STEVEN VAN BELLEGHEM: BRANDS FACE A NEW BATTLE FOR ACCESS TO CUSTOMERS

5. 10. 2026 | 5 min read According to Steven Van Belleghem, customer service that is available at any time and provides an immediate response will become the norm. This is because AI agents will take over some of the decision-making on behalf of consumers. At the Brand Management conference, he therefore advised marketers to focus not only on the effectiveness of technology, but also on building relationships and a sense of belonging with customers.

AI IN MARKETING PROVIDES SUPPORT AND INSIGHTS, BUT HUMAN SUPERVISION IS ESSENTIAL

4. 10. 2026 | 5 min read The greatest benefit of artificial intelligence does not lie in replacing experts, but in enabling good marketers, researchers and creative professionals to work faster, more efficiently and with more information than ever before. However, the technology itself will not solve marketing problems. Judgement and ultimate responsibility remain with people.

HOLIDAY SHOPPERS WANT MORE THAN A RECOMMENDATION. THEY WANT TO SEE THE ARGUMENT.

3. 10. 2026 | 4 min read A friend's word still carries the most weight with holiday shoppers. But a close second is something brands rarely offer on their own: an honest account of a product's flaws. Some 41.9% of consumers said a trusted friend's recommendation or family member's recommendation made them feel confident in their last holiday purchase, according to a new survey of 1,001 US adults by EMARKETER and Reddit.

THE MEDIA MIX IS CHANGING. MARKETERS ARE FOCUSING ON AI, CONTENT CREATORS AND NEW PURCHASE JOURNEYS

30. 9. 2026 | 7 min read Kantar’s annual Media Reactions study shows that marketers are placing a great deal of faith in AI. At the same time, however, many are unsure whether their media mix is correctly configured and whether they can extract the insights needed for further growth from the available data.

MFE ADVERTISING: SCALING AI-POWERED CONTEXTUAL ADVERTISING ACROSS EUROPE

28. 9. 2026 From Spain to Italy, MFE Advertising is using AI and HbbTV to make programme context an addressable advertising signal, creating new opportunities for relevance on connected TV while keeping the control and brand safety of premium television.

NRF HALLOWEEN SURVEY SHOWS CONSUMER SPENDING EXPECTED TO REACH $13.5 BILLION

23. 9. 2026 | 5 min read Consumer spending on Halloween is expected to reach $13.5 billion this year, according to the National Retail Federation’s annual consumer survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics. The figure maintains the strong spending level of last year’s record $13.1 billion and reflects consumers’ continued enthusiasm for the holiday.

STUDY UK: ONE IN FIVE UK ADULTS USE AI FOR NEWS

15. 9. 2026 | 2 min read One in five UK adults are using artificial intelligence services to access news, according to Ofcom’s latest study of news consumption.

CZECHS WANT CERTAINTY ABOVE ALL ELSE FROM AI. SIX OUT OF TEN USERS HAVE DOUBTS ABOUT THE ACCURACY OF THE OUTPUTS

9. 9. 2026 | 3 min read Around two-thirds of adult Czechs currently use artificial intelligence. Although most of them have a positive attitude towards it, the question remains as to how much they can trust its answers. According to a survey by the STEM/MARK agency, 60 per cent of AI users are unsure whether the output they receive from the tool is actually correct. According to the survey results, users would therefore appreciate it if AI could distinguish more clearly between verified information, estimates and situations where it is simply unsure.

MEDIA AND BRANDS ARE COMPETING FOR ATTENTION. CIF WILL SHOW HOW AUDIENCES AND THE ROLE OF AI ARE CHANGING

8. 9. 2026 | 6 min read How are content distribution, brand management and the functioning of the media and advertising changing? The Czech Internet Forum will offer new approaches, data, case studies and insights from industry professionals.

BACK-TO-SCHOOL MARKETING IS A MASH UP OF AI TECH AND VALUE MESSAGING

4. 9. 2026 | 4 min read AI’s role in deal hunting, how kids sway purchase behavior and other top stats from August.

EFFIE STAGE WILL FOCUS ON WHAT LIES BEHIND COMMUNICATION THAT WORKS

26. 8. 2026 | 4 min read This year’s Effie Stage programme will feature more than twenty guests from the Czech Republic and abroad. The conference will focus on marketing effectiveness, creativity, the impact of artificial intelligence on brands, and the relationship between clients and agencies.

THE CZECHS SAW THE FIRST 20 SECONDS AND IT WAS CLEAR. THIS ADVERT IMMEDIATELY TOOK THE INTERNET BY STORM

4. 8. 2026 | 5 min read The Czechs watched the first 20 seconds and it was clear. This advert immediately took the internet by storm. This spring, a advert swept through the Czech internet that most people recognised within a few seconds. The melody and the footage were exactly as they used to be, except that a strangely foreign touch had crept in. Some cheered with nostalgia, whilst others remained sceptically silent.

ADVERTISING REWRITES HISTORY: CLEOPATRA IS PORTRAYED AS A SEDUCTIVE BEAUTY IN TELEVISION COMMERCIALS, BUT IN REALITY, SHE PROBABLY HAD A PROMINENT NOSE AND CHIN

30. 7. 2026 | 9 min read More than two thousand years have passed since her death, yet she remains one of those historical figures whose image is still instantly recognisable across cultures, making her highly appealing to creatives in the advertising industry. Rather than depicting the real Egyptian ruler, advertisers draw on the image of a seductive queen surrounded by luxury, an image shaped over the centuries by Roman propaganda, art and Hollywood. Her lover Julius Caesar has also enjoyed a successful advertising career. Let us explore how television advertising transforms famous figures from antiquity into comic heroes, brand ambassadors and users of modern services.

SURVEY: CONSUMERS EXPECT INFLATION TO IMPACT HOLIDAY SPENDING PLANS

30. 7. 2026 | 3 min read Economic uncertainty is expected to make shoppers more diligent when holiday shopping this year.

STUDY USA: TV OPERATING SYSTEMS GAIN INFLUENCE OVER VIEWING

27. 7. 2026 | 4 min read New survey data highlights how smart TVs are becoming the most influential gatekeepers in entertainment, playing an increasingly important role in how viewers discover and watch content. The operating systems powering Smart TVs become the front door to streaming.

CONSUMERS WARM UP TO STREAMING ADS: HERE’S WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY

24. 7. 2026 | 4 min read As the number of ad-supported tiers on the market increases, cheaper options have made gains against ad-free ones, according to Hub.

BACK-TO-SCHOOL SHOPPERS ARE NOT IGNORING AI

17. 7. 2026 | 5 min read Advertising and marketing hype has become heavily saturated with the term "agentic buying" for back-to-school purchases, but the distinction between actual transactional data and futuristic projection only becomes more blurred as the season gets underway.

THE END OF BLIND CTV ADVERTISING: HOW METAPROFILE IS SOLVING THE CTV ADVERTISING INDUSTRY’S HARDEST PROBLEM, SCENE BY SCENE

9. 7. 2026 | 17 min read The CTV advertising industry has a paradox at its core. Streaming now commands the largest single share of TV viewing time, and the gap with traditional broadcast continues to widen. Programmatic CTV spend is growing at a pace that has made it one of the fastest-expanding segments in global advertising, with tens of billions of dollars flowing through the ecosystem annually, and more shifting from linear budgets every quarter. Brands are pouring record budgets into connected television. And yet, independent analyses of billions of bid requests flowing through the programmatic supply chain consistently find the same result. The average CTV program travels with less than a single complete metadata attribute attached to it. Less than one. In a market built on the promise of precision, the content itself remains nearly invisible.