Google’s “We hear you” approach to adtech has backfired, alienating regulators and the industry. Instead of leading with privacy, it should focus on its real strengths: AI, performance, and CTV. The future isn’t about cookies—it’s about delivering outcomes at scale.

Most product launches go unnoticed. Practices you can use to generate attention and pipeline including tailoring your marketing strategy to the moment, building influence over the long term, and leveraging the CEO as chief evangelist.

If your marketing isn’t working, the blame falls on the CEO. Too many leaders treat marketing as an afterthought, but it directly impacts sales, customer retention, and profitability. The best CEOs develop a clear marketing philosophy, hire industry experts, and actively shape their company’s reputation. Marketing isn’t just a cost—it’s a growth driver.

One of the most urgent questions of the dawning AI era is whether it will be a more closed or open one than the past era dominated by walled gardens. Experiences, monetization, and technical innovation are three of the factors that will determine the answer to that question.

Many adtech companies essentially say, “We drive outcomes” for marketers or publishers. That’s a bad message because it’s undifferentiated. The task is to underscore how you drive outcomes better than your competitors.

AI is reshaping how customers interact with brands, making experiences more interactive, connected across different platforms, and changing the way people research and make buying decisions. As AI tools gather more data and improve recommendations, adtech needs to evolve to take advantage of better targeting and smarter advertising opportunities.

Digital advertising continues to revolve around measurable outcomes, with platforms like Google and Meta leading the charge. While media quality is gaining attention, advertisers remain focused on proving incremental sales, reinforcing the dominance of the Outcomes Era.

2025 is the most exciting moment in adtech in more than a decade. Monopolies that previously seemed impossible to disrupt now seem vulnerable, and we're on the precipice of net new value creation that we haven't seen since the dawn of mobile.

As it leans into ads, Netflix has an opportunity to set the bar for CTV advertising innovation. Three opportunities to consider are in-stream formats, performance TV, and direct deal automation.

The Trade Desk acquired Sincera, T-Mobile acquired Vistar Media for $600M, and Rokt acquired mParticle for $300M. Here is what each transaction tells us about the broader dynamics of the adtech industry.

In adtech, a great LinkedIn post doesn’t just inform — it captivates. By focusing on timely topics, critiquing market leaders, and offering unique perspectives, these three posts grabbed attention and sparked engagement. Here’s why they worked.

Your value proposition is not a story. A story is about the industry, your customers, villains, and how you’re changing the industry to improve it for your customers. This sounds a little more Hollywood (as it should), and done correctly, a story can get more people, including future customers, to care about your company, which will help you hit revenue targets (marketing’s ultimate purpose).

If you’re sold on the importance of attention, the question becomes how to get it. This is a question of where you show up, what you say, and whom you put forward. In other words, there’s a formula to orchestrate attention and build influence in 2025: where, what, and who.

Capitalizing on the infinitely scalability of what Naval Ravikant calls "permissionless media" is the most underleveraged opportunity for individuals and organizations to grow. Here's how to tackle the opportunity.

IAS' messaging is unfocused and vague. The company is using earnings calls, for example, to present a string of updates. Instead, it should consider centering heightened demands for efficiency as the core challenge of this era — and its pre-bid optimization products as an answer that will make IAS a performance partner, not an insurer.

While most agency holding companies focus their messaging on internal reorgs, Publicis is doing something different—and better. By addressing the industry's biggest challenges head-on and presenting itself as the solution, Publicis is redefining how a holdco can use earnings calls to shift industry perception to its benefit.

Earnings calls are more than a rundown of initiatives—they’re an opportunity to define your company’s place in the industry narrative. Viant’s recent call shows how powerful it can be to tell a cohesive story that connects innovation, market dynamics, and the company’s future vision.

As digital advertising leans heavily into the Outcomes Era, many are also taking a step back to reassess quality standards. This counterbalance has defined 2024, as advertisers explore ways to achieve results while demanding greater transparency and control.

The advertising industry is undergoing a transformative shift toward an era centered on measurable outcomes. Omnicom’s recent earnings call highlights this trend, as does the growth of Criteo and CTV's growing pains as a performance-oriented channel.

Many companies, especially in adtech, believe they have a clear differentiator, but clients often struggle to see it. The real challenge lies in bridging the gap between a brand’s internal identity and how it’s actually perceived. With a focus on tangible differentiation, this piece explores how companies can build a memorable, credible reputation by aligning their messaging with what clients truly value and recognize, helping them stand out in a sea of sameness.