Ä¢¹½AV

The news: Quality control is a growing fear for advertisers as an Adweek investigation found ads from major brands appeared near offensive and inappropriate content. Ads from brands like Amazon and Verizon were found near sexual or racially offensive content on the Android short-form video app XShorts. Our take: Advertisers are increasingly faced with a digital landscape where programmatic ad buying lacks the quality control required to keep up with rapid innovation and demand for ad space—prompting renewed calls for transparency, verification, and human oversight in automated systems.

The news: Adobe and Amazon are redefining how marketers produce video ads by launching new generative AI tools aimed at small and mid-sized businesses. Adobe Express for Ads, unveiled today, supports direct publishing to platforms like Google, Meta, and TikTok, while Amazon’s AI video tool can transform product pages into multiple ad variants. These tools cater to resource-limited advertisers seeking scale and performance. Our take: The video ad market is maturing fast—and AI is making it more accessible. As more marketers pilot GenAI tools, early adopters will gain an edge in personalization and efficiency, turning creative experimentation into reliable results.

Creative pros are building AI-powered workflows, not just experimenting: 80% use genAI, and 40% run full-stack with it, showing adoption is strategic—not trendy—across text, audio, image, and video

The news: Cannes Lions 2025 kicks off June 16, with media companies and platforms turning the festival into a proving ground for brand innovation. Spotify is merging live acts like Cardi B with audiobook tastings and celebrity panels, while Canva hosts CMO roundtables alongside design influencers. Google, Uber, and Influential are anchoring talks on TV, sports, and creator-driven engagement—with yacht-side podcasts and fundraising activations adding a new layer of purpose. Our take: This year’s Cannes isn’t about opulence—it’s about ownership. Brands that bring substance, not just spectacle, will emerge with more than headlines—they’ll leave with lasting partnerships and fresh strategic playbooks.

The insight: Clothing rental services are in the midst of a resurgence. Rent the Runway ended Q1 with a record number of subscribers, while Urban Outfitters-owned Nuuly added 40,000 members in the quarter alone. Our take: It’s taken time for companies to prove that the clothing subscription model can be sustainable. While Nuuly was the first to reach profitability, Rent the Runway’s rebound shows that there is an appetite for rental services that can deliver high-quality products at an affordable price point, as well as capitalize on consumers’ desire for newness.

On today’s podcast episode, we discuss how much the merger with xAI can move the needle for X, if the social platform can recoup the kinds of ad dollars it was making before Elon Musk bought them, and where X users have migrated to (if anywhere). Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, and Analysts Marisa Jones and Emmy Liederman. Listen everywhere and watch on YouTube and Spotify.

The news: At Cannes Lions 2025, Meta introduced 11 new generative AI ad features—ranging from dynamic image-to-video tools to brand-safe creative automation—and confirmed a $14–$15 billion investment in Scale AI, securing a 49% stake. These new Advantage+ tools aim to help advertisers, particularly SMBs, generate personalized, performance-optimized content at scale. Our take: Meta’s Cannes push underscores its dual strategy: democratizing high-impact creative through automation while investing in foundational AI infrastructure. The tools offer clear short-term ROAS gains, but Meta must still walk a fine line—scaling ad personalization without overwhelming users or alienating agency partners that still prioritize creative control.

The news: The Trade Desk has partnered with Rembrand to bring AI-generated in-content product placements to its Kokai platform. Advertisers can now programmatically insert branded elements like packaging or signage into videos across the open internet and connected TV. Rembrand claims these placements increase unaided awareness by 1.5x and boost brand recall by up to 31%. TTD also added three AI creative partners: Nova, Spaceback, and Bunny Studio. Our take: This marks a shift toward immersive, scalable ad formats that don’t disrupt the viewer experience. The move strengthens TTD’s AI credentials while giving brands new ways to be seen—without being skipped.