🔎 Reddit is testing feature that matches community recommendations with products from advertising partners.

🤖 Airbnb says AI chatbot traffic converts better than Google.

📱 Microdrama apps are on the rise.

📂 Here’s where the Epstein files intersect with Adland.

🚫 Australia’s under-16 social media ban forces a global rethink of youth marketing.

👃 Hallelujah, AXE addresses the overspraying problem in new packaging.

Reddit dropped the Creative Trends 2026 report, and (refreshingly) it’s all about engaging real people, real conversations, and real communities.

The idea is that, as audiences become more fragmented and more skeptical of slick and polished advertising, standout creative will be rooted in authenticity and human-driven moments.

A few key trends to consider:

• Nostalgia. Don’t fix it if it ain’t broken. Tapping into shared memories and cultural touchpoints from the ’90s and early 2000s is a great way to build familiarity and emotional resonance.
• UGC. Leverage real-world community reactions and user-generated content as credible endorsements… that outperform traditional ads.
• Find your niche. Focus on highly specific interests and micro-communities rather than broad, generalized audiences to drive deeper engagement.
• Unfolding > launching. Instead of delivering content top down, test creative that evolves dynamically with community conversation, co-authored by audiences.

The good news here is that creative success is achievable without perfection and scale.

Check out the full report at Reddit Business.

Calling all weary deck builders. 🔨

Anthropic’s Claude now integrates directly into Microsoft PowerPoint, which means you can create and edit presentations with prompts instead of manually building out slides, layouts, diagrams, etc.

A cool part about this integration is that Claude uses your presentation’s slide master, layouts, fonts, and color schemes from the jump.

“The Daily Carnage was the newsletter that brought us the most meaningful demo clicks and new trials.” — Digital Summit

“Open rate was nearly 50% and CTR was relatively high, especially considering this newsletter’s audience was likely being exposed to our event for the first time.” — Adweek

Hop on our 2026 sponsorship calendar to get your content in front of 25,000 marketers.

Book a $99 Classified ad instantly, or ask us about our custom sponsorship packages tailored to your campaign objectives.

During the Olympics, Liquid Death aired an AI-slopified commercial in which a figure skater turns into a red-eyed demon.

Sadly, we can’t show you the spot, because it doesn’t exist online and it never will. You literally had to be there.

The brand rightly thought viewers would, upon failing to find it on the Internet, believe it to be a collective fever dream. Such is life in 2026.

Liquid Death told AdAge that it was a one-time use of AI to, ultimately, critique AI…and freak everyone out. Just thought you should know.

Mountain Dew, 1967