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Cannes Briefing: Creativity is moving beyond the agency model

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Cannes Briefing: Creativity is moving beyond the agency model

Top ways to use Zapier MCP server and LLMs to boost marketing performance

Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers are valuable new additions to marketers’ AI toolkit. MCP is a framework that lets LLMs connect to external data sources and tools, giving them agentic abilities to execute tasks. Imagine having ChatGPT automatically draft up and schedule social posts across different platforms when your team publishes a new blog. Or

Still life photographer Sam Nicklin loves vintage adverts, colour coordination and eBay

If you’ve recently encountered the work of Sam Nicklin, there’s a good chance it’s been his colour coordination series, Colours, which has been receiving much fanfare online. The personal project arose from one of Sam’s core hobbies – collecting. “My flat is full to the brim with weird pieces that I’ve collected from all over

Google Wants To Show More Links In AI Mode

Google says it’s actively working to surface more

The Trade Desk’s label change forces a reckoning for ad tech

In ad tech, labels aren’t just cosmetic. They define how the market sees itself. The Trade Desk’s latest turn shows just how much weight a name can carry. For years, SSPs were cast as the critical pipes carrying publisher inventory into demand platforms. Now, The Trade Desk has decided those pipes are just resellers —

I’ve tested all the M-chipped MacBooks, and the M4 is the only option for students going back to school this year

If you’re a student looking for a new Apple laptop for when you get back to school, you may think getting the MacBook Pro is the best option. After all, it’s got higher specs than the Air, so it will no doubt keep up with all the demanding tasks that future you throws at it,

Google Rolls Out August Spam Update Targeting Search Quality

Google released the August spam update, impacting search results worldwide. The rollout may take a few weeks to complete. The August spam update started August 26 and applies worldwide. Expect possible ranking and traffic swings during the multi-week rollout. Monitor trends in Search Console and stay aligned with Google’s spam policies.

NBC and CBS Have Growth

CBS Evening News was the only evening newscast to record week-to-week gains in total viewers, and NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas was the only broadcast to grow in the Adults 25-54 demo for the week of August 18. ABC World News Tonight, which saw David Muir absent for the week, was helmed by Mary

Creative Career Conundrums need you! Submit your burning questions

In answering your creative career conundrums we realise that some issues need expert support, so we’ve collated a list of additional resources that can support you across things that might arise at work. If You Could is the jobs board from It’s Nice That, the place to find jobs in the creative industries. Want to

Perplexity Launches Comet Plus, Shares Revenue With Publishers

Perplexity announced Comet Plus, a monthly subscription that pays participating publishers when people read their work and when AI systems use it to answer questions. The company says subscriber payments go to partners, with a small portion retained to cover compute costs. How Comet Plus Works Comet Plus will be available for $5 per month.

Why social video spend gets lost in reports — and how measurement standards fix it

You know that moment when leadership asks, “How much are we spending on social video?” You pause — not because you don’t know your campaigns, but because answering means: Pulling multiple reports. Reconciling mismatched labels. Piecing together data from different teams to get to a single number. That’s not just a reporting headache. It’s a

Netflix’s new AI rules are a bit hypocritical

As AI tech continues to advance into filmmaking and video editing, Netflix has become the first big player I’m aware of to try to impose some order. It’s published a fairly detailed set of rules for generative AI use in content production, which studios will need to follow when they contribute to films or series

Non-Profit Organization Announces Free Domain Names

A non-profit organization that is supported by Cloudflare, GitHub, and other organizations has open-sourced domain names, making them available with no catches or hidden fees. The sponsor of the free domain names explains that their purpose is not to replace commercial domain names but to offer an open-source alternative for developers, students, and people who

How Perplexity’s new revenue model works

Perplexity is opening up a pool of $42.5 million to publishers. As part of a new subscription model called Comet Plus, publishers can now get paid from direct, crawler and AI agent traffic through Perplexity’s AI-powered web browser Comet. The company created the new model based on feedback from publishers that are already part of

Are Berlin’s urban artists destined to paint a creatively sanitised future for their own neighbourhoods?

When considering why so much urban and contemporary art exists in today’s Berlin, it is important to acknowledge the abundance of ambiguously owned and minimally policed property that was available during the early post-Wall era, as well as the accrued cultural capital the resulting works have offered to local government and developers in the last

How To Leverage AI To Modernize B2B Go-To-Market

In a post “growth-at-all-costs” era, B2B go-to-market (GTM) teams face a dual mandate: operate with greater efficiency while driving measurable business outcomes. Many organizations see AI as the definitive means of achieving this efficiency. The reality is that AI is no longer a speculative investment. It has emerged as a strategic enabler to unify data,

King’s Hawaiian Is Upgrading Travelers’ Flight Fits at Chicago O’Hare

Travelers flying from or through Chicago O’Hare International Airport could score a first-class upgrade—for their wardrobe, courtesy of King’s Hawaiian. In celebration of the bread maker’s logo relaunch, which it describes as “softer,” King’s Hawaiian is debuting a limited clothing collection at the airport, known as Softwear Sets. The ultra-comfy sweatshirts and sweatpants inspired by

The 5-Step Process To Setting Crystal Clear PPC Goals

Many agencies and marketers believe that success in paid media is primarily down to the quality of your ads or the specificity of your landing pages. While those elements are important, they’re meaningless unless they sit on a foundation of alignment with client needs. The cleanest account structure and flawless creatives may hit every platform

What to expect from social commerce during the upcoming holiday shopping season

In MarTech’s “MarTechBot explains it all” feature, we pose a question about marketing to our very own MarTechBot, which is trained on the MarTech website archives and has access to the broader internet. Q: What should we expect from social commerce during the 2025 holiday shopping season? In 2024, social commerce moved decisively into the mainstream.

Media Buying Briefing: When EQ is just as important as IQ in helping clients grow

John Connors, CEO and founder of Boathouse, has spent the last 25 years zagging while most independents zig. And for the most part, the strategy has worked well enough that the Boston-based full service agency has grown steadily — in 2025, Connors expects to grow between 5-10%, as it handles about $100 million in billings.

Why CrUX & Search Console Don’t Match On Core Web Vitals

Google’s Barry Pollard recently explained why website owners see different Core Web Vitals scores in Chrome User Experience Report (CrUX) versus Google Search Console. The short answer: both tools can be correct because they measure different things. Pollard addressed the issue on Bluesky after questions about sites showing 90% “good” page loads in CrUX but

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