McDonald's is ending its 32-year World Cup sponsorship to focus on its own brand properties. Its 2026 tournament campaign by Wieden+Kennedy New York ran in more than 110 countries and was its biggest ever. The CFO said it generated 'excellent system excitement' and 'underperformed versus our expectations'.
Read more at afaqs! →
Weeks after Saif Ali Khan kept joking that he never received the two-year ghee supply he won on KBC, Gowardhan has cast him in an ad built on the joke. In the Instagram Live format, fans refuse to drop it. 'From aura farming to dairy farming,' one quips.
Read more at afaqs! →For a unified holiday push, Walmart is recreating the world of The Muppet Christmas Carol and extending its 'Who Knew?' brand platform, its CMO told Marketing Dive. The retailer's own Christmas carol stars Muppets. Who knew.
Read more at Marketing Dive →
Mozilla's 'Come Back to Firefox' ad reunites creators behind Chocolate Rain, Numa Numa, Overly Attached Girlfriend and Annoying Orange to pitch a free built-in VPN and optional AI. The script says big tech started tracking you everywhere and 'AI showed up uninvited'. Firefox, it says, stayed put.
Read more at laughingsquid.com →
Sephora has cast Seth Rogen in 'We All Sephora', its US and Canada holiday campaign, where he hunts for gifts with help from its beauty advisors. Gut New York made the hero ad, directed by Jason Woliner. Adweek concedes he is not the likeliest Sephora shopper.
Read more at Adweek →Clorox CMO Eric Schwartz explained how marketing for Pine-Sol, Brita and Hidden Valley moved from brand campaigns to what the company calls systems of relevance, prioritising efforts that are 'intentional but flexible' and 'insightful but bite-sized'. The ranch dressing now has a system.
Read more at Marketing Dive →Bose has acquired Skullcandy from a fund managed by Mill Road Capital for an undisclosed sum, after a partnership in which Skullcandy used Bose audio technology. It stays a separate brand in Park City, Utah. CEO Lila Snyder told Wired it brings customers 'we're largely missing with the Bose brand'.
Read more at The Times of India →Google Gemini's Diwali campaign asks users to 'tyohaarmaxx', with Sunil Grover playing several characters, including a woman decorating her home and her mother asking Gemini for aarti timings. Other characters ask about aesthetic lighting and post-Diwali date ideas. One comedian, one casting budget.
Read more at afaqs! →Creative Boom says Lego's Daft Punk partnership, from a cryptic teaser to a fan-designed set, is a masterclass in treating audiences as collaborators. The writer notes it is now rare for a PR email not to scream about an exciting collab. 'Join them' is apparently the new 'beat them'.
Read more at Creative Boom →Little Big Engine has launched 'The Smartest Thing You Can Do Right Now' for Wise in Canada, running from 15 October to mid-December across streaming, CTV and social. Three 30-second videos show immigrants and visitors getting paid in CAD and other currencies through the new Wise Chequing Account.
Read more at lbbonline.com →LT Foods' new DAAWAT Rozana film by BBDO India features chef Ranveer Brar and the line 'Har Din Baney Perfect'. A mother questions her son's inconsistent exam scores and he notes the rice at home is fluffy one day and sticky the next. The rice took the blame.
Read more at Passionate In Marketing →Page Industries, Jockey's exclusive licensee in India, has launched 'Feels Like Me', showing its women's range across outfits and occasions, from fitted T-shirts to plunging necklines. Open Magazine says the challenge is catering to different needs without making shopping needlessly complicated.
Read more at Open Magazine →The Central Consumer Protection Authority fined Kerala-based Hogar Technologies ₹1 lakh for walkie-talkie ads and listings that omitted operating frequencies and licensing requirements. The CCPA said the omissions could mislead buyers into thinking the devices could be legally used without authorisation.
Read more at Business Standard →Baskin Robbins has launched New York Loaded Waffles, four waffle sandwich combinations including Brownie 'N Nutella Choco Chip and Cheesecake and Lotus Biscoff Crumble, which can be paired with its ice creams. The ice cream brand's newest product is, technically, a vehicle for ice cream.
