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Ad Pulse Check: Is PolyAI Customer Service Agent listening too much?
Ad Campaign: Finally! Someone who f*ing listens There’s a fine line between “finally, someone who listens” and “wait… how do you know that?” In this spot, Gordon Ramsay becomes the stand-in for all of us. He’s sharp, skeptical, and not easily impressed. So, when a PolyAI customer service agent starts recalling details with eerie precision, Ramsay does what any sane human would do…
$10 Billion in Losses, a Fortune 500 Lawsuit, and Proof Over Promises: B2B Marketing Trends in 2026
Without sounding like a fear-monger, B2B marketing trends in 2026 seem very practical and feasible given the ongoing market evolution. Yes, the possibility of more than 10 billion USD in losses could become a reality as the rise in AI-driven authenticity raises the risk of fraud. Forrester made a series of predictions for B2B marketing,…
Controversial Tourism Campaigns: When Destination Marketing Crosses the Line
In an increasingly competitive global tourism market, destinations are going all out with marketing, making it louder and more aggressive, and using more technology to reach potential visitors than they ever did. However, boldness does not guarantee success. As a result of some highly controversial campaigns, there has been significant backlash toward tourism marketing, including…
Brand Design Trend in 2026: Imperfection, Emotion, and the End of Safe Minimalism
The brand design trend in 2026 is giving space to human imperfections in designs. It’s breaking polish and perfection. It’s injecting personality, again. This year, creative direction is swinging toward expressive visuals, tactile color systems, and identity frameworks that feel unmistakably human. Coca-Cola’s Christmas ad to Vogue AI models in 2025 had made creative space more crammed with AI-dominated graphics. But 2026 poses…
Why Brand Name Normalization Rules Matter More Than Ever in the Age of AI Search
Enter your brand name on Google. Next, do the same with ChatGPT. Then, search through Perplexity—this is where brand name normalization rules start to matter. Most likely, you will notice that your brand appears to be displayed, cited, and sometimes interpreted in varying ways between the searches, such as one will use a hyphen, while another will not…
State of Luxury Brands in 2026: When Consumption Rises but Luxury Stays Locked
In 2026, the global economy is telling an unexpectedly optimistic story. Data cited by The Economist (World Data Lab) shows that since 2000, the spending gap between the world’s richest 10 percent and poorest 50 percent has more than halved. Consumption in emerging markets such as China, India, and the Middle East has grown rapidly. The spending…
Authenticity Paradox Fuels Trust Recession among Consumers
Authenticity once meant alignment between message and action. Today, it also means clarity about authorship. Consumers are not only asking whether a brand stands for something. They are asking who is speaking. Is this crafted by a person with lived experience, or generated by a system trained on patterns? Is this interaction thoughtful, or automated? …
How Emotional Storytelling Marketing Lost Trust—and How Brands Can Win It Back
For so long, using emotional stories to sell products has been an easy way for marketers to get people to buy. By evoking emotions, using sweeping music, and using poignant imagery, brands create emotional connections with consumers through their marketing. But in 2026, there has been a significant shift. Although consumers still care about emotions, they aren’t likely…
Why Marketing Proof Points Matter More Than Brand Promises in 2026
For decades, branding lived comfortably on bold claims. Best-in-class, industry-leading, and revolutionary. And strange for a while, that formula worked like anything. But in 2026? Consumers don’t just hear words — they actively tune them out. Today, the audience is hyper-informed and algorithm-savvy. They have witnessed influencer scandal, overhyped AI tools, greenwashing exposure and affiliate marketing schemes attached with “authentic recommendations”. As earlier, Ad Pulse already pointed out If you are looking into the future, brands will…
Humor in the Age of AI: You Can’t Automate a Benign Violation
Automation in Marketing Automation in marketing can move in two very different directions—it can accelerate growth and unlock efficiency, or it can dilute messaging and weaken brand positioning. To understand where things stand today, we spoke with industry experts about the current landscape and what it means for brands. AI is adept at writing emails,…