Blueprint | The Gradient

Who Won, Who Cut and What Comes Next in Advertising

Featured Stories

The GRADIENT

Who Won, Who Cut and What Comes Next in Advertising

Google Adds AI-Powered Configuration To Search Console

Google is rolling out an experimental feature that lets Search Console users configure the Search results Performance report using natural language instead of manual filter selection. The feature, called AI-powered configuration, translates plain-language requests into the appropriate filters and settings. You can describe the analysis you want to see, and the system handles the technical

The ‘data foundation’ for AI starts paying off for Salesforce

They say things move faster in the AI age, and on Wednesday, Salesforce delivered the latest example. Salesforce announced its third-quarter results for the 2026 fiscal year on Wednesday. The high-level numbers looked good. Revenue for the quarter was $10.3 billion, up 9% year over year. The company raised its full fiscal year 2026 revenue guidance

Triumph or disaster? The Jaguar rebrand one year on

A teaser video with no car, the biggest rebrand in its 102-year history, and sales plummeting by 97% – the story of the past 12 months has been nothing short of a rollercoaster for Jaguar. Now, one year on from the rebrand that got the world talking – arguably one of the most controversial rebrands

5 Reasons To Use The Internet Archive’s New WordPress Plugin

The Internet Archive, also known as the Wayback Machine, is generally regarded as a place to view old web pages, but its value goes far beyond reviewing old pages. There are five ways that Archive.org can help a website improve their user experience and SEO. The Wayback Machine’s new WordPress plugin makes it easy to

‘A massive opportunity’: Why are brands ignoring working class consumers?

Deemed “too niche”, hard to reach or ignored in favour of “aspirational” audiences, marketers explain why overlooking working class consumers is a costly mistake. Source

Murugiah reimagines George Orwell’s 1984 with psychedelic illustration and dripping paint

For the hand-painted cover, Murugiah recreated his digital mock up drawings onto heavy stock watercolour paper with red ink. After the ink drawings were done, they were then taped to the drawing board where Murugiah dripped paint and moved the paper around, applying randomised brush strokes onto the paper. The result is a richly textured

Quantifying Lost Organic Market Share

Every month, companies lose millions in unrealized search value not because their teams stopped optimizing, but because they stopped seeing where visibility converts into economic return. When search performance drops, most teams chase rankings. The real leaders chase equity. This is the Search Equity Gap – the measurable delta between the organic market share your

WTF is weather targeting?

This WTF guide, sponsored by The Weather Company, digs into what weather targeting is — how it differs from other contextual signals, common misconceptions and misunderstandings and how advertisers across industries can maximize its effectiveness. Amid the many shifts in consumer behaviors, trends and other factors, global brands have now made understanding and leveraging consumer

“Not using AI for animation is inhumane,” Netflix Pokémon producer says

A lot of the defence of AI from industry execs has focused on how it will do the jobs that creatives don’t want. A former Netflix producer has now taken that further with a pretty bold statement. Taiki Sakurai, who was executive producer on Pokémon Concierge and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners and now heads animation studio Salamander

7 SEO, Marketing, And Tech Predictions For 2026

Previous predictions: 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 This is my 8th time publishing annual predictions. As always, the goal is not to be right but to practice thinking. For example, in 2018, I predicted “Niche communities will be discovered as a great channel for growth” and “Email marketing will return” in 2019. It took another 6 years. That same year,

Freelancers Who Worked for the Mill Claim at Least $280,000 in Unpaid Fees

Freelancers who once worked for the storied production studio The Mill say they’re owed at least $280,000, but see little hope in ever getting the funds. When The Mill relaunched under new owner TransPerfect in October, some industry observers celebrated the return of a venerated creative institution. On Oct. 20—one week before TransPerfect unveiled plans

Photographer Éva Szombat challenges the cyclical and absurd nature of nostalgia

When the Budapest-based photographer Éva Szombat found the fashion of her childhood reemerging in 2017, she was teaching photography at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design. Around campus, she saw young students who were dressed like her parents in the 1980s and 1990s. She found that people who never existed in that era were

Is An XML Or HTML Sitemap Better For SEO?

In this edition of Ask An SEO, we break down a common point of confusion for site owners and technical SEOs: Do I need both an XML sitemap and an HTML one, and which one is better to use for SEO? It can be a bit confusing to know whether it’s better to use an

Android code reveals OpenAI’s plans as user reports first ChatGPT ad

OpenAI is reportedly nearing the launch of ads in the ChatGPT Android app, according to recent code findings. Meanwhile, one user says an ad has already appeared in the wild. What’s new. Early references to an ad system were found in the latest ChatGPT Android beta (v1.2025.329). Inside the APK, TestingCatalog spotted strings such as: “ads feature”

Missed out on Cyber Monday? There’s still a chance to save $400 /£280 on xTool’s latest laser

If you missed out on Cyber Monday savings, then don’t fret, as xTool has extended its mega sale for 3 additional days! This is the company’s biggest sale of the year, and you really won’t want to miss out, especially if you’re shopping for one of the best laser cutters and engravers on the market.

OpenAI Declares ‘Code Red’ To Improve ChatGPT In Response To Google

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has declared a “code red” to focus company resources on improving ChatGPT, according to an internal memo reported by The Wall Street Journal and The Information. The memo signals OpenAI’s response to growing competition from Google, whose Gemini 3 model has outperformed ChatGPT in several benchmark tests since launching last month,

Nine to thrive: 5 truths for high-performing teams

From a need to redefine terms like ‘performance’ and ‘potential’ to understanding that one size does not fit all when it comes to employee engagement, the way to manage marketing teams is evolving. Source

Samba’s mythical direction for sports brand Yonex transforms tennis into a gladiator’s arena

Samba likes to start off his projects with poetry, translating emotion onto the page before raising his camera. Each of the tennis players captured in the film is depicted like a statue, with a raise of a racket featured as a nod to New York’s Lady Liberty. The outlines of moving figures are caught in

YouTube Launches First Annual Recap Feature For All Users

YouTube launched its first annual Recap feature, providing users with a personalized summary of their viewing activity throughout the year. The feature is available starting today for users in North America and will roll out globally throughout the week, according to the YouTube Blog. What’s New YouTube Recap is accessible from the homepage or under

How advertisers maximize lead generation during Q5

As the holiday season winds down, a little-known window of opportunity opens for advertisers known as Q5. During the period from late December to mid- or late January, also known as Q5, many advertisers go dark after shipping deadlines have passed. Meanwhile, consumers are in discovery mode — scrolling on their mobile devices and spending

Join Our Newsletter

For more professional opportunities join our newsletter.