Read more at afaqs! →
Stagwell has bought Freestar, which helps publishers such as Fortune and Boston Globe Media sell inventory, inside its Owned Media unit, where Ink and ReachTV will use it for programmatic sales. Digiday notes publishers wanted agencies to put money where their panel talking points are.
Read more at Digiday →
Publicis has installed new leadership atop Marcel, its internal AI tool, as it builds out capabilities in areas including creator marketing, sports and culture, Marketing Dive reports. The holding company is betting agentic AI drives the next phase of growth.
Read more at Marketing Dive →
Hearts United's Rachel Peace recalls a stalling pitch that turned when a strategist abandoned the slides for a whiteboard and the client joined in. LBB uses it to ask whether pitching can be fixed, after PepsiCo appointed Publicis Groupe to its enormous global media account. The whiteboard remains undefeated.
Read more at lbbonline.com →
After the $110 billion Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery merger formed Skydance, ad chief Jay Askinasi named his team in a memo seen by Adweek. Danielle Carney, who led Paramount's upfront, becomes head of US sales. There is no 'I' in Skydance, Adweek notes.
Read more at Adweek →
Advertisers moving budgets into social, video and retail media are lifting year-on-year spending in late 2026, Digiday's Media Buying Briefing says. Omnicom, Havas and Publicis have each reported positive Q3 growth, with WPP and Dentsu yet to report. Buyers are still keeping their guard up before Christmas.
Read more at Digiday →Courage has been named creative and strategy agency of record for GE Appliances Canada after a competitive review, Strategy reports. The account covers both creative and strategy duties for the appliance maker's Canadian business.
Read more at strategyonline.ca →SAMY is now Grindr's US and global influencer marketing agency of record and its social agency in Latin America. The partnership already supported Grindr's Pride tour and a surprise Madonna pop-up concert in Times Square, which drew 3.2 million video views and more than 174,000 engagements.
Read more at odwyerpr.com →Ad-tech company Hybrid is marking six years in India by launching the Attention Index, a scoring system built on more than five years of campaign data that rates creative and suggests fixes before campaigns go live. The anniversary theme is 'The Next Move Is Ours'.
Read more at MediaNews4U →Dentsu India and IWMBuzz Media will release the third India Gaming Report at the India Gaming Awards on 28 October in Mumbai, the second year of a three-year alliance. The pitch to marketers is to understand the culture, communities and motivations behind how people play.
Read more at lbbonline.com →Zee5 has revamped Free 5, its ad-supported tier, with its own identity and a catalogue of films, originals, Korean and Chinese dramas, anime and microdramas. AVOD business head Alisha Coelho says the aim is to challenge the idea that free content is cheap. The ads, presumably, are the price.
Read more at afaqs! →An afaqs column argues place-based digital out-of-home lets advertisers reach shoppers as spending decisions happen in the last 90 days of the year. The writer had no plans to buy anything until a screen showed a linen shirt. An hour later the shirt was in his wardrobe.
Read more at afaqs! →Zee Entertainment has restructured Zee Studios and movie acquisitions, appointing trade analyst Komal Nahta creative director for the movies business. Suraj Singh and the Zee Studios team will report to him, and he will oversee commercial and acquisition decisions across platforms.
Read more at afaqs! →Time OOH has promoted Amit Unadkat to vice president and nation head for direct client partnership. He has been with the company six years and has more than 23 years of experience across telecom, BFSI and media, including stints at Zee, Big FM and Vodafone.
Read more at afaqs! →
YouTube has launched its Shopping affiliate programme in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, with Amazon as the first partner. Creators can tag products in videos, Shorts and livestreams and earn commissions. YouTube cites a Kantar survey in which 86% of viewers called its creators the most trusted for recommendations.
Read more at campaignme.com →
Pinterest has made Programmatic Deals generally available in North America, South America and Asia Pacific, through buyers' existing DSPs, with Magnite as its main pipe. It guided Q3 revenue growth to 13% to 15%, down from 18%. Pinterest needs the new demand, Adweek notes.
Read more at Adweek →
Rhode Island is suing Meta, alleging it helped 'create and optimize' fraudulent ads and ads for contraband. The complaint says Meta tells the public it 'aggressively' combats scams while 'knowingly' distributing large volumes of fraudulent ads, in violation of state consumer protection law. It is one of several similar cases.
