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The GRADIENT: Why Taste Is the New Moat

What Are Learning Periods In Digital Marketing?

Most ad platforms have something called a “learning period.” This is not a period for the marketer to observe and learn from the performance. Instead, it’s a period of time ranging from 48 hours to two to four weeks when the ad platform is learning how the campaigns should behave based on conversion rates and

Amazon Built a $60 Billion Ad Business Using Adtech Firms and Agencies. Now Some Say They’re Getting Squeezed Out

Amazon is playing a delicate dance with its tech and agency partners. For years, Amazon has relied on close partnerships with retail-focused adtech companies to grow its burgeoning ad business. In 2021, Amazon formally launched a program called the Amazon Ad Partner Network that helped match up advertisers with tech firms and agencies that manage

Last drawings of 2025 :: Behance

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Strategic Use Cases For Standard Shopping Campaigns

Google is “strongly recommending” Performance Max to advertisers. With its promise of automated optimization across all Google inventory and AI-driven functions, it’s easy to see why Google pushes it so heavily. But here’s the reality: Performance Max isn’t always the best choice, and blindly migrating from Standard Shopping campaigns can actually hurt your performance. B2B

Why quality management is the partnership martech can’t ignore

As martech practitioners straddle the line between marketing and IT they take on work that touches both worlds. Quality management — including quality assurance (QA) and user acceptance testing (UAT) — is one of those disciplines where practitioners provide significant value no matter where they sit on the org chart. Martech is a team sport

Uncanny builds a bespoke software to bring a Oneohtrix Point Never music video into pixelated existence

“Conceptually a lot of the video was inspired by the themes of Tranquilizer itself, exploring themes of archiving and degradation,” says Elliott. To create this heady balance of catalogued crumbing, Elliott and George devised a narrative surrounding a piece of software that’s tasked with forecasting natural disasters, documenting and analysing values like wind speed and

Google Data Manager API, YouTube Shorts, LinkedIn Reserved Ads

The PPC platforms rolled out a few meaningful updates this week that shape how we measure, plan, and buy media. Google introduced a new API that makes it easier to bring first party data into Ads. YouTube shared improvements to the Shorts advertising experience. LinkedIn launched Reserved Ads to give advertisers more control over pricing

Growing influence and more with less: Your Marketing Year

As the year draws to a close, I thought it would be a good opportunity to look back over some of the key stories, offering my view on what they mean for you and the industry. From the growth of influencer marketing to how to tackle more with less, it’s been a busy year. Here

Super Mario optical illusion fools your eyes with classic animation trick

The worlds of optical illusions and art often aren’t too distant, and some of the best mind-boggling illusions are a perfect blend of the two. Recently making the rounds on Reddit, this captivating Super Mario optical illusion is not only totally hypnotic but also a great demonstration of a classic animation technique. While there are

December Core Update, Preferred Sources & Social Data

The December 2025 core update is the main story this week. Google confirmed a new broad ranking update, clarified how often core changes happen, expanded Preferred Sources in Top Stories, and started testing social performance data in Search Console Insights. Here’s what matters for your work. Google Releases December 2025 Core Update Google has released

A talent paradox takes hold as AI rewrites how agencies operate

It’s been another busy week for big news but I wanted to use this week’s briefing to write about something that’s been sitting with me since the Digiday Programmatic Marketing Summit last week: AI is flattening the base of the talent pyramid before agencies have figured out how to rebuild it. Session after session, leaders

Google Updates Search Live With Gemini Model Upgrade

Google has updated Search Live with Gemini 2.5 Flash Native Audio, upgrading how voice functions inside Search while also extending the model’s use across translation and live voice agents. The update introduces more natural spoken responses in Search Live and reflects Google’s effort to improve natural voice queries, treating voice as a core interface as

Ashleigh Banfield to Lead NewsNation’s True Crime Vertical

Top of the Ticker: NewsNation’s Ashleigh Banfield will be vacating her 10 p.m. ET weeknight show, Banfield, to lead the news network’s new true crime digital vertical set to debut in 2026. This new partnership sees her long-running podcast, Drop Dead Serious with Ashleigh Banfield, available on NewsNation. Michael Corn, president of programming and specials,

Claire Marie Healy on the significance of music videos and the emotional potential of advertisements

Nearly everyone can recall an advertisement or music video that has touched them, or, at the very least, has stuck in their minds even decades later. My uncles will tell me about the famous music videos of the 80s whilst my grandparents will fondly remember certain advertisements with their jingles, needle drops and famous slogans.

How People Use Copilot Depends On Device, Microsoft Says

How people use Microsoft Copilot depends on whether they’re at a desk or on their phone. That is the core theme in the company’s analysis of 37.5 million Copilot conversations sampled between January and September. The research examines consumer Copilot usage patterns across device types and time of day. The authors say they used machine-based

Marketers are drowning in data but starving for insight

Source: The 2026 Marketing Intelligence Report Marketers have more data than ever and an expanding suite of tools to work with — yet many are still flying blind. According to “The 2026 Marketing Intelligence Report” (registration required) from marketing intelligence platform Funnel and Ravn Research, 72% of in-house marketers and 55% of agency marketers say they’re overwhelmed

The Nex Playground gaming console is back to its record low price of $199 – get it for New Year fun

It’s nearly Christmas, and if you’re a parent hoping to get a bit more involved with the kiddos, then let us introduce you to the Nex Playground. This gaming console is on sale for $199 right now (its lowest ever price) over at Amazon, and might remind you of the Nintendo Wii – but it’s

AI Agents Are Coming For You & What To Do No

I’m carefully watching the development of agentic SEO, as I believe over the next few years, as capabilities improve, agents will have a significant impact on the industry. I’m not suggesting this will be a seamless replacement of talent with a highly capable machine intelligence. There is going to be a lot of trial and

Marketers’ marketing moments of 2025

From Duolingo killing its mascot to Ikea opening a store on Oxford Street, here are the marketing moments of the year chosen by those in the industry. Source

Tendre Hiver :: Behance

Tendre Hiver — Serie of illustrations, inspired by winter in Korea, for my first solo show TENDRE HIVER in Seoul at the Alltid Coffee. The exhibition is presented by Current Brown and curated by Parisian Blue “Snow-covered Hyangwonjeong Pavilion at Gyeongbokgung Palace, a serene winter seen from inside a hanok, traditional fans adorned with floral

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