Wednesday, April 22

🌟 Today’s Highlights:

• ChatGPT Ads might be switching to a CPC bidding option

• Microsoft launched AI Max & new ad tools for “agentic web”

• If you’re having troubles closing deals, you need to join this webinar

• 📊 Stat of the Day: 58% of B2B marketers say interactive experiences, live and virtual events, and video content make thought leadership more impactful. (Source: Ascend2)

• 💡 Today’s Insight: How millennials use social media in 2026

⚡ Why Your “Healthy Pipeline” Isn’t Closing

Most deals today don’t end in a definitive “no”, they end in no decision.

Paul Slack from Vende and Jen Allen-Knuth (trusted advisor to high-growth sales teams) have spent years helping B2B teams fix exactly that, working with companies struggling to get buying groups aligned.

In the April webinar, you’ll learn how to create consensus across stakeholders, test and strengthen champions, reach executives who ignore most outreach, and build a pipeline system designed to drive decisions, not just fill your CRM.

CEO Report readers have access to early entry, will I see you there? RSVP here!

⚡️ Today’s Headlines ⚡️

💰 ChatGPT ads are now offering CPC bids between $3 & $5. The CPCs are being shown in an early version of ChatGPT’s ads manager, only available to a subset of pilot advertisers. Until now, advertisers have been paid on a CPM basis.

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✨ Microsoft launched AI Max and new ad tools. The new tools for the “agentic web” era aim to help advertisers stay visible and competitive including AI Max for Search campaigns, new ad formats, and expanded AI visibility in Microsoft Clarity.

📰 The Marketing Against the Grain Newsletter cuts through the noise with unfiltered expert perspectives on what's working, what's not, and what's next. Join 130K+ marketers who don't do average. Subscribe today.

🧪 LinkedIn’s new tool lets users test the output of various AI models. The new Crosscheck tool is designed to help users find the right AI tools for their needs, while also feeding relevant information back to AI developers.

💡 Today’s Insight 💡

How millennials use social media in 2026

🗞 TL;DR - I know, this headline is a bit of an eyeroll. But just because we might be part of the millennial demographic doesn’t mean we’re necessarily certain how the group as a whole uses social. And since millennials are the most high-value purchasing generation, it might be time to double check your assumptions. Sprout Social dove into the stats you should know about how millennials are using social these days.

💡 Insight - For Millennials, social isn’t just entertainment—it’s “emotional infrastructure.” They use it to connect with friends, creators, and brands, and they expect those interactions to feel authentic and meaningful, not transactional. In fact, 83% of Millennials plan to interact with brands on social more or the same as they do now.

Social has collapsed the funnel for this group. Discovery, research, and purchase all happen in the same scroll. Over half of Millennials make impulse purchases from social monthly, and many are influenced by creators and peer recommendations.

They’re also intentional consumers. They want content that delivers value (education), entertainment, or community. 40% of Millennials say they want brands to prioritize educational content about products and services in 2026. This makes relevance and trust the primary drivers of performance.

The moral from Sprout’s findings is that Millennials don’t separate social from shopping, it’s all one experience. Brands that will win with this demographic are ones that build trust, show up consistently, and deliver value in-feed.

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