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“AI marketing suite” Bluefish announced a $20 million Series A, bringing total funding to $24 million. Bluefish earns the “marketing suite” label by going beyond AI search result tracking to also push training data to large language models, build custom AI agents to interact with consumers in AI media, and run paid AI marketing campaigns.

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Yesterday we wrote about Out-of-Home (OOH) advertising being under-bought by marketers (at least according to the people who sell it). This report from OOH ad company Vistar Media argues that consumers really like in-store OOH ads. Or at least a minority do: 37% find the ads “entertaining” and 23% describe them as “fun”. They don’t share how everyone else felt.

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Salesforce this week continued its AI acquisition spree, announcing the purchase of Regrello, AI-based agentic process automation vendor specializing in manufacturing and supply chain operations. The product will be integrated with Agentforce and Slack. Price was not announced; Regrello has 94 employees and raised $25 million.

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Another day, another AI survey. One recurring theme is the need for better employee training. LogMeIn reports that 82% of employees say they aren’t well-versed in AI applications, although just 49% of IT leaders feel that way. Similarly, General Assembly found that 51% of sales and marketing professionals use AI at work while just 17% have received comprehensive, job-specific AI training.

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Speaking of gaps between belief and reality, a new Kantar study with Clear Channel Outdoor finds that Out-of-Home advertising and linear TV both outperform CTV and digital channels for ad awareness, brand favorability, and purchase intent. Yet Mediaocean reports that marketers more than half of marketers plan to increase CTV, social, and digital investment, while just one-third plan more spending on Out-of-Home and a scant 15% expect higher TV budgets.

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As AI search results reduce traffic to many brand websites, influencer marketing is emerging as an alternative way to reach consumers. Influencer agency CollAble is taking advantage of the trend by offering a storefront tool, Find.ly, that lets influencers directly sell the products they tout. It connects with affiliate networks to ensure influencers get credit for their sales.

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Influencers are important in B2B, although you’re unlikely to buy a CDP through a social media post. This LinkedIn study offers insights into the kinds of B2B influencers that are most effective (spoiler alert: thought leaders, not company employees) and, less obviously, finds that short-form social video has the highest ROI, beating even brand storytelling and testimonials and demonstrations.

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For better or worse (almost surely, worse), AI will increasingly generate content posted by influencers. Adauris does its bit by converting marketing materials into an audio program script, recording it with AI voices, and distributing the result to podcast channels. They’ve just been bought by Landbase, which uses AI agents to build and execute B2B lead generation campaigns. Landbase announced a $30 million Series A last month.

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Match Group has been fined $14 million after the US Federal Trade Commission found their sites, including Match.com, OkCupid, and PlentyOfFish, were not meeting consumer obligations particularly regarding guarantees, cancellation requests, and honoring ads that touted a free subscription if users didn’t “meet someone special.”

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Unions including the American Federation of Teachers and the National Federation of Federal Employees, and a military veterans’ group attempted to stop the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) access to Social Security numbers and other sensitive data but lost on appeal.

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China has drawn a red line with its new Data Sovereignty Law reducing foreign access to its data – especially with regards to the US. Declaring data an essential national resource that should be closely held and monitored, China is rejecting cross-border data sharing and open-access frameworks.

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Regardless of how old you are, YouTube will vet you based on what AI concludes from your viewing behavior. And, if it decides your behavior has been, well, juvenile, you may have to provide ID evidence that you are an adult. Other criteria such as longevity of your account will also be taken into consideration, but this is part of broader trends of automating age verification, banning young people from social media, and prompting privacy concerns over using data models to analyze user viewing behaviors.

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