Icaro Doria, chief creative officer (CCO) and co-president of DM9, has stepped down from his post after the São Paulo-based agency admitted to manipulating case study footage for a Cannes Lions Grand Prix-winning campaign, ADWEEK has confirmed.
The departure comes two days after ADWEEK reported that CNN Brasil filed a formal complaint against DM9 and its client Whirlpool after discovering that a segment of its broadcast was altered using AI and featured in DM9’s Grand Prix-winning case study video for its “Efficient Way to Pay” campaign.
“The decision was made by mutual agreement and marks the end of a cycle that began in 2022, characterized by significant creative achievements and the consolidation of a new chapter for DM9 in the Brazilian market,” the agency said in a statement shared with ADWEEK.
Doria took responsibility for the incident earlier this week, when DM9 publicly acknowledged a “series of errors” in the production and submission of the case study video. The agency apologized and said it was introducing internal safeguards, including the creation of an AI Ethics Committee.
While Cannes Lions confirmed it is investigating the case, it has not revoked the Grand Prix.
DM9 earned 21 Lions at this year’s festival, helping parent network DDB Worldwide reclaim the festival’s prestigious Network of the Year honor.
The agency said it will announce new creative leadership soon.
Doria, who also served as jury president of this year’s Print & Publishing Lions category, previously held creative leadership roles at DDB New York, Arnold, and Hill Holliday.
If there’s a combination of things absolutely on the nose for Creative Bloq, it’s an optical illusion you can create yourself on Procreate. And this is exactly what has taken. off on TikTok – a handcrafted digital art illusion that’s making people go ‘WTF’ in the comments.
Posted by user Shopapensage, the illusion consists of a series of squares drawn in two colours. Along with a clever use of resizing, duplicating and the addition of strategically placed dots, the pattern created by the artist ends up wobbling – even though it isn’t actually moving at all. See the video below, and grab one of the best iPads for Procreate plus the software to have a go yourself.
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Google is testing a new feature that allows you to customize the Top Stories section in search results by selecting preferred news sources.
Currently available through Search Labs in the U.S. and India, the experiment gives people more influence over which publishers appear in their news-related queries.
Those who opt into the experiment will see a new starred icon in the Top Stories carousel. Tapping it opens a menu where you can choose preferred publications.
Articles from selected sources will be more likely to appear in Top Stories when relevant. These entries will be marked with a star icon next to the site name, but they won’t replace Google’s algorithmic selections entirely.
Google may also display a secondary “From your sources” carousel beneath the main Top Stories section.
The Preferred Sources feature builds on Google’s existing personalization tools, including the ability to highlight content users have frequently visited or show updates since their last search.
A “Try without personalization” option remains available at the bottom of search results, maintaining transparency and user control.
For publishers, this change could offer increased visibility, especially for those with loyal audiences who choose them as preferred sources.
However, smaller or newer outlets may struggle to compete with established brands if user selections skew toward familiar names.
The experiment highlights the growing importance of brand recognition, direct audience relationships, and consistent content freshness.
This initiative is part of Google’s effort to balance algorithmic discovery with user-driven customization.
While it’s still an experiment, the move suggests Google is exploring ways to give users more say in how information surfaces, without fully abandoning its ranking systems.
If rolled out more broadly, the Preferred Sources feature could reshape strategies for publishers and marketers seeking consistent visibility in Google Search.
Featured Image: Roman Samborskyi/Shutterstock
The IAB released its new Gaming Measurement Framework today, designed to make gaming campaigns easier to understand, compare and optimize.
With over 80% of U.S. internet users identifying as gamers, it is a difficult audience to ignore. Until now, there’s been no clear standard for measuring success across gaming ad formats.
The IAB’s new framework aims to address this by offering a common language for brands, agencies, publishers and ad tech providers. Whether it’s a display ad in a mobile game, audio during gameplay or a custom integration inside a virtual world, the framework outlines what metrics to expect and what additional data to request.
