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SPOTIFY MADE ITS LOGO UGLY ON PURPOSE

Spotify's disco ball icon sparked backlash, fueled virality, and told a brand story worth studying.

OPENAI: SIGNALS CONSUMER DATA

Consumer ChatGPT usage splits between work and personal, with non-work at about 55%–60% and work at roughly 40%-45%.

TIKTOK WORLD 2026: IS THE MARKETING FUNNEL FINALLY DEAD?

TikTok is collapsing the traditional funnel as discovery, consideration, and purchase now happen in the same content experience. 64% of users buy after discovering a product on the platform, often without leaving it. TikTok Shop and creator-led formats embed commerce directly into content through episodic storytelling and in-feed purchase loops. Winning brands use native, culturally fluent videos that fit the feed rather than polished ads.

REASONING LIFT: WHAT HAPPENS TO AI VISIBILITY WHEN AI THINKS HARDER

High reasoning mode changes AI visibility and should be treated like a separate search environment. GPT 5.2 increased citation rates from 50% to 68% and nearly doubled citations per response, with 4.6X more fan-out searches. Impact is strongest in mid and lower funnel comparison queries that trigger deep research across pricing, docs, compliance, APIs, and product details. Early funnel content also matters since early citations persist through buyer journeys. Brands need content that answers specific sub-queries and consistent visibility across reasoning modes.

THE 1 SECOND THAT DECIDES IF YOUR VIDEO GOES VIRAL

Most captions are added as an afterthought and miss what holds attention. The first subtitle should appear at second 0 and stay under 6 words. Key phrases should be enlarged 1.5 to 2X for emphasis. Background contrast like a semi-transparent bar or drop shadow improves readability. Platform auto-captions should be turned off to avoid duplicate text. Subtitles should sit within the middle 60% of the frame to avoid TikTok, Instagram, and LinkedIn UI overlays.

SWATCH SHOWS THAT CO-BRANDING IS MARKETING'S MOST UNDERRATED GROWTH LEVER

The Swatch x Audemars Piguet “Royal Pop” pocket watch triggered global queues, resale prices up to 15X retail, and emergency stock warnings. Demand for the $400 co-branded product was extreme. The collaboration shows co-branding as a strategic growth lever, not a tactical promotion. The pocket watch format avoids direct comparison with the $25K Royal Oak. It still borrows its distinctive design cues. AP gains exposure to new audiences, while Swatch gains credibility. Both brands increase demand and long-term brand value.

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MARKETING SKILLS FOR AI AGENTS

An open-source collection of markdown-based "skills" gives AI coding agents like Claude Code and Cursor structured marketing knowledge across 40+ tasks, from CRO and copywriting to SEO audits and pricing strategy. Each skill acts as a reusable prompt framework that agents reference automatically when they detect a relevant task.

GOOGLE ADS BENCHMARKS 2026

Google Ads performance metrics showed unusual stability this year, with cost per lead declining for the first time in five years to an average of $66.69. Conversion rates improved across 87% of industries, suggesting advertisers are adapting to AI-driven features like Performance Max and AI Max. Meanwhile, CPC averaged $5.42, more than double the $2.32 recorded when the report launched in 2016.

WE ALL NEED SOMEBODY TO LEAN ON: REMEDIES FOR FEELING ALONE ON A TEAM

Only 20% of the global workforce feels engaged at work, while 44% of US employees report burnout. Under-support is a structural issue that often hits during role changes, unclear leadership, or AI-driven workflow shifts, which forces employees to be their own coach or feedback loop. The remedy is to build lower friction support systems. This means setting clearer priorities, recurring peer check-ins, and more actionable manager communication.

IC WORK IS THE NEW CAREER FLEX

AI is turning senior marketers and operators into high-impact individual contributors who can ship cross-functional work without large teams. Companies should reward business impact over headcount as one person can now do work that once required a PM, designer, engineer, and marketer. Faster execution changes decision-making by reducing the need for layers of approvals and coordination. Teams should hire people who can connect growth, product, and distribution end to end and give them direct access to business context and core metrics. At Lovable, 90% of time now goes to building instead of meetings and alignment.

BFF ENERGY AT SCALE: TURNING CREATOR CONNECTION INTO REAL BUSINESS RESULTS

Creator ads on Snapchat drive stronger performance, including 66% higher excitement, 29% higher interest in other products, and 25% longer watch time than standard ads.

