Good morning, afternoon, and evening! (wherever you’re based)

Today’s issue is packed with shifts that will shape how we advertise, build, comply, and survive in 2026. Google is pushing deeper into AI-powered shopping and cheaper incrementality testing, TikTok is rolling out new creator tools that reshape distribution, and Apple just tightened the rules on how apps can share data with third-party AI. At the same time, email marketers are fighting tougher deliverability filters, and the ad job market continues to contract. If you want to stay ahead, these are the updates you can’t afford to skip…

TikTok has launched Bulletin Board, a new one-to-many text-based broadcast channel for creators with 50,000+ followers. Fans can follow a creator’s board, get notified on every update, and react with emojis, giving TikTok its own version of Broadcast Channels like Instagram and YouTube. Why it matters: Short-form platforms are racing to own direct creator-to-fan communication, and TikTok’s move brings text, and therefore searchability, deeper into the app. More text means more engagement surfaces, better SEO signals, and stronger retention loops for creators. It also gives TikTok a powerful way to anchor fans inside the app without relying solely on video.

Facebook is rolling out major Marketplace updates: saved Collections, collaborative chats, reactions/comments on listings, AI-guided buyer questions, AI insights for big purchases (like cars), and a clearer checkout flow for shipped items. Great for buyers, but likely more work and pressure for casual sellers. Why it matters: Marketplace is used by 1 in 4 young adults in the U.S. and Canada, making it a massive commerce channel. These updates deepen engagement, introduce more social behavior, and layer AI into buying decisions, all of which can increase Marketplace ad inventory and shopping comfort. But sellers may face higher friction as AI prompts buyers to ask more (and tougher) questions.

Google just dropped a full suite of holiday-focused AI shopping upgrades, from conversational “AI Mode” search responses to Gemini-powered product comparisons, agentic store-calling, and even automated checkout when prices drop. Google is officially making itself your AI shopping assistant from search → store → purchase. Why it matters: These updates tighten Google’s grip on the entire shopping journey, which could shift shopper behavior away from websites and deeper into Google’s ecosystem. For marketers, this means two things: visibility for your products will increasingly depend on how well Google’s AI understands and surfaces your pages, and competitive pressure will intensify as Google automates comparison, pricing, and product discovery.

Google democratized incrementality testing, dropping the minimum budget from $100K to $5K, powered by a new Bayesian methodology that delivers up to 50% more conclusive results with far less data. Smaller advertisers can now run true causal lift studies directly inside Google Ads, with clearer reporting, faster insights, and flexible confidence levels. Why it matters: Incrementality used to be a luxury reserved for enterprise budgets. Now it becomes a mainstream measurement pillar, meaning more brands can finally separate real ad-driven lift from conversions that would’ve happened anyway.

The smartest Black Friday brands are shifting from generic promos to data-driven, psychologically informed email strategy, using collaboration, exclusivity, urgency, ownership framing, abundance messaging, and deep personalization (based on browsing + purchase history) to dramatically lift engagement and conversions. Design clarity, segmentation, dynamic content, and frictionless redemption steps are now essential. Why it matters: Black Friday inbox competition is brutal, but these strategies work because they map directly to human behaviour: belonging, loss aversion, reward-seeking, and relevance. Brands that combine personalized offers + psychological triggers + clear UX consistently outperform generic discount blasts. 

Holiday inbox filters from Google, Yahoo, and Outlook are now brutal. Even great campaigns risk hitting spam unless brands keep clean lists, maintain <0.3% spam complaints, warm up domains, use human-like templates, and run regular deliverability tests (GlockApps, MailGenius). Marketers can recover 30–40% of lost revenue from abandoned cart + promo flows just by improving placement. Why it matters: Email ROI collapses if your messages never hit the inbox. With 2025 filters tighter than ever, deliverability is no longer an afterthought; it’s a revenue strategy. Clean lists, segmentation, low-HTML designs, and constant monitoring are now mandatory to survive Black Friday/holiday filtering.

Jellyfish has cut around 50 roles amid reduced client spend, reflecting a broader collapse in advertising and marketing jobs. Major holding companies have already shed thousands of roles this year, and layoffs are hitting tech, retail, CPG, and Trust & Safety teams too. Industry analysts link the cuts to restructuring, financial pressure, and an accelerating shift toward AI-driven efficiency. Why it matters: The ad industry is facing its harshest job market in over a decade, with slower client spend, agency restructures, and AI automation converging at once. Analysts now predict up to 15% of U.S. ad jobs will disappear by the end of next year, raising fears about displacement, age bias, and the shrinking demand for traditional roles. 

Apple has updated its App Review Guidelines to require apps to disclose and obtain explicit user consent before sharing any personal data with third-party AI providers. This update arrives ahead of Apple’s 2026 Siri upgrade, which will rely partly on Google’s Gemini and signals a stricter stance on preventing apps from leaking user data to external AI systems. Why it matters: Apple is drawing a hard privacy line as AI adoption accelerates. By explicitly targeting “third-party AI,” Apple is warning developers that AI-powered features can’t quietly harvest or process user data. This raises compliance requirements for apps using external AI tools and reinforces Apple’s long-term strategy: position itself as the “privacy-first” AI ecosystem before its major Siri overhaul rolls out.

— Sam C.