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.
CMOs Are Broke, AI-Obsessed, and Clueless About Scaling—2026 Marketing Strategies Are DOA
Most CMOs are strapped for budget and chasing AI hype they can’t scale—Gartner’s data shows 2026 marketing strategies are headed for a crash. It’s time to stop buying magic and start building muscle.
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Marketing’s Lazy AI Promises Crumble Under Consumer Skepticism and Transformation Fatigue
Recent stats expose the myth of AI-driven marketing transformation, highlighting dwindling consumer trust and the true cost of lazy AI adoption.
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Netflix’s New Ad Gambit: Ready to Outspend and Outplay the Giants, But Will It Work?
Netflix is gunning to take on TV’s ad giants with its global reach and exclusive sports rights. But can its fledgling ad platform deliver real results or is it another streaming pipe dream?
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U.S. Brands Are Already Flopping at the World Cup—Stop Wasting Your Shot
U.S. brands have a golden World Cup moment—and they’re blowing it with lazy, generic campaigns that fail to connect globally. It’s time to stop losing before the game even starts.
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World Cup 2026 Brand Blitz: The Same Old Soccer Ad Circus Kicks Off
The 2026 World Cup ad blitz is underway, but don’t expect anything new. Brands and agencies are recycling the same old soccer clichés, delivering predictable and uninspired campaigns.
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WPP’s US President Michael Houston Steps Down Amid Strategic Overhaul—What This Really Means
Michael Houston’s departure as WPP’s US president isn’t just a personnel change—it’s a tacit admission that the holding company’s old-school strategy is broken and in desperate need of a reset.
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NBCUniversal’s Upfront Week: Vin Diesel, Sports Betting, and AI-Powered Adtech — But Are We Just Rehearsing the Same Old Script?
NBCUniversal’s upfront week leaned heavily on Fast and Furious spinoffs, Sunday night sports, and AI adtech hype — a perfect storm of industry complacency dressed as innovation.
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May 12, Tuesday: Catch the Wave of Change in Digital Tides
As Mars shakes up America's 7th house of partnerships and open enemies, the sky calls for clear communication and strategic thinking.
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Dove Men’s World Cup Campaign Hijacks ‘Seven Nation Army’ for a Skincare Sellout
Dove Men+Care’s World Cup campaign hijacks soccer’s iconic anthem 'Seven Nation Army' for a cringe-worthy skincare pitch, exposing the lazy side of sports marketing.
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Seth Matlins Joins Vox Media to Launch ‘Create/Destroy’ Podcast—But Will It Break Marketing’s Echo Chamber?
Seth Matlins’ new podcast with Vox Media promises brand-building insights but risks falling into the same marketing echo chamber of hype and jargon.
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Dentsu’s Takeshi Sano Is Hustling Hard — But Retaining Heineken Won’t Save Them From Microsoft’s Loss
Dentsu’s CEO Takeshi Sano may have kept Heineken on board, but losing Microsoft exposes deeper cracks in the agency’s strategy and innovation.
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Expedia’s Year-Long IShowSpeed Hustle: Gen Z Marketing or Desperate Clout Chasing?
Expedia’s year-long partnership with Twitch star IShowSpeed is less about innovation and more about desperate clout chasing. Viral reach without substance is a losing game.
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Agentic Media Buying: Reinventing Programmatic or Just Another Accountability Black Hole?
Agentic media buying promises to change programmatic advertising, but without transparency and human oversight, it risks becoming another opaque black box hiding accountability failures.
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Inside the Programmatic Black Box: Why Brands Are Done Playing Google and Meta’s Opaque Games
Brands and agencies are fed up with Google’s Performance Max, Meta’s Advantage+, and The Trade Desk turning programmatic advertising into an opaque black box that favors platform profits over transparency and results.
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Marketers Scramble to Patch Geo Targeting as Zero-Click Search Devours Traffic
Marketers are frantically recalibrating geo-targeting strategies as AI-driven zero-click search slashes traditional traffic, exposing the futility of legacy SEO tactics.
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WSL’s CMO Dumps Football Tradition Playbook to Score Real Growth
WSL Football’s CMO is smashing football traditions, using social media and real fan engagement to drive growth and attract serious partners.
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The 4Ps of Sports Sponsorship: Why Marketers Are Still Playing Catch-Up
Sports sponsorship isn’t about product or price anymore. To win, marketers must master the new 4Ps: people, passion, prominence, and partners.
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Brands Plan Hiring Spree—But Marketing Teams Brace for Stagnation and Budget Cuts
Only a fifth of brands plan to grow their marketing teams in 2026, revealing an industry stuck between budget cuts and AI-driven efficiency pushes.
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