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.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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The AI Hype Bubble Meets Brand Valuations: Why ‘Meaningful’ Brands Are Booming (And What It Really Means)
Kantar BrandZ’s latest report claims AI is fueling explosive growth among “meaningful” brands. Here’s why the hype is overblown—and what real brand growth actually demands.
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Marketing Accountability Is a Dumpster Fire — Here’s Why ROI Obsession Makes It Worse
Marketing accountability is a mess because the industry obsesses over ROI and vague alignment talk, ignoring the real need for honest, data-driven business metrics.
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Netflix’s Nicolle Pangis Calls Out AI Hype in Streaming Ads: It’s Not Just Automation, It’s Smarts and Measurement
Netflix’s Nicolle Pangis slams the myth that AI alone can fix streaming ad woes. Success demands smart measurement and human insight, not lazy automation hype.
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Netflix’s AI Agent Push: A $3 Billion Ad Business Built on Hype and Hope
Netflix’s push to use AI agents to grow its $3 billion ad business is less innovation and more hype, masking a desperate attempt to legitimize its pivot to advertising.
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Amazon’s Alexa Is Taking Over AI Shopping, and Ecommerce Ads Are About to Get Disrupted
Amazon’s Alexa is no longer just a voice assistant; it’s the spearhead of a new ecommerce ad battleground that will leave traditional search advertising in the dust.
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The ROI Lie CMOs Keep Buying—and Why It’s Killing Their Careers
Most CMOs are stuck chasing shallow ROI metrics that don’t matter. Real ROI is complex, cross-functional, and tied to business growth—not just clicks or conversions.
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Google Topples Apple in Kantar’s 2026 Brand Rankings—AI’s New Reign Exposed
Google has overtaken Apple as the most valuable brand in Kantar’s 2026 rankings, signaling AI’s central role in shaping modern brand power. Apple’s AI lag paints a stark contrast.
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The Lazy SEO Agency Playbook: How 10x Agencies Keep Selling Keyword Density in 2026
In 2026, dozens of SEO agencies still push keyword density as a winning strategy despite Google’s clear algorithm evolution away from it.
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AI Content Detectors in 2026: The Grift That Won't Die at OpenAI and Beyond
In 2026, AI content detectors still fail spectacularly, with OpenAI's classifier accuracy plunging below 30% on real-world content.
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