🤝 Collaborative posts are coming to LinkedIn.

👻 Snapchat introduces AI ad creation tools.

🤖 Google adds AI bot to Ad Manager.

📊 85% of agency leaders believe that outcomes-based compensation is the future.

📉 Black publishers navigate DEI spending decline.

Reddit’s latest research suggests that consumers increasingly turn to human conversations to sense-check purchases before they commit.

77% of Redditors say they visit two or more communities to validate a purchase decision, while 63% say they’re more confident in decisions informed by Reddit discussions than those influenced by other social platforms.

Even more telling: 58% say seeing a brand answer customer questions directly in a thread increases their trust in that brand.

Reddit calls this shift the “mission mindset,” or the moment when consumers actively investigate options rather than passively consume marketing messages.

That’s why brands need to participate in conversations, answer questions, and help buyers evaluate their options.

Consider this:

• Buyers increasingly trust peer conversations over polished brand messaging.
• Validation is becoming a distinct stage in the customer journey.
• Community discussions can accelerate purchase confidence and decision-making.
• Brand participation in relevant conversations can increase trust.
• Consumers are more receptive when brands engage where research is already happening.

Check out Reddit’s full report for more.

Adobe and LinkedIn have launched a free global training initiative to help marketers build practical AI skills across digital marketing, content creation, social media, communications, and analytics.

It’s not a slog through theory. It’s built around real-world workflows, including content planning, audience targeting, campaign development, and using data within agentic AI systems.

Don’t miss the latest episode of The Daily Carnage Show, “Silent Spring: Is Rainbow Capitalism Dead?” Shannon breaks down the 2010s era of rainbow capitalism and pinkwashing, which both harmed and benefitted the community. Is it officially over?

Plus, which brands are still showing up for Pride Month when it’s politically complicated to do so?

🎙️ Plus, catch up on Season 2:

• The Future of Google Search (9:56)
• GLP-1s are Disrupting Every Sector (9:56)
• Spirit Airlines 2.0: Will it Fly? (11:08)
• Major Platform Updates (8:17)
• Nike Runs into Controversy (12:19)
• Transgressive OOH (18:45)
• Your Brain on AI (12:33)
• Meta, McDonald’s Mukbang, and The OpenAI Mess (14:41)
• Ethics in the AI Era (18:33)

🎙️ Now streaming on Youtube, Spotify, Amazon Music, and Apple Music.

👽 Weigh in on The Daily Carnage Subreddit:

The Daily Carnage Show Ep 2.10 Discussion: “After DEI rollbacks across the U.S. (and the 2023 Target incident), many brands have scaled back their financial and public support for LGBTQ+ initiatives inside and outside of their organizations.

Has your organization or brand pulled back support this year? Or are they holding steady when it’s politically complicated?

What kinds of conversations are you having with leadership and peers about marketing Pride Month in the 2020s? We’d love to know.”

🎙️ The Daily Carnage Show is growing!

So, we’re excited to share a new sponsorship opportunity.

Book a Pre-Roll Ad at the top the episode with your preferred script, on-screen text, and link in description.

🎧 Podcast advertising is one of the highest-performing brand channels:

• 60%+ of listeners say they’ve searched for a product after hearing it on a podcast.
• Podcast ads consistently outperform display ads on engagement and recall.
• Pre-roll ads are among the most-heard placements, with the strongest completion rates.

🗣️ This is your opportunity to reach a highly engaged audience of marketers, creatives, and strategists when they’ve got their listening ears on.

Interested in sponsoring an upcoming episode? Reach out and let’s build something together.

When was the last time you tried the old glass-of-warm-milk-before-bed trick?

Dairy Farmers of Ontario is bringing it back.

Created by Broken Heart Love Affair, the campaign revives the classic bedtime ritual. No supplements, no sleep tech, no hacks.

It’s a smart play: milk as nostalgic ceremony, not as product.

Microsoft, 1983