What’s Next is Everything: marketing with emerging tech
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Flo Who? Progressive Lets AI Animals Take the Wheel
Progressive has momentarily nudged its iconic mascot Flo to the backseat—literally—in a new national TV spot that leans fully into AI-generated imagery. The 30-second ad, titled “Drive Like an Animal,” swaps Flo’s on-screen antics for a parade of digitally conjured creatures, each embodying a particular driving stereotype. A lion and hyenas rage behind the wheel, a sloth…
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AI in Advertising: Consumer Reactions and Emotional Engagement
System1’s deep dive into generative AI advertising reveals something pundits love to debate but consumers don’t appear to care about: whether or not AI made the ad. In testing 18 AI-generated spots across three countries and 2,700 viewers, ads created with machine help actually outperformed traditional ones on emotional engagement, scoring 3.4 Stars against a…
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Pepsi Launches Prebiotic Soda, Shoppable From Your Couch
Just in time for holiday gustatory adventures, PepsiCo is cracking open the can on its new prebiotic cola. Following its acquisition of Poppi earlier this year, Pepsi is bringing functional fizz to the masses with a limited release of Pepsi Prebiotic Cola in Original and Cherry Vanilla. Each can clocks in at five grams of…
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CMOs Find Their AI Groove—And Use It Weekly
According to a new report from Dentsu Creative, over 80% of senior marketing leaders are now using AI tools on a weekly basis to bang out copy, surface trends, test ideas, and even summarize insights they’d rather not read themselves. Based on responses from 1,950 global CMOs and senior marketers, the findings signal that AI…
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Mercedes Brings the Heat, Moët Pops Bottles, and Peloton Hits the Strip
As the engines cooled off after the Las Vegas Grand Prix, brands were still revving up their marketing. Mercedes-Benz lit up The Sphere with a 360-degree illusion featuring its AMG GT lineup, rendered across 580,000 square feet of LED real estate. Designed by Merkley + Partners and Nexus, the activation cleverly used opposing perspectives to…
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Nissan Puts AI in the Driver’s Seat with Matador
Nissan USA has officially hitched its digital wagon to Matador AI, naming the company its first-ever preferred AI partner. This isn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision—the two have been quietly working together since 2020, driving some real results in dealership engagement. Matador’s tech helps Nissan dealers not just answer leads faster, but actually turn inquiries into appointments…
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Kroger Launches AI-Powered Agent Monday for CPG Brands
Kroger’s media and data science division, powered by 84.51°, is giving CPG brand partners a little extra time back in their Mondays by launching Agent Monday—an AI-generated email digest tailored specifically for category managers. The weekly report taps into Kroger’s Stratum platform to deliver automatically curated performance insights covering everything from last week’s household trends…
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Stagwell Taps Gradial to Unclog the Marketing Bottleneck
Stagwell is doubling down on AI-fueled marketing efficiency by teaming up with Gradial, a relatively young but fast-scaling player in the agentic AI space. The idea is to connect the dots between creative, design, and automated execution through AI agents that cut down on redundant workflows and crank out personalized content across channels. It’s all…
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Claritin Gets a Lift from a Smarter Algorithm
Bayer is pulling its programmatic strategy tighter to home, bringing control of its custom ad-buying algorithm in-house and into Snowflake’s data clean room. Partnering with Chalice AI, Bayer now runs its model inside its own data ecosystem—one that includes media, creative, and commerce info—without shifting sensitive files all over the place. Previously, integrating the algorithm…
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How AI Helped Corona Cero Find Its Olympic Chill
Corona Cero had just three weeks to craft a global Olympic campaign—and decided that traditional tear-jerkers about sacrifice and national pride weren’t going to cut it. As the first-ever worldwide beer sponsor of the Games, the nonalcoholic brand leaned into its laid-back DNA, using AI to uncover emotional insights that felt distinctly more beach than…
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Kind Is Letting AI Taste-Test Its Message Before You Do
Kind snack bars is going all-in on generative AI to cut costs and move faster—because apparently, granola bars aren’t the only thing they want to streamline. Facing pressure to break through with Gen Z and outmaneuver private label competitors, Kind’s marketing team has shortened its creative testing window from months to mere days, using tools…
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How Reckitt Harnesses AI for Brand Performance
Reckitt isn’t immune to the hype around generative AI—but unlike many marketers jumping on the bandwagon, they’re running a tight ship focused on practical wins. With 95% of AI pilots reportedly failing (per MIT), the consumer goods brand structured its approach around one question: which repetitive tasks can actually benefit from AI without diving headfirst…