Read more at mediapost.com →
Salesforce agreed on 20 October to buy Braze in a deal valuing it at about $5.66 billion, pending regulatory and shareholder approval. Salesforce says Braze's real-time engagement and AI decisioning would complement Marketing Cloud and Agentforce. Some financial institutions questioned the valuation.
Read more at Digiday →Thailand's digital ministry is coordinating with Meta before rules take effect on 1 November requiring social platforms to verify advertisers' identities before paid ads run. Meta will help businesses, particularly SMEs, complete verification. The measures aim to stop fraudulent advertising.
Read more at mlex.com →Meta's new best practices guide cautions marketers to give both ads and analytics systems time to assess results before tweaking components, Social Media Today reports. Patience, now an official Meta recommendation.
Read more at Social Media Today →X has published holiday campaign advice for advertisers, recommending they keep ads short, use natural language and feature clear calls to action, Social Media Today reports. The guidance arrives as brands plan their final quarter spending.
Read more at Social Media Today →TikTok US has shared its second-quarter account enforcement data, saying it removed more than 14 million fake accounts and prevented nearly 65 million spam accounts from being created, Social Media Today reports. That is a lot of followers nobody will miss.
Read more at Social Media Today →Opah analysed 11,992 Meta ads from 60 charting artists including Taylor Swift and Burna Boy. Of ads with a link, just 4% went straight to a streaming service, while 38% linked to tickets. Electronic acts sent 74% to tickets. The study has no spending or performance data.
Read more at interspacemusic.com →Google is selling itself as a critical partner for brands to appear in AI agent recommendations, Adweek reports, while insisting it is not a retailer. It launched the Universal Commerce Protocol in January and Universal Cart in the US this month on Gemini and Search. Retailers still fulfil the orders.
Read more at Adweek →With the industry operating without current BARC ratings, GTPL Hathway has begun publishing viewership data from more than 10,000 return path set-top boxes across about 3,000 PIN codes. It says the framework aligns with the Television Rating Policy 2026 and plans to reach 50,000 households.
Read more at afaqs! →Podcast and video network Airwave will run its own advertising sales from 2027, giving agencies one point of access for host-read podcast ads, video, YouTube and live programming. It says its portfolio represents more than 120 million combined monthly video views and podcast downloads.
Read more at podnews.net →
The Daily Mail is running 12 to 15 GEO tests across the US, UK and Australia before turning AI visibility into a product early next year, SEO director Carly Steven told Digiday. She calls it 'not just a defensive play'. Brands are already asking to appear in AI answers.
Read more at Digiday →
Indian brands are using AI this festive season to produce assets, test ideas and tailor messages without repeated studio shoots. Festive advertising accounts for about 34% to 35% of India's annual ad spend of ₹60,000 to 62,000 crore, according to Datum Intelligence. Oppo and SBI Life are among the users.
Read more at TradingView →
In Southeast Asia, 50% of consumers use AI to discover products and 69% to compare them, according to the e-Conomy SEA 2026 report by Google, Temasek and Bain. It found 19% start shopping on standalone AI apps. The search ranking now has a supervisor.
Read more at The Economic Times →
In Eternal's Q2 shareholder letter, Deepinder Goyal says the idea that AI agents will become the default commerce interface is 'simplistic' and compares it to old predictions that super apps would win. He argues vertical commerce will keep an edge in some categories. He sees more risk for District.
Read more at afaqs! →
Google updated its privacy policy on 16 October to allow ad personalisation using data from Gmail, Drive and Photos, but only for users who let other Google services access that data. It mainly affects people who turn on the Personal Intelligence feature. The catch is the opt-in.
Read more at MediaNama →Soulflower founder Natasha Tuli told TechSparks 2026 that Meta ads and discounts can attract attention, but a first purchase only shows the marketing worked. Transparency, product quality and listening to customers bring them back. Her session asked how many brands can build a belief.
Read more at YourStory →At Brandweek 2026, CMO and author Doug Zarkin argued that marketers' love of acquisition hides a costlier retention problem, and that being liked is not the same as being loved. His book is called Moving Your Brand Out of the Friend Zone.
