The news: YouTube unveiled Open Call at Cannes Lions 2025, a new platform-native feature allowing advertisers to post campaign briefs that monetized creators can directly respond to with self-produced content. The initiative removes the need for traditional influencer matchmaking, giving brands centralized control over content submissions, approvals, and performance via Google Ads. Our take: As costs rise and brand safety concerns mount, Open Call could tilt the branded content ecosystem in favor of marketers. It simplifies creator discovery, improves ROI measurement, and could lead to longer-term omnichannel partnerships. YouTube’s move positions it as a central hub for scalable, data-informed influencer marketing.
E.l.f. SKIN is blending product marketing and comedy with “Sunhinged,” a comedy special that doubles as a PSA for sun protection.
Netflix House shows the power of brand marketing: The streamer’s retail play capitalizes on cheap real estate and consumer demand for experiences.
The news: Despite reports that the CFPB plans to repeal Section 1033 of its Open Banking Rule due to legal challenges, financial institutions (FIs) shouldn’t abandon their open banking efforts. Citizens Bank, for instance, still intends to leverage open banking for secure data sharing and an improved customer experience, driven by market demand rather than regulatory requirements. Our take: Open banking is still the "next step in banking technology" and will continue to advance due to rising customer expectations around data sharing. FIs that retreat risk falling behind in a market that demands transparency, personalization, and interoperability.
The news: Two recent surveys from Duke University and MarTech reveal a common theme regarding technology and AI adoption: Martech underperforms not because of weak tools, but because of weak infrastructure. Our take: The real competitive edge isn’t adoption speed, it’s integration depth. Marketers who lead data strategy and coordinate teams will win the future. Failure to integrate will result in marketers ending up with tools they can’t use.
The insight: Walmart sees a (near) future where customers will shop directly from their smart TVs—preferably one powered by Vizio, which the retailer purchased for $2.3 billion last year. Our take: Shoppers are gradually becoming more comfortable with the concept of shoppable TV. Whether those occasional behaviors become habit will depend on platforms’ ability to offer ads that are personalized and relevant. That puts Walmart at an advantage, given its troves of first-party data—although it faces tough competition from the likes of Amazon and Roku.
The news: OpenAI is discounting enterprise ChatGPT subscriptions—but only if customers agree to buy more AI products. Microsoft is unhappy, as it rarely offers discounts for its competing services aimed at enterprise users, per The Information. Key takeaway: Business leaders should anticipate potential shifts in AI pricing resulting from fraying alliances and increased competition between OpenAI and Microsoft. Lock in longer-term pricing and negotiate for essential services while pushing back on expensive add-ons. Diversifying AI vendors and solutions reduces reliance on single entities and provides opportunities for testing of models from different sources, some of which may be more easily customized for specific use cases.
Believe it or not, the year is already halfway over. For advertisers, it's been a whirlwind with economic upheaval, massive AI adoption, Google upending search, and working hard to understand Gen Z. Oh, and remember when TikTok went dark for a weekend?
68% of US LGBTQ+ adults say all or most companies participate in Pride Month to boost business, while just 16% believe it’s driven by genuine support, per a January survey from Pew Research Center.
Cannes Lions, an annual opportunity for advertisers to score accolades for their creativity, is refining its agenda to acknowledge how that work drives business.
The news: Google blamed a faulty, untested policy update—not overloaded infrastructure—for triggering a Google Cloud outage that took down Gmail, Cloudflare, Shopify, and many others. It admitted to skipping standard risk safeguards, per CNBC. Our take: The next outage is a matter of when, not if—and the time to prepare is now. CMOs should pressure vendors for transparency, diversify martech stacks to reduce dependency, and ensure business continuity plans cover cloud failures and system disruptions.
