Dave Byrne

The second and, as of now, the final presidential debate is in the books. As we approach another critical election season, political campaigns must rethink how they reach voters. Thousands of voters will decide this race in 15 or so counties across a few battleground states. The key to victory? Aligning message with mindset. By aligning messages with relevant, real-time content, campaigns can engage voters in more personalized, meaningful ways—while ensuring brand suitability and maximizing reach. It was great talking with Chris Wood and MarTech, as we discuss how video-level contextual targeting in CTV empowers political campaigns to make smarter, data-driven decisions, delivering the right message to the right audience at the right time. Check out the article for more insights on how political strategies are evolving! #election2024 #adtech #programmatic #connectedtv #contextuladvertising https://lnkd.in/g8rBNnn3

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Bravo to Julie Crabill and the team at Fathom.org for this eye-opening, nuanced take on #AI's impact on American society. The research indicates not just the business and productivity impacts of AI we like to talk about, but also impacts on public policy, bipartisan viewpoints, and the growing lack of trust in the tech companies who are on the forefront of AI development. A great read and something for me to keep in mind as I work with organizations grappling with AI. Marie Gill, Gina Jeneroux, MBA FLPI, Mark Wayman, Allie K. Miller ORG AI Download the report from the Fathom site. https://fathom.org/

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Subliminal advertising has been a topic of fascination since the 1950s, but does it still work in today’s ad-heavy environment? 📺 One fascinating fact: consumers process millions of bits of information unconsciously every day, meaning many ads still affect us even if we don’t realize it. But with attention overload, the real question is—should brands focus on what’s hidden, or on capturing attention openly and authentically? Check out this insightful piece by Infillion’s Jamie Auslander on the evolution of subliminal messaging in advertising. #Infillion #AdvertisingTrends #SubliminalMessaging #ConsumerAttention #MarketingInsights

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Advanced AI + Commerce Data are revolutionizing the future of advertising. In my latest blog post, I share how diverse signals converge to enhance performance outcomes at scale: https://bit.ly/3X9JT7p. #AI #CommerceData #Advertising #RetailMedia #CommerceMedia

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Does your board reporting drown your MOps team in busy work for days? Here's what often happens a few days before the board meeting: - Ops pulls 12 reports and tries to merge into a reportable format in a GSheet - The marketing team is "double checking the numbers" and pointing out issues - Someone breaks a VLOOKUP - The CMO is reviewing the data and questioning everything - The steps to build the data are so convoluted everyone forgot how they did it And the next month? The team has to do it all again. All this wasted time could be solved by investing in your GTM data. Instead of: - Hiring more analysts to manage spreadsheets - Building complex BI dashboards on top of bad data - Creating more Excel "solutions" Focus on: - Clean CRM data - Unified funnel tracking using a custom object in CRM that joins the relevant data for easy reporting that doesn't require convoluted steps to pull reports - Developing an analytics framework of reports/dashboards using this data that everyone trusts Yes, fixing your foundation takes time and budget. But so does running the chaotic board reporting playbook every month. And once your data architecture is in a good place, your ops teams can be unburdened and focus on even more value-producing work.

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What role does contextual AI play in shaping the future of advertising? As end-users and technology companies increasingly prioritize privacy, contextual AI is poised to emerge as the primary tool for advertisers as it focuses on aligning the right messaging with the right context, making it essential for brands' future success. Kartal Goksel, CTO at Seedtag, believes that context reigns supreme when it comes to effective advertising. While the industry has typically depended on keywords and phrases to gauge context, he argues that a more nuanced, human understanding of context is crucial as this approach considers the broader meaning of words within the context of an article. Watch now: https://lnkd.in/e3aBPiYQ #ContextualAI #ConsumerPrivacy #ContextualAdvertising

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For decades, marketers were taught that attention was the holy grail. Catch someone’s eye, and the battle was half-won. Platforms optimized for clicks, brands chased impressions, and we built strategies around fleeting moments of engagement. But today, attention is cheap—and fleeting. Here’s what’s changed: 1. Overexposure: The average consumer sees upwards of 6,000 ads per day. Overwhelmed by noise, they’re tuning most of it out. (Forbes) 2. Distrust: Consumer trust in advertising has plummeted. According to Edelman, only 33% of people say they trust ads. Instead, they rely on peers, influencers, and authentic brand experiences. (Edelman Trust Barometer) 3. Intentional Consumption: Social media usage is declining among younger demographics, as people prioritize wellness and mindfulness. Platforms like TikTok and YouTube still thrive, but they reward depth and authenticity, not gimmicks. (Pew Research) Consumers aren’t mindlessly scrolling anymore. They’re curating their feeds, blocking ads, and choosing substance over spectacle.

