Digiday Daily

August 17, 2026

For soft-drink brand Poppi, fans come before consumers. The Pepsico-owned brand has bottled up an innovative approach to social media that’s beginning to be picked up by the marketers behind the industry’s largest brands, but it carries risks, too. The brand’s “fans” act as evangelists for its fizzy qualities online, amplifying its content while also providing a source for social listening and trend observation.

TOP STORY

Brands in Culture

Brand marketers are adopting fan-first social media strategies

Bigger brands are picking up a social playbook perfected by startup and scaleup marketers, having seen the results. But can it work at scale?

OTHER THINGS TO KNOW

‘They haven’t been given the receipts’: What one brand audit reveals about programmatic transparency. As live sports streaming and AI change the game for digital advertising, one brand is auditing its partners to ensure transparency and validate the performance of its programmatic video campaigns. Partner insights from Blockboard.
Approximately 70% of digital media consumption happens within apps, yet most programmatic platforms treat mobile as a distribution channel rather than a data asset. Partner insights from Blis.
Time is running out to enter the Digiday Awards. The extended deadline for the Digiday Awards is Friday, Aug. 21. Gain industry recognition alongside past honorees including Tripadvisor, OLIPOP, NFL and Digitas.

MARKETING

Zero-click Future

Creators build GEO strategies to get discovered by brands and agencies in AI search

With no established playbook for AI search, creators are starting to build their own.

Agency Culture

New court filings detail how WPP’s turnaround stalled — from the inside

Inside WPP’s unravelling: what 13 former execs told lawyers in a wrongful termination suit.

The Creator Economy

USA Fencing relies on creators to attract new fans ahead of the 2028 Olympics

Creators can bring new fans to niche sports in droves, and USA Fencing wants to tap into their cultural power.

PARTNER INSIGHTS FROM MOLOCO

How brands like Fetch are measuring true incrementality on CTV

CTV is growing fast, but many advertisers are still measuring it the wrong way — or not measuring it at all.

FROM DIGIDAY EVENTS

Don’t miss your last chance to save on passes to AI Marketing Strategies

Join AI Marketing Strategies on Sept. 24 in NYC for a day of actionable insights and real-world case studies on how brands and agencies are using AI to transform product discovery, personalization, creative, targeting and more. Secure the early rate by Sept. 1.

Experimental Channels

How H&M, Chobani, UrbanStems and Teleties are refining their partnership strategies

Brands are refining partnerships to match audiences, drive cultural relevance and find new growth.

PARTNER INSIGHTS FROM OPTABLE

The five pillars of agent readiness: Step-by-step self-assessment

Adopting agentic AI too early or too quickly can have devastating consequences. This self-assessment helps teams determine their readiness by analyzing key pillars: data, inventory signals, content and context signals, technical infrastructure and organizational awareness.