Dig deeper: AI adoption accelerating, but many fall behind: IAB report
Here’s what it does:
“The framework’s launch is a major step forward both for the gaming industry and decision makers in marketing,” Allison McDuffee, global head of brand insights & measurement, Roblox, said in a statement. “These shared standards and an established common language unlock the full power of gaming as a marketing channel and bring greater clarity for brands in measuring impact. It aligns everyone around what success looks like in these new immersive gaming spaces.”
You can view the framework on the IAB website.
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About the author
Constantine von Hoffman is managing editor of MarTech. A veteran journalist, Con has covered business, finance, marketing and tech for CBSNews.com, Brandweek, CMO, and Inc. He has been city editor of the Boston Herald, news producer at NPR, and has written for Harvard Business Review, Boston Magazine, Sierra, and many other publications. He has also been a professional stand-up comedian, given talks at anime and gaming conventions on everything from My Neighbor Totoro to the history of dice and boardgames, and is author of the magical realist novel John Henry the Revelator. He lives in Boston with his wife, Jennifer, and either too many or too few dogs.
The Dirt Shoes were developed alongside material science experts, using biodegradable binding agents to keep its structure. This involves careful thought of the ratio of soil mixes, resulting in a lot of trial and error for the project. Rajeev explains. “The trick was finding the right balance… in the end we used acacia gum.” Looking at traditional footwear design, Basura directed its effects in finding “points of failure” as he describes. Ensuring proper flex while walking, they honed in on creating natural creasing in the design.
In alignment with Yerba Madre’s mission, Basura ensured to use low-impact manufacturing processes in the shoe’s packaging development – parts of its packaging are made from post-consumer waste, while others are biodegradable. “The starch foam the shoes sit inside of, in the box, completely dissolves in water. The tray inside the box is made using pressed flowers, an info card inside is printed on recycled cotton rag with vegan ink, even the string that holds the socks in place uses raffia.”
This collaboration with Yerba Madre is a favourite for the studio, a marker of Basura’s unconventional and out-of-the-box approach to branding. The studio is solid in where it sits; Rajeev describes Basura as making “weird conceptual art projects that achieve a goal… things that people are more likely to interact with, enjoy and share, over a regular ad.” Basura is excited to do more of what it does best , leaning into the ingenuity and irreverence that has paved its way thus far and pushing the boundaries of impact-led brand campaigns.
Google has launched Offerwall, a new feature in Google Ad Manager designed to help publishers diversify their revenue beyond traditional ads.
The tool, now generally available after testing with over 1,000 publishers, allows audiences to choose how they access content, including watching short ads, completing surveys, or making micro payments.
According to Google, early adopters of Offerwall have seen an average revenue increase of 9%
Peentoo Patel, Product Director at Google Ad Manager, says in an announcement:
“For years, our publishing partners have asked for more and different ways to monetize their content beyond traditional ads.”
Offerwall gives audiences more control over how they engage with content, while providing publishers with additional monetization paths.
Offerwall includes several features aimed at helping publishers implement flexible monetization strategies:
Here’s an example of what you might see on a publisher’s site when they use Offerwall:
Screenshot from: blog.google/products/ads-commerce/offerwall-gives-publishers-more-options-audiences-more-control/, June 2025.
Google highlighted Offerwall’s potential benefits for smaller publishers, who may lack the development resources to build custom paywalls or alternative monetization systems.
Offerwall provides these tools with minimal setup, integrated directly into Google Ad Manager.
This could help close the resource gap between large and small media businesses by making diversified monetization models more accessible.
For publishers already using Google Ad Manager, Offerwall can be integrated with existing workflows.
The tool’s flexibility allows for gradual experimentation. You can start with basic rewarded ads or surveys and expand into micro payments or subscriptions as user behavior data accumulates.
The Optimize feature may also reduce friction in testing by automating decision-making about when to present monetization options.
The introduction of Offerwall underscores a broader shift in digital publishing. As privacy regulations evolve and traditional ad models face pressure, publishers are exploring new ways to monetize their content without compromising the user experience.
