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Who Won, Who Cut and What Comes Next in Advertising

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The GRADIENT

Who Won, Who Cut and What Comes Next in Advertising

Waitrose overtakes John Lewis as public’s favourite Christmas ad, study finds

McDonald’s and Asda both using The Grinch has led to ad misattribution, according to Ipsos data. Source

Elizabeth Goodspeed on how many designers it takes to make a studio

For others, starting a studio is more about catching up with an existing reality. Before she was (Studio) Lotta Nieminen, Finnish designer Lotta Nieminen had built nearly a decade of experience designing for agencies and brands and illustrating for children’s books and clients like Bvlgari, Marimekko, Liberty, and Herman Miller. From 2012-2021, she operated as

The 8 Most Important PPC KPIs You Should Be Tracking

If your PPC performance reports still start with vanity metrics like click-through rate and impressions, you’re only seeing the surface of performance. Executives are not impressed by screenshots of green arrows. They want to know if paid media is adding profit, building pipeline value, and supporting long-term growth. That is a much higher bar than

Meta enters AI licensing fray, striking deals with People Inc., USA Today Co. and more

The platform has secured seven, multi-year AI content licensing deals with publishers, including CNN, Fox News, People Inc., USA Today Co., to incorporate their content into its large language model (LLM), Llama. In the coming days, new and archival content from across People Inc.’s household brand titles, including People, Better Homes and Gardens, Allrecipes, Food

Discover what inspires a tabletop game and TCG artist

Matteo Meloni is a digital painter from Rome who is working on tabletop games and TCGs. With Upper Deck Company, he has contributed art to the likes of Rush of Ikorr and Dungeondraft: Pirates and Paladins. His work tends to make use of dramatic shadows and vibrancy. As well as animated movies like Princess Mononoke,

AI Max Insights, Cyber Monday Trends & A New Google Asset

The conversations shaping PPC this week focused on how AI interprets intent, how holiday demand played out across Shopping and Performance Max, and how Google is adding more automated language directly into ads. Google shared more clarity around AI Max, while Adalysis shared AI Max match type behavior, retail analysts broke down early Cyber Monday

Macy’s Parade Coverage Boosts Today

The week leading to the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend belonged to NBC News’ Today. The program’s winning streak in total viewers and the Adults 25-54 demo extended to five weeks. Notably, this week’s win received a significant bump from Today’s coverage of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, which typically lifts NBC News’ morning show. In

The First 30 Years shows the evolution of a console that invited us to play in a whole new world

The original PlayStation didn’t just signal Sony’s rise to prominence in the video game industry, in a time where Nintendo had a firm grip on home consoles with countless memorable titles to their name – it ushered in a new era of memories that were going to be shared with Sony’s handsome machines for the

ChatGPT Vs. Gemini Vs. Claude: What Are The Differences?

Chatbots have changed many professionals’ workflows and processes. Accountants, lawyers, SEO experts, writers, agencies, developers, and even teachers are still discussing the changes taking place in their field thanks to tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude. If you want to search for information, need help fixing bugs in your CSS, want to create something as

Rethinking marketing creativity in compliance-heavy industries

Many industries benefit greatly from strategic marketing yet are often held back by regulatory or compliance requirements. Financial services, healthcare, legal, insurance, engineering, energy and environmental management, cybersecurity and similar sectors are often viewed as dry, overly stoic or difficult places to employ creative tactics — though that isn’t true at all. Before teams can

The Fiio FT1 Pro are the perfect entry-level audiophile headphone

Why you can trust Creative Bloq Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test. One of the things that I love about audiophile headphones – other than the jaw-dropping listening experience – is the relatively low price

YouTube Shorts Algorithm May Now Favor Fresh Over Evergreen

YouTube appears to have changed how it recommends Shorts, according to analysts who work with some of the platform’s largest channels. The shift reportedly began in mid-September and deprioritizes videos older than roughly 30 days, favoring more recent uploads. Mario Joos, a retention strategist who works with MrBeast, Stokes Twins, and Alan’s Universe, first identified

Marketing’s class problem and the fundamentals: Your Marketing Week

At the end of every week, we look at the key stories, offering our view on what they mean for you and the industry. From exposing marketing’s short-sightedness when it comes to working-class audiences to underlining the importance of getting the basics right, it’s been a busy week. Here is my take. Source

Royal Albert Hall gets a bold visual overhaul that unites its architecture and reputation

Stylistically, the new wordmark draws on the venue’s Victorian heritage through “subtle sign-painted cues” as well as nods to an era where the Hall’s cultural cachet was built. Diverting easy nostalgia, the wordmark looks rooted and distinctive. In support, Brandpie introduced Aktiv Grotesk as the core type system, building upon the brand’s previous typeface which

Google Updates Console, Maps & AI Mode Flow

Google packed a lot into this week, with Search Console picking up AI-powered configuration, Maps loosening its real-name rule for reviews, and a new test nudging more people from AI Overviews into AI Mode. Here’s what that means for you. Google Search Console Tests AI-Powered Report Configuration Google introduced an experimental AI feature in Search

The ad industry is automating itself out of knowing what comes next

Programmatic marketers may not understand AI but they’re even more unsure of themselves. That was the undercurrent at this week’s Digiday Programmatic Marketing Summit in New Orleans. Onstage discussions, offstage pow wows and the usually candid town halls all pointed to the same tension: everyone talking about AI, yet few felt equipped to shape what

Motorola Edge 70 review: gorgeous camera phone outshines iPhone Air

Why you can trust Creative Bloq Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test. Motorola Edge 70 deals 36 months Unlimited mins Unlimitedtexts 5GBdata 36 months Unlimited mins Unlimitedtexts 5GBdata 24 months Unlimited mins Unlimitedtexts 500GBdata 24

YouTube Title A/B Testing Rolls Out Globally To Creators

YouTube is rolling out title A/B testing globally to all creators with access to advanced features, expanding the testing capability beyond the select group that had early access. The announcement came via the platform’s Creator Insider channel, clarifying how the feature works and addressing common questions from creators. Title A/B testing joins thumbnail testing in

How Omnicom Stole Christmas Week And Nixed Other Perks From IPG’s Benefits Package

Days after Omnicom closed its acquisition of Interpublic Group, U.S. employees returned from Thanksgiving break to a harsh reality: thousands of layoffs, dissolved agencies, and a new benefits package that workers describe as “the worst [they’ve] ever had.” Employee handbooks and benefits documents obtained by ADWEEK show the new Omnicom’s policies are a significant downgrade

Hannah Norton celebrates the humanity and spirit of the characters that shaped north London’s Community Cook Up

A project that ran from 2017 to 2023, The Community Cook Up was a food bank and community meeting point to gather and share a warm meal weekly on Northumberland Park Estate in Tottenham, North London. It was in 2021, when the documentary photographer Hannah Norton was coming up to her fourth year of volunteering

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