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The GRADIENT: Why Taste Is the New Moat

How to turn your iPhone into a dumbphone

For creatives, the iPhone is a bit of a paradox. The device that houses so many essential tools (high-quality camera, communication apps, portfolio access) is also the primary source of distraction from the work those tools support. You open your iPhone to check a client message and emerge 40 minutes later from an Instagram rabbit

Why Communicators Will Thrive (Not Disappear) in the AI Era

AI excels at processing information. Humans excel at building relationships. This is why communicators will always be essential. Gini Dietrich has a full breakdown of the AI/human partnership The post Why Communicators Will Thrive (Not Disappear) in the AI Era first appeared on Spin Sucks.

AI Mode Gets Personal, Google Warns About Free Hosting

Welcome to the week’s SEO Pulse. This week’s updates affect how AI Mode personalizes answers, which AI bots can access your site, and why your domain choice still matters for search visibility. Here’s what matters for you and your work. Google Connects Gmail And Photos To AI Mode Google is rolling out Personal Intelligence, a

TikTok Shop to End Independent Shipping for U.S. Brands As New Owners Take Over

As TikTok gains new U.S. owners in Oracle, Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi-based MGX, the platform is moving quickly to centralize its marketplace. In an email to advertisers sent this week and reviewed by ADWEEK, TikTok announced it will soon require U.S. merchants to fulfill orders through the platform’s proprietary logistics services—effectively stripping brands of

Tickets now available for February’s Nicer Tuesdays in New York!

Step right up, New Yorkers, Nicer Tuesdays will be making its 2026 debut at the SVA Theatre on 10 February – and we’ve been cooking up a brand new line-up just for you. At the event, you can expect talks from Daniel Savage, a multi-disciplinary artist, designer, and animator whose work often focuses on exploring

Meet the Dream Team Leading the PESO Model© Evolution

Is this mic on? We have some exciting news! Gini Dietrich introduces the new team that will lead the PESO Model© evolution into the future The post Meet the Dream Team Leading the PESO Model© Evolution first appeared on Spin Sucks.

User Data Is Important In Google’s Ranking Systems. What We Learned From Liz Reid’s Appeal Declaration

I found some interesting things in the latest document in the DOJ vs. Google trial. Google has appealed the ruling that says they need to give proprietary information to competitors. Image Credit: Marie Haynes Key Takeaways: Google has been ordered to give information to competitors so as not to be an illegal monopoly. Google does

Find out if AI-driven disruption is coming for your industry

AI is changing how people discover, compare and choose — across every industry. But not every industry is equally vulnerable. New research from BCG maps where large language models (LLMs) are likely to disrupt the consumer journey, and it breaks the landscape into four clear archetypes: Breached, Undefended, Contested and Secured. Each one tells a

This free Unreal Engine 5 game looks like a haunted sketchbook come to life

Some gamers complain about the “Unreal Engine look”, typically characterised by hyper-realistic rendering, dynamic lighting and cinematic polish. But every so often a game comes along that reminds us that Unreal Engine 5 isn’t only for games that strive for photorealism. The short first-person psychological horror game My Paper Forest eschews 3D realism for a

The PESO Model© and the Future of Enterprise MarComm

Christopher Barger joins Spin Sucks as chief strategy officer and makes the case for why large enterprises need the PESO Model© now more than ever. The post The PESO Model© and the Future of Enterprise MarComm first appeared on Spin Sucks.

Google’s Podcast Launch, Demand Gen, ChatGPT Ads

Welcome to this week’s PPC Pulse. The big news this week centers on platform evolution: how advertisers get information, where ads show up, and what formats are gaining traction. OpenAI announced it’s testing ads inside ChatGPT for the first time. Google launched a new podcast to help advertisers navigate platform changes. And Demand Gen added

TikTok deal closed to avoid US ban

Under the new agreement, the US app will be split from the global business, with its algorithm to be trained only on US data. Source

Madeline Montoya on the creative practices behind Byline and Bloomberg Businessweek

Texas-born and New York-based designer Madeline Montoya is not only the creative director of Byline, but also the art director for Bloomberg Businessweek. At September’s Nicer Tuesdays in New York City, the multi-hyphenate took the audience through her holistic and malleable approaches to brand and editorial design, shedding light on the typeface, motion effects and

Your Mid-Year Communications Plan Check

Are you using the PESO Model© to its full glory? Crazy times like these are exactly why we built it. Gini Dietrich describes how to leverage it ➔ The post Your Mid-Year Communications Plan Check first appeared on Spin Sucks.

TikTok US Deal Closes After Years Of Regulatory Uncertainty

A White House official said the US and China have finalized a deal to spin off TikTok’s US business to a consortium led by Oracle and Silver Lake, Fox Business reported Thursday. CNN reported the joint venture has been formally established and announced its leadership team. The closing comes ahead of a January 23 deadline

The fog between agencies and clients around data just keeps getting thicker: ID Comms report

The disconnect between advertisers and their media agencies is certainly nothing new to the industry, despite constant efforts to get on the same page. A new report out of ID Comms indicates that things aren’t getting any more connected. In the 2026 installment of the State of Digital Media Benchmark, the media consultancy analyzed the

15 Valentine’s Day gifts that won’t seem corny

Valentine’s Day is a tricky one. It’s easy to get swept up in the romance of it all, but actually, love takes many forms that can extend beyond romantic relationships and apply to pets, friends, children, and appreciation for parents, too. My fiancé and I are quite laid back when it comes to gifts, so

Why Brand Trust is More Important Than Novelty

Brand trust is most fragile during change. Melissa Wickes explores how brands like Chewy and Costco protect loyalty with empathy, consistency, and clear comms. The post Why Brand Trust is More Important Than Novelty first appeared on Spin Sucks.

10Web WordPress Photo Gallery Plugin Vulnerability

A security advisory was published about a vulnerability in the Photo Gallery by 10Web plugin that has over 200,000 installations. The vulnerability affects how the plugin handles image comments, exposing some sites to unauthorized data modification by unauthenticated attackers (meaning that attackers do not need to register with the site). The Photo Gallery by 10Web

William Shatner’s Raisin Bran Cameo Is a Super Bowl Setup

William Shatner just wanted to eat his breakfast in peace. When photos appeared on sites like TMZ and MailOnline earlier this week, snapping the 94-year-old actor eating a bowl of cereal in his car in LA traffic, the grainy, paparazzi-style shots suggested a man caught mid-meal rather than mid-brand deal. However, in the days since,

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