Marketers working with publisher partners may need to adapt to new engagement patterns and evaluate how Offerwall could affect campaign performance and analytics.
Offerwall is now available to all publishers through Google Ad Manager.
Featured Image: Roman Samborskyi/Shutterstock
At a time when audience attention is increasingly difficult to hold, brands that incorporate gaming into their omnichannel strategies enjoy a significant advantage. A robust omnichannel approach meets consumers where they are with consistent, relevant experiences across devices, platforms and touchpoints.
Gaming aligns naturally with this strategy because it offers a uniquely immersive, player-first environment. It integrates seamlessly into daily routines across platforms, reaches an influential audience with strong purchasing power and offers curated, brand-safe environments built for strategic partnerships.
When done right — in a brand-safe, contextually relevant environment — gaming isn’t just an add-on. It’s a core driver of attention, interaction and meaningful brand outcomes.
An often-overlooked strength of the gaming audience is the significant role gamers play in making household purchasing decisions.
Players are not passive consumers but active decision makers, frequently influencing or deciding purchases across categories such as technology, beauty, groceries and financial services, according to research from Activision Blizzard Media. Specifically, 68% of players lead decisions on beauty and personal care purchases, while 65% oversee technology and electronics choices, according to the research.
That influence indicates that gaming should be a central pillar of any marketer’s omnichannel strategy to connect brands with decision-makers across multiple product categories, amplifying the effectiveness of cross-platform advertising efforts.
To employ an effective omnichannel strategy, a brand’s message needs to appear in a trusted, controlled, secure environment.
When entering the gaming space, it’s essential to work with partners who are thoughtful about the content they create and committed to brand safety. Partners such as King, Xbox and Microsoft Casual Games bring this approach to mobile, desktop and console experiences, supporting sustained, high-quality consumer engagement. The inherently moderated and professionally curated nature of these gaming environments ensures that brands can engage with their audiences without the risk of encountering user-curated content, thus maintaining high standards of contextual appropriateness and brand integrity.
By capitalizing on gaming’s ability to command sustained player attention and to provide tailored user interactions, brands can increase their audience engagement and reach an influential decision-making audience with their messaging.
Seventy-three percent of players actively engage across more than one gaming platform, according to Activision Blizzard Media’s Gaming’s Next Level: The Power of Platforms report. Players engage with gaming throughout their day, weaving gameplay into their everyday routines and thus creating multiple touchpoints for brands, according to the report. Players’ habitual gaming behavior makes gaming environments an optimal advertising setting that spans screens, aligns with natural user rhythms and keeps players deeply engaged.
In particular, players’ morning routines typically feature short, stimulating mobile sessions — especially popular among puzzle, card and casino gamers. By midday, players often seek cognitive breaks, continuing their mobile gaming. Afternoons find users engaging across all types of platforms as they seek more immersive moments of play. During the evenings and late nights, players’ sessions lengthen significantly as console and PC use peaks.
Importantly, gaming does not occur in isolation. Seventy-five percent of players regularly game while consuming other media, such as TV or streaming video. This second-screen behavior presents a powerful opportunity for advertisers to build a cross-media strategy that reinforces brand messages across channels and extends their reach beyond single-screen strategies.
Whether in short bursts or extended sessions, gaming is an always-on channel in which marketers can deliver contextually relevant brand experiences at a time when user attention is high and interruptions are low. This underscores the critical role of gaming in a comprehensive, omnichannel marketing approach.
Once marketers choose to include gaming as a core pillar of their omnichannel strategy, they must learn how to effectively activate campaigns across gaming’s major platforms — each of which offers a distinct opportunity to connect with players in an immersive environment. Here is how those platforms stack up:
Whether reaching players in short mobile bursts or through longer-form PC and console sessions, effective brand activation in gaming means respecting the player-first nature of the medium. Done right, advertising becomes additive, earning engagement through relevance, reward and respect. With informed partnerships and player-first advertising formats, brands can unlock the substantial potential that gaming holds for driving meaningful omnichannel marketing outcomes.
