Principal Basil C. Puglisi runs the September advertising releases through Factics before a media plan changes. On September 16, 2026, OpenAI published Reimagining advertising with AI and said it is testing Sponsored Agents with select advertisers in the United States. That note also says advertisers can create, update, and analyze campaigns from plain-language prompts in ChatGPT through the Ads Manager plugin, and that they can review suggested copy before it is added. On September 23, Google published new AI Max features and said the closed beta of AI Brief is expanding to Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish. Google also described a Search report that shows the query, the creative asset, and the landing page together, with availability detail later this year.
Factics is the method he uses when a claim has to become an action someone can measure: a verified fact, a tactic specific enough to assign, and a KPI written before the action so the result can fail. The fact here is the pair of releases. The tactic is one brief that states the offer and the claims that stay off the ad, names the destination URL, and requires a named reviewer to match every suggested line to that brief before AI text customization is turned on. The weekly KPI is the share of live ads the reviewer approved against the brief. When Google’s journey report is actually in the account, a second check asks whether the query, the asset, and the landing URL still agree with the offer the brief named.
The tactic follows an argument Puglisi already published. In How AI Disrupted the Traditional Marketing Funnel, he writes that the staged funnel no longer describes how people decide, because AI reads interactions as they happen and adapts before a later stage can form. A Sponsored Agent is that pattern inside a media account. OpenAI says the person can explain what matters, ask follow-up questions, and then follow a link to the business site, and it says that conversation stays separate from ChatGPT’s own answers. The oversight point in the funnel piece is that a person decides whether the exposure matches the brand, since precision without context distorts the message. Factics records that decision in the brief and the approval count.
Sponsored Agents start after the ad, and they stay labeled
OpenAI’s September 16 post says a Sponsored Agent starts after the click. The user can choose a clearly labeled conversation with a business-sponsored agent, and the company says that thread is distinct from ChatGPT’s independent answers and from the chat the user had already opened. The test covers select advertisers in the United States, so a media plan cannot treat the placement as available in every market.
A strategy lead should write the questions a sponsored agent may answer and name the page the link must reach before the team rewrites a plan around the test. Every approved answer has to map to a claim already on that page, which gives the reviewer a sentence to point to when the conversation drifts.
The campaign brief is now text the buying system can read
The same OpenAI post says a website or a brief can become a campaign, and that Ads Manager can suggest copy and imagery from the landing page and the campaign objective. Advertisers can review and edit those suggestions before they add them. A separate opt-in, AI-powered text customization, adapts existing headlines and descriptions to the conversation and translates the copy into the user’s preferred language. That opt-in is where an unreviewed brief starts spending in wording the team did not approve.
Google’s September 23 note moves in the same direction from Search. AI Brief, still a closed beta, lets an advertiser guide AI Max in their own words with detail on the business, the audience, and the key messaging. The language list is the new fact, and the brief remains an input, so the wording has to stay current with the offer or the model will optimize a message the business has already retired.
Hold the offer, the off-limits claims, and the destination URL in one document the team can compare, then match every suggested line to that document before customization is enabled. The approval share from the opening is the measure for this step too.
The new Google Ads view shows the path
Google says, in that AI Max note, that the reporting feature gives one view of the Search ads journey. It shows which search terms triggered the ads, which creative assets the user saw, and where they landed on the site. The company says the view is there so advertisers can judge what AI Max is doing, and that more detail on availability will come later this year. The note does not say the report is on in every account, so a plan shouldn’t assume it is.
When the report is available, use it as the test of the brief. Pick one campaign and check whether the query, the asset, and the landing URL agree with the offer the brief named. If the asset answers a query the brief never allowed, the document is behind the account or customization ran past the reviewer. Either result needs an owner and a date.
HubSpot and Shopify move the work, and a person still owns the promise
OpenAI named HubSpot as its first CRM partner and Shopify as its first ecommerce partner in Reimagining advertising with AI. A business that manages customers in HubSpot can connect a ChatGPT Ads account, create ads, track performance, and follow up on leads inside HubSpot, using HubSpot context. US Shopify merchants can use the ChatGPT Ads app, with products already connected through Shopify Catalog. OpenAI says that app reaches other markets where ChatGPT Ads are available starting September 23.
Those connections move ad work toward the system that already holds the customer record or the catalog, and they leave the promise with the person who can see what the ad and the sponsored conversation offered. One brief has to govern the ad, the agent answers, and the CRM follow-up. A follow-up that promises a claim the page doesn’t carry means the brief failed, and the correction starts in that document.
What a strategy lead should watch through the rest of 2026
September 23 was the day Google published the language list for AI Brief, and it is also the day OpenAI said the Shopify app would start reaching other markets where ChatGPT Ads exist. Google hasn’t given a date for the journey report beyond later this year, and OpenAI hasn’t said when Sponsored Agents leave the United States advertiser test.
A strategy lead can test the setup without waiting on a vendor demo. The named reviewer has to be able to reject suggested copy before it is added, and the sponsored conversation has to stay labeled and separate from the model’s own answers, which is the condition OpenAI stated on September 16. Once the journey report is in the account, it has to tie a query to an asset and a URL. If one of those checks fails, spend waits while the brief is corrected.
Sources
- Google. (2026, September 23). New AI Max features: Build ad campaigns more efficiently. Google Blog. https://blog.google/products/ads-commerce/ai-max-language-reporting-features/
- OpenAI. (2026, September 16). Reimagining advertising with AI. https://openai.com/index/reimagining-advertising-with-ai/
Questions readers ask
What did OpenAI change for advertisers on September 16, 2026?
OpenAI said it is testing Sponsored Agents with select US advertisers, and it opened plain-language campaign controls in ChatGPT through the Ads Manager plugin. Suggested copy and imagery draw on the landing page and the objective, and advertisers can edit them before they are added. HubSpot and Shopify connections also went live that day.
What is a Sponsored Agent in a ChatGPT ad?
OpenAI describes a Sponsored Agent as a clearly labeled conversation a person can start with a business-sponsored agent after clicking an ad. The user can ask follow-up questions and then follow a link to the business site. OpenAI says that conversation is separate from ChatGPT’s independent answers and from the chat the user had already started.
What should a team put in the campaign brief before turning customization on?
The brief should name the offer, the audience, the claims that are off limits, and the destination URL. OpenAI’s customization opt-in adapts headlines and descriptions to the conversation and can translate them. A named person should match every suggested line to the brief before that opt-in is enabled.
What did Google add to AI Max on September 23, 2026?
Google said the closed beta of AI Brief is expanding to Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish. AI Brief lets an advertiser guide AI Max with context on the business, the audience, and key messaging. Google also described a Search report of the query, the asset, and the landing page, with availability detail later in 2026.
How should a team use the new Google Ads journey view?
Use the view as a test of the brief once it is in the account, since Google hasn’t said it is on everywhere yet. For one campaign, check whether the search term, the asset, and the landing URL match the offer the brief named. A mismatch means the brief is behind or customization ran past it.
What is still unconfirmed in these two announcements?
OpenAI hasn’t said when Sponsored Agents will leave the United States test with select advertisers. Google hasn’t given a calendar date for the journey report beyond later this year, and AI Brief remains a closed beta even as the language list grows. A media plan should treat both limits as current until the companies publish a wider release.
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