Tangle is a new social app developed by Twitter and Pinterest co-founders through their venture, West Co. The platform encourages users to share daily intentions and focus on personal growth rather than algorithm-driven engagement. Designed as a response to the mental health impacts of traditional social media, Tangle focuses on intentionality. It is currently in invite-only beta and part of a broader movement toward healthier digital experiences.
Google uses a fixed grounding budget of about 2,000 words per query, and page length does not increase that limit. It splits this budget by relevance rank, where the #1 source gets about 531 words or 28% and the #5 source gets about 266 words or 13%. Most pages receive about 377 words, and 77% of pages fall between 200 and 600 words selected. Coverage drops as pages get longer, since pages over 2,000 words average about 13% coverage and grounding plateaus near 540 words. Concise and dense content is more effective than long pages.
Pantone selects its Colour of the Year through human-led research that reflects global moods rather than short-term trends. For 2026, it chose Cloud Dancer, a neutral white that signals a desire for creative reset.
TikTok is increasing fraud and IP enforcement to build trust for in-stream shopping outside China. From January to June 2025, it removed 30X more products through proactive checks than after reports. Its IPR decisions were correct in over 89% of cases. Stronger protection matters because 23% of adults globally have lost money to online scams.
A growing post-holiday industry has emerged around paid return services as shoppers outsource the hassle of returning unwanted gifts to gig workers and startups like ReturnQueen. Platforms such as Taskrabbit have reported sharp increases in return-related bookings. With returns now a standard part of holiday shopping, these services appeal to people willing to pay for convenience. E-commerce friction continues to create new demand for labor rather than eliminating it.
Advertising spend is forecast to rise again in 2026, but most of the gains will go to tech platforms like Meta, YouTube, and TikTok. TV continues to lose share despite stable topline figures, and even streaming growth is slowing. Entertainment companies are trying to attract smaller advertisers through programmatic tools, but face a structural disadvantage against digital platforms.
SaaS companies are using pricing and packaging changes to guide upgrades and add value without cutting list prices. One company cut a Pro AI discount from 50% to 20% and raised the price from $19 to $30 to steer users toward Pro. Another company reduced its plans from five to two by moving most users to pay-as-you-go, which removed usage caps and lowered decision friction. Other examples include replacing generic pricing page banners with value-specific messages, selling short-term seasonal seats, and increasing usage limits for paid users as a promotion instead of lowering prices.
Lemme scaled by turning trust into a system and sequencing channels with intent. It led with benefit-first products designed to be understood in seconds, then used creator gifting as a repeatable UGC engine that educated buyers through routines rather than hype. DTC served as the story and testing ground, Target functioned as validation, and Walmart delivered scale. Packaging, PDPs, and messaging were kept consistent across social, site, and shelf. Retail expansion doubled as a credibility signal, while compliance guardrails ensured claims and creator content stayed controlled.
About 25% of Reddit posts relate to product recommendations, making it a high-intent space for buyers. This webinar walks through how to create a workflow that automatically surfaces high-intent discussions. It will take place on January 14 at 9:30 AM PST.
The marketing efficiency ratio (MER) shows how much total revenue marketing generates for each $1 spent and gives a top-level view of overall performance across all channels. It is calculated as total revenue divided by total marketing spend. A sample result of 5.0 means $5 in revenue for every $1 spent. The metric cuts through attribution noise, but it does not show which campaigns perform best. A good result depends on margins and business model rather than a universal benchmark. The ratio works best when tracked consistently over time and paired with metrics like ROAS and LTV to explain changes.
AI personalization often breaks down when systems over-optimize for engagement and flood customers with repetitive messages. The core issue is not the technology but incentive structures and algorithms that ignore intent. The most effective systems are defined by transparency and the ability to decide when not to send a message at all.
Vaseline has gone viral on TikTok. Users are showcasing creative hacks involving the product, from fixing squeaky doors to enhancing perfume longevity. Unilever, recognizing the momentum, validated several of these claims through its scientists and amplified them using content creators rather than traditional ads.
Over 6 million tech professionals read TLDR including developers, product managers, marketers, designers and executives. Get in front of your target audience with an ad placement just like this one! Learn more [4] about running a test campaign.
The K-shaped economy is no longer theoretical. A small, wealthy segment now drives most consumer spending, while the majority is pulling back, erasing the middle market. Premium shoppers continue to buy high-end and safe-haven goods, while value-focused consumers prioritize trade-downs and dupes. Even traditional affordable luxuries are slipping as budgets tighten. The idea of an average consumer no longer holds. Brands must choose a clear position at either the premium or value end.
ChatGPT may soon include advertising content within its conversational interface, placing sponsored responses above informational ones in some cases. OpenAI teams have explored formats that delay ad exposure until a second user prompt to avoid immediate pushback. Early designs reference ad carousels and feature-based promotions embedded in dialogue. As AI tools begin to function as digital assistants and research companions, brands are looking for ways to appear contextually relevant without disrupting trust.
Humor in B2B ads can make people like the ad and the brand more, especially when the humor connects to the product and the audience is not rushed. Experiments found that funny B2B ads improved attitudes toward the ad by 19.9%, improved attitudes toward the brand by 17.9%, and increased the chance of people searching for more information by 8.6%. In another test, a funny cleaning service ad led to 19.3% better brand attitudes among people who were not in a hurry. The effect works best when the humor relates directly to the product, weakens when people are busy, and does not help much if the audience is already a customer.
A high-impact website tweak is splitting a generic “Contact Us” into specific options like “Contact Sales” and “Contact Support”. Tests show this can noticeably increase clicks and qualified inquiries.
