Paul Evans explores the gap between YouTube’s claims and its conduct in this piece for The Media Leader. He looks at what distinguishes it from TV and considers how advertisers should evaluate the platform. Well worth a read.
The owner of the ProNutro brand in South Africa, PepsiCo, has discontinued the product after 64 years on store shelves. “We listened and explored options to bring back the original product experience, but we were unable to recreate the taste and texture consumers associated with the original ProNutro.”
Google has introduced four new experimental ad-detection tools with the goal of providing additional metrics for paid media teams that buy and sell advertising, as identifying the value of website visits have become more challenging for advertisers since the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI).
For the first half of 2026, Publicis Media was tops in new business with billings of $3.24 billion, according to agency research firm COMvergence. That’s a global net figure that factors in wins, losses and retentions. Group level wins included Adidas (Greater China), HP, Microsoft and Prada. Omnicom Media ranked a close second with $3.15 billion with wins including Delta, IBM and Subway.
The findings suggest that comparisons and recommendations delivered through AI can influence choices before consumers reach a brand’s website or a retailer, according to WPP Media’s researchers, complicating how marketers measure the work that leads to a sale.
For decades, Africa has been described through a single word. Potential, writes dentsu SSA CEO, Dawn Rowlands. The youngest population in the world. The fastest growing consumer base. The untapped market. The next frontier. The next five years will determine whether Africa becomes a creator of technology, intellectual property and innovation, or remains a consumer of a future designed elsewhere.
Walmart’s recently opened store at the East Point Shopping Centre has significantly outperformed the Game store that previously occupied the space. This indicated that South Africans preferred spending their money at Walmart outlets and that Game stores could be replaced wholesale by the American brand to recoup financial losses.
South Africa VML’s latest Future Shopper report suggests technology has yet to replace the fundamentals of shopping: value, trust, availability and a good customer experience. The report points to a growing gap between the enthusiasm surrounding AI in the retail industry and how consumers are actually using the technology.
Pinterest is introducing a scoring system for its Ads Manager to give marketers a view of how well a campaign is set up for performance across campaign setup, creative mix and signal strength. The “campaign optimization score,” available as a new feature announced Monday, will surface specific recommendations so advertising teams know exactly where to optimize campaigns.
Graeme Griffiths, co-director of media research at the IPA, commented that the survey data “shows planning is in good health”. “Planners play a crucial role in bringing structure, insight and foresight to decision-making, ensuring agencies and brands can respond effectively to change. That has never been more important than today.”