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Cue the Algorithms: AI Pool Hall Breaks Rack in London
The team behind Topgolf and Puttshack is trading clubs for cues with Poolhouse, an AI-powered pool hall opening in early 2026 at 100 Liverpool Street. Spanning two Vegas-inspired floors, each digital pool table doesn’t just track shots—it adapts gameplay to the user’s skill level. Whether you’re a novice or a hustler in disguise, the tables…
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GSD&M Turns AI Learning into a Staff Showdown
At GSD&M, AI upskilling isn’t just another item on the to-do list—it’s a leaderboard-worthy competition. The agency took a DIY approach to integrating AI across all departments, driven by a small trio of internal evangelists who audited workflows and mapped AI solutions right into teams’ day-to-day tasks. This wasn’t just a tech initiative from the…
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Walmart Tests AI Audio Reviews for Beauty Shoppers
Walmart is adding digital chatter to its beauty aisles, testing AI-generated audio summaries on over 1,000 premium beauty products in its mobile app. Much like Amazon’s similar feature rolled out earlier this year, these short soundbites give shoppers a voice-assisted rundown of key product details and customer reviews. Especially useful on the go, the feature…
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WPP Launches Open Pro: Self-Serve AI Marketing
WPP has launched Open Pro, a self-serve spin-off of its existing AI-driven marketing platform, designed to help marketers at smaller brands or in secondary markets build and launch campaigns without going through an agency. The idea isn’t to cut agencies out of the loop but to give clients more tactical tools for lower-touch projects. Access…
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How Walmart Leverages AI to Enhance Online Shopping
Walmart’s next move in AI e-commerce is a partnership with OpenAI that lets customers shop directly through ChatGPT, using its new “Instant Checkout” feature. Instead of typing into a search bar and scrolling endlessly, shoppers can simply ask for meal ideas or restock the pantry with a few lines of chat—and ChatGPT does the rest.…
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How AI is Shaping Ecommerce for the Holidays
Holiday e-commerce in the U.S. is expected to climb 5.3% this year, and for the first time, retailers are writing AI into their seasonal strategies. Instead of relying solely on Google, consumers are increasingly using ChatGPT and similar platforms to research and compare products. ChatGPT’s own shopping integration, backed by Walmart, Shopify, and Etsy, signals…
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Galaxy Brain: Samsung and Google’s $1,800 XR Headset Lands with Eye-Tracking, Iris Login, and AI Chops
Samsung and Google have officially entered the XR arena—and they didn’t skimp on specs. Priced at $1,800, the new Galaxy XR is the first headset powered by Android XR and Google’s Gemini AI. Visually, it packs more pixels than the Apple Vision Pro and offers better color range too, though its refresh rate tops out…
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ChatGPT Sends Shoppers, But They’re Leaving Their Carts Behind
A new study from German researchers is poking a few holes in the hype around AI-powered shopping. Analyzing more than 50k ChatGPT referrals vs. 164 million traditional transactions across nearly 1,000 e-commerce sites, they found that while ChatGPT may be driving fresh traffic, it’s not delivering at checkout. Conversion rates from ChatGPT referrals lagged behind…
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Why Your SEO Strategy Needs to Embrace AI and GEO
WPP’s chief AI officer Daniel Hulme makes a compelling case: SEO may not be dead, but it’s no longer the sun around which brand visibility orbits. As chatbots and personal AIs take charge of shopping behaviors, traditional keyword-centric strategies are losing relevance. Instead, we’re stepping into the era of Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), where a…
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How Visa Wove AI into Its Core Operations
Visa didn’t just dabble in AI—they rebuilt their house around it. With over 2,500 engineers focused solely on AI and more than 100 internal AI apps in production, the company’s approach spans everything from software development to customer dispute resolution. AI is part of the operating system at Visa—literally. Even before large language models became…
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AI-Generated Imagery: Brands’ Balancing Act with Authenticity
Tighter budgets and tighter timelines are pushing brands toward AI-generated imagery—but that cost-saving shortcut comes with a side of public scrutiny. Recent campaigns from J.Crew, Guess, and Skechers stirred online backlash for visuals that consumers suspect were AI-made. The cycle has become familiar: a campaign drops, the internet sleuths start sleuthing, criticism follows, and the…
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Cuomo’s Deepfake Day Job: AI Hits the Campaign Trail
Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is back in the political arena—this time with a digital twist. In a new 30-second campaign ad promoting his run for NYC mayor, Cuomo appears performing a series of wildly improbable day jobs: swinging from a skyscraper as a window washer, navigating subway tunnels as a conductor, and even…