PINTEREST WANTS BRANDS TO START THINKING ABOUT CHRISTMAS

Marketers should launch their expanded Q4 campaigns now to maximize their in-app opportunities.

23 TIPS TO BRAND BUILDING ON LINKEDIN

Tips include ungating your best info, commenting posts, and posting between 8-11 AM local time.

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THE CREATOR ECONOMY'S NEXT CHAPTER: 7 LESSONS FROM SCALABLE SUMMIT

Creator marketing now favors storytelling quality over volume. Brands gain more from niche creators with expertise and searchable content than from mass reach. TikTok reports that strong storytelling leads to 23X more views and 70X faster follower growth. ROI is often undercounted since 40% of YouTube views and 30% of clicks occur after 30 days, making short attribution windows misleading.

LIFECYCLE SIGNAL: THE INDUSTRY IS HITTING “STACK SATURATION”

Lifecycle marketing is reaching stack saturation, with many discussions focused on turning systems off rather than adding new ones. Win-back flows can harm sender reputation when overused, pushing teams toward shorter re-permissioning windows and suppression lists. Organic social is increasingly used to move users into owned channels like WhatsApp or SMS through direct opt-ins. Transactional emails are often underused as engagement signals.

LESS COGNITIVE LOAD, 41% MORE CONVERSIONS

Reducing cognitive load on high-stakes purchase pages can increase conversions. A travel marketplace simplified its booking widget, boosting conversions by 41%. User testing showed visitors repeatedly switched between the main content and an expanded itinerary sidebar, which slowed decisions. The redesign used progressive disclosure with accordion sections that revealed details on demand. It also added edit links and inline navigation so the widget guided users through the page instead of competing for attention.

WHEN GAMIFICATION PAYS OFF—AND WHEN IT DOESN'T

Game-based rewards like points and levels drive higher engagement than discounts, especially when users are close to earning them. These rewards interact with value rewards like discounts or credits tied to ads and purchases. Deep flow reduces conversion into value-generating actions. Simultaneous game and value rewards can reduce motivation by resetting progress in both systems. Separating reward timing and linking game mechanics to value-creating actions helps maintain momentum.

BE TLDR'S FIRST VP MARKETING ($300K-$400K, FULLY REMOTE)

TLDR is hiring a VP of Marketing to scale growth, pipeline, and brand across 8M+ subscribers, 13 newsletters, and advertisers like AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft, and Anthropic. Apply here [12].

OPTIMIZING YOUR WEBSITE FOR GENERATIVE AI FEATURES ON GOOGLE SEARCH

Google published a new resource to help SEOs and developers understand how to optimize their content for appearance in generative AI features in Google Search. It includes guidance on valuable content, common AEO/GEO misconceptions, and SEO best practices that remain relevant.

NEW EDITS FEATURES

Meta is adding granular controls to the Edits app to improve video quality and platform fit. New transition pacing helps tailor content rhythm. Text and sticker opacity settings offer more control over overlays and calls to action. Support for iOS live photos and 200 sound effects expands what can be created in-app. More templates, preference controls, and AI creative tools are planned next.

AI CONNECTORS MIGHT PUT YOUR CLIENTS AT RISK

Meta's AI Connectors let advertisers link Ads Manager to Claude or ChatGPT, but the setup can create unintended risk. Access is granted at the business portfolio level, which includes all connected ad accounts, with no control over individual accounts. This means AI tools may access client accounts not explicitly intended. The only safeguard is relying on instructions within the AI tool, shifting control away from platform settings.

AI WILL NOT MAKE EVERYONE MORE PRODUCTIVE

AI doesn't boost productivity evenly. It helps skilled people move faster, but often increases output without increasing value. The real bottleneck is attention and decision quality, not volume. More AI-generated content can shift work onto others and raise coordination costs. Incentives also limit gains since workers may hide efficiency. Small teams benefit faster while large organizations risk scaling noise. The gap will grow between those who reduce work with AI and those who create more of it.

HOW MUTTI TURNED TINNED TOMATOES INTO A STATUS SYMBOL

Premiumization is reshaping even basic pantry items. Mutti has turned tinned tomatoes into a higher-end product. It's set to overtake Napolina in the UK. This is driven by marketing and a rise in home cooking. Consumers are trading up on ingredients and eating out less. Growth faces pressure from energy costs, packaging, and climate risks. These factors are tightening margins across the category.

