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Jersey Mike's CEO Charlie Morrison said the sandwich chain had almost no digital marketing spend before this year, despite an annual advertising budget exceeding $200 million. In 2026, about 20% of that budget moved into paid social, search, and connected TV. The chain reported loyalty sign-ups up 21%, digital sales now at 43% of total sales, and systemwide sales up 11% to $1.2 billion.
During the current midterm election season, Democrats and Republicans both invoked the Cheesecake Factory as a symbol in arguments over which party better represents ordinary Americans. The chain itself stayed silent and did not engage with either side's messaging.
A contributor column for Entrepreneur argues that as venture funding tightens, startups should focus on capital-efficient growth rather than growth-at-all-costs tactics. The piece recommends investing in human-crafted brand messaging and positioning, defining clear customer profiles and journeys, and automating routine marketing tasks while avoiding generic AI-generated content.
Ziad Ahmed, who founded his first nonprofit in eighth grade, later built Juve Consulting to help brands engage authentically with Gen Z. United Talent Agency has since acquired the company, and Ahmed now continues advising brands on reaching younger consumers.
An Entrepreneur contributor opinion piece argues that YouTube video content has become central to digital discovery, citing shifts toward voice assistants and AI-powered search. The piece outlines four pillars businesses should use: brand authority, traditional SEO, and other optimization tactics like descriptive titles, transcripts and repurposing clips for social media and landing pages.
Writing for Entrepreneur, VeraData founder recounts the firm's 2007 start with a nonprofit client that pursued broad, high-volume outreach to grow its donor base and converted few lasting supporters. Drawing on roughly 900 subsequent client engagements, the piece argues the core issue was a lack of precise, data-backed understanding of who the organization's best customer actually was.
Liberty Mutual Insurance introduced a new mascot called Liberty Biberty, a golden orb-shaped figure with unusually humanlike teeth. The character has provoked widespread mockery and anger online, and on October 25 protesters gathered in Boston to demonstrate against it. Despite the backlash, the campaign has reportedly been good for the company's business.
An agency describes shifting a real estate client's social content strategy from general educational posts to what it calls 'decision content,' framing posts around choices like whether a neighborhood is undervalued rather than explaining market trends generally. Over four months, the campaign reportedly generated 818,000 impressions and 25% follower growth for the client.
A franchise-marketing consultant describes testing three ad videos with brand leaders at a conference: two AI-generated clips (a talking abs-and-juice ad and an AI avatar reciting a firm's history) and one real franchisee testimonial. The real video drew unanimous approval while the AI versions produced little emotional response, prompting the consultant to cite Merriam-Webster naming 'slop' its 2025 word of the year and eMarketer research suggesting visible AI in marketing is roughly four times more likely to damage trust than build it.
A business advisory column argues that raising marketing budgets often fails to produce more customers because companies misdiagnose the real problem. The author says firms frequently lose revenue not from insufficient visibility but from poor targeting, unclear value propositions, mishandled inquiries and weak conversion processes. The piece recommends auditing the full funnel—from first interest to final sale—before spending more on ads.
A Fiverr survey of 6,000 small business owners released in May 2025 found that 77% use generative AI for business, personal needs, or both. Fiverr's more recent June 2026 Business Trends Index shows searches for AI-related freelance services surging, including a 278% jump in Video & Animation, 94% in Programming & Tech, and 938% for Claude Code specialists, comparing November 2025–April 2026 to the prior six months.
Market research firm Ipsos conducted a study testing American marketers on fundamental industry concepts and found most could not pass. The research showed 40% did not know the meaning of 'positioning,' 54% were unfamiliar with 'above the line,' and half could not define 'penetration.' The findings suggest many professionals lack grasp of foundational marketing vocabulary.