"The Machine is Not Going to Take Your Job. The People Who Know How to Use the Machine Absolutely Will" - 4A's Marla Kaplowitz and Razorfish CEO Josh Campo on How AI is Impacting the Agency World
Attendees at the inaugural ANA AI for Marketers Conference, held at the Margaritaville Resort in Hollywood, FL, may have spent a little time "nibblin on sponge cakes" and "searching for their lost shaker of salt", but it was the insights into the impact, opportunities, threats, and use cases of AI in advertising that provided real pirate's gold.
Top Things We are Hearing at CES
Diving into the wild ride of CES, Jeff's list spills the beans on all the crazy talk swirling around the tech playground.
CES Press Day - AI, Sustainability, and What to Do to a TV When There is Nothing Left to Do to a TV
Greetings from sunny but rather chilly Las Vegas! Press day 2024 brought pretty much exactly what we would have expected in a year dominated by talk of ChatGPT and AI. All the manufacturers re-branded machine learning and robotic initiatives that they've been touting about for the past few years into their "AI" platform.
Ode to Deprecation: A Poem for 2024
'Twas the Day after Xmas and throughout Ad Land Not a trader was sleeping with deprecation at hand. A decade of leveraging every scroll, click or cart. Was about to go kaput because we put science before art.
Unlocking Advertising's Context Conundrum
In the ever-evolving landscape of advertising, the question arises: Does context still hold its importance in the age of audience targeting? Recent data from The Myers Report highlights that, while context does indeed play a crucial role in media planning and buying decisions, its perceived value varies significantly among different segments of decision-makers within the media agency ecosystem, with seniority being a defining factor.
“Do We Really Need A Full Day To Discuss Measurement?” Ampersand CEO Nicolle Pangis Kicks Off Advertising Week NYC 2023 with Top Investment Leaders
Advertising Week NYC 2023 in the Penn District, formerly known as the Manhattan Mall (now converted into a multi-level conference center), kicked off this week with jam-packed crowds. They all gathered to celebrate the industry, double down on knowledge, and explore the future of the Advertising industry. This industry finds itself in one of the most tumultuous periods in its history, driven by macroeconomic factors, exponential changes in consumer media consumption behavior, and the potential disruption brought by AI to both the creative and media aspects of the business.
Could Zigazoo Be the Brand-Safe, US-based Version of TikTok that Washington Craves? An Interview with CEO Zak Ringelstein (Part 2)
If you missed Part 1 you can watch it here.
Zak Ringelstein Really, Really Wants You to Zigazoo
Zak Ringelstein is that rare breed of entrepreneur who starts a company not only because they see an empty space waiting to be filled but also because they are 100% committed to an ideal. They believe that through their investment of time and money, they can better the world. Ringelstein's background is in education, and he was a co-founder of UClass, a platform for students to connect around the world. UClass was acquired by Renaissance Learning in 2015.
DeepIntent's Amit Chaturvedi on How Publishers Can Simplify CTV for Pharma Marketers
Remember when we were all told that digital would simplify our lives immensely? Well, that didn't quite happen the way we expected. In terms of our industry, digital media has given us a set of far sharper tools to help eliminate waste and drive greater relevance in messaging. Along with those benefits, the complexities and opaqueness of the workflow processes have increased exponentially.
Transparency, TikTok, and a Bit of Nostalgia (Video)
IAB CEO David Cohen and I have been friendly rivals for nearly two decades, even, at one point, sharing digital media leadership duties for Johnson & Johnson at our respective agencies; David at Universal McCann and me at OMD. So, with the backdrop of our both having spent a good bulk of our careers at media agencies pioneering as digital came into existence, our conversation turned towards discussing what has become of digital media, what we've gained, and perhaps what we might have lost as technologists and the efficiency focus took over brand and holistic views of advertising.
What’s Ahead for the IAB? An Interview with IAB CEO David Cohen - Part 1 (Video)
The IAB has had a very busy First Half of 2023. The year started off with IAB CEO David Cohen publicly shaming Apple (see: IAB Declares War on Apple) at their Annual Leadership Summit, for harming the entire digital ad ecosystem via Apple’s strong stance on privacy, while simultaneously building out their own addressable advertising ecosystem. The IAB Tech Lab has introduced and/or updated several new standards including data clean rooms, launched its Advanced TV Commit Group with the purpose of creating standards to make every TV environment addressable, released a Sustainability Playbook for programmatic, and with the IAB’s Legal Affairs Council launched a Privacy Implementation & Affairs Council.