SEO & AI TIP: A SINGLE QUERY FAN-OUT MISSES MOST OF WHAT GOOGLE AND CHATGPT ARE ACTUALLY SEARCHING

Instead of running a fan-out query once, run it repeatedly until no new sub-queries appear to get your full topical space.

GENERAL CATALYST POSTED VC RAGE BAIT AND IT WORKED, ESPECIALLY ON A16Z

A Mac vs. PC-style marketing parody hit 2.4M views and pulled Andreessen into a multi-post response on X.

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AMERICANS STILL FEEL PESSIMISTIC ABOUT THE ECONOMY. WHEN WILL IT GET BETTER?

Despite record low sentiment, the resilient consumer today is still spending and sustaining the economy even as confidence falls. Surveys show deep pessimism driven by years of inflation and repeated shocks. Consumers focus on cumulative price increases rather than slowing inflation rates. Behavior tells a different story. Spending remains strong across travel, entertainment, and retail. Major companies continue to report solid demand. Economists note this disconnect is unusual but not a breakdown in consumer strength.

HOW THE NEXT GENERATION NAVIGATES RELATIONSHIPS, CONTENT, AND TECHNOLOGY

Teens ages 13-18 across five markets show a generation defined by balance rather than extremes. They're deeply connected online but still prioritize offline time. 66% of younger teens and 64% of older teens use social platforms to stay in touch with friends. They're also active creators, with 74% of younger teens and 61% of older teens producing content weekly. AI is viewed as both practical and creative, with 55% of younger teens expecting a mostly positive impact compared to 37% of older teens. They move between skepticism and optimism, and expect brands to deliver both trend relevance and real value.

POST-PURCHASE EMAIL SEQUENCE WITH PROMPTS

This post breaks down a 6-email post-purchase series with clear timing. Send a welcome email immediately with access details. Follow up 24 hours later with tips and key actions. After 2-4 days, address the biggest challenge users face. Another 2-4 days later, highlight an underrated feature. Then send a survey 2-4 days after that to gather feedback. Finally, 5-7 days later, send a bridge email introducing the next offer. AI prompts are provided in the post.

IT WORKS UNTIL IT DOESN'T: AI CONTENT STRATEGIES THAT BACKFIRE

AI content at scale often drives fast SEO gains, then sharp declines once Google catches on. Analysis of 220+ sites shows a clear pattern. Over half lost at least 30% of peak traffic, many losing far more. The issue is not AI itself but how it is used. Templated, repetitive content built for rankings gets demoted. Risky formats include comparison pages, listicles, glossaries, FAQs, and programmatic pages. Sustainable performance comes from original, expert-led content with real value, not volume.

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WRITE LIFECYCLE EMAIL CAMPAIGNS THAT CONVERT WITH CLAUDE + HUMANIC (WEBINAR)

In this webinar, Arjun Saksena, Founder/CEO of Humanic, will walk through how to use Claude Skills to generate on-brand subject lines, lifecycle flows, and nurture sequences from a single prompt. He'll also discuss ways to use Claude Code to analyze your lifecycle campaigns. The free webinar will take place on May 21 at 8:30 AM PT.

INSIDE CHATGPT SEARCH: HOW WEB.RUN AND FAN-OUT QUERIES SHAPE AI VISIBILITY

New research reverse-engineering ChatGPT's internal browsing system found that a March model switch reduced cited domains per response by over 20%, concentrating visibility on fewer high-authority sources. The newer model distributes queries across 10 or more "fan-out queries" per response, each targeting specific trusted domains, while product searches now get individual retrieval commands per product rather than bundled calls. The study distinguishes between parametric visibility, built through training data including press coverage and Wikipedia presence, and dynamic visibility from real-time search, noting that a brand unknown to the model's training data won't surface even when search is enabled.

SEO IS A PRODUCT, AEO IS BRAND

SEO should be treated as a product function rather than a marketing campaign, with SEO managers operating like PMs who align cross-functional resources. AEO, by contrast, is a brand function because LLMs determine visibility based on what the wider internet says about a company. AEO budgets should sit with brand teams who own PR, partnerships, and community events, not with SEO teams who lack the authority or tools to generate the external consensus that LLMs reward. Misallocating AEO to the SEO budget starves both channels simultaneously and incentivizes counterproductive tactics like Reddit spam that teach models to associate the brand with low-quality content.

