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Welcome back to The Brief by Kuro House, your daily dose of sharp marketing insights. Today, we’re diving into a whirlwind of stories that reveal the shifting tectonics of the ad industry—from the impact of international policy on digital platforms to the quiet but profound ways AI is reshaping brand strategy and agency models. Let’s get right into the details.
Our first story comes from Adweek, where Pinterest’s latest earnings report paints a complex picture. The company posted $1.32 billion in Q4 revenue, up 14% year-over-year, but just shy of analyst expectations. Full-year revenue for 2025 reached $4.22 billion, also up 14%. Despite this growth, Pinterest’s adjusted EBITDA was $541.5 million, missing Wall Street’s anticipated $550 million. The platform now boasts 619 million global monthly active users—a 12% YoY spike, with Gen Z making up more than half of that base. However, shares tumbled 20% in after-hours trading after the company missed its earnings and issued weaker Q1 revenue guidance. CEO Bill Ready cited Trump-era tariffs as a major culprit, noting that large retailers—Pinterest’s core advertisers—are pulling back on ad spend to protect their margins. The company is responding by doubling down on AI-powered automation and measurement, expanding commerce capabilities with tools like Pinterest Assistant, and moving into connected TV with its acquisition of tvScientific. Despite a 15% staff layoff this winter and ongoing organizational upheaval, Pinterest is betting on advanced AI and a broader advertiser base, especially among mid-sized and SMB clients, to recover lost ground. Ready was candid: “We need to further broaden our revenue mix and accelerate the next phase of our sales and go to market transformation.”
Next, we stay with Adweek to explore a major technical shift: Google’s unveiling of WebMCP, a protocol designed for an internet increasingly navigated by AI agents. Traditionally, AI agents have interacted with websites the same way humans do—clicking, scrolling, and filling forms, which is error-prone and inefficient. WebMCP allows websites to expose structured actions—essentially a menu of tasks AI agents can perform—making interactions faster, more reliable, and less ambiguous. For ecommerce, this means smoother product searches and checkouts; for travel, more reliable bookings; and for customer support, richer, more automated ticketing. Google’s move comes as other big players like Anthropic and Amazon roll out their own agent protocols. WebMCP is open and designed to complement, rather than compete with, other standards. But the proliferation of protocols could increase fragmentation, challenging marketers to ensure interoperability. Still, the shift is clear: as AI agents begin to transact and execute on behalf of users, the web’s infrastructure is being rapidly retooled.
Over at Digiday, we’re seeing a fascinating divergence in agency strategy. The article “While holdcos build ‘death stars of content,’ indie creative agencies take alternative routes” highlights a clear split between holding company behemoths and nimble independents. WPP, for instance, is restructuring its creative agencies under McKinsey’s guidance after underperforming financially—VML, Ogilvy, and AKQA saw revenues drop 5.8% in H1 2025. Holdcos are pivoting toward AI-powered “content factories,” churning out thousands of assets to meet the demands of massive, multi-channel clients. Omnicom, Stagwell, and WPP have all launched agentic marketing platforms recently, signaling a shift from big, singular creative ideas to scalable, commoditized content. In contrast, indie agencies like Arts & Letters, Lerma, and Mirimar produced more Super Bowl ads this year than their giant counterparts. These smaller shops are winning clients with direct access to top creatives and a streamlined, less bureaucratic approach. New models, like output-based pricing at London’s Ace of Hearts, are resonating with clients tired of legacy agency structures and seeking genuine partnerships. The traditional divide between Davids and Goliaths in adland is evolving, with indies now offering not just creativity, but also operational agility and senior-level attention.
Digiday’s “Future of Marketing Briefing” brings us to the nuanced relationship between AI and branding. Despite a quarter of this year’s Super Bowl ads either promoting AI or relying on it in production, the technology failed to make a strong emotional connection with viewers. Many brands are using AI behind the scenes—editing, optimization, effects—but are reluctant to spotlight it due to concerns about consumer trust and associations with job loss or surveillance. The Interactive Advertising Bureau found a widening perception gap: 82% of ad execs believe Gen Z and millennials feel positively about AI-generated ads, but only 45% of those consumers agree. The IAB is pushing for clearer, more nuanced disclosure guidelines: only ads that could mislead—like fake testimonials—should be labeled as AI-generated, to avoid diluting transparency. Meanwhile, the real power of AI is operational, not creative: it identifies, adapts, and distributes winning content quickly across channels. Campaigns increasingly start on social, then scale to CTV and the open web, with AI working quietly in the background to optimize performance. Creator content, once confined to social, is now being amplified across premium environments, with paid amplification outpacing organic reach. In this evolving ecosystem, agencies that integrate AI deeply into workflows—not just as a creative gimmick—are finding more predictable, scalable revenue streams.
To wrap up, these stories collectively show an industry in flux. Platforms like Pinterest are battling external economic forces while betting on AI to drive the next wave of growth. Google and others are laying the groundwork for an AI-agent-driven web, even as marketers grapple with how—and whether—to foreground AI in their campaigns. Meanwhile, the agency world is splitting between scale-driven content factories and agile, idea-focused independents. Through it all, the most successful players are those who adapt quickly, balance transparency with practicality, and keep their focus on what really resonates with audiences.
That’s it for today’s edition of The Brief. Thanks for tuning in—stay curious, stay sharp, and we’ll see you tomorrow with more insights you can use.
