Good morning, it's James here. Tomorrow, Meta starts using your AI conversations to target ads. If that sentence made you sit up straighter, good. It should.
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The Lead: Meta's AI Is About to Get Very Personal
Starting December 16, Meta will use your interactions with Meta AI to personalize ads across Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. Chat about hiking with the AI? Expect hiking boot ads. Ask it about productivity apps? Here comes the SaaS retargeting.
What's happening: Meta announced that conversations with its AI assistant will now inform ad targeting (Meta Newsroom). Chat about hiking? Meta learns you're interested in hiking and serves relevant content and ads. This goes beyond traditional behavioral signals—it's using conversational intent data at scale.
Why CMOs should care: For brands with strong first-party data strategies, this is a gift. Meta is essentially building a massive intent database, and brands that can match their messaging to high-intent signals will win. For everyone else relying on broad demographic targeting, the gap just got wider.
The take: This is Meta betting that conversational AI will become the primary discovery interface. They're not wrong. The question is whether users will trust the exchange, convenience for data, or whether the backlash creates another Cambridge Analytica moment. Either way, your 2026 media plans just got more complicated.
Platform Watch
Google dropped its third core algorithm update of 2025 on December 11, and the timing couldn't be worse for anyone trying to lock in holiday traffic (Search Engine Journal). The rollout takes up to three weeks. If your organic numbers swing wildly between now and New Year's, you'll know why.
LinkedIn is facing uncomfortable questions about algorithmic bias. A viral experiment called #WearThePants saw women switching their profiles to male and reporting 200%+ increases in impressions (TechCrunch). LinkedIn denies using gender as a ranking signal, but the optics are brutal. The company integrated LLMs into its feed algorithm in August—and engagement complaints have mounted since.
TikTok Shop is throwing cash at the holiday season: fully-funded coupons, $5,000-$25,000 GMV bonuses, and creator incubation rewards (Digiday). The numbers back the aggression—$2.5 billion GMV in the past year, more than doubling year-over-year. If you're not testing social commerce, your competitors are.
The Reading List
"Why Publishers Are Flocking to Substack" — The Economist, Financial Times, The New Yorker, and New York Magazine have all launched Substack newsletters this year. As search and social traffic erodes, direct reader relationships are the new moat. (Digiday)
"The Case Against AI Agents for Programmatic Ad Buying" — Everyone's talking about agentic AI in ad tech, but agency execs at Digiday's Programmatic Summit aren't sold. A healthy dose of skepticism for the hype cycle. (Digiday)
"25 Best Ads of 2025" — Ad Age's annual roundup. The top work this year blended humor, heart, and craft. Study this before your 2026 creative briefs. (Ad Age)
"5 Brand Fails with AI in 2025" — McDonald's AI-generated holiday ad, Meta's virtual influencer personas, and other cautionary tales. The lesson: AI can create at scale, but judgment doesn't scale. (Ad Age)
Musical Chairs
Mastercard welcomed Jill Kramer as Chief Marketing and Communications Officer on December 1 (Mastercard). She joins from Accenture, where she helped nearly double brand value from $12B to $21B over a decade. Raja Rajamannar (one of the most influential CMOs of the past decade) transitions to a senior fellow role. End of an era.
Kenvue (Tylenol, Band-Aid, Neutrogena) named Jon Halvorson as Chief Digital and Marketing Officer, effective November 17 (Adweek). He comes from Mondelez and inherits a brand crisis. Rhe Trump administration is pushing label changes on Tylenol over autism claims. High stakes, big spotlight.
One More Thing
The platforms are getting smarter. Google's algorithm, Meta's AI targeting, LinkedIn's LLM-powered feed, they're all moving toward systems that understand intent, not just behavior.
The brands that win in 2026 will be the ones that create content worth understanding.
See you next Monday. Make it count.
—James