🎯 DoorDash Hands Media to WPP
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DoorDash Consolidates Global Media With WPP
TL;DR: DoorDash has appointed WPP Media as its first global media agency partner, expanding an eight-year relationship to more than 40 additional markets starting next year. The account includes DoorDash, Deliveroo, and Wolt. WPP will use the delivery company's own data and insights alongside its AI-powered WPP Open system to support planning, buying, and measurement across the portfolio. Read more →
Google Unifies Vertical Video
TL;DR: Google has introduced Vertical Video Unification in Display & Video 360, bringing YouTube Shorts and publishers' vertical video inventory into one buying and measurement workflow. Gemini supports campaign execution and optimization across those placements. In early testing, Unilever's Hellmann's and WPP Media increased unique reach by 24% while cutting the cost per unique user by 25%. Read more →
Pencil Routes Briefs Through AI
TL;DR: Pencil, Brandtech Group's AI marketing platform, has launched Scribble to turn marketing briefs into completed creative work. Built with insights from more than 500,000 briefs, the agent selects models, tools, and skills, then sequences tasks such as resizing assets and remixing video. Marketers review its plan and edit the output, while existing brand guidelines govern the work. Read more →
Upfluence Hands Creator Work To Jaice
TL;DR: Influencer marketing platform Upfluence now uses its AI agent Jaice to guide brands through creator partnerships, from writing briefs and finding relevant creators to outreach and rate negotiations. Jaice reads a brand's website and draws on past collaborations to shape recommendations. Integrations with Shopify and WooCommerce then connect creator codes and purchases to campaign performance within the platform. Read more →
Twisted Tea Dresses In Realtree Camo
TL;DR: Twisted Tea has teamed with outdoor lifestyle brand Realtree for a fall campaign that puts camouflage on cans, cases, and a merchandise collection. The Boston Beer brand is extending its Tea Drop advertising across television, streaming, social media, retail, and bars. Creator content and outdoor activations support the collaboration as the hard tea category faces slowing momentum. Read more →
Dave & Buster's Rebuilds Its Roster
TL;DR: Dave & Buster's has hired Gut for creative and Mediaplus for media, with both agencies taking over on October 1. The dining and entertainment chain wants more distinctive campaigns and tighter connections between national advertising and local visits. The appointments follow a new CMO hire and a review seeking stronger brand building, customer data, influencer marketing, and measurement. Read more →
E.l.f. Releases A Second Album
TL;DR: E.l.f. Cosmetics has released Mirror Mix, its second original album, featuring seven rising artists across pop, R&B, Latin, and rock. Created through its entertainment arm E.l.f. Made, the music is available on Spotify and Apple Music. A Genius Open Mic event and tracks inside the brand's Roblox experience extend its ongoing push into entertainment, gaming, and emerging talent. Read more →
Subway Refocuses On Its Core Guests
TL;DR: Subway's U.S. CMO Jeff Klein is refocusing the sandwich chain's marketing on core customers who typically choose traditional fast food rather than health-focused concepts. Its new campaign, created with Martin and starring Will Arnett, pitches freshness and made-to-order sandwiches as an alternative to disappointing meals. The effort follows revenue declines and hundreds of U.S. restaurant closures. Read more →
Brooklinen Keeps Celebrities In Bed
TL;DR: Brooklinen's first celebrity-led campaign puts Alana Haim, Mikal Bridges, Robby Hoffman, and Ben Marshall in bed for everyday moments, from therapy to avoiding plans. Developed in-house, Best. Sheets. Ever is the bedding brand's largest omnichannel effort yet. Television, connected TV, YouTube, and social placements carry the campaign through fall, alongside shorter vignettes and behind-the-scenes footage that highlight its sheets. Read more →
Jeep Reclaims Its American Story
TL;DR: Jeep and agency Highdive have launched This Is Jeep Country, connecting the SUV brand's military origins with American freedom and adventure. The film combines archival footage, new scenes, and customer content across its vehicle lineup. Separate versions address Black and Hispanic audiences, while placements across NFL programming, streaming services, and digital channels introduce a bolder tone under new leadership. Read more →
IAB Europe Finds Agentic Buying Momentum
TL;DR: IAB Europe's new survey of 50 advertising executives across 44 European markets found that 58% expect AI agents to reach regular use or scale in media buying within a year. Most respondents already use AI for marketing, especially reporting and optimization. Larger companies are further along, while definitions, governance, and the pace of autonomous trading remain unsettled. Read more →
Google Speeds Up Query Expansion
TL;DR: Google researchers have presented R4T-Diffusion, a framework that turns broad search queries into diverse, relevant subqueries using a small diffusion model. By learning from a larger model's outputs and generating directions in parallel, it delivers a reported 12-to-20-fold speedup over autoregressive approaches. The research targets scalable retrieval and recommendations, but Google has not confirmed deployment in its search products. Read more →
Google's AI Links Take Detours
TL;DR: Peec AI's tracking shows more external links appearing within sampled Google AI Overviews, but a recording shared by SEO consultant Gagan Ghotra shows some underlined text opening AI Mode instead. Search Console measures website links differently from query refinements. The observations do not establish how widespread the behavior is or whether additional citations are producing more website visits. Read more →
Search Console Flattens AI Rankings
TL;DR: Google Search Advocate John Mueller explained that Search Console treats an AI Overview as one block, giving its links the same reported position despite their different placements. Agency partner Dan Taylor argues this can make weak visibility look like a top ranking. His recommendation is to prioritize actual visits, inquiries, and conversions instead of relying on average position alone. Read more →
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