1802 articles
Leading luxury brands are moving beyond traditional price-value propositions, focusing instead on creating immersive experiences and compelling narratives. This strategic shift aims to foster deeper emotional connections with consumers, providing value through brand ethos and memorable interactions rather than solely product cost.
Google's 2025 ad enforcement report reveals a strategic pivot towards blocking problematic advertisements themselves, rather than solely suspending advertiser accounts. This shift, enabled by advanced AI, resulted in a massive increase in ad removals despite a decrease in advertiser bans, signaling a new era for ad quality and compliance.
Google is transitioning its AI Max for Search offering from beta to general availability, mandating its use for advertisers. This shift includes the deprecation of several long-standing, automated search ad features, compelling marketers to adapt to a more AI-driven ecosystem by September 2026.
Mandatory age verification is rapidly becoming a global standard across online platforms, driven by legislation aimed at protecting minors. This shift, while intended for safety, introduces significant challenges for digital content access, data privacy, and user experience, impacting marketers worldwide.
Character.ai has introduced an innovative 'Books' feature, allowing users to immerse themselves in classic literature through AI-powered interactive narratives. This development, part of its c.ai Labs initiative, transforms passive reading into dynamic, personalised experiences. It underscores a significant shift towards AI as a tool for deeper content engagement and creative storytelling.
Runway's CEO suggests artificial intelligence could dramatically reduce film production costs, enabling studios to create numerous projects for the price of a single blockbuster. This shift could lead to a volume-based strategy for achieving hits, fundamentally altering traditional content creation models.
Character.AI has introduced a 'Books' mode, shifting its focus towards structured, narrative-driven roleplaying experiences. This move appears to be a strategic effort to mitigate previous controversies surrounding user interactions and broaden the platform's appeal beyond contentious uses. It highlights a growing trend in AI development towards more controlled and brand-safe applications.
Meta has increased the prices of its Quest 3 and Quest 3S virtual reality headsets, attributing the change to global RAM shortages. This development highlights ongoing supply chain vulnerabilities and could impact the accessibility and adoption rate of immersive technologies in the New Zealand market.
Despite global economic uncertainties and geopolitical tensions, UK brands are significantly boosting their marketing budgets, particularly in digital and events. This trend, highlighted by the IPA Bellwether report, suggests a strategic pivot towards growth and brand investment, offering a crucial barometer for New Zealand marketers navigating similar challenges.
Canva has launched its AI 2.0 update, significantly enhancing its design suite with advanced prompt-powered content creation tools. This update aims to position Canva as a central hub for AI-driven design, enabling users to generate and modify visuals through natural language commands.
Netflix is developing an animated feature, 'Charlie vs. the Chocolate Factory,' with Taika Waititi leading the voice cast. This project, a post-book narrative, highlights the ongoing demand for established IP and the power of celebrity talent in content marketing.
Viant's recent acquisition of TVision for $40 million, following its earlier purchase of IRIS.TV, underscores a growing industry focus on integrated, advanced TV measurement. This move aims to enhance contextual targeting and audience insights across streaming platforms, offering marketers more precise campaign optimisation. (Source: AdExchanger, 16 April 2026)