Major financial institutions like Bank of America are exploring issuing their own stablecoins, viewing it as a crucial strategic move. Tokenization, the underlying technology, enables payment transactions to settle in seconds, automating compliance and cutting costs significantly (e.g., 40-60% in bond operations). This transforms static financial instruments into dynamic, programmable assets, appealing to a broader, potentially younger, customer base through innovations like fractional ownership. Failing to lead in tokenization risks U.S. banks losing their global market dominance, especially if retailers develop their own digital currencies, bypassing traditional payment systems. Smaller institutions can participate by partnering or leveraging existing stablecoin services from larger players.
The news: Streaming and social media sites are the top beneficiaries of AI chatbot referral traffic. Out of 1.3 billion generative AI (genAI) search referrals in May, YouTube ranked first in traffic with nearly 40 million visits, per Similarweb. Our take: Focusing on what makes sites top the AI search results could help increase site visits. Expand knowledge-based articles, FAQs, and blog posts with educational and UGC content. Boost SEO with long-tail keywords that are likely to appear in prompts. Encourage inbound links since site authority is a factor in AI search results.
Credit unions have historically championed white-glove service through personalized customer care, a key differentiator. However, the term's vagueness risks inconsistency and superficiality, potentially neglecting internal staff experience and ultimately harming customer service. To truly excel, financial institutions (FIs) must embed human-centric care into their core culture, beyond just outward presentation. This involves training employees in empathy, rewarding complex problem-solving skills, and redesigning products around customer milestones rather than sales. Ultimately, genuine differentiation for FIs lies in authentic financial partnership and a deep understanding of unique customer needs, which larger, less personal entities cannot easily replicate.
Over half of US small business owners are aged 55 or older, making succession planning critical, with 45% planning to pass businesses to children. A notable 62% of owners have accelerated retirement timelines, and 37% plan to sell within 12 months, indicating a rapid wave of SMB transitions for banks to prepare for. Small businesses have favored personalized banking, but digitally native successors will demand enhanced digital features, addressing past complaints about lagging experiences. Banks must prioritize developing superior digital tools, including seamless onboarding and relevant financial advice. Engaging early with future owners and understanding their needs, such as startup funding or growth capital, is crucial for securing these vital relationships.
Programmatic ad buying is undergoing a sea change: Microsoft’s DSP closure signals a smaller role for Big Tech in managing third-party ad inventory—so who will take its place?
H-E-B is expanding its retail media footprint with the launch of a new self-service advertising platform, developed in partnership with Epsilon.
The news: Adobe aims to help brands and publishers improve content placement in AI browsers, search tools, and chatbots with its new suite of AI tools—LLM Optimizer. What it does: LLM Optimizer tracks which content and offerings—such as website details, products, or articles—are being shown in AI interfaces and where they’re appearing. Our take: Adobe’s new tools, especially outcome metrics and actionable recommendations, can help marketers and brands craft tailored SEO for each platform—browsers, AI Overviews, and chatbots—and surface data-driven solutions to help improve their AI search presence.
The news: Marketing teams are rapidly integrating AI tools into search engine optimization (SEO) workflows. A vast majority (86%) of US SEO professionals and digital marketers use ChatGPT alongside traditional platforms like Ahrefs (64%) and Semrush (56%), per a Databox survey to understand how generative AI (genAI) is changing their work in 2025. Our take: As shifts from traditional search to AI chatbots continue to alter the marketing landscape, CMOs need to maintain a balanced approach to AI integration while preserving traditional SEO foundations. Combining AI’s efficiency with human oversight is key to ensure brand control while exploring emerging search and SEO opportunities.
The news: Reddit rolled out two AI-driven ad tools—Reddit Insights and Conversation Summary Add-ons—to tap into its massive archive of user conversations to help brands reach more audiences effectively, per Reuters. Reddit is using generative AI (genAI) to distill user sentiment and track subreddit trends for sharper ad targeting. Our take: Where Meta and Google rely on targeting individual users, Reddit is spotlighting group dynamics and a shift toward community-led marketing. If these tools succeed, they could offer a new avenue for how brands approach discovery, feedback, and brand perception.