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Inside Honeywell’s Six-Chapter AI Strategy for Growth
Honeywell’s approach to generative AI isn’t just structured—it’s scripted. With a six-chapter AI framework rolled out across all business units, the company has turned AI from a tech experiment into standard operating procedure for all 100,000 employees, from HR to engineering. Tools like “Honeywell GPT” and a virtual assistant named Red are already boosting productivity…
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Assessing GPT-5’s Performance: AI vs Human Capabilities
OpenAI has put its latest models through a new workplace stress test called GDPval, designed to see how they stack up against real human professionals across 44 job types in nine heavyweight industries like finance, healthcare, and manufacturing. In short: GPT-5-high, the premium version of the upcoming model, tied or beat human-generated work 40.6% of…
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AI Gets a Side-Eye: Most Americans Want Tools, Not Takeover
A new Pew survey of over 5,000 U.S. adults reveals that Americans are cautiously circling the AI buffet—happy to try the data salad, but skipping the emotional entrees. Nearly three-quarters are open to AI helping with daily tasks, but two-thirds want more say in how it shows up in their lives. And when it comes…
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Munchies vs. Machines: Jack in the Box Levels Up In-App Loyalty
Jack in the Box is blending apocalyptic storytelling and AI-fueled gameplay in its latest customer engagement move, launching “DealQuest: Revenge of the Munchies” inside its mobile app. The game sends users on a choose-your-own-adventure-style quest alongside mascot Jack, battling rogue “AI Munchie Meals” in exchange for real-world meal deals. The deeper players go, the better…
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Inside GM’s AI Content Engine Metropolis
General Motors is taking a torque wrench to traditional marketing, putting AI squarely under the hood of its creative operations. After pulling marketing strategy, data, and insights in-house last year, the automaker developed Metropolis—a proprietary AI content engine trained solely on GM’s brand guidelines and vehicle specs. Built in collaboration with Monks and powered by…
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Pause, Scan, Shop: Zales Finds Gold in CTV Ad Format
Jewelry retailer Zales struck shiny results with a connected TV campaign using pause ads on Xumo, a free ad-supported streaming platform. The campaign, led by Wunderkind Ads, saw a 276% boost in QR code scans compared to previous, more expensive campaigns. Even better, those scans translated directly into sales, proving that pause ads can drive…
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Dynamic AI-Powered DOOH Advertising: Lessons from NYC and Kia
Storage company PODS turned New York City into a test lab for dynamic digital-out-of-home (DOOH) advertising using a roving AI-powered billboard. Working with agency Tombras and Google’s Gemini AI, a PODS truck drove through 299 NYC neighborhoods in just 29 hours, generating over 6,000 hyper-local headlines that pulled in real-time data like traffic, temperature, and…
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AI Gives Advertising Week’s VIPs the Star Treatment
Advertising Week New York is putting its money where its AI is this year. Ahead of next month’s conference, organizers have launched “Tomorrow Needs You,” a personalization-heavy promo push featuring over 100 tailored AI-generated videos for top-tier attendees. Crafted by Mekanism’s new AI Superstudio and powered by Google’s Veo 3 tech, the campaign trades industry…
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How Kellanova Leverages AI to Boost Snack Brands’ Creative Performance
Kellanova, the marketer behind snack staples like Pringles, Pop-Tarts, and Cheez-It, is using AI not to dream up its next campaign, but to fine-tune creative that actually drives results. Partnering with Vidmob and MMA Global, the company analyzed 443 creative assets that ran on Meta platforms—and sifted through billions of impressions—to pinpoint which creative features…
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Netflix and Chilled: AB InBev Pours Into Streamer’s Pop Culture Pipeline
AB InBev is trading ad interruptions for screen time, serving up its beer brands—like Bud Light and Stella Artois—directly within Netflix programming through a new, multi-year global partnership. From British crime capers like The Gentlemen to cooking competitions in South Korea, the brewer will integrate brands into storylines and settings where a cold one might…
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The Future of Media Planning Automation
Trading desks may never look the same. Ad tech companies like MIQ and Viant and agencies like Horizon Media are putting AI trading agents to work, using tools built on large language models to collapse hours of media planning into seconds. At MiQ, Sigma has already clawed back 6,000 labor hours and led to a…
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🎸 AI & Advertising: A Rock Opera Takes on the Robots
“Welcome to the Future” – a fever dream of a rock opera from agency Duncan Channon – uses a bunny-suited mascot, centaur clients, and saturated lava lamp visuals to take a shot at the encroachment of AI on ad creativity. The surreal ad is deliberately bonkers, but the message is clear: If we let machines…