To say it’s a slow news day would be generous, Dear Reader.

Speech is important but reading isn’t dead. In fact, careful word choice makes a huge difference in ad performance, according to this study from automated creative tool Persado. Did you know that percentages like “45% discount” drive on average 23% more engagement than specific dollar amounts like “over $100 savings”? Or that “complimentary” outpulls “free” by up to 21%? It’s the perfect Daylight Savings Time gift for that copywriter in your life.  And it’s complimentary.

Martech keeps taking larger bites out of marketing budgets: 17.3% last year, 19.9% this year, 23.5% next year, and 30.9% five years from now, according to the latest CMO Survey. This despite barely more than half (56.4%) of current tools being used and nearly half (48.8%) of the survey respondents reporting worse-than-expected results. Oddly enough, marketers rate selecting marketing technologies as the thing they do best.