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The GRADIENT: Why Taste Is the New Moat

From Simple Builders To Enterprise CMS

WordPress powers hundreds of millions of websites. But when issues occur internally, the vulnerability of relying on a single platform becomes apparent. WordPress isn’t the only content management system (CMS) option. There’s a diverse marketplace of publishing platforms for those seeking alternatives. This guide provides an overview of leading WordPress alternatives across key website categories.

How the First Night of CBS Evening News With Tony Dokoupil Performed

Top of the Ticker: Tony Dokoupil’s stint as the latest CBS Evening News anchor officially began on Monday evening in the show’s New York studios and not on the road as previously planned. This was a result of the breaking news coverage dealing with the capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, his wife Cilia Flores,

How reworking game character designs from Hades helped this 3D artist level up faster

Swedish artist Roumen Filipov is a 3D artist who works across archviz, animation, and games. He combines advanced texturing and rendering with handcrafted models to create stylised, dramatic characters. In his free time, Roumen likes to challenge himself to create new interpretations of existing character designs, which helps flex his creative muscles. As such, Roumen

How the PESO Model© Breaks Silos and Boosts Results

Silos don’t just slow you down, they quietly sabotage campaigns. Travis Claytor shows how to use the PESO Model© to break barriers and create measurable impact. The post How the PESO Model© Breaks Silos and Boosts Results first appeared on Spin Sucks.

Core Update Favors Niche Expertise, AIO Health Inaccuracies & AI Slop

Welcome to this week’s Pulse: updates on rankings from December’s core update, platform responses to AI quality issues, and disputes that reveal tensions in AI-generated health information. Early analysis of Google’s December core update suggests specialized sites gained visibility in several shared examples. Microsoft and Google executives reframed criticism of AI quality. The Guardian reported

When AI agents become the customer

Agentic AI introduces a new dynamic to the consumer-brand relationship, particularly as autonomous shopping agents interact directly with brand marketing agents. In the past, AI systems primarily supported recommendations based on user preferences. Now, agentic AI can shortlist options and make purchase decisions on a consumer’s behalf. This shift moves decision-making away from the human

Julie Legrand and Nina Izycka’s zine investigates seaweed

Julie and Nina’s latest sprint resulted in Alga, a pocketable publication all about seaweed – the perfect subject matter for two illustrators with effortlessly wiggly, organic styles. As their fourth zine project together, the work furthers their exploration of what happens when both of their visual voices meet in one medium. The idea to trial

Meet Your New Buyer Persona: ChatGPT (And Its Friends)

Persona deck 2020: CIO Cindy, SMB Sam. Persona deck 2025: ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude. Gini Dietrich shows you how to market to algorithms The post Meet Your New Buyer Persona: ChatGPT (And Its Friends) first appeared on Spin Sucks.

5 Key Enterprise SEO And AI Trends For 2026

Enterprise SEO is at the center of some fascinating and fundamental shifts right now. From mainstream media coverage in the Wall Street Journal and Forbes to the Associated Press, Business Insider, Entrepreneur, and more. The role of search and SEO and its impact on enterprise brands and their visibility in a new AI era made

X’s UK revenues fall 58% as brands flee over moderation fears

The social media platform reported a large drop in UK revenues in 2024, blaming reduced advertising spend from major brands amid ongoing concerns around brand safety. Source: Shutterstock X’s UK revenues fell by almost 60% in 2024 as advertisers continued to reduce spending on the channel amid ongoing concerns around brand safety, reputation and content

Meet the creators shaping the next generation of play in PUBG MOBILE

The Chief Conscience Officer: Communications in a Polarized World

The age of “safe” communications is over. Christopher Barger explains why consistency and not neutrality is the key to surviving a polarized world. The post The Chief Conscience Officer: Communications in a Polarized World first appeared on Spin Sucks.

8 Changes Marketers Should Make In 2026

Paid media didn’t slow down last year. If anything, the platforms made sure we stayed busy. Google rolled out more AI-assisted ad creation features, new Performance Max reporting updates, and continued refining how AI-influenced results shape visibility across search. Microsoft pushed forward with its own set of AI tools inside Ads and Copilot, along with

Future of Marketing Briefing: The ad business arrived at CES in a holding pattern

CES functioned less as a turning point than a temperature check for the ad industry. Behind the stage demos and glossy AI announcements, the advertising industry arrived in Las Vegas with a quieter set of questions than previous years. Q4 held up better than feared but not well enough to justify old certainties. Budgets remained cautious.

Agata Grzybowska on collaborating with Chloé Zhao and Jessie Buckley to make a photobook companion for Hamnet

Agata was commissioned by Chloé to realise these imaginative fixations visually. “She wanted me to photograph the unseen, the unconscious, and this is something I am also very dedicated to,” says Agata. Soon the book began to come into vision, combining Agata’s photographs with Jessie’s writings, with Agata bringing on curator Łukasz Rusznica to aid

The Visibility Engineer Manifesto

“Visibility doesn’t respect silos. Neither can we.” Principle #10 of the Manifesto. Download it here –> The post The Visibility Engineer Manifesto first appeared on Spin Sucks.

Reddit Max Campaigns, Google Creator & Microsoft Targeting Updates

Welcome to the first PPC Pulse of 2026! In this week’s update, Reddit introduces a new automated campaign type, Google expands its Creator Partnerships beta, and Microsoft announces new data-driven targeting capabilities. Reddit launched Max Campaigns, an automated campaign format designed to simplify setup and expand reach across its ad inventory. Google rolled out updates

Brands Spent More than $1B on Celebrities in Ads Last Year

Brands Spent More than $1B on Celebrities in Ads Last Year Getty Images Celebrities are playing a bigger role in advertising than ever before. Brands are significantly increasing their investment in celebrity talent in ads even as they consolidate their number of commercial productions, according to a new report from XR (Extreme Reach), an ad

Disney’s new Tik-Tok-style videos could be whole new hellscape

CES is where tech brands have a chance to show off their visions for the future. From beautiful TVs to creative laptops, we’ve seen plenty of exciting hardware already this year. But perhaps the most alarming announcement isn’t related to hardware at all. Disney has taken to CES to announce that it is planning to

TL;DR Becoming a Nonna in 2025 is less “flip through a catalog” and more “scan the QR code and hope the AI can explain what a swaddle sack is.” Baby showers have evolved from pastel balloons and radioactive punch to full-blown brand activations with themes, hashtags, and catering apps. Planning the shower was secretly a

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