🎁 How to Tap into Q4 Potential

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Welcome back.

This week, we look into how to make the festive season sing, how brands navigate community ecosystems, and give you a heads up on the biggest panel of the year: four industry heavyweights are about to map out the next phase of the industry at PI LIVE Europe. 

Plus, we delve into the recently tightened rules for influencers and what it means for the industry and how brands are transitioning into their publisher era.

We've also released our latest wave of sessions and speakers for PI LIVE Europe — more on this must-see lineup below.

In today's newsletter:

• Pick of the day: Tis the Season: Here’s How to Make it Sing.
• Trending: Redditors, Trust and Brand Strategy: Can They Meet in the Middle?
• Industry Insight: Brands are Becoming Publishers.

Pick of the day

Tis the Season: Here’s How to Make it Sing

In this latest Industry Voice piece, Rachel Said breaks down how to get the most out of Q4.

Said notes that, over the years, the period has got longer and the pressure to perform has grown greater and greater.

"What often hasn’t become greater, though? The budgets, the time, or the ability to balance everything for any performance channel lead carrying the weight of a forecast."

It's no longer just one day or week anymore, but a long period starting in September and running through to the launch of Boxing Day sales.

Said shares the most important factors to prioritise.

Trending

What's hot on Hello Partner right now

Redditors, Trust and Brand Strategy: Can They Meet in the Middle?

Olena Bomko asked Redditors how they use the platform. Their answers emphasised knowledge sharing and community. As brands tap into this ecosystem, here’s what they need to know.

What Does It Take to 10x the Industry? Four Industry Heavyweights Are About to Map It Out

For the first time, Awin, CJ, Partnerize, and impact.com are coming together to map out the next chapter.

Following Match Disruptions at US Open, Wimbledon Tightens Rules on Influencer Attendance

100 influencers and content creators received accreditation for the New York tournament; going forward, the same won’t be offered by Wimbledon in 2027. But is this the right decision?

Industry Insight

Stay at the top of your game

UK retailer John Lewis is stepping into the world of podcasts, with the launch of ‘vodcast’ Gift List, a commerce-focused content offering launching as AI agent search rises.

​The vodcast, which follows the launch of the Dish podcast from sister chain Waitrose in 2022, will feature six episodes focused on gifting, released every three weeks. The first episode features documentary-maker Louis Theroux, with episodes filmed in The Box Studio, the retailer's new content creation space.

​According to Reuters, the company’s investment in content creation comes off the back of a rise in customers discovering products through AI agents: in just a year, the percentage of searches from AI agents increased from 0.3% to 2.5%.

​So what does this signal about where things are heading?

Stuart Stubbs, Founder at Navigate Video, called it a “perfect example of how brands need to become publishers.”

Echoing this, Sarah Willis, Founder of Notable Profiles, wrote that the launch shows “how radically brand discovery is changing,” noting that content is “no longer simply something people consume.”

​“...it is becoming part of the data layer through which machines understand a brand.”​

Willis advises that looking ahead, while not every company needs to commission a celebrity chat show, brands will need to start looking at their existing content through a different lens.

In tandem, she adds that brands need to ask whether content answers the questions customers are asking AI, including the “wider problems and decisions that could eventually lead someone towards it.”

“The aim should not be to churn out more material for every available platform. It should be to create useful, authoritative and connected content around the subjects your brand has a legitimate right to own.”

Meanwhile, Namita Mediratta, Global Head of Consumer Marketing Insights, Deos, Unilever, said that while it might feel “slightly strange” today to think of AI as a distinct marketing audience, this will increasingly become the norm and is “the heart of the effort here.”

​Mediratta forecasts that agentic search will continue to grow exponentially.

​“...optimising for GEO and Humans with the same content master could work beautifully for cost and impact.”

​Mediratta notes that in an ideal case, “rich, descriptive, contextual search queries would flow straight into citation loops” and “simultaneously drive the usual metrics with people.”

​“Unlike some vague AI based experiments I think it’s crystal clear on what to learn here: Does it improve LLM ranking? Does it drive human engagement? Does it work with communities? What’s the right balance of messaging?” she adds.

🌊 Strap in for the next wave...

This year, the PI LIVE agenda is more stacked than ever before — and we've just released our second wave.

From a session with Pion's Richard Jackson unpacking what really makes Gen Z tick to how editorial influence travels across AI, search & social, the 2026 agenda delves into burning questions and unmissable opportunities.

Plus, we've got brand new workshops that put the microscope on real challenges, share different perspectives and surface better answers.

Secure your pass before prices rise, and start building your schedule.

Learn more

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Until next time,

Madaline Dunn Community Editor Email me Connect with me on LinkedIn