barely moves the needle for real-world traffic or rankings.
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Why Marketing’s Neglect of CTOs Is a Slow-Motion Trainwreck—and Specsavers’ Tagline Tweak Isn’t Saving It
Marketers ignoring CTOs while obsessing over tagline tweaks is a recipe for failure. Specsavers’ safe rebrand move won’t fix the underlying digital disconnect.
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Anchor Butter Ditches Pasture Clichés to Cut Through Advertising Noise
Anchor Butter is abandoning the tired trope of cows in fields, aiming to break through the dairy category’s advertising monotony with fresher storytelling.
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McDonald’s UK and Ireland Puts Longtime Insider Tim Kenward in the Hotseat as CMO—Marketing Stuck in a Comfort Zone?
McDonald’s UK and Ireland’s new CMO Tim Kenward is a longtime insider whose appointment signals a refusal to disrupt a stagnant brand marketing strategy.
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The Very Group’s Chief Customer Officer Jessica Myers Bails After 3.5 Years — What Now for the Retailer?
Jessica Myers has left The Very Group after over three and a half years as Chief Customer Officer, highlighting ongoing leadership instability amid the retailer’s customer experience struggles.
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Canva’s Cannes Lions Playbook: Tripling Beach Space to Monetize Creativity and PR Theater
Canva tripled its Cannes Lions beach space after a modest 4,000 visitors last year, doubling down on spectacle over substance with The Creative Cabana. More gelato, more parties, less real innovation.
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The Bullshit Trust Equation in Health Marketing: Why Your Campaigns Are Failing Before They Start
Health marketing’s obsession with viral campaigns and buzzwords is a shallow trust game that’s losing audiences. Real trust demands brutal transparency, not PR stunts.
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Agentic AI Isn’t Your Marketing Magic Bullet—It’s Just Another Funnel Fix You’ll Screw Up
Agentic AI isn’t a magical fix for marketing funnels—it’s another overhyped tool brands misuse because they ignore foundational data and strategy work.
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Brand Safety in the Age of AI Garbage: Why Your Ad Budget Is Wasted on Algorithmic Slop
Brands are drowning in AI-generated content garbage that kills engagement and risks reputation. The real fix isn’t more AI, it’s brutal quality control and accountability.
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OpenAI Ditches the Gatekeepers: ChatGPT Ads Go Self-Service and It’s About Damn Time
OpenAI just flipped the script on ChatGPT advertising by launching a self-service platform that cuts out the middlemen and forces advertisers to play serious ball. This isn’t charity — it’s a ruthless bid for ad dominance.
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Social Video Ads Are Eating CTV’s Lunch—And Advertisers Are Too Slow to Notice
Social video ad spending is projected to outpace CTV growth this year, signaling a major shift as advertisers chase viewers on platforms like TikTok and Instagram rather than smart TVs.
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Future Leader Awards 2026 Expose the Myth of Tactical Marketing: Digitas, Five Below, and January Digital Actually Deliver Growth
The 2026 Future Leader Awards winners reveal how true growth comes from data-driven, authentic marketing — not the usual tactical fluff and grift.
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OpenAI Cracks Open ChatGPT Ads Manager to U.S. Advertisers, Ditches $50K Spend Floor Amid CPA Bidding Hype
OpenAI opens ChatGPT Ads Manager to U.S. advertisers, ditching the $50K spend minimum and promising third-party measurement and CPA bidding. Reality check: this isn’t magic.
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PayPal’s New CMO Antonio Lucio: Corporate Safe Bet or Signal of Marketing Malaise?
PayPal’s appointment of Antonio Lucio as CMO signals a marketing reset that may be more about corporate comfort than genuine innovation in a crowded fintech market.
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The Silent Asterisk: Why Consumer 'Yes' in Research Is Marketing’s Biggest Trap
When consumers say “yes” in research, it often comes with unspoken caveats marketers ignore at their peril. The silent asterisk is the industry’s biggest blind spot.
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McDonald’s UK & Ireland Taps Tim Kenward for CMO Role After 15 Years of Internal Grind
McDonald’s UK and Ireland just promoted a 15-year insider as CMO, doubling down on marketing continuity rather than innovation. This is a missed chance for disruption.
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Jessica Myers Bails on Very Group: Another CCO Exit Amid Retail Turmoil
Jessica Myers has left The Very Group after over three years, underscoring ongoing leadership instability at a retailer struggling to keep pace in a brutal e-commerce environment.
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Warner Bros. Discovery’s Paramount Merger Pitch: A Bold Bet or Just More Industry Noise?
Warner Bros. Discovery’s latest pitch to advertisers post-Paramount merger leans on grand promises but glosses over data and tech integration challenges that could sink actual value.
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