KimekoM

This fellowship is one of the greatest things I've ever had the opportunity to do. I learned so much, pursued a project that otherwise would not have been possible, and love keeping up with the work the other fellows continue to do, too. Highly recommend applying for this:

TikTok’s U.S. ownership shift raises creator concerns over algorithm changes TikTok influencers and creators brace for changes to the algorithm as U.S. firms plan to take control of the algorithm.

When Elon Musk bought X, the algorithm became a political battleground.

With U.S. ownership of TikTok looming, creators worry the same thing could happen again — this time to the “secret sauce” that makes TikTok.

If politics shapes algorithms, what happens to culture?

digiday.com/marketing/ti...

How AI is rewriting the rules of search and shopping – by the numbers With generative AI becoming the new front door to commerce and online shopping, the real question is: can brands keep up?

AI may not “kill” Google, but it’s definitely changing how people search for things online.

It’s creating a slow chaos for marketers, like declining web traffic and chatbot optimization.

I get the sense marketers are scrambling to keep up.

CMOs might be pushing ahead on AI, but lack of measurement’s holding them back CMOs embrace AI, but lack clear ROI metrics to justify full investment. Until then, measurement remains the missing link.

and I teamed up with @kimekom.bsky.social for this piece on the lack of measurement around brand AI investments digiday.com/marketing/cm...

Meta’s AI ad plan raises stakes – even if creative execs are shrugging it off Meta’s AI tools aim to automate ad creation by 2026. Creative agencies aren’t surprised—but they are preparing for what’s at stake.

Meta’s aiming to fully automate ads with AI by 2026 — and creative agencies aren’t exactly shocked.

Many are already using AI tools. But questions around job displacement, creative control, and the agency’s evolving role still loom large.

I dug into it for @digiday:

Thank you!

TikTok ban looms closer, leaving more questions than answers in its wake The halfway point for the looming TikTok ban has passed. What's next for advertisers, creators and marketers?

TikTok’s deadline is quickly approaching. There are multiple buyers, competition from Pinterest, Snap and Meta and it’s unclear if Trump will extend that deadline again.

This time, the TikTok ban has left more questions than answers.

What we know so far on the @digidaymedia.bsky.social podcast:

YouTube is really dominating America's TV time.

What do y'all watch on YouTube? Which creators are you following?

How Pinterest went from selling views to selling clicks and conversions, with CRO Bill Watkins Pinterest's is getting louder in its battle for ad dollars with AI-powered ad tools and an increase in ad volume.

After Pinterest's first billion-dollar revenue quarter, I sat down with Chief Revenue Officer Bill Watkins to talk about how Pinterest pulled off its play for ad dollars.

(Spoiler alert: They banked on performance/lower funnel ad offerings to drive what advertisers care about, which is sales.)

AI Will Soon Dominate Ad Buying, Whether Marketers Like It or Not Advertisers are grappling with trade-offs of AI-powered ad planning and buying tools for automating nearly every step in digital ad campaigns.

The most interesting part of the AI ad buying domination is this:

As much as advertisers say they want transparency, they'll continue to spend as long as it generates sales.

At best, we are gravely misunderstanding the concept of free speech. At worst, that supposed misunderstanding is a feature, not a bug.

they used to test me in elementary school to see if i could participate in their accelerated programs and now here we are lol

Up until a few years ago, I also thought Lululemon, pronounced loo-loo-lemon, was lu-leh-mahn.

I've recently been informed that the car brand Hyundai is pronounced hun-day, like Sunday, and not hi-yun-day, as I've been saying it for the past 30 years.

Analysis | States eye bans on ‘surveillance pricing’ that exploits personal data Democratic lawmakers in California are latest to try outlawing personalized pricing amid a nationwide push by consumer protection advocates.

New: The FTC was set to tackle "surveillance pricing" and "surveillance wages" before Trump took office.

Now consumer and worker advocates are taking the battle to the states instead—and four have already introduced bills to ban the practices: wapo.st/4iacqAZ (w/ @laurenkaorigurley.bsky.social)

Yes!

what are things you do to be more whimsical?

every year on new year's day, i tell the same joke and say "i haven't showered since last year."

anytime i edit a story and send it back to my editor, i say "see if this shoe fits better."

