Blueprint — page 143 | The Gradient

Paramount, Warner, and the Price of Consolidation

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Paramount, Warner, and the Price of Consolidation

Why marketers are embracing waste as a part of experimentation

In marketing — as in all aspects of growing a business overall — it’s imperative to know up front how much a team is willing to lose, how long they’re willing to try and when to walk away. Yet, too often, waste is treated like a bad word, instead of asking: Is this the cost

This MacBook Pro deal is making me re-think my MacBook Air purchase

There’s a couple reasons I went for the MacBook Air over the MacBook Pro – but that was before I knew that this new deal brings the 14-inch M4 chip Pro down from $2,000 to $1,700 over at Best Buy. Truth is, if you’re not a pro video editor, photo editor or work in 3D,

DOJ Seeks Google Ad Manager Break Up As Remedies Trial Begins

Google returns to court on Monday for the remedies phase of the Department of Justice’s ad-tech antitrust case, where the government is asking the judge to order a divestiture of Google Ad Manager. The remedies trial follows a ruling that found Google illegally monopolized the publisher ad server and ad exchange markets, while rejecting claims

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow to Interview Kamala Harris

Top of the Ticker: Rachel Maddow will conduct a live interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday, Sept. 22, at 9 p.m. ET. The MSNBC host will have a discussion with Harris about her new book, “107 Days,” which focuses on the shortest presidential campaign bid in modern history. This will be the

Barren Hill :: Behance

Barren Hill This mysterious land is located in Aksai Kazakh Autonomous County, Jiuquan City, hidden along the road from Dunhuang to Haixi, Qinghai. It is not immediately noticeable, and one could even say that it is concealed by the vastness of nature itself, only to be discovered by chance during a filming expedition one day.

Internal WordPress Conflict Spills Out Into The Open

An internal dispute within the WordPress core contributor team spilled into the open, causing major confusion among people outside the organization. The friction began with a post from more than a week ago and culminated in a remarkable outburst, exposing latent tensions within the core contributor community. Mary Hubbard Announcement Triggers Conflict The incident seemingly

Navigating the chaos of consent, compliance and customer trust in an AI world

Artificial intelligence promises tremendous value for marketers, but only if it’s fueled by quality data collected responsibly. That was the theme of a session at the September installment of The MarTech Conference. Moderated by MarTech contributor Melissa Reeve, the panel gathered enterprise AI consultant Anthony Coppedge, Alex Cash, director of strategy for consent-based solutions at

An Chen on how to stay true to your unconventional art style

An Chen – an illustrator who works in sculptures, textiles, and animations – delivered a talk beaming with optimism and sincerity at September’s Nicer Tuesdays in London, walking us through her angular illustrations and how she makes organic shapes interact with each other. An also shared how she moulded her creative voice, from growing up

SEO For Paws Live Stream Conference: Free Tickets Out Now

The next SEO For Paws will be held on Sept. 25, 2025. The live stream features a stellar speaker list that includes some of the industry’s best SEO professionals and personalities, including Andrey Lipattsev, David Carrasco, Judith Lewis, and Jamie Indigo. SEO for Paws, is a live-streamed fundraiser founded by Anton Shulke, an expert at

Consultation opens on less healthy food ad ban

Brands can comment “in full” on all aspects of the proposals, which will prohibit ads for “identifiable” less healthy products being shown pre-watershed. Source

Foo Fighters embrace AI in wonderfully silly video

Foo Fighters have officially announced their new drummer in an unconventional debut. Featuring in a delightfully silly AI video, the band hinted that they’re “preparing something special” for fans while poking fun at the AI slop that has infiltrated the creative industries. While there are certainly ways to use AI properly, I’m always a fan

Google Introduces Three-Tier Store Widget Program For Retailers

Google is expanding its store widget program into three eligibility-based tiers that you can embed on your site to display ratings, policies, and reviews, helping customers make informed decisions. Google announces: “When shoppers are online, knowing which store to buy from can be a tough decision. The new store widget powered by Google brings valuable

The CMO gig has been an long excercise in survival

The Digiday+ Future of Marketing Briefing will be your guide to what it actually means to be in this business today. Sometimes that’ll mean talking to CMOs. Other times, it’ll mean exploring ad tech, agencies, creators, streaming, AI – whatever’s shaping the marketing class and those who operate in and around it. This is the first

Google Brings AI Mode To Chrome’s Address Bar

Google is rolling out AI Mode to the address bar in Chrome for U.S. users. This move is part of a series of AI updates, including Gemini in Chrome, page-aware question prompts, improved scam protection, and instant password changes. See Google’s launch video below: What’s New Google Chrome will enable you to access AI Mode

Shareholder Vote Secures Jeff Green’s 48% Control of The Trade Desk

The Trade Desk shareholders cemented CEO Jeff Green’s control of the demand-side platform in a vote on Sept. 16, according to an SEC filing. Investors pushed back a looming deadline by 10 years that would have automatically converted all Class B shares, which carry 10 votes each, into Class A shares, which carry a single

TikTok’s most-loved parents celebrate their 60th anniversary with an illustrated merch drop

If you’re a follower of James Barnett’s TikTok-famous parents Teresa and Michael, you’ll know that it’s been a busy two years for the iconic duo. Since we last caught up on their newfound internet fame, their youngest son and documentarian (James) got married, they were invited to the glitzy TikTok creator awards, and, in a

Directed Bias Attacks On Brands?

Before we dig in, some context. What follows is hypothetical. I don’t engage in black-hat tactics, I’m not a hacker, and this isn’t a guide for anyone to try. I’ve spent enough time with search, domain, and legal teams at Microsoft to know bad actors exist and to see how they operate. My goal here isn’t

GrowthLoop wants to help retailers capture more retail media dollars

Composable CDP vendor GrowthLoop entered the retail media network (RMN) space this week, launching a solution to help retailers organize their data and scale their media offerings. Retailers offering RMNs face many of the same challenges as the marketers they support, including legacy systems that create data silos and require time-consuming workarounds. GrowthLoop’s new product,

Gen Z’s obsession with quirky mirrors is a trend worth following

On one of my many TikTok scroll-athons, I was recently sucked down an unexpected rabbit hole that led me to the flamboyant world of mirrortok. Here, trendy Gen Z decor enthusiasts flex their selfie-ready room setups with increasingly extra mirror designs that are the envy of the internet. While I suspect they’re probably the interior

Google Is Hiring An Anti-Scraping Engineering Analyst

Google is hiring a new anti-scraping czar, whose job will be to analyze search traffic to identify the patterns of search scrapers, assess the impact, and work with engineering teams to develop new anti-scraping models for improving anti-scraping defenses. Search Results Scraping SEOs rely on SERP tracking companies to provide search results data for understanding

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