Kroger's Cara Pratt on Delivering the Same Sales Impact with 51% of the Impressions (Video)
Solving the age-old John Wanamaker riddle, Kroger Precision Marketing has evidence that "we can execute 51% fewer impressions and deliver the same sales impact to a brand and generate 40% greater long-term value from a customer." In this Legends & Leadership interview, Jack Myers speaks with Cara Pratt, Senior Vice President at Kroger Precision Marketing powered by 84.51॰, who discusses "the opportunity that sits in front of us to influence a $140 billion retailer and a $1.5 trillion food ecosystem." (View their full conversation above.)
Comcast Advertising President James Rooke on Stability and Standardization. Live from FreeWheel Beach in Cannes (Video)
In a rapidly evolving industry, Comcast Advertising is leading the way with its consistent and innovative approach to the needs of marketers reconciled with consumer experience. James Rooke, President of Comcast Advertising, this week discussed the company's strategic vision and its focus on making global connections in a Legends & Leadership conversation with Jack Myers at the FreeWheel Beach during the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The interview delves into Comcast Advertising's commitment to technology, data business and the viewer experience, highlighting their efforts to bring stability and standardization to an industry in constant flux.
FQ's Equality Lounge Kicks Off Cannes Lions 2023 with Myers-led Panel on Impact of AI (Video)
MediaVillage.org's Jack Myers set the stage for a captivating discussion on the societal and marketing implications of AI and the Metaverse. The overarching message of the esteemed panel was "seek balance." There are real rewards and there are equally real risks. Agencies and marketers should tread cautiously, but tread nonetheless, as the upside is too opportune to be frozen by fears. To view the entire conversation, grab your glass of rosé and click here.
B2B Gratitude Platform Thnks Launches Its First Video Ad Campaign
Thnks, the gifting platform synonymous with gratitude and appreciation in business, is embarking on the launch of its first ever brand advertising campaign, Small Gestures, utilizing traditional local TV, CTV and online video. The campaign will have its initial launch in their home market of Nashville, TN, and could see potential national roll-out pending the local market results.
IAB Tech Lab "Impact" Conference Highlights Advancements in AI, Privacy Compliance and More
Hundreds of programmatic and ad tech professionals gathered together at the IAB's Ad Tech Impact conference on a day when the word "apocalypse" was uttered by almost every attendee. Thankfully, they were referring to the eeriness of Manhattan during one of the worst air quality days in history, a consequence of Canadian wildfires, which left the city looking like the Divine had decided to use a Sepia filter. While the same word may have been used for the valuation of ad tech companies over the past year, the mood at the conference was upbeat and voraciously inquisitive around topics like global privacy compliance, the rise of AI and the end of the cookie.
Mr. Altman Goes to Washington
In the first of what promises to be many hearings in Congress around AI, a topic that was described as "a printing press moment," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, IBM's Chief Privacy/Trust Officer and AI Ethics Chair Christina Montgomery, and NYU's Professor Emeritus Gary Marcus testified this week in front of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law. This hearing was a welcome change in both tonality and approach from previous tech hearings, but the discussions also provided insights to which the advertising and media industries should pay close attention.
Paramount Global's Julian Zilberbrand on Reaching Out to "Float All Boats" (Video)
I recently had the opportunity to catch up with a long-time industry friend, Julian Zilberbrand, who currently serves as Executive Vice President Advanced Media at Paramount Global. Julian is truly one of the coolest cats in our industry; an extremely knowledgeable and visionary digital champion who has been at the forefront of innovation on both the agency and media sides. In our discussion, we focused on where the industry is in delivering truly addressable advertising and the current discussions around currency that are so important as we enter the Upfront period.
Frameplay CEO Jonathon Troughton and Chief Strategy and Advocacy Officer Cary Tilds on Playing for Attention (Video)
Are you a gamer? Twenty years ago, only a small segment of the population would have defined themselves so. The implication then was that a gamer was stereotypically a male in their tween/teens in their basement playing Xbox or PlayStation. Well, that stereotype is no longer true. We are all gamers now and by all, I mean the entire planet, male, female, young, old, everyone. It is the one thing that unites us globally in this crazy world, whether you play on a console, on your phone, on your laptop or through a VR headset. We are playing our families. We are playing our neighbors. We are playing random strangers in countries thousands of miles apart. Gaming is a uniter. And you, literally, cannot look away.
Being the World's Largest Advertiser is No Longer a Priority, Says P&G's Marc Pritchard
P&G's title of the world's largest advertiser is not as relevant as it used to be, commented Marc Pritchard, Chief Brand Officer of Procter & Gamble (P&G) in his keynote address at the ANA Media Conference 2023 in Orlando, Florida. "Celebrating a company as the largest spender implies that it is better to spend more and more each year," he said. "It's time for a reset. It's not about who spends the most money. What matters is who reaches the most consumers with the greatest media precision with the highest advertising effectiveness and the optimum efficiency to deliver sustained growth."