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Stick with this and your mind 🧠 may blow up (2024 emerging tech trends). In the future AI will already know your mind is blown and suggest what to do next. Al will act as your personal ethnographer and know you better then you know yourself because it is always on and always on you (sensors, cameras, trackers). Perhaps if you are a manager it can say "hey, watch out!, don't do that but do this". Helpful no. Large Language Models will evolve into Large Action Models. Aa a manager you can share issues with your AI devise and be guided before you do something or be debriefed after to gain greater awareness and insights. Could be cool 😎 no?! I like the performance augmenter component. Spoiler alert: These 3 general purpose technologies that are already life changing and will change society forever. 1. AI 2. Connected ecosystem of things 3. Biotechnology Once AI runs out of the internet to learn from it will need to be fed (like the Audrey II plant in Little Shop of Horrors). Feed me! 🪴 This is where the connected things is so important to maintaining its blood thirsty need for data. While there are so many exciting ways this could better our lives and augment our performance, there is a lack of incentives to NOT use this for evil and have an accountabilty chain. https://lnkd.in/gwx2pcRK

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Some good points are made by PubMatic’s Andrew Baron in AdExchanger’s latest Data-Driven Thinking column. Ironically, cookies were never that big of a problem in the first place—your humble, anonymous cookie is far less personal than a hashed email (which, as the FTC recently reminded us, is in fact still PII). But to the writer’s point, years of worrying about their impending deprecation have led to some very positive changes. First- and carefully curated and enhanced second- and third-party data will always yield better results, assuming you can protect the privacy of the consumers who produced it. And yes, whatever more personally identifiable data you’re working with—whether it’s sell-side targeting, modeled audiences, or contextual signals—alternative IDs have shown great promise in creating a layer of privacy protection. However, the real challenge arises when these identifiers traverse the bidstream and are shared with third parties. No matter how secure your encryption, once data leaves your control, it’s vulnerable to exploitation or reverse engineering. Anything can happen. The signals aren’t the problem—it’s the way we’re sharing them. We built Symitri to solve these inherent privacy challenges in adtech infrastructure. By ensuring that personally identifiable data never leaves the control of its owner, Symitri offers truly deterministic targeting without sacrificing privacy. With Symitri, you can achieve precision, performance, and privacy—no compromises necessary. #Symitri #Privacy #DataProtection #Trust #TRUSTX https://lnkd.in/eS9Aem8B

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Webinar today at 1 PM EST. How will your choices look different in 2025 compared to 2020, and what should you do about that? How much should you continue to invest in this area relative to other key parts of your stack? Tony Byrne will cover this and a lot more. Register here: https://lnkd.in/grT2nuxA #martech #wcm

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My latest article on CMSWire asks CMOs, CEOs, and hiring agencies if industry experience is necessary or overrated. The deeper question I'm getting at here is: are too many great CMO candidates not even getting interviewed because they lack prior industry knowledge? Share your thoughts! Thanks to Sue Keith, Club CMO, Eric Pairitz, James (JD) Dillon, Doug Zarkin and Gaurav Bhatia for being a source! #cmo #marketing #humanresources

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In this cluttered, competitive #adtech industry, buyers view tech as a commodity. Your product and your differentiator is your PEOPLE. If your PEOPLE are not kickass thought leaders / consultants in critical areas like identity, data collaboration, CTV, commerce media, curation, AI, etc., you are going to lose to the big walled gardens often, and you will leave $$$ on the table. DM me if you want to chat about how we can help supercharge your PEOPLE, and your growth in 2025. #KnowledgeIsRevenue

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I've penned a little something for the marketing tech wizards over at MarTech. The subject? ABM Platforms! Is it all “huzzah!” or just a mighty “blah”? I embark on a hearty investigation of how these technologies cracked open the very vaults of digital media for the #B2B marketing crowd. Laying out the trifecta of roles #ABM platforms tackle: Predictive Analytics, Account-Based Programmatic, and Account-Based Measurement. And then, hold onto your hats, because I dive—like a Sinclairian sleuth—into the murky hidden costs: inter-departmental wrangling, annual fees that curl the toes, and the complexity of operating these self-service platforms. In a thrilling final act, I propose some exciting alternative approaches. Prepare for thrills, spills, and don’t worry, they all live happily ever after. Dive in below!

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Let's get real with AI tool adoption in Marketing... As VP of Marketing at Wunderkind, Amandine Servain knows firsthand the challenges and opportunities that come with integrating AI tools into marketing workflows. In a recent AMA webinar, Amandine shared her approach to evaluating and adopting these tools. The key, according to Amandine, is to start not with the tools but by identifying specific pain points within your team's workflows. From there, look for AI solutions that can both solve those problems and also seamlessly integrate with your existing technology stack. "First, we look at the challenges that we have... then we move to trying to find a tool that can solve that pain point, could be AI, could not be AI," Amandine explained. "When we find AI tools, such as Tofu, that was solving a pain point, most of the time we do a POC first to make sure it actually solving the pain point that we think it's solving." But adoption is only half the battle. Measuring the impact of these tools is equally important. Amandine's team tracks engagement metrics and runs A/B tests to quantify the effectiveness of their AI-powered campaigns. However, Amandine cautions against data overload: "We track a lot of data, probably too much data, more than we actually use, but I think that's kind of the marketer's disease, tracking too many data points and not fully knowing what am I going to do with that data?" The key takeaway? Be strategic in your approach to AI adoption. Identify clear pain points, ensure seamless integration, and measure impact using meaningful metrics. With the right strategy, AI tools can be a powerful addition to your marketing workflows. What has been your experience with adopting AI tools in your marketing efforts? https://lnkd.in/gMTVPbtU

