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’s Push For Data Strength Is Really A Push For Better Bidding

Google keeps coming back to the same message this year: your AI is only as good as the data feeding it. That message has shown up across the Ads Decoded podcast, Data Manager updates, tagging guidance, partner integrations, and now even developer-focused content like the Ads DevCast podcast. It seems to reflect a broader shift

OpenAI has quietly launched its ads manager

OpenAI launched an ads manager last week — the latest move in its fast expanding advertising business, Digiday has learned. The tool — described by those with access as serviceable and broadly similar in layout to Google Ads — is a test within a test accessible to only a handful of advertisers. But it represents

Step inside Linda Merad’s whimsical and poetic illustrated universe for Hermès

Hermès also had Linda illustrate a huge campaign to welcome in the new year at the start of 2026, where her Lithograph style was brought to life in a series of animations, made in collaboration with French animator Quentin Klein. “The texture of the material and the handcrafted quality were aspects that particularly interested them,”

Core Update Done, GSC Bug Fixed, Mueller On Gurus

Welcome to the week’s Pulse: updates affect when you can start analyzing core update performance, how much you can trust your impression data, and what Google’s CEO thinks AI will do to software security. Here’s what matters for you and your work. March 2026 Core Update Is Complete Google’s March 2026 core update finished rolling

CNN Names Alex MacCallum COO

New roles: More than two years after her return to CNN, Alex MacCallum is taking on additional duties as she was named the news network’s chief operating officer. In a memo to staffers obtained by TVNewser, CNN CEO Mark Thompson said MacCallum’s promotion comes as she has “already achieved an impressive set of critical accomplishments

Has Adobe just solved one of AI video’s biggest problems?

Mangled nightmares like the Coca-Cola AI advert and the withdrawn McDonald’s Christmas ad show that AI-generated video is still of dubious usefulness as a finished creative asset. Meanwhile, OpenAI’s closure of Sora has raised questions again about whether there’s demand for it and whether it can be both safe and profitable given the amount of

What I Learned About The Future Of Search And AI From Sundar Pichai’s Latest Interview

I really enjoyed this interview with Sundar Pichai by John Collison and Elad Gil of Stripe. Here are the five most interesting things I learned. 1. Search Will Still Exist In The Future, But Much Of It Will Be Agentic Sundar was asked if agents would replace Search. He said: “If I fast forward, a

Email delivers ROI, but many teams still can’t prove it

Email does a lot more work than it usually gets credit for. In Sinch Mailgun’s latest Email Impact Report, 78% of respondents say email is either “very” or “extremely” important to their organization’s success, which tells you pretty quickly that this is still a core business channel. The problem is that importance and measurability are

THE X-MEN SERIES :: Behance

THE X-MEN SERIES A visceral reimagining of Marvel’s mutant lineage, stripped of cinematic polish and returned to a raw, handcrafted state. In this series, I explored the intersection of biological evolution and graphic surrealism, treating each character not as a superhero, but as a textured atmospheric study. By utilizing a bespoke 3D workflow, blending Cinema

Google March Core Update Left 4 Losers For Every Winner In Germany

A SISTRIX analysis of German search data found far more losers than winners after Google’s March core update. The analysis revealed 134 domains experiencing confirmed visibility losses and 32 with gains. SISTRIX determined these figures by examining 1,371 domains showing significant visibility changes, then applying filters such as a 52-week Visibility Index history, 30 days

Who decides what honest AI advertising looks like?

People no longer trust what they see, and the ad industry hasn’t agreed on what honesty looks like in response. Does an AI-generated background warrant a label? What about a synthesized soundtrack? Or does the threshold only kick in when it’s a human face, a product claim or a body that never existed? These feel

Lizzy Stewart’s The Wreck tells a messy love story like only an illustrator could

Lizzy Stewart is back with her second illustrated novel, The Wreck, following her much acclaimed debut Alison, and it’s a beauty. Described as ‘genre-defying’ for good reason, it combines comic panels, fully written prose and full-page painted illustrations, challenging the limits of what a book can be. “I’ve always thought I made books the way

An SEO vs. AI Search Priority Framework

Everyone is scrambling to incorporate AI. But what takes priority? Is generative engine optimization (GEO) replacing traditional SEO? Should you shift budget from traditional SEO to AI content experiments? Watch this on-demand SEO webinar to see how to prioritize SEO vs. AI search based on your business model. Before You Reallocate SEO Budget, Validate Where

AppLovin’s CEO Is No Longer Board Chair and Two Top Execs Are Stepping Down

Mobile adtech giant AppLovin is shaking up its upper ranks with a new chair of the board and the impending departures of both its chief technologist and its chief legal officer. Adam Foroughi, AppLovin’s CEO and cofounder, stepped down as chairman of the board last week, according to an SEC filing made Tuesday. He was

Why this incredible photo makes it look like Super Mario is twerking on the moon

For anyone questioning the point of NASA’s Artemis II lunar flyby, we finally have an answer. With the incredible moon photos from Artemis II handing Apple iPhone ad ops, people have been revisiting previous lunar imagery, and they’ve made a startling discovery. We’re all familiar with the ‘man in the moon’ formed by the dark

AI Runs the System. You Run the Strategy.

AI can scale your PESO Model strategy, but it can’t replace judgment. Shelly Verkamp explains where AI adds value and where human insight is irreplaceable. The post AI Runs the System. You Run the Strategy. first appeared on Spin Sucks.

Your Owned Content Is Losing To A Stranger’s Reddit Comment

The next time you ask an AI what product to buy, which agency to hire, or which software platform actually works, pay attention to where the answer comes from. Increasingly, it does not come from the vendor’s own website. It comes from a stranger’s Reddit comment written eighteen months ago, upvoted 847 times by people

Canva expands into marketing automation with new acquisitions

Canva is acquiring Simtheory, an AI collaboration and agent platform, and Ortto, a customer data and marketing automation platform — two moves that push the company further into marketing execution. These are just the latest in a series of acquisitions that make it clear Canva is expanding beyond creative tools and positioning itself closer to

浙江省海洋运动会IP形象设计|文旅文创|吉祥物 :: Behance

div:not(.PrimaryNav-siteSearch-yuO) :focus-visible{outline:1px solid var(–be-one-off-custom-outline-color, var(–be-accessibility-outline-color));outline-offset:3px}.PrimaryNav-hamburgerMenu-iBG :focus-visible{outline:1px solid var(–be-one-off-custom-outline-color, var(–be-accessibility-outline-color));outline-offset:3px}.PrimaryNav-transparentStrip-u4D :focus-visible{outline:1px solid #fff;outline-offset:3px}.PrimaryNav-transparentStrip-u4D .PrimaryNav-skipContent-y_5,.PrimaryNav-transparentStri

Breaking Content & SEO Silos To Build Entity Authority in AI Search

This post was sponsored by Victorious. The opinions expressed in this article are the sponsor’s own. Improving search visibility across traditional and AI search requires evolving our methods and updating how teams work together to improve outcomes. Content teams and SEO teams have always needed each other. But with AI search raising the bar on

Join Our Newsletter

For more professional opportunities join our newsletter.