Lauren Weinberg

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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As one who interacts with CMOs all the time I can tell you this topic is at or near the top of their collective priority list. And while I am skeptical of those who espouse best practