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Trending Stories

🥇 The USA Today Ad Meter 2025 results are in.

💘 We’re lovin’ these sweet Valentine’s Day brand activations.

🥀 Condolences pour in following Duo The Owl’s death by… Cybertruck.

• 💡 According to our poll, 78% of marketers feel that the “kill the mascot” stunt is tired.

💉 Ozempic, Wegovy maker calls out Hims & Hers Super Bowl ad: “Check before you inject.”

🎺 Happy 50th, SNL. These are the 10 best fake SNL brands.

✨ Google rolls out landing page-focused ads quality update.

⚠️ And you’re not crazy. Google acknowledged a technical issue affecting reviews on Business Profiles.

🫥 Amazon makes the logo… smaller? Like, so small it’s gone.

👀 Booking.com is the most popular Super Bowl ad on YouTube.

🤝 Big tech players emerge as likely partners for TikTok US.

😜 The best Super Bowl stunts and branded activations of 2025.

🐴 Super Bowl commercials rely on comedy and nostalgia to avoid potential missteps.

🤝 Btw, these were the most inclusive Super Bowl ads of all time.

🫧 Poppi faces backlash over sending vending machines to influencers.

⌚ TikTok influencers are wearing Apple Watches on their ankles.

🍺 Anheuser-Busch wants to rebrand domestic beer as “American.”

What We Learned

Monday: Buffer found that Threads generates significantly higher engagement than X, with a median engagement rate of 6.25% compared to X’s 3.6%, meaning Threads posts receive 73.6% more engagement. Take a closer look at the report.

Tuesday: Gmail’s new email placement algorithms have shifted how promotional emails are delivered to prioritize user experience. More emails now land in the Promotions tab, regardless of sender reputation. Here’s how to increase your email visibility in the Promotions tab.

Wednesday: When deciding between one domain or multiple, you have to consider SEO impact, audience targeting, and resource allocation. Here are some considerations for both single and multiple domains.

Thursday: Your prospects aren’t sitting around with a red pen, ready to decipher your copy. They’re busy. If your messaging isn’t clear, it’s getting ignored. The real enemy? Ambiguity. Ask yourself these two questions about your copy to kill ambiguous writing.

• 💡 According to our poll, 57% of marketers always pass their writing off to a colleague for review.

Carnage Connections

Can you solve this puzzle? 👼

Solve It

The Conversation

🔥 Trending in The Daily Carnage Facebook group this week…

“Are there are recommended DIY website builders? Not looking for a service to build a site for me.”

💬 Our community of experts says:

• “I have found that there are a lot of limitations that come with Square and Wix. I personally prefer WordPress. I am not a web developer but they have plug and play templates that are easy to use.”
• “Friends don’t let friends build sites on Wix, Squarespace, or GoDaddy.”
• “Squarespace is the best for quick easy builds and easy maintenance. WordPress with Elementor is my preferred choice for longer term, more in-depth builds, especially if you have the budget for Elementor Pro. Avoid Wix like the plague.”
• “GoHighLevel is great, especially if you’re looking for other marketing tools for your business as well.”
• “Stay away from WordPress if you’re DIYing—you’ll likely build a very bloated, slow site with a page builder. Squarespace has a good free trial, I’d start there and see how it feels.”

Weigh In

Classifieds

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Book a Classified ad for just $99.

Midnight Mug Cake for Two

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1 large egg
• 1 tbsp canola oil
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 6 tbsp chocolate chips
• 2 tbsp whole milk

Recipe by Alton Brown

Make It

Did Ya Know?

Answer: 2020.

What a year, right? Happy Valentine’s Day, Carnies. Here’s a brief history of Conversation Hearts to kick it off.