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Newsletter · The Marketing Mixtape

December 2025 · Issue #64

This month in digital marketing.

Tech & Innovation

AI Won't Replace OOH Creatives - It'll Just Do Their Boring Jobs

Shawn Spooner has dropped some thoughts on AI in out-of-home advertising, and the verdict is in: the robots aren't coming for creative jobs. They're coming for the spreadsheets. By 2026, AI is expected to handle the tedious planning work that makes OOH professionals question their career choices, freeing them up to actually create things worth looking at. Contextual testing at scale? Automated. Real-time campaign adjustments? Sorted. That one billboard concept you've been sitting on for months? Finally has room to breathe. Think of AI as the intern who actually wants to do the admin. Read More // DATA & ANALYTICS

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Data & Analytics

UK Marketers Are Optimistic, But AI Still Can't Write Their Ads

A fresh survey reveals that 77% of UK marketers are feeling good about revenue growth in 2026. That's a lot of optimism for an industry that refreshes dashboards like it's a competitive sport. The interesting twist? While AI is being welcomed into the workflow for efficiency tasks, it's being politely shown the door when it comes to creative work. British marketers are essentially saying, You can optimise the bids, but you're not writing the tagline, mate. Human touch: 1. Machine learning: still learning. Read More // DIGITAL ADVERTISING

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Digital Advertising

Google Says No Ads in Gemini, Despite Apparently Telling Advertisers Yes

Here's a fun one: Adweek reported that Google told advertisers to expect ads in Gemini by 2026. Then Google's VP of Global Ads, Dan Taylor, publicly said that's not happening. So either someone's playing telephone with billion-dollar information, or Google's left hand doesn't know what the right hand is pitching to media buyers. Either way, the advertising community is now sitting in a state of confused anticipation, which is honestly just a normal Tuesday. We'll believe whichever executive speaks last. Read More //

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#meme of the month
The Marketing Mixtape meme of the month, December 2025
Tech & Innovation

Shopify Launches a Feature That Lets Competitors Sell on Your Store

Shopify has introduced the Product Network, a cross-merchant system that lets third-party products appear on competitor stores. Yes, you read that correctly. Your store could now feature products from other merchants, and theirs could feature yours. It's collaborative commerce. Or chaos. Depending on how you look at it. The upside? Expanded product visibility, unified checkout, and a shopping experience that doesn't require seventeen tabs. The downside? Explaining to your boss why a competitor's product is outperforming yours on your own site. Boundaries: officially blurred. Read More // DIGITAL ADVERTISING

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Digital Advertising

LinkedIn Wants to Catch B2B Buyers Before They Know They're Buying

LinkedIn is rolling out a fresh set of tools aimed at helping B2B marketers reach potential buyers earlier in the decision-making journey. Because apparently waiting for someone to actively search for enterprise SaaS solutions is so 2024. The highlights: Reserved Ads guarantee prime placement at the top of feeds, giving your brand the visibility equivalent of a front-row seat. Ad Personalisation now lets messages dynamically adjust using profile data like first name, job title, and company - because nothing says I see you like an ad that actually uses your name. And new AI-powered creative tools help generate and test ad variations faster than your team can argue about headline options. Embrace the updates or risk being the brand people scroll past on their way to someone else's personalised message. Read More // SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

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Social Media Marketing

Pinterest Rolls Out New Ad Formats for the Inspiration-Seekers

Pinterest is leaning into what it does best: being the place people go when they're ready to do something about their ideas. New ad formats include Idea Ads with multi-slide storytelling and immersive video pins designed to blend into feeds without screaming THIS IS AN AD. For brands, it's a chance to catch users in discovery mode - that sweet spot where they're actively looking for something to buy, make, or try. Pinterest isn't competing with doom-scrolling platforms. It's competing with your weekend plans. Inspirational and shoppable. A rare combination. Read More // DIGITAL ADVERTISING

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Digital Advertising

Google Ads Offline Upload Issues Are Messing With ROAS Bidding

If your ROAS bidding has felt off lately, you're not imagining things. A bug in Google Ads' offline upload functionality has been preventing conversion data from syncing properly, which means your smart bidding strategies have been operating on incomplete information. Google has acknowledged the issue and is working on it, which is corporate speak for we know, we're sorry, please stop emailing. In the meantime, keep a close eye on your campaigns and consider manual adjustments until the fix arrives. Tis the season for unexpected platform glitches. Read More // From AI taking over the boring bits to Google contradicting itself in public, December delivered exactly the kind of controlled chaos we've come to expect from this industry. Now go close those tabs, hug your loved ones, and step away from the dashboards. The campaigns will still be there in January - along with the inevitable New

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Until next time, may your CTRs be high, your bounce rates be low.

Florian
Founder, Managing Director
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