For brands looking to level up their omnichannel strategies, gaming is ready to deliver.
Sponsored by Activision Blizzard Media
When you manage a global brand, consistency is everything. But after a decade of rapid growth across dozens of countries and languages, Uber’s brand guidelines were confusing and inconsistent, and locked in outdated formats that nobody read.
Then, in 2020, Uber acquired Postmates, who were using Digital Asset Management (DAM) software from Frontify to help manage their brand and assets – a central platform, accessible by any team, ensuring the correct asset was always available whenever it was needed.
Frontify x Uber — Driving the future of branding – YouTube
(Image credit: Frontify)
(Image credit: Frontify)
Google’s srsltid parameter, originally meant for product tracking, is now showing on blog pages and homepages, creating confusion among SEO pros.
Per a recent Reddit thread, people are seeing the parameter attached not just to product pages, but also to blog posts, category listings, and homepages.
Google Search Advocate John Mueller responded saying, “it doesn’t cause any problems for search.” However, it may still raise more questions than it answers.
Here’s what you need to know.
The srsltid parameter is part of Merchant Center auto-tagging. It’s designed to help merchants track conversions from organic listings connected to their product feeds.
When enabled, the parameter is appended to URLs shown in search results, allowing for better attribution of downstream behavior.
A post on Google’s Search Central community forum clarifies that these URLs aren’t indexed.
As Product Expert Barry Hunter (not affiliated with Google) explained:
“The URLs with srsltid are NOT really indexed. The param is added dynamically at runtime. That’s why they don’t show as indexed in Search Console… but they may appear in search results.”
While it’s true the URLs aren’t indexed, they’re showing up in indexed pages reported by third-party tools.
Despite Google’s assurances, the real-world impact of srsltid is causing confusion for these reasons:
Oncrawl’s analysis also found that Googlebot crawled 0.14% of pages with the srsltid parameter, suggesting minimal crawling impact.
Google hasn’t indicated any rollback or revision to how srsltid works in organic results. But you do have a few options depending on how you’re affected.
You can turn off Merchant Center auto-tagging by navigating to Tools and settings > Conversion settings > Automatic tagging. Switching to UTM parameters can provide greater control over traffic attribution.
If you need to keep auto-tagging active:
Blocking the parameter in robots.txt won’t prevent the URLs from appearing in search results, as they’re added dynamically and not crawled directly.
The srsltid parameter may not affect rankings, but its indirect impact on analytics and reporting is being felt.
When performance reporting shifts without explanation, SEO pros need to provide answers. Understanding how srsltid functions work, and how it doesn’t, helps mitigate confusion.
Staying informed, filtering correctly, and communicating with stakeholders are the best options for navigating this issue.
Featured Image: Roman Samborskyi/Shutterstock
Crystal Moyer is leaving WKMG in Orlando after working at the CBS station for five years.
The Rockledge, Florida native worked at News4JAX in Jacksonville as a traffic anchor and multimedia journalist before joining WKMG in 2020.
The station said Moyer has decided to move back to Jacksonville to spend more time with family.
Moyer started out as a journalist at WKMG before becoming the Insider reporter. She eventually transitioned into her morning anchor role in 2022.
Following the news of her departure this summer, Moyer provided the following statement to News 6 viewers and colleagues:
“From the early days of the pandemic to hurricane coverage and the countless stories in between, you’ve welcomed me into your homes and trusted me to bring you important information. And your support, kind messages, and friendly encounters throughout Central Florida have meant the world to this Rockledge native who lived up to her dream anchoring in her hometown. Thank you for trusting me, encouraging me, and allowing me to be a small part of your day, every day.”
Crystal Moyer
“I’ve only known her in person a short time, but that’s all it took for me to see how much viewers and this newsroom value Crystal Moyer as a journalist, a friend, and a cheerleader for all the things that make Central Florida a tremendous place to live,” said news 6 director Autumn Jones, who joined the team back in April. “Crystal will be sorely missed, and we’ll be watching closely to see what she accomplishes next.”
Moyer’s last day on the air will be July 3.
