On today’s EMARKETER Miniseries—AI-Driven Media Management—we explore how to break down the media manager role into workflows that can be automated or augmented by agentic AI, what agencies misunderstand about AI, and which agency tasks are ripest to hand off to AI right now. EMARKETER Senior Director of Content Jeremy Goldman speaks with Adam Epstein, co-founder and CEO of Gigi. Listen everywhere you find podcasts, and watch on YouTube and Spotify.
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Become a Client56% of weekly podcast listeners say podcast hosts are the type of influencer that matters most to them, nearly triple the share who say the same about social media influencers, according to an October survey from Cumulus Media and Signal Hill Insights.
On today’s podcast episode, we discuss what Crayola is aiming to achieve with its “Campaign for Creativity,” how the brand guides children from digital creation to hands-on creative play, and what’s top of mind for the art supplies company as it heads into the holiday season. Listen to the discussion with Vice President of Content and host Suzy Davidkhanian, Principal Analyst Sky Canaves, and Crayola Chief Marketing Officer Victoria Lozano.
46% of worldwide marketing decision-makers say reaching their target audience is the biggest challenge when advertising on social media, according to a March survey from DoubleVerify and Sapio Research.
2025 challenged many of retail’s long-held assumptions. What looked like familiar patterns often turned out to be something different entirely, and in the process, a few key trends were either missed or misread by brands trying to make sense of shifting shopper behavior. Here are three trends from 2025 that were either overlooked or misunderstood, and why they will matter in the year ahead.
Amazon has partnered with the fintech Slope to offer AI-underwritten financing to Amazon sellers and reduce friction in the lending process. Eligible US Amazon merchants will be able to apply for and access loans through their seller accounts. Amazon could position itself as the go-to platform for higher-volume sellers as well as a more sophisticated alternative to financial institutions—and compete aggressively based on accuracy of underwriting and the time between applications and loan funding. It is the wise move for banks to move into embedded lending for ecommerce rather than try to sell loans to these merchants directly.
Wells Fargo plans to renovate more than half of its branch network by the end of 2025 in large metro areas as well as in rural markets—and more are in line for 2026. The new design features interactive tools that support customer education with mobile and online banking. The pandemic dealt a blow to the branch as a channel, but its decline distracts from its changing role. Making branch networks more efficient means customizing services to the communities where they’re located, optimizing the design for customers whose banking behaviors emphasize digital services.
Google is testing a new AI agent, CC, to change how the workday begins. Instead of another app or dashboard, CC delivers a daily email briefing that summarizes information pulled from Gmail, Calendar, and Drive. As AI agents begin ranking and summarizing messages, the inbox shrinks and attention gets scarcer. Marketers who rely on email will need to understand tools like CC and optimize for agents—not inboxes—as AI assistants decide what’s worth surfacing. Catchy subject lines will no longer be enough to earn attention.
Online return volumes dipped 2.5% YoY early in the holiday season, though momentum slowed after Cyber Week and a surge is still expected post-Christmas, consistent with retailers’ forecasts that returns will represent 15.8% of annual sales. To curb costly returns, merchants are improving product detail pages and adopting tools like virtual try-on, while many are also adding return fees—moves that risk dampening demand as shoppers grow wary of stricter policies. A smoother, more supportive returns experience remains critical, as most consumers hesitate to buy when returns seem difficult and reward retailers that make the process easy and fast.
UK holiday spending is expected to rise 3.5% this year, according to PwC, with average spending per shopper projected to increase 2.7%, driven in part by younger consumers planning to increase their budgets. Beneath the surface, however, the outlook is less robust. After accounting for inflation, sales volumes are likely to be flat or slightly negative, as most shoppers expect to spend the same amount as last year, and higher prices shape behavior. Tepid consumer confidence and rising living costs are pushing households to manage spending more carefully, a dynamic likely to carry over into 2026 and increase pressure on retailers to deliver clear value.