Let's Be Real - Carney
The Daily Carnage

Let’s Be Real

Tariffs, TikTok, traffic, and more.

Do Ya Know?

Check your answer below!

THIS brand got some unexpected airtime when U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon mispronounced a popular acronym at a summit this week.

Trending Stories

💰 BeReal, which says it has 40M monthly users, is rolling out ads in the US.

🇨🇳 China hit brakes on TikTok deal after Trump announced wide-ranging tariffs.

📉 And tariffs might be bad news for anyone who relies on ad revenue.

👀 Google quality raters now assess whether content is AI-generated.

🌴 Four charts that prove “The White Lotus” effect is real.

🥥 And a Nestlé exec reacts to the unfortunate “White Lotus” piña colada brand partnership.

🔍 Microsoft launches Copilot Search in Bing.

📊 Meta’s new feature combines likes and reactions across multiple similar ads.

🎬 Amazon says its AI video model can now generate minutes-long clips.

📹 LinkedIn is testing a new Video Trends feature.

✨ Beyonce’s Cécred launches its first brand campaign with Ulta Beauty.

🍗 This AI concept ad—created by a director unaffiliated with KFC—has reignited an industry debate.

🎓 OpenAI makes ChatGPT free for college students.

🆕 Canva adds LinkedIn Video to its creation templates.

📧 Google to display marketing email content in search results.

🎧 Spotify launches ad exchange and generative AI ad creator.

📱 YouTube wants to make Shorts the new CapCut.

☕ Panera wants you to dine in again.

🖼️ TikTok adds alt text feature for still image posts.

🍋 The newest WWE sponsor is… Minute Maid?

🍺 Guinness spotlights American communities in all 50 states.

😎 JCPenney is staging a style comeback.

What We Learned

Monday: According to a Daily Carnage poll in March, 60% of respondents indicated that they did not know how to track web traffic from LLMs. But with AI-powered tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot reshaping how users discover content, segmenting LLM traffic in GA4 is critical to ensuring that your content strategies remain aligned with changing user behavior. Here’s how to create an LLM traffic segment in GA4 Explore.

Tuesday: On LinkedIn, live streams get 7x more reactions and 24x more comments than standard video posts. Alexandra Rynne, LinkedIn Ads’ award-winning content strategy lead, outlines five smart strategies to get the most from LinkedIn Live Events. Here’s a breakdown of the key takeaways.

<elevator music> 💔 Did you miss our Wednesday and Thursday emails this week? So did we, literally. But we’re back after a brief intermission. </elevator music>

Carnage Connections #53

Can you solve this puzzle? 🍩

Carnage Connections 53

The Conversation

🔥 Trending in The Daily Carnage Facebook group this week…

“For posting corporate videos, is there any benefit of YouTube over Vimeo?”

💬 Our community of experts says:

  • “Google would probably prefer if you kept it in their ecosystem.”
  • “YouTube descriptions are SEO optimized.”
  • “Vimeo has never worked well for me as a viewer. Always lots of buffering and waiting it out.”
  • “I suggest YouTube over Vimeo for videos that are aimed at raising awareness. Vimeo is good for maintaining video libraries, which should be shared with selected members.”
  • “YouTube has always been on top of accessibility.”

Classifieds

📅 Book a Classified Ad at your convenience.

For $99, you get 200 characters and a link to share your stuff right in this spot.

Just select your date, add your creative, and complete your payment. You’re on our calendar.

Ads from the Past

Pepsi Free, 1982

Pepsi Free, 1982

Did Ya Know?

Answer: A1.

McMahon appeared at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego this week, where she repeatedly referred to AI as “A1,” which likely put everyone in the mind of steak sauce. So, we’ll call that a win for Kraft Heinz.

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