Read more at Adweek →Optimise GEO co-founder Kirthiga Reddy discusses the shift from traditional search to AI-powered discovery and the rise of Generative Engine Optimisation. Her argument is that the question is no longer only where a brand ranks, but whether AI recommends it, with credibility and trust deciding the next era.
Read more at The Economic Times →An afaqs piece argues that as technology gets embedded in everyday products, especially in premium segments, marketing is shifting from features and specifications to what technology enables. Consumers may not know the engineering, but they know when something feels effortless.
Read more at afaqs! →Hiveta is building an agentic brand marketing platform for cross-border e-commerce and independent DTC brands, starting with social media operations. Its premise is that AI can generate images and copy in batches, yet brand teams still spend time choosing tools, writing prompts and debugging workflows.
Read more at eu.36kr.com →Marketing and brand roles checked today. Every listing links to the original posting. Nobody is checking your engagement rate.
Marketing festivals and meetups coming up, each checked against its own page this morning. Business cards are optional. Opinions seem to be required.
It sits on your phone like an app and has never once asked for an update.
iPhone
Social Media and Creators
Instagram tests 90-minute videos but won't share ad revenue yet
variety.com
Instagram is testing videos up to 90 minutes and an Apple TV app to compete with YouTube, but it has no YouTube-style revenue share for creators. A rep says it funds some creators directly and calls it 'too early to share a long-term monetization model'. The payout is pending.
Read more at variety.com →YouTube fights Netflix and Disney to keep its biggest creators
bleedingfool.com
YouTube is expanding brand deal work to keep top creators as Netflix and Disney offer deals worth millions, The Hollywood Reporter reports. Some creators were reportedly warned that moving their focus elsewhere could mean exclusion from YouTube Select. Disney confirmed a new partnership on 15 October.
Read more at bleedingfool.com →India's influencer economy splits over exclusivity
Storyboard18
Celebrity and top-tier Indian creators are locking into long-term brand deals while nano and micro influencers sign multiple partnerships, sometimes with rivals, to diversify income. The split is sharpest among creators with 10,000 to 250,000 followers, and brands are narrowing exclusivity clauses in response.
Read more at Storyboard18 →YouTube study says most creators want to appear in AI content
almcorp.com
YouTube's Culture and Trends report, 'Human Creativity and AI', found that most creators in its study want to appear inside AI-made content themselves. Research firm NRG surveyed nearly 700 people aged 14 to 44 who had posted a video in the past year.
Read more at almcorp.com →YouTube's new AI tools shift creator value to strategy
hellopartner.com
YouTube has rolled out generative AI tools for end-to-end production, expanded creator partnerships to 20 countries and affiliate shopping to 35. HYDP's Stefani Stamatiou says brands that treat creators as media placements miss the bigger opportunity. 'Scale matters, but it's arguably the least interesting part.'
Read more at hellopartner.com →YouTube becomes India's living room TV
altbollywood.com
A columnist argues YouTube has become the new TV in Indian homes, with families watching podcasts, cooking channels and two-hour cricket breakdowns on the biggest screen. He also checked the popular claim that over half of India's YouTube watch time is on TV and found it has not been published.
Read more at altbollywood.com →Roster adds TikTok Spark Ads permissions to creator workflows
quasa.io
Roster has added TikTok Creator Discovery and Spark Ads permission tracking to its creator program platform, linking search, invitations and records of permission to use posts in ads. Creators still approve paid use in TikTok and ads still launch in TikTok Ads Manager. Buying media remains a separate step.
Read more at quasa.io →AI avatars and licensed faces open a new legal front in influencer marketing
leadersleague.com
Influencer marketing law used to ask whether a sponsorship was disclosed. Lawyers on a Legal Espresso Talks episode say AI adds new questions, from avatars that post like real people to creators licensing their image for a virtual double and chatbots that suggest products without explaining why.
Read more at leadersleague.com →Beauty brands rethink Hamptons influencer trips
beautymatter.com
BeautyMatter says luxury destinations like the Hamptons have shifted from places to see and be seen to places to post and be posted, with branded pop-ups and beach club takeovers built around creators. With scrutiny of influencers rising, brands are asking who these experiences are for.
Read more at beautymatter.com →