Be in The Know
👍 Facebook rolls out new features, like topic search recommendations and friend likes to Reels.
🛡️ Salesforce addresses the breaches leading to ransom demands.
💳 American Express launches Amex Ads.
🛒 Online sales surge, but shoppers stay skittish.
🤖 ChatGPT becomes a platform for apps, and maybe marketing.
💊 Pharma marketers grapple with Trump-era regulatory whiplash.
Keep Video Ads < 10 Seconds
Here’s the reco: Shorter video ads. Front-load your creatives with clarity, brand identity, and value in under 10 seconds. The payoff is higher attention, better engagement, and smarter spending.
Research from Indiana University, Texas Christian University, and Sungkyunkwan University found that extremely short ads drive up to 40% more traffic than standard 15–30 second ads, at a significantly lower cost.
On platforms like Facebook and TV, these micro ads generated higher CTR, more engagement, and comparable sales outcomes, despite requiring less airtime and production spend.
Here are the key takeaways:
- Stick to ≤10 seconds: Short ads maximize traffic and engagement while lowering costs.
- Front-load branding: Ads that identify the brand in the first seconds drive 34% more traffic.
- Optimize for platforms: This effect holds across both social and TV placements.
- Sales parity: While short ads don’t immediately outperform longer ones on direct sales, the increased traffic can compound into more conversions over time.
- Cost savings: On TV, swapping a 15-second ad for a 10-second one could save nearly $285,000 in airtime while generating almost 192,000 extra visits.
Dig into the numbers with Science Says.
Smash or Pass 👍/👎
ChatGPT Pulse
“I asked ChatGPT—” Okay! But what did ChatGPT ask you?
Instead of waiting for you, ChatGPT Pulse now starts the conversation. It’s available first to Pro users on mobile.
Pulse proactively researches and delivers personalized daily updates in the form of visual cards you can scan or expand for more detail.
Each night, ChatGPT reviews your chat history, feedback, and (if you choose) connected apps like Gmail or Google Calendar, then curates a set of updates tailored to your goals and interests.
How proactive!
Campaign
Brilliantly Boring
PNC Bank is finding a way to make boring banking culturally relevant by tapping into the TikTok trend: “What if brands were people?”
Created by Arnold Worldwide, the spots personify questionable money moves—like a tuxedo-clad NFT banana and a porcelain collectible doll—to highlight absurd financial fads.