'Gag orders all around’: Confessions of a comms professional on DEI backlash DEI backlash puts 'gag order' on communication professional clients.

Storytime:

Last week, I was working on an article looking at the impact of DEI's dismantling. I reached out to one of my go-to comms pros to help me line up some interviews.

Normally, she has sources. This time, she said no one wants to talk DEI. They're scared.

Call it the Trump Effect:

'The D-word is the most problematic': Why diversity could soon be stripped from DEI values and branding Marketers say it might be time to rebrand what DEI stands for as backlash to the values that the strategies once upheld continues.

Diversity seems to be the Boogeyman in the DEI shitstorm.

But if everyone backs away from the 'D' in DEI, that leaves a watered-down version of past commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion.

My latest for @digidaymedia.bsky.social here:

A Fantasy of Domesticity: Why We’re Drawn to the False Promise of the Tradwife When I left New York City last September to live upstate with a man, I immediately began baking. The first loaf cake I made was terrible: eggy, over-mixed; its one redeeming quality was the layer o…

"I loved who I became when I baked: a calmer, more precise person who turned raw ingredients into gold. Why, then, did baking seem to make me closer to something I didn’t understand and wasn’t sure I wanted to become, which was a wife?"

If you are someone who works in communications, you should absolutely have your phone number in your email signature.

Even if it's just a Google Voice number, you have to give folks an alternative way to contact you during business hours.

If Google's cookie phase-out ever comes, here's what a cookie-less future looks like for Mars' chief brand officer Rankin Carroll As the future of third-party cookies remains rather ambiguous, Mars has started eyeing partnerships and leveraging artificial intelligence to fill in the gaps, with an eye toward a cookie-less future.

Google's third-party cookie phase-out is less of a "long kiss goodnight" and more of a slow, but somehow never-ending death.

So if Google's cookie phase-out ever comes, Mars' chief brand officer Rankin Carroll says the snack company has two alternatives: partnerships and, of course, AI.

Marketing Briefing: Is the early ad rollout to blame for a lackluster Super Bowl? Without the element of surprise or excellent storytelling, much of the Super Bowl advertising won’t be remembered long after Sunday’s airing.

Super Bowl spots seem to be going the way of seasonal marketing, rolling out earlier and earlier each year.

This year's Big Game spots were deemed a bit lackluster. Is the early rollout to blame?

@kristinam.bsky.social answers that in this week's Marketing Briefing:

Just saw Kars4Kids take a shot at Drake, following Kendrick's Super Bowl halftime show.

Duolingo, I get. Kars4Kids? A nonprofit car donation organization?!

ENOUGH.

Yuppp! Also, sales taxes. When people go out for lunch, grab coffee on the clock or run a quick errand in break, that’s money for the city.

“How did we fumble remote work so badly?”

The sexy answer is middle managers and people who hate their families wanted a return to office.

Maybe. But also, there’s an entire ecosystem that is built around in-office work and the commute.

In other words, money was at stake.

Google just ended diversity hiring goals. Read the memo. Google said that "as a federal contractor, our teams are also evaluating changes required following recent court decisions and executive orders."

Another day, another ended set of diversity goals.

Social media fragmentation exposes cracks forming in Super Bowl second screen plans Between the TikTok ban and turbulence on Elon Musk's X, marketers seem unsure of this year's definitive Super Bowl second screen.

So many people thought TikTok would be the so-called second screen for the Super Bowl last year, replacing X.

Then came the TikTok ban.

I talked to marketers and strategists to see what becomes the second screen this year, and it seems there's no definitive answer.

Boycotts and backlash reveal complications in changing DEI landscape Amidst changes to the DEI landscape, brands and marketers say it's a complicated matter.

Here's what's interesting about the DEI walk-backs:

On one hand, retailers are tapering down their commitments to DE&I. But on the other, they're still spending with multicultural marketing agencies.

As my mother would say, "They're talking out both sides of their mouths."

Macy's ends program that offered tuition-free college degrees to employees Macy's is ending a program that provided college degree programs and other educational courses to its employees at no cost.

Macy's has abruptly ended its tuition-free college program for employees less than three years after it launched.

Shows how much the landscape has changed for retail workers over the last few years—companies no longer feel the need to offer these perks.

www.modernretail.co/operations/m...