Marketing

Marketing

As independent studios move toward more flexible, collaborative, tech-enabled structures, TOML's model offers one example of how an open, adaptive, talent-first approach can take shape in practice. As big networks merge and chase scale, independent studios are taking a different path, moving faster, staying closer to culture, and producing work that feels more intentional. Many are founded by senior talent leaving holding companies in search of autonomy and healthier ways of working.

My biggest gripe with Super Bowl campaigns is that most brands are just advertising during the Big Game, instead of creating content designed to coexist within the Super Bowl. Those that do-like Rocket Mortgage and Uber Eats in 2025-can reap enviable rewards. Brands must keep in mind: this game is the pinnacle for two teams as well as their fans.

Google Search Console's "Insights" section no longer shows click trends for individual keywords. It now displays trends for keyword groups, once available only to high-traffic sites. Selecting any group of keywords takes you to the Performance section with the regex filter activated to show details. Many marketers believe the future of organic search monitoring is keyword groups. Consumers' queries are becoming longer and more diverse as they interact with genAI platforms such as ChatGPT and Google AI Mode. Hence tracking individual words is becoming ineffective.

"Definitely within the last year, we've all from a marketing perspective have had to look at things a little bit differently and focus on being the best answer and not just the loudest bidder," said Sarah DeCiantis, chief marketing officer at United Wholesale Mortgage. "It's challenging all of us to think about things a little bit differently and from more of a consumer-first, consumer-why or consumer-intent perspective, than just focusing on the paid side of things."

Heading into 2026, the public relations and marketing industries are grappling with lots of change. From artificial intelligence to changing corporate budgets and shifting economic tides, it's a different world today than even one year ago. But remember: We can only control what we can control. This is the season of New Year's resolutions, and I encourage all of us PR and marketing professionals to focus on how we can each improve in the year ahead.

Enterprise accounts have become the ultimate accelerators of growth, as they bring massive annual contract values (ACVs), multi-year predictability, and the unique opportunity to expand across global teams. However, along with the advantages come some challenges in the B2B enterprise sales. That is because selling to large companies is not just a longer version of SMB sales. It is fundamentally different since it includes risk management, internal politics, cross-functional committees, and challenging procurement standards.

It's funny to think of people getting up in arms about any capitalist appropriation of "Santa Claus," a 100-percent made-up corporate advertising mascot bearing the same relationship to the Christian historical figure of Saint Nicholas that Hannibal Lecter has to the murdered prison guard whose sliced-off face he wore as a disguise to escape confinement. This is a figure that exists pretty much explicitly to obfuscate the religious meaning of Christmas in favor of a Satanic monthlong veneration of shopping and consumerism.

In brief, AEO optimizes content for answer boxes and voice search results, while GEO targets AI chatbot citations and generated summaries. It might be challenging to get everyone in agreement on what's what, but let's try. AEO and GEO are not going away, and the faster the industry can align on what these acronyms mean, the better. From a strategic perspective, it doesn't matter that much since all SEO specialists should already be laying the foundations for AEO, GEO, and, of course, SEO.

The first real sign of holiday momentum begins after Thanksgiving; Americans have spent more than $220 billion on Small Business Saturday alone since 2010. Retailers are already seeing the lift that defines the busiest shopping period of the year. This is the point in the season when founders can decide whether a strong winter quarter becomes a temporary spike or the start of a sustainable growth plan.

A digital marketing agency run by a former AFL star has reopened, despite owing more than four million dollars to staff, suppliers and the tax office.

"Giving away apples is like giving away white bread," they told TheStreet. "It's fine, I guess, but not very interesting. It's certainly not going to get me to do anything different."

Never before has the CMO position been more complex-or more essential to driving business results. The mark of success for any chief marketing officer is their impact on the long-term trajectory of a beloved brand. So, what does that look like in a year as chaotic as 2025, where there's been on-again, off-again tariffs, massive holding company mergers, and the continued rise of AI across the board?

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When I joined HubSpot, I stepped into a rare position. I had already spent years as a customer, learning how to build systems creatively with the tools I had access to. Then, I joined the company with the responsibility of modernizing a long-standing customer reference system that had served many teams well but was now struggling to meet new expectations, complexity, and scale.

At the core of the rebrand lies the idea Ignite your spark.

"A company's reputation is its most valuable asset, and protecting it requires foresight, discipline, and transparency."

Doing 'Bowlmates' is a step in a direction for brand social that allows the social industry and marketers to find different ways to reach different communities,

When discussing the intersection of brand and messaging, it's only natural to make the association between brand communication and control. It is the responsibility of brand marketers, copywriters, etc. to define and communicate brand message, select the appropriate channels, and shape the narrative of brand communications to fit and drive desired outcomes. Following this line of thinking, then, should make it simple to delineate between means and mediums of communication that best serve the mandates of brand marketers.

Don't get me wrong; the people who launched those 53 channels are surely talented creators who deliver clever or entertaining content-I subscribed for some reason, after all. But at this point, I couldn't tell you what most of them are truly about because there's nothing there to draw me back. I don't know who the creators are, and I don't return to their channels, because they're not building worlds I want to be part of. They're just...posting.

Going viral has always been a risky marketing strategy. In many ways, the bump a company gets from becoming a social media sensation works like the sales impact of appearing on "Shark Tank." Even companies that don't make a deal to a piece of their brand, usually see a short-term spike in interest and orders because of the television exposure. That can help with exposure and acquiring customers, but it does not last forever.

As the year winds down, December's Booms & Shakes feels less like a wrap-up and more like a preview. Big brands are locking in partners, agencies are reshaping their futures, and new ventures are quietly testing what influence, collaboration and creativity might look like next. There's a familiar rhythm... Client wins, senior hires, strategic launches. But look more closely, and you'll see bigger themes emerge.

We play an integral role in driving customer acquisition and long-term growth Long-term growth? A bit like Jack and the Beanstalk? Fairytales are good too. Sorry, please continue. You'll uncover and develop powerful stories of cloud adoption cases where cutting-edge AI, data, security and modern infrastructure solutions delivered a step-change in agility, efficiency and innovation This is a rubbish story!

Bowman will continue supporting her VB Group (vbgmarketing.com) clients while adding this new role that aligns with her long-standing commitment to helping transportation companies strengthen communication, compliance outreach, and strategic growth,

The budget-friendly retailer is taking customers on shopping trips in three different cities this month with the help of a holiday-themed double decker bus it calls the "Maxxinista Express." Each leg of the tour includes three stops at TJ Maxx stores, complete with shopping challenges, exclusive merchandise, and plenty of photo moments, according to a press release.