LINKEDIN PLANS PAID-FOR EVENTS TO COURT THE CREATOR ECONOMY

Internal documents reveal LinkedIn plans to enter the paid creator event space starting in the second half of 2026, beginning with gated events for up to 50 creators before scaling to an ambition of 4,000 events annually. The company believes it is losing valuable content because creators prioritize platforms where they can monetize, and sees paid virtual events as a market worth up to $5 billion this year. The model would start with one-time ticket purchases and later add subscriptions, positioning LinkedIn alongside Patreon, YouTube, and TikTok as a monetization platform rather than just a professional network.

WHY "I THINK YOU SHOULD LEAVE" IS THE MOST UNDERRATED COMEDY SHOW ON THE INTERNET

“I Think You Should Leave” shows how niche content can outperform broad appeal when it creates a strong identity and gives fans material worth sharing. The show built a self-sustaining distribution engine through memes, reaction clips, Reddit threads, and fan accounts instead of relying on traditional promotion. Its fan ecosystem includes a subreddit with 363K members and an Instagram fan community with 939K followers, which keeps the show relevant between seasons at no extra cost to Netflix. The strategy works because the content is highly specific, emotionally relatable, and easy to repurpose into social currency that fans use in everyday conversations.

PLAN FOR ZERO SEARCH TRAFFIC (3 MINUTE VIDEO)

Condé Nast's CEO says publishers must plan for near-zero search traffic as AI and ads replace traditional search results and drive ongoing declines.

PINTEREST IS MAKING ADS MORE INTENT-AWARE, NOT JUST INTEREST-AWARE

The shift, combined with real-time context integration, represents a significant competitive advantage for conversion-focused campaigns.

SPOTIFY STREAMS GENERATE 1.5X MORE LISTENING TIME THAN YOUTUBE VIEWS

Each Spotify stream generates about 1.5X more listening time and outperforms YouTube in 95% of episodes. At the same time, YouTube remains important for discovery, and increased reach often lowers average time spent as new listeners sample content. In some cases, discovery spikes can even reduce engagement on Spotify by bringing in less committed audiences. Neither platform is inherently better. Publishers need to measure both time spent and reach together based on their goals.

WHAT IS “TV”?

Media channels now overlap so heavily that marketers should stop planning around formats like TV, social, or PR and start planning around business goals. Connected TV now supports performance and commerce campaigns, social platforms drive affiliate sales through creators, and earned media improves visibility in answer engines and AI search. Streaming platforms continue to take share from traditional TV ad spend, yet legacy broadcasters still compete through their own streaming ecosystems alongside companies like MrBeast, Amazon, and Netflix. The shift turns TV into part of a broader video marketing ecosystem that now includes short-form video, branded content, microdramas, and gaming.

BE MORE EXPRESSIVE TO CLOSE MORE SALES

Expressive sales delivery increases purchase intent by 35.8% and improves product perception by 31.8%, which makes energy and body language a measurable conversion lever instead of just a presentation style choice. Researchers found that expressive salespeople were rated 2.2X more charismatic across 14 sales pitches and 847 viewers. The effect was strongest for emotionally-driven products like clothing, hobbies, and lifestyle brands where charisma shapes buying decisions more than product details. Brands should coach sales teams and creators to use stronger vocal energy, eye contact, facial expressions, and hand gestures during demos, ads, and presentations. The research also found that mild anger hurts performance, especially when salespeople become more animated while criticizing competitors.

YOUR TECH STACK DOESN'T MATTER

Start with the customer experience and work backward instead of starting with tools or AI workflows. Focus on two audiences, prospects and the internal sales team. Target the right ICP at the right time with the right message. Treat internal buy in as critical since sales adoption drives campaign success. Build campaigns around distribution, messaging, and ICP clarity before choosing any tools. Create content that delivers value through outcomes rather than product features. Select technology only after the strategy is clear, with emphasis on taste and judgment over tooling.

FORGET DANCES. TIKTOK WANTS PEOPLE TO SHOP

TikTok's latest product announcements position the platform as a full commerce destination, with TikTok GO enabling in-feed travel bookings and Search Hubs placing sponsored brand pages at the top of search results. Branded Buzz inverts the typical creator outreach model by letting advertisers post open briefs that any TikTok One creator can respond to, scaling content production without individual negotiations. On the AI side, the platform introduced Asset Manager for unified campaign setup, a Model Context Protocol for connecting external AI systems, and an integration with ByteDance's Seedance 2.0 video generation model.