📈 Google Ads turns 25, OpenAI launches an AI browser, & Aerie bans AI bodies

Google Ads just hit its 25th birthday, and instead of getting sentimental, Google basically said: “Let AI do the work.” VP of Ads & Commerce Vidhya Srinivasan called generative AI and “agentic capabilities” the future. Google wants to automate targeting, bidding, creative and optimisation across Search, YouTube and beyond. The pitch is that even tiny brands will get ‘big agency’ output without hiring one.

Why it matters: Marketers are being pushed from “we manage campaigns” to “we supervise AI that manages campaigns,” which sounds efficient until you realise Google is also the referee, the player, and the stadium. 📰 Search Engine Land

OpenAI has released ChatGPT Atlas, a Chromium-based browser with ChatGPT built in, now live on macOS and rolling out to other platforms. Atlas keeps context as you browse, summarises pages for you, compares products and in “agent mode” for paid users, it can actually click around the web to complete tasks like trip planning or filling shopping baskets. This is a direct swipe at Chrome and Google Search, because the assistant is now the interface, not the results page.

Why it matters: SEO and paid search as you know them just got a new middleman. If discovery happens inside an AI agent that never even shows the SERP, you’re marketing to the agent, not the user. 📰 Associated Press

YouTube has started giving creators (initially a limited group in the Partner Program) access to a new “likeness detection” tab in YouTube Studio. Creators verify their identity with photo ID and a selfie video, then YouTube scans uploads across the platform for AI-generated versions of their face or voice, and lets them request takedowns of fakes or bogus endorsements. YouTube says this is about protecting reputations and stopping unauthorised AI ads using someone’s face to sell nonsense.

Why it matters: Reputation management is now an always-on job in video platforms, and brands will need monitoring workflows for AI abuse the same way they track unauthorised logo use. 📰 The Verge

Aerie (American Eagle’s intimates brand) publicly pledged on Instagram that it will not use AI-generated bodies or faces in its ads: “No retouching. No AI. 100% Aerie real.” The post has become one of the brand’s most-liked of the year, with tens of thousands of likes and hundreds of comments praising it, according to social performance data shared with Business Insider. The brand is extending a decade-long “real bodies” stance into the AI era and says partners will be held to the same standard.

Why it matters: Authenticity” is no longer a mood-board word, it’s a commercial differentiator. Expect more brands to start marketing “we actually use humans” the way they used to market “we’re sustainable”. 📰 Business Insider

Yelp’s 2025 Fall Product Release ships more than 35 AI features. There’s an upgraded Yelp Assistant that answers natural-language questions like “Is this place actually quiet for client meetings?” plus Menu Vision, which scans a menu and shows photos and reviews for each dish. It’s also adding AI call-handlers (Yelp Host / Yelp Receptionist) that take bookings and qualify leads for you. Pricing starts around $99–$149/month for businesses who want AI to answer phones so staff don’t have to. The positioning is clear: Yelp doesn’t just list you anymore, it acts as your always-on front-of-house.

Why it matters: Local marketing is moving from “optimise your listing and pray” to “optimise for an AI concierge that negotiates for the customer in real time.” Brands that don’t feed these assistants great data just won’t surface. 📰 Mashable

Sean said this on 23 October 2025 while announcing Copilot Mode in Edge, which turns the browser into an AI assistant that can understand your tabs, act on tasks, and pick up where you left off. This is Microsoft saying the browser itself is now part of the marketing funnel, not just where the funnel happens.

WPP has launched WPP Open Pro — an AI platform that lets brands plan, create and publish ad campaigns directly, without waiting on an agency team. New CEO Cindy Rose says the goal is to put WPP’s “AI advantage” straight into marketers’ hands.

Agencies just got disrupted
Instead of selling teams of strategists and creatives, WPP is now selling the software version of that team. A brand can spin up on-brand, geo-targeted creative in minutes without briefing an actual human. That lets WPP sell to brands that never could afford a global agency retainer.

AI, but with guard rails
WPP says Open Pro sits on its data and “large marketing model,” which is trained to generate compliant, brand-safe creative at scale. The pitch is speed without legal chaos: you get high-volume content that still matches tone, claims and regulatory rules in each market. Translation: “Use our AI, not whatever your intern found on Reddit.”

The Cindy Rose strategy
Rose is positioning WPP less as an agency of record and more as an AI operating system for marketing. That’s a direct answer to revenue pressure, client churn, and competition from in-house teams. It’s also a warning shot to other holding companies: adapt or get automated.

Our takeaway: WPP isn’t just selling creativity anymore, it’s selling a marketing stack that claims to generate and traffic high-volume ad creative at startup speed. That’s either the future of agencies, or the moment agencies start training their own replacements. 📖 Read the full article at Reuters

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