Meta Makes Movies

Meta is diving into the video editing pool with “Edits,” their spanking new app poised to give CapCut a run for its money (which by the way, is still MIA in the app stores in the US after the TikTok ban drama). With TikTok’s status still hanging in the balance, and the Maga-fication of Meta in the lead up to Trump’s inauguration, the timing of the app couldn’t be more Hollywood. Edits promises slick, intuitive video editing that might just make your cat videos look Spielberg-level cinematic. Will Edits succeed (and maybe take CapCuts place), or will it be just another app lost in the digital void? We guess only time and the number of cringe-worthy dance videos will tell.

Performance Prowess

In 2025, Google’s Performance Max is stepping up its game, offering advertisers revolutionary controls and insights that not only refine but may completely replace traditional search campaigns. What does PMax do again? If you haven’t read our guide, essentially it helps you drive performance based on your specified conversion goals to deliver more conversions and better value by optimising performance in real-time. With the introduction of campaign-level negative keywords and demographic targeting, these updates should now allow you to steer your ad spend more effectively than ever. Additionally, enhanced reporting features will shed light on the origins of search queries and the efficacy of search themes, giving you a crystal-clear picture of your campaign’s performance.

We found that the last Performance Max update was essentially cannibalising our individual channel efforts, but with these new updates, it’s poised to become the cornerstone of digital advertising, fully harnessing Google’s AI to optimise across all of Google’s channels seamlessly. So, get ready to harness the full potential of your advertising efforts with these sophisticated tools at your fingertips.

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HubSpot Hiccup

In the whirlwind world of SEO, HubSpot’s recent plunge has us all talking. What’s happened? Well, a kingpin of the B2B SEO content arena (long hailed as the doyen of digital marketing) has seen its traffic nosedive from a towering 13.5 million visits to a mere 8.6 million in just one month. The culprit? it seems it’s due to a seismic shift in Google’s content craving. But why?

Experts believe that Google’s latest updates are pushing for more depth and expertise in content, sidelining HubSpot’s sometimes broader, more generic topics like famous quotes and cover letter tips.

So what does this mean for your own content and SEO strategies? Well, it does raise some big questions about the sustainability of traffic-driven content strategies in the face of search engines demanding genuine value.

It’s a good reminder that Google (and, more importantly, your audience) wants highly-targeted, highly-useful content – not just for clicks but for conversations. Our tip? Continue to create great, insightful or entertaining content that creates engagement, and is relevant to your audience (there are some great tips here), and you’re likely to see continued success, whatever the algorithm.

Google’s Grip Slips

In an unexpected twist, Google’s near-monopoly on search has hit a snag as its market share dipped below 90% for the first time since 2014. This downturn marks a significant shift, attributed largely to competitors like Bing and DuckDuckGo who have slowly but steadily eaten into Google’s dominance. The figures are telling: Bing’s share has grown by 2% this year alone, signalling a potential change in user preferences towards privacy-focused or alternative search engines. As digital consumers become more savvy and privacy-conscious, they’re exploring new territories beyond Google’s ecosystem. With ChatGPT search in the mix, China amping up its AI game (more on that below) and Gen Z using TikTok to search over Google, this could be a continuation of a new era in search. Our Managing Director Laurence also shares his thoughts plus an insightful article on how to optimise for AI search over on LinkedIn.

Severance Stunt

This bit of clever marketing caught my eye (and not just because I’m a die-hard fan of Severance). Don’t know what Severance is? It’s an awesome, highly-addictive, until now pretty under-the-radar dystopian Apple TV show (quick plot summary – it’s about employees at the fictional Lumon Industries who participate in a “severance” program that divides their work and personal memories, allowing them to keep their professional and private lives completely separate). After what felt like an eternity (three long years, to be exact) waiting for the second season, Producer and Director Ben Stiller and his team decided to drop a bombshell of a promotional event right in the heart of New York City.

The cast was placed into a massive glass box in the middle of New York where they stayed in character, working from their dystopian office for three hours.

What we loved about this stunt was that promo was right on brand and immersive. The glass box brilliantly mirrored the show’s themes of transparency (or lack of), constant surveillance and the sometimes inhumanity and mundanity of corporate life. The marketing stunt got plenty of people watching, snapping pics, and hopefully, tuning in to the show. For me personally, it would have been very cool to see my favourite show spill into real life, even if just for a promo –  it was fresh and engaging without trying too hard

The reviews so far for season two have been overwhelmingly positive. Who else is watching Severance?

Robots on the Run

Imagine lining up for a marathon, and the runner next to you isn’t warming up, they’re whirring. That’s the reality in Beijing, where in April, dozens of humanoid, bipedal robots will take part in a half-marathon alongside thousands of humans. Is this the start of a new Olympic category, or are we just training for a world where “beating a personal best” could involve upgrading your software?

And, amid China’s big push to lead in AI and robotics—fueled partly by an ageing society and dwindling birth rate, and (probably mostly) by a tech rivalry that’s heating up with the US—DeepSeek has burst onto the scene. This Chinese startup’s latest AI model, DeepSeek R1, is making waves and downloads alike, topping the charts as the number one free app in the US Apple App Store on Monday and causing US tech stocks to tumble.

What’s the big deal? It’s pretty much a direct challenge to the USA’s dominance in AI, touted to match the likes of OpenAI’s capabilities but at a fraction of the cost. With US companies having splashed out big bucks on fancy, power-hungry AI data centres, this revelation has sent shockwaves through the AI industry and the stock markets, while experts are advising users to be cautious due to potential privacy issues.

The global race for tech supremacy is heating up!

Keen To Dive In?

If you love what we’ve shared above and want to be kept in the loop with our weekly email, The Brief, you can sign up here. We’ll only send you things we love and think you’ll find useful, and you can unsubscribe at any time. And if you need some help exploring any of the above within your own marketing strategy, or you need a rebrand, a custom website built from scratch, Google or social ads, print materials, blog posts – or the whole lot – we’d love to chat. Drop us a line here.