Google has introduced a generative artificial intelligence (AI) model that pushes Gemini deeper into Search. Gemini 3.5 Flash, a reasoning model designed to power agentic workflows, is the newest generation of Google’s flagship model family. The company called it a new era for search.

The Coca-Cola Company and its partners are promoting a new framework to help marketers compare the effectiveness of paid, owned, earned and shared media using a single measurement standard. The initiative, called Universal Media Measurement (UMM), was developed through a collaboration among Coca-Cola, the consultancy Top Line Marketing, and Kantar.

AI can now sweep out the clutter. I don’t mean a chatbot overlaid on the same old buying platform, or a generative AI that summarises your campaign reports. I mean autonomous agents that buy, sell, target, and verify on behalf of their respective parties.

Marketers don’t have a lot of trust when it comes to AI agents in ad buying yet. But that mistrust isn’t unfounded. Hallucinations are reason enough for guardrails, per execs. An incorrect CPM could make or break an ad buy, leaving the agency, instead of the agent holding the bag.

That's what I asked Brandience's Brian McHale when he briefed me on the agency's new AI-generated "Synthetic Market Research & Testing" system.

A report from Sprout Social found that while 93% of industry professionals consider social media data collection to be important, just 36% use it to inform decisions outside of marketing.

His current read is blunt. The world is not returning to the era of “globalisation on steroids”. Instead, marketers are operating in a more fragmented global pattern where growth is harder to find, risk is more unevenly distributed and market selection matters more.

IAB Tech Lab and Deloitte research show first-party data fails without consent infrastructure - 82% of marketing leaders are already shifting their priorities.

Publicis CEO Arthur Sadoun says LiveRamp’s co-created data sets will provide a leg up over rivals that rely on stagnant, generic signals.

The framework evaluates the projected customer value over 52 weeks, enabling brands to gain deeper insight into sustained customer relationships and future revenue streams

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) on Thursday released its first Campaign Data Standards from Project Eidos, introduced in February, for public comment, available through June 14.

New AI ad tech startups are coming out of the woodwork, but Kovva is staking out a less glamorous niche than most: using agents to deal with the cross-platform chores that have mostly resisted automation. “The idea is that a media buyer can delegate their workflows,” said James Hassett, Kovva’s CTO and a co-founder, “and we’re concentrating on the ones that cause operational pain, the really tedious ones.”

OpenAI’s ChatGPT began serving ads to non-logged in users, expanding the pool of available inventory and targeting options for brands using the platform. But OpenAI's large language model (LLM) could develop an entirely new pricing structure beyond CPMs or cost-per-click (CPC) for advertising before the company begins to allow more advertisers to buy media.

“What we want to do is use technology in a way that actually does bring people together,” Heineken’s CMO told us. It’s always been hard to break the ice with a stranger. It’s a little easier when there’s common ground—like a shared hobby, interest, or cultural taste. That’s the thinking powering The Clinker, a smart band that wraps around Heineken beer cans and bottles.