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.
Forrester’s Bombshell: Two-Thirds of B2B Buyers Pick Vendors Before Marketers Even Get a Shot
Forrester reveals that two-thirds of B2B buyers decide on vendors before engaging with marketing, turning buying into a confirmation act rather than a selection process.
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NBC’s 100th Anniversary Promo Leans Hard Into Kentucky Derby Hype—But Is It Enough?
NBC’s 100th anniversary campaign leans heavily on a Kentucky Derby promo, but it’s a tired, surface-level stunt that misses the mark on meaningful storytelling.
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Antonio Lucio’s PayPal CMO Hire: A PR Stunt Amid a Fragmented Future
Antonio Lucio joins PayPal as CMO amid a corporate split into PayPal, Venmo, and crypto divisions. But this restructuring masks deeper strategic failures.
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X’s New Ads Manager Is AI Hype Wrapped in a Pretty Interface — Here’s Why It Still Won’t Fix Your Campaigns
X’s revamped Ads Manager touts AI-powered ad optimization, but it’s mostly a cosmetic upgrade that won’t solve marketers’ real problems.
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Meta and Google’s AI Spending Spree: Betting Big on Ads, Betting Big on Smoke and Mirrors
Meta and Google are betting billions on AI to boost ad performance, but this AI hype is mostly a repackaged version of old ad tech promises that rarely pan out.
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Fox News Surges While Competitors Stumble Post-White House Correspondents’ Dinner Drama
Fox News was the only cable network to post week-to-week viewership gains following the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, exposing the stagnation and complacency of its competitors.
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NBC's 100th Anniversary Promo Gallops Into the Kentucky Derby—But Is It Just Another Hollow Marketing Lap?
NBC’s 100th anniversary promo tied to the Kentucky Derby is less a celebration and more a tired marketing play that leans heavily on nostalgia and lazy cross-promotion.
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Google’s AI Max Expansion: Another Layer of Automation Theater While Alphabet Prints Billions
Google’s latest AI Max update is less about innovation and more about locking advertisers tighter into its ecosystem as Alphabet rakes in $110B in Q1. Here’s why you should care.
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X Finally Stops Dragging Its Feet with Ad Platform Overhaul — A Decade Late and Dollars Short
X’s ad platform overhaul is a decade overdue and barely scratches the surface of what advertisers actually need. Catching up is not the same as leading.
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How Indian Railways Weaponized Gamification to Crush Fare Evasion
Indian Railways crushed fare evasion by turning ticket buying into a lottery game, proving that surprise rewards beat lazy, cookie-cutter engagement tactics every time.
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Netflix Crushes Prime Video in Ad Reach as Ad-Supported Streaming Becomes the New Normal
Netflix has overtaken Prime Video in ad-supported household reach, signaling a major industry shift as ad-supported streaming becomes the dominant model within months.
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Why Marketing’s Reckless Disregard for the CTO Is a Time Bomb Waiting to Explode
Only a tiny fraction of marketers prioritize their relationship with the CTO, and it’s killing performance. Ignoring tech leadership is a reckless gamble that’s already costing the industry dearly.
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Claire’s Comeback: Squishies, ASMR, and the Hollow Quest to Reclaim Girlhood
Claire’s latest campaign leans hard on squishies and ASMR to reclaim girlhood, but it’s less innovation and more shallow nostalgia wrapped in buzzwords.
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Vue Enlists Taika Waititi in Desperate Bid to Rescue Movie Theaters from Streaming’s Smothering Grip
Vue’s latest gambit to revive theaters involves enlisting Taika Waititi, but celebrity endorsements won’t fix an industry crippled by complacency and streaming’s dominance.
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Lenovo’s Latest Stunt: Becky G, AI, and the Soccer Kit Art Grift
Lenovo’s new campaign pairing Becky G with AI to ‘artify’ soccer kits is a tired marketing stunt dressed up as innovation. Here’s why it’s more grift than groundbreaking.
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Budweiser’s 150th Anniversary Campaign: A Red, White, and Blue Overkill
Budweiser’s 150th anniversary campaign drowns audiences in patriotic clichés, exposing how big brands use flag-waving as a lazy shortcut instead of genuine storytelling.
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Rao’s Hires Goodby Silverstein & Partners to Fake Iconic Status—Because Authenticity Was Too Hard
Rao’s pasta sauce is hiring Goodby Silverstein & Partners to manufacture an 'iconic' brand image—because real authenticity takes work no one wants to do.
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Structured Data for Google AI Overviews: Why Publishers Are Already Behind Before They Even Start
Google’s AI-powered overviews aren’t a feature publishers control—they’re a rigged game where structured data is just another piece of bait in Google’s self-serving trap.
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