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FROM COOKIES TO CLARITY - The Israelites' golden calf story mirrors digital advertising's misplaced trust in third-party cookies. - Early ad tech fraud exposure showed addressable targeting's unreliability and data manipulation. - Google and Meta now use AI targeting, recognizing hyper-specific targeting's flaws. - Studies show 1:1 addressable data is inaccurate; broader targeting strategies may be better. - The ad industry should shift to AI-driven broad targeting, focusing on fundamental marketing principles and real outcomes. 📖 Article by AdExchanger : https://lnkd.in/gZms44JV 🌎To learn more join the AdTechGod Slack Community: https://lnkd.in/g-XzVDkX ✉️Sign up for the Marketecture Media newsletter: https://lnkd.in/gm85yuaf

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Back in 1997, The New York Times highlighted a “Roundtable in Multimedia” attended by senior media executives. They lamented that apart from a few exceptions like pornography websites and Amazon, no one had cracked the code for a viable 'interactive' media business model. Fast forward to 2024, and Fable has launched Showrunner, a revolutionary platform known as the “Netflix of AI" , which allows users to create their own TV shows with just a few prompts. 📺✨ The way we create and consume content has evolved dramatically. But what does "interactive media" really mean today? We break it down, exploring how it intersects with massive shifts in technology, culture, and new media. And how with a growing "Swipe before Type" generation, there is now an ingrained expectation of interactivity in all digital experiences. We dive into the future of interactive media and gaming and see where we're headed next! Link in comments. #InteractiveMedia #Gaming #AI #TechRevolution #ContentCreation #NewMedia

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As the Department of Justice considers breaking up Google following the news about the monopoly ruling, I'm left wondering about the long-term impact on both the industry and innovation. Could a breakup fundamentally change how tech giants operate, or will history repeat itself? Let's level this out, we've seen similar antitrust actions before—like Microsoft in the late '90s and IBM in the '80s—which if im right, took about a decade to resolve without any significant change. Even AT&T’s famous divestiture and breakups in the 80s led to spin-off companies merging back together. And more recently, Facebook faced numerous legal challenges without seeing major restructuring. The real question is: Are we witnessing a turning point in Big Tech regulation, or is this just another long, drawn-out distraction? If history is any indicator, we may be in for a prolonged battle, but the stakes are undeniably high. What do you think—is this a pivotal moment for tech, or just noise? #Antitrust #bigtech #CEO #innovation #tech #telecom

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Note I sent to our users this morning, but maybe interesting for some of you to read: We are at a turning point in our sector - the digital advertising frenzy is losing steam. I say this as someone who has been there since pretty much the beginning, including working to build ad products in house at FANG. There's a growing realization that our industry's obsession with all things digital has been at the very least overhyped. Maybe it’s time we rethink how we connect with consumers in more meaningful ways once again.   Advertising veteran and luminary I look up to Rory Sutherland once pointed out that brands are sacrificing creativity in favor of digital metrics. His message was simple: marketing should focus on storytelling and building relationships, not just churning out content for the sake of engagement, reaching audiences of varying quality - if real humans at all.   The rise of ad-blocking software speaks volumes here. Nearly 30% of consumers now actively avoid digital ads, frustrated by their intrusive nature. The takeaway is clear: people don’t really want ads online. This is where out-of-home (OOH) advertising shines— it’s both unskippable and non-intrusive, meeting audiences in the real world where their attention is undivided. Screens at a desirable distance, not interrupting your group chat or daily news.   Anyway, how many digital campaigns can you actually remember that stand out in the last decade? It’s a tough question, I struggle to think of many - but when you think of out-of-home campaigns, it’s clear they have the power to create memorable moments. I just flew into Seattle and can shut my eyes and recall the Dell AI campaign I saw at the Austin airport yesterday. But I couldn't tell you the social media ads I scrolled past 5 minutes ago before writing this note. All attention is not created equal.   At AdQuick, we believe in the power of combining the precision of technology with the impact of OOH. Our platform makes it easy to plan, buy, and measure OOH campaigns while delivering results that can’t be blocked or ignored. OOH provides brands with a lasting presence, one that resonates and is memorable.   It’s time to build campaigns in places that matter.

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Adtech M&A is certainly heating up. Last week Digiday reported that Teads is exploring various sale options. This kind of news piques our Quo Vadis curiosity. So we did our best to puzzle together a fundamental valuation model. As imperfect as it may be, our model tells us that $2.2 billion is close to the magic number. Get the details and see how we get there: https://lnkd.in/ee6wEyXM Subscribe to Quo Vadis to follow this very interesting adtech valuation story! #adtech #programmatic #radicaltransparency

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