Blueprint | The Gradient

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

AI Chatbots Frequently Get Login URLs Wrong, Netcraft Warns

A report finds that AI chatbots are frequently directing users to phishing sites when asked for login URLs to major services. Security firm Netcraft tested GPT-4.1-based models with natural language queries for 50 major brands and found that 34% of the suggested login links were either inactive, unrelated, or potentially dangerous. The results suggest a

Fox Wraps Upfront, Reaches $2 Billion for Core Sports Properties

Fox has reached the finish line of the 2025-26 upfront cycle. Today, ADWEEK learned that Fox has officially closed its upfront discussions, achieving double-digit volume growth across its portfolio. “The Fox portfolio of industry-leading sports, news, and entertainment content delivered double-digit revenue growth in the upfront for the second year in a row,” Jeff Collins,

Women’s football isn’t only breaking records – it’s reforming the visual culture of sport

“Historically, the football industry has been very insular, gatekept and also very commercial. It’s not typically behaved like a cultural industry,” says Holly Gilbertson, managing partner of Pacer, a creative studio built to accelerate the cultural visibility of women in sport. “Covid got a whole generation of women thinking about movement in a different way.

Potential SEO Clients May Want To Discuss AI Search And Chatbots

There was a post on social media about so-called hustle bros, and one on Reddit about an SEO who lost a prospective client to a digital marketer whose pitch included a song and dance about AI search visibility. Both discussions highlight a trend in which potential customers want to be assured of positive outcomes and

Why it’s time to reframe email from campaigns to conversations

Why do so many marketers still email like it’s 1999? Despite all the tools we have to optimize frequency and personalize content, my inbox shows how little most brands have evolved their email approach. Every day, it fills up with a river of generic or irrelevant messages. This brand doesn’t recognize that I haven’t opened

How generative AI ups the stakes for brand safety

The speed at which marketers are adopting AI-powered tools is moving faster than rules and regulations can keep up. Inadvertently or not — the ad industry at-large has put concerns over intellectual property, brand misuse and other long-term risks in the rearview as it chases speed and scale. Brands and agencies are rapidly adopting AI tools

The Art of Dailiness, by Michael Bierut

The esteemed graphic designer shares an essay and drawings from his legendary 100 Day Project, showing what vital roles routine, practice, observation and dedication play in the creative process.

Brand Bias For Visibility In Search & LLMs With Stephen Kenwright

I recently saw Stephen Kenwright speak at a small Sistrix event in Leeds about strategies for exploiting Google’s brand bias, and a lot of what he said still feels as fresh today as it did over a decade ago when he first started promoting this theory. Right now, the search experience is changing more than

QUIZ: How well do you know car brands? Take the ultimate car logo quiz

We love a car logo on Creative Bloq, and we know our readers love them too. We’ve recently begun making our own quizzes, and seeing as the car world is rife with trivia, we thought a car logo quiz was in order, with a few extra non-logo questions thrown in for good measure. So, are

Google’s John Mueller Clarifies How To Remove Pages From Search

In a recent installment of SEO Office Hours, Google’s John Mueller offered guidance on how to keep unwanted pages out of search results and addressed a common source of confusion around sitelinks. The discussion began with a user question: how can you remove a specific subpage from appearing in Google Search, even if other websites

Designer Gabrielle Adam is finding inspiration in everything cheesy, kitsch and fun

The inspiration behind Gabrielle Adam’s bold branding work is usually anything “cheesy, kitsch or fun”, she says. “I’m drawn to big type, lots of colours, and a silly, catchy tone of voice.” Old Americana ads, the kinds of prints and posters you’ll find rummaging in stacks at flea markets, and the movement of illustrations in

Why It’s Okay To Not Buy Or Obsess Over Links Anymore

There are many businesses relatively new to SEO that eventually face the decision to build or buy links because they are told that links are important, which, of course, links are important. But the need to buy links presupposes that buying them is the only way to acquire them. Links are important, but less important

Publicis eyes growth in AI-driven creative

In ad circles most of the AI chatter has centered on media — how it’s bought, sold and optimized. But the conversation is starting to shift. According to Publicis Groupe CEO Arthur Sadoun, creative is now coming into focus. “Production is a big topic right now,” he told analysts on Thursday’s earnings call, signaling a shift

Get inspired by 17 of the most inspirational indie game devs

The best indie game developers can be a rich source of inspiration for anyone hoping to enter a booming creative scene. According to Mordor Intelligence’s Indie Game Market Report, the global indie game market is projected to reach $4.85bn in 2025 and $9.55bn by 2030, with mobile games accounting for half of all revenue. Of

Perplexity Looks Beyond Search With Its AI Browser, Comet

Perplexity has launched a web browser, Comet, offering users a look at how the company is evolving beyond AI search. While Comet shares familiar traits with Chrome, it introduces a different interface model. One where users can search, navigate, and run agent-like tasks from a single AI-powered environment. A Browser Designed for AI-Native Workflows Comet

Former Local Crime Reporter Helps Inmates Find Perspective by Telling Their Stories

A former local crime reporter said she has found her purpose by teaching inmates how tell the stories behind the crimes they committed. Debra Des Vignes worked as an on-air news reporter in small markets across the country covering crime. But accoridng to a CNN story recently done on her work, she was only scratching

Animation is breathing new life into Thomas Merceron’s soft grainy scenes

A master in the art of evoking intense sensations and a cinematic feeling, even through the still frame, the illustrator’s work feels as if it was made for this latest introduction of a meditative and meandering motion. “Movement breathes life into figures and environments; it stretches time, and brings back imperfections that speak to a

Google Discusses If It’s Okay To Make Changes For SEO Purposes

Google’s John Mueller and Martin Splitt discussed making changes to a web page, observing the SEO effect, and the importance of tracking those changes. There has been long-standing hesitation around making too many SEO changes because of a patent filed years ago about monitoring frequent SEO updates to catch attempts to manipulate search results, so

What you need to know

X (formerly Twitter) has changed a lot in the past couple of years, and for B2B marketers, it may not feel like the obvious place to focus. LinkedIn usually gets that attention. But X still has an active user base —especially among millennial buyers — and it offers something most platforms don’t: a fast-moving, public

Introducing Creative Bloq’s AI in Focus series

AI isn’t going anywhere. Its impact on the creative industries only seems to be growing. Whether you’re embracing AI or are sceptical, or somewhere in-between, we’re here to bring you honest opinions about the technology from the people using it, and share how you can harness it to improve your creative work. With all the

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