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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

The Antidote to Brain Rot

Instead of trying to quit scrolling altogether, consider a more realistic antidote to “brain rot”: learning. In a world filled with short-form content that chips away at our focus, committing to something structured—like a course, certification, or new skill—can help rebuild attention span, deepen understanding, and bring a sense of clarity back to our thinking.

AI Leads All Reasons For U.S. Job Cuts In March, Report Says

Artificial intelligence led all employer-cited reasons for U.S. job cuts in March, accounting for 15,341 of the month’s 60,620 announced layoffs, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. That’s 25% of all cuts for the month, up from roughly 10% in February. Since Challenger began tracking AI as a reason in 2023, employers have

HubSpot moves to outcome-based pricing for some Breeze AI agents

HubSpot announced today that it is moving to outcome-based pricing for two of its Breeze AI agents, effective April 14, 2026. The pricing change applies to Customer Agent and Prospecting Agent, and HubSpot hopes the outcome-based pricing will better reflect the value these agents deliver for customers and make them easier to use. According to

Purple Puppet Brand Identity

The Purple Puppet Logo Rebranding project aimed to refresh and modernize the visual identity of the existing PP brand. The scope of the project involved redesigning the logo, facelifting the mascot, creating a dynamic animation, and establishing a vibrant purple gradient color palette to enhance the overall brand identity. The result is a bright, recognizable

Who Owns SEO In The Enterprise? The Accountability Gap That Kills Performance

Enterprise SEO doesn’t fail because teams don’t care, lack expertise, or miss tactics. It fails because ownership is fractured. In most large organizations, everyone controls a piece of SEO, yet no single group owns the outcome. Visibility, traffic, and discoverability depend on dozens of upstream decisions made across engineering, content, product, UX, legal, and local

Meta’s bid to woo creators to Facebook just might work, despite its recent legal woes

Earlier this month, Meta announced its Facebook Creator Fast Track, a program aimed at attracting more creators to the platform by offering guaranteed payouts depending on their follower size on Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube. It’s a clear attempt to build up a robust creator space on a somewhat untapped platform, and there are some benefits

Elisava’s Master’s in Graphic Design is about what design can do for others, and what you can do for design

The programme culminates in a public graduate show, where a full exhibition of each student’s project is hosted, marking the culmination of their numerous research-led, interdisciplinary practices. One such example is the Cloud Watching Society, from creative duo Amaya and Ángela, who created and branded the institution as a foil for our increasingly digital and

Building An In-House PPC Team

AI and automation in ad platforms are well established. Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising are heavily invested in automated features, and the technical barrier to entry has never been lower. However, that accessibility comes with a tradeoff. Two common challenges surface when bringing a PPC team in-house: Campaigns are easier to launch than they are

The Feeding Frenzy Fueling Food Media M&A

This story was originally published in On Background with Mark Stenberg, a free, weekly newsletter that explores the key themes shaping the media industry. You can sign up for it here. In the past year, interest in food media has grown from a simmer to a boil. The uptick began last March, when the food technology

The new Supergirl trailer is getting some surprising comparisons

It’s going to be another big summer for super heroes. Ahead of Spider-Man Brand New Day in July, the new Supergirl movie is coming to the big screen as part of the DC Universe. Warner Bros and DC just dropped a new Supergirl trailer, and while it’s sparked more interest from fans than the first

How To Do Evergreen Content In 2026 (And Beyond)

Fair to say the majority of evergreen content will not drive the value it did five years ago. Hell, even one or two years ago. What we have done for the last decade will not be as profitable. AIOs have eroded clicks. Answer engines have given people options. And to be fair, people are bored

The agentic web meets the digital ad ecosystem

Adtech vendors were among the early adopters of machine learning, using it to help optimize campaign performance over the past decade. Social media platforms use AI to help build creative units. But there are a number of use cases for AI and agents in the advertising ecosystem, including audience research and insights, which are flying

Illustrations for Turisanda :: Behance

About Turisanda 1924: Turisanda 1924 is a historic Italian tour operator, part of the Alpitour World group, specializing in organized trips, high-end tours, tailor-made experiences, and luxury vacations worldwide. With nearly 80 years of experience, the brand stands out for its exclusive and personalized itineraries. About the request: A series of images for the Turisanda

Google Answers Why Core Updates Can Roll Out In Stages

Google’s John Mueller responded to a question about whether core updates roll out in stages or follow a fixed sequence. His answer offers some clarity about how core updates are rolled out and also about what some core updates actually are. Question About Core Update Timing And Volatility An SEO asked on Bluesky whether core

How E.l.f. Beauty is using AI to alleviate the workload of its workforce

As every brand and retailer grapples with the implications of artificial intelligence, they’re having to ask themselves tough questions about where they will and won’t use AI, and what their guiding principles are as they experiment with seemingly endless use cases. E.l.f. Beauty’s guiding principle is simple, according to its chief digital officer, Ekta Chopra.

Oilinwater approaches branding like an investigator, to build visual systems from rigorous research

Sometimes, on the odd occasion, as creatives all know, you can get pretty lucky with ideas. In a recent project for Belgium’s largest fine food store Rob The Gourmets’ Market, the studio took on the packaging design for its first craft beer collaboration with Brussels Brewery En Stoemelings. “In the case of Rob beer, the

The Science Of What AI Actually Rewards

Boost your skills with Growth Memo’s weekly expert insights. Subscribe for free! In “The Science Of How AI Pays Attention,” I analyzed 1.2 million ChatGPT responses to understand exactly how AI reads a page. In “The Science Of How AI Picks Its Sources,” I analyzed 98,000 citation rows to understand which pages make it into

News Outlets Share Coverage Plans for Historic Artemis II Launch

After more than 50 years, the United States is heading back to the moon. On Wednesday afternoon, NASA is set to launch the four-person Artemis II mission on a 10-day trip that will orbit the moon and return. The mission will see the astronauts, Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, astronaut Christina Koch, and Canadian

Turn every tea break into a ritual with these beautiful matcha kits

I’ll admit I’m a sucker for trends, so when matcha drinks started gaining popularity, I was straight on it, but spending a fortune on the coffee shop variety was quickly burning a hole in my pocket. In search of an alternative to Blank Street, I started DIYing my own matcha at home and quickly realised

Google Explains Googlebot Byte Limits And Crawling Architecture

Google’s Gary Illyes published a blog post explaining how Googlebot’s crawling systems work. The post covers byte limits, partial fetching behavior, and how Google’s crawling infrastructure is organized. The post references episode 105 of the Search Off the Record podcast, where Illyes and Martin Splitt discussed the same topics. Illyes adds more details about crawling

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