This Google Doc includes a curated collection of top AI prompts and workflows for content, branding, and research. It includes systems for creating LinkedIn posts from calls, refining brand positioning, extracting customer insights, and producing bottom-of-funnel content. Each workflow has templates and tips for adding your own data and maintaining context.
The speakers will discuss the difference between funnels and loops. They'll walk through why funnels stall, why loops store value, and the five types of loops. The free webinar takes place on Tuesday, January 13, at 12:00 PM PST.
Allison Stadd, CMO of Ollie, shares a low-lift 52-week leadership challenge that uses music-inspired prompts to help leaders lead with more creativity and curiosity.
Fast answers from AI can weaken creative thinking if users accept responses without challenging them. In a creativity test, students scored higher when they avoided shortcuts and developed their own approaches. AI users who asked how to think rather than what to think improved their performance. When teams combined human collaboration with AI-guided strategy, their creativity scores rose. AI should be used as a thinking partner that supports exploration instead of delivering finished ideas.
2026.01.02·
insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu·5 min read·TLDR Marketing
Everyday creators are now driving product discovery as trust in traditional influencers declines. 26% of consumers say they do not trust influencers at all. UGC delivers 6.9X higher engagement than brand posts and makes shoppers 79% more likely to purchase. Nano creators under 10K followers generate a 34.1% impression rate, more than double larger tiers. Short-form video and real, routine-based content consistently outperform polished brand campaigns.
This year, marketers must respond to a consumer mindset shaped by emotional fatigue, instant gratification, and AI-driven exploration. Audiences are seeking immediate value, not long-term promises, requiring brands to shift loyalty programs and messaging toward short-term rewards. Gen Z and Alpha expect to engage with brands as creators, prompting a pivot to participatory storytelling. Nostalgia continues to perform, but success lies in reimagining legacy assets, not just recycling them.
Start with a proprietary data report that gives the market a narrative to reference all year. Turn founder and executive LinkedIn into a consistent growth channel rooted in real, in-progress learnings. Invest in AEO-driven content that answers buyer questions with customer proof. Support sales with a strong user evidence library, then partner with trusted B2B creators and back the strongest founder posts and product proof with focused paid spend.
Oura's growth is driven by a strategy that connects product clarity to performance across digital and retail channels. Its focus on personalization, AR-based try-ons, and TikTok storytelling bridges the gap between health utility and lifestyle appeal. With more than 5.5M rings sold, Oura avoids feature overload by emphasizing outcome-based messaging. Users get clear, actionable insights, not vague wellness promises. Campaigns like “Give Us the Finger” and “Ring True to You” build cultural visibility without overselling clinical claims. This balance of credibility and trendiness enables stronger subscription retention and sustainable brand equity in a category often criticized for overreach.
HeadsUp spots market moves before customers do. It tracks changes across pricing, products, positioning, and SEO. It also surfaces 90 days of historical insight on day one and delivers real-time alerts as competitors ship, test, or reposition. Instead of raw change logs, HeadsUp explains what changed, why it matters, and what to do next.
Manus makes agentic AI that can make decisions and complete tasks with minimal prompting and generates revenue through subscriptions. Meta plans to integrate Manus into WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook to create an AI companion that handles chat, payments, and other tasks, keeping users engaged longer.
Typography directly impacts how users navigate and trust your website. Font psychology informs subconscious judgments that shape engagement. Use familiar fonts to lower friction and test visual variables like size, spacing, and weight to maximize readability. High-contrast fonts and well-matched typeface pairings increase site clarity without sacrificing brand voice. Small typography tweaks can influence bounce rates and retention, but require sufficient traffic or behavioral analytics like heatmaps and session recordings to validate results.
Stricter global rules in 2026 will reshape influencer marketing, AI content disclosure, digital advertising, and consumer protection across major markets. The United Kingdom will enforce a ban on paid online advertising for less healthy food and drinks, and will update its rules for how prices are displayed. South Korea plans mandatory AI advertising labels, New York will require disclosure of synthetic performers, and the European Union will enforce major AI transparency obligations. India will advance phased data protection enforcement, and China will continue strengthening qualified influencer requirements, which pushes brands and creator programs to adopt stronger compliance standards.
Brands have seen measurable impact from using AI in marketing, such as Heads or Tails Pup doubling sales, Very Ireland boosting CTR 11%, and Barilla cutting cost-per-click 81% while reducing management time 75%. AI also enabled faster content and campaign creation, such as Popeyes generating 10 million views on an AI video for about $200. The core lesson is that AI works best as a tool that supports research, production, and testing while humans handle insight, authenticity, and final decisions.
Over 10 million marketers - and 35% of Fortune 500s - use Semrush to track visibility everywhere: Google, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and anywhere else your customers might be searching.
TikTok now appears stable in the US after a binding deal that ends the threat of a ban. The agreement lets it keep operating for 170M US users and sets up a structure where ByteDance holds a 19.9% stake while US and global investors control the rest. This creates more certainty for brands and creators, but many creators have already faced lost income and anxiety about algorithm changes during the past year.
Google has been removing reviews at unprecedented rates due to automated moderation, incentivized review enforcement, and local regulations. The deletions have affected both negative and positive reviews, with patterns varying by industry, geography, and review age. Restaurants and retail have seen retroactive removals, while medical and home services experienced early deletions, often targeting five-star reviews. English-speaking markets rely on AI-driven enforcement, while Germany emphasizes legal takedowns. These trends risk eroding trust and distorting data, making review monitoring essential for local SEO.