#advertising

#advertising

is testing ads in its new AI shopping agent, Sparky. The effort could lead to the monetization of chat experiences, which are expected to transform the way people shop. The world's largest retailer has quietly been exploring new ad formats with some advertisers, according to people familiar with the matter. One ad type dubbed "Sponsored Prompt," is a new type of ad that has been tested in Sparky, the AI shopping assistant the company added to its mobile app in June, the people said.

Every morning, I'd walk into the agency lobby and be greeted with quotes on the wall from late creative head Bill Bernbach. Whether you're running a business, a football team, or a whole country, it's never good to continually rely on dead people for leadership. But my agency didn't give a shit, so those stupid Bernbach quotes are now etched into my skull.

Pixel Drops used to be something to get excited about, especially if you had the latest Google handset, but not anymore. These software updates brought exclusive features to Pixel phones, giving users more toys to play with than other Android users. However, as the November Pixel Drop came and went, the play chest was empty, save for a "feature" that's annoying our Pixel users and many readers.

Oddly, it only seems to be a small fraction of users or queries that are showing these ads at the moment, and by default it's appearing below more direct answers. That's for the results that are marked as "Sponsored" to comply with laws in the US and other countries. This is well below the advertising load in the "All" and far more direct "Web" tabs of Google Search, which show sponsored results immediately (and typically require lots of scrolling to get past for especially lucrative searches).

Nano Banana Pro can help you visualize any idea and design anything - from prototypes, to representing data as infographics, to turning handwritten notes into diagrams.

I've wanted to work in advertising since I was a teenager. When I was 13, my aunt, who worked for an advertising company, said, "You like design, you should be an art director." She explained that it involved drinking coffee, coming up with ideas, and going on photo shoots. I was like, "Wow. That sounds amazing." I studied graphic design and did everything I could to get an internship at an ad agency.

Major shifts in advertiser priorities for 2026 has been revealed by ISBA's latest Media Budgets Survey, conducted with Ebiquity and the World Federation of Advertisers. Representing £2.9bn in UK ad spend and part of a global study covering USD$13bn (£9.91bn) across 16 markets, the survey shows 65% of UK advertisers expect to increase overall marketing budgets. A clear trend toward brand-building is emerging, with 37% planning to boost branding investment versus just 14% prioritising performance marketing.

The world's largest online retailer says this amounts to "computer fraud" when not disclosed. The clash between the two companies offers "an early glimpse into a looming debate" over "agentic artificial intelligence." Perplexity is among several tech firms, including Google and OpenAI, racing "to rethink the traditional web browser around AI," with automated agents that can complete tasks like emailing or shopping.

It's also testing generative AI creative, AI-powered targeting recommendations and expanded personalization options for image-based ads. These are all moves right out of the walled garden playbook. Advertisers love an easy button, especially SMBs. But unlike its massive social networking peers, Nextdoor's pitch is about helping small businesses connect with the people who live, well, next door, the company's CRO, Michael Kiernan, told AdExchanger.

Another "Monday Night Football" showdown on ESPN and ABC will be blacked out on YouTube TV unless Google and Disney reach a new carriage deal in the next few hours. The two companies have spent the past week and a half negotiating over how much YouTube should pay each month to let its 10 million or so customers watch Disney's networks.

When Pepsi released its 2017 ad featuring Kendall Jenner handing a can of soda to a police officer during a protest, the backlash was immediate and brutal. The ad was meant to convey unity and peace, but it came off as tone-deaf since it seemed to trivialize serious social justice movements like Black Lives Matter, according to .The fact that Kendall Jenner, one of the Kardashians, starred in the ad simply added fuel to the fire.

The broadcaster reported revenues of $773 million and booked a $1 million net loss in the three months that included Kimmel's September suspension, according to Variety, a sudden reversal from the $94 million profit Sinclair posted in the same quarter of 2024. Advertising was the engine of the decline, down 26% to $321 million year-over-year. Political spending largely evaporated with just $6 million this past quarter compared to $138 million a year ago which was, of course, an election year.

Whether DDB truly disappears or just gets renamed into something like Omnicom Global Buzzword Collective, the outcome feels the same. The brand as we knew it (the one that made "lemon so sweet" it became a metaphor for excellence) may be reaching the pantheon of famous names that once defined an industry - until we find some of Bernbach's DNA captured in a mosquito, at least.

Revenue jumped 68% year-over-year to $585 million, beating analyst estimates by a wide margin. Advertising, which makes up the bulk of its business - it now accounts for 94% of total quarterly revenue - surged 74% to $549 million, driven by new ad formats and better targeting. Daily active users hit 116 million, up 19% from last year, with U.S. growth at 7%. Average revenue per user climbed 41% to $5.04, showing stronger monetization.

But once you cross the line, it's hard to stop. First, it's local cafés; then, it's gas stations; then maybe "fastest route sponsored by Shell." You laugh now, but you know how this works. The tension here is classic Apple. The company that sells privacy as a product is now selling ads in one of its most personal apps. It's the kind of contradiction Steve Jobs would have hated, but Tim Cook's Apple has different goals.

OpenAI is reportedly developing a generative music tool. While no release date has been announced, it would allow users to create music for videos or vocal tracks based on text and audio prompts, according to a report in The Information. For founders, marketers, and ad pros, this could mean creating demos for a catchy jingle or moody soundtrack to reflect the voice and tone of their brand in minutes. Think the next "I'm lovin' it" or "Nationwide is on your side."

He doesn't work for an ad agency (he's a motion graphic designer), nor did he have any kind of experience producing ads. What he did have was access to a collection of AI models that could produce text, voiceovers, images and video - all of the key ingredients he'd need in order to cook up a parody of a TV commercial. There wasn't any kind of pay involved with the project; he just wanted to experiment and possibly make his friends laugh.

There are many things that are iconic about Ikea, and the price tag is one of them,