Retail Media’s Maturity Moment: Why 2026 Changes Everything for Brands
Retail media is entering its maturity phase — and in 2026, there will be no hiding behind experimentation. As brands shift real budget into retail media networks, the pressure is on retailers to prove incremental impact, operational rigor, and measurable outcomes at scale. With U.S. retail media ad spend projected to surpass $69 billion, the […]
How Brands Can Influence AI Search Results—Not Just Rank in Them
As AI answers increasingly replace traditional search results, local and regional brands are facing a new visibility challenge: how to show up when consumers never click a link at all. In an AI search environment where recommendations are surfaced instantly—and often without a website visit—being included in the answer matters more than driving traffic. A […]
Google Anonymous Reviews Reshaping Visibility for Sensitive-Industry Brands
Amid AI Overviews, AI Mode, and a steady drumbeat of core updates, Google quietly introduced a change with outsized implications for certain businesses: Google anonymous reviews. By allowing users to leave reviews under a pseudonym rather than their real name, Google has lowered a long-standing barrier for customers in privacy-sensitive industries. For multi-location brands in […]
Paycom Taps NBA Star Jalen Williams to Put AI Answers Front and Center
B2B tech brands are increasingly turning to familiar faces to humanize complex software — and Paycom is leaning into that strategy with its latest campaign. The Oklahoma City–based HR and payroll platform has tapped Jalen Williams, an All-Star guard for the Oklahoma City Thunder, to headline its new “Answers” campaign, spotlighting how its IWant™ AI […]
VIOOH and Atmosphere TV Expand Programmatic Place-Based Streaming
Programmatic video advertising is moving beyond traditional digital boundaries and deeper into the physical world. With a newly announced partnership, VIOOH, the global digital out-of-home (DOOH) supply-side platform, is teaming up with Atmosphere TV to unlock programmatic access to the largest place-based streaming TV network built specifically for businesses. The partnership expands access to more […]
Neuro-Contextual Advertising Signals the Post-Cookie Future of Attention
As cookies and identifiers continue to fade, a new frontier is emerging in digital advertising—one powered not by who users are, but by how they feel. New research from Seedtag suggests that neuro-contextual advertising, which aligns ads with emotional context and intent rather than personal data, is driving significantly higher attention and engagement across CTV […]
Streets Ahead: Google, Apple, and Siri Signal a New Era for AI, Search, and Commerce
In this week’s Streets Ahead update, SOCi examines how Google is rapidly consolidating its role as the underlying infrastructure powering the next phase of AI-driven discovery, decision-making, and commerce. From a multi-year partnership with Apple to power Apple Intelligence and Siri with Gemini, to growing adoption of Gemini across Search and Android, and now the […]
Why Trust Is Now the Strongest Brand Growth Lever
For brands, growth is no longer won by louder marketing or faster product launches. Brand growth is earned through trust. As buyers become more self-directed, AI reshapes discovery, and confidence replaces claims as the deciding factor, brands are being judged on how clearly, consistently, and humanly they show up across every interaction. In 2026, winning […]
Voters Prioritize Safety and Economic Relief as Election Takes Shape
As economic anxiety and public safety concerns rise heading into the 2026 election cycle, the implications extend well beyond politics. New data from Resonate’s “First 2026 Election Cycle Outlook” shows that voters’ top priorities … affordability, personal security, and economic stability … are reshaping how trust is formed at the community level. For local media, […]
App Science Audiences Deliver Higher Attention Than CTV Averages, Study Finds
As connected TV shifts from a reach-first channel to a performance-driven medium, attention … not impressions … is emerging as the metric advertisers care about most. New research from TVision suggests that CTV effectiveness is increasingly shaped by audience strategy, not just premium inventory labels. The study found that campaigns using App Science audience segments […]
Why 2026 Will Finally Change How Advertising Works
For years, the advertising industry has talked about transformation. In 2026, it stops being a discussion and starts becoming operational reality. Agentic AI, collapsing silos between creative and media, and accelerating consolidation are no longer emerging trends—they’re actively reshaping how campaigns are built, activated, and staffed. The biggest shift won’t be that AI is involved, […]
Streets Ahead: TikTok News, Google Reviews, and the New Rules of Local Visibility
In this week’s Streets Ahead update, SOCi discusses TikTok emerging as the top news platform, evidence that service areas don’t influence Local Rankings and Google now moderating review responses. TikTok Emerges as the Top News Platform for Young Adults The News New survey data from the Pew Research Center indicates that TikTok has overtaken long-standing social […]
The “Future of TV” Is Here: 4 Video Shifts That Will Define 2026
For the past decade, ad tech has talked about the “future of TV.” In 2026, that future stops being hypothetical. The infrastructure is in place, streaming is now the primary viewing mode for many audiences, and measurement is finally tying exposure to outcomes. The result is a decisive turning point for video: CTV advertising shifts […]
2026: The Year the Industry Pushes Beyond Fragmented Measurement
2026 is shaping up to be the year the video advertising industry moves beyond accepting fragmented measurement. Between the midterm political spending crunch, the convergence of linear and streaming, and growing pressure from brands to deliver real business outcomes, the cracks in today’s system are becoming impossible to ignore. Some of the most significant disruption […]
Basis and Mediaocean Aim to Automate the Full Media Lifecycle
In an advertising ecosystem increasingly defined by fragmentation, operational complexity, and rising pressure for accountability, automation has moved from incremental improvement to strategic necessity. That shift is at the heart of a new integration partnership between Basis and Mediaocean, which together are seeking to automate the entire media lifecycle , from planning and activation through […]
What Email Marketing Will Look Like in 2026
The inbox is about to get personal in ways we’ve never seen before. After years running cold outreach email marketing campaigns for hundreds of businesses and analyzing more than 50 million emails, I’ve watched the email channel evolve from spray-and-pray blasts to segmented sequences. But what’s coming in 2026 makes everything we’ve done look like […]
Think National, Speak Local: Why Content Localization Drives Brand Trust
Brands earn attention when they sound like they belong. For national organizations, that sense of belonging doesn’t happen by accident. Content localization is the bridge between a big brand promise and a personal, community-level connection. It’s how a national healthcare message resonates in a small-town clinic, or how a nonprofit mission becomes a topic of […]
2026 Predictions: Where Multi-Location Brands Win Next
As we head into 2026, multi-location (MULO) and franchise brands are walking into one of the biggest opportunities we’ve seen in years. Not because there’s a shiny new channel that suddenly solves everything, but because Paid, Earned, and Owned Media are finally starting to work together in a way that rewards brands who think locally […]
Turning Reviews Into Intelligence: How Agencies Can Unlock Multi-Location Insights
For agencies managing multi-location businesses, reviews are no longer just a ranking factor or a measure of reputation. In today’s AI-driven local search ecosystem, reviews have evolved into a rich source of actionable intelligence — a tool that agencies can use to uncover operational issues, inform marketing strategies, and fine-tune brand messaging across locations. Treating […]
The Biggest Risks Facing Influencer Marketing in 2026
Influencer marketing is entering a more fragile phase. As AI-generated content proliferates, trust in online creators erodes, governments introduce tighter social media regulations, and creator burnout accelerates, brands face a more complex and risk-laden landscape heading into 2026. While influencer marketing remains big business, shifts in authenticity, transparency, platform access, and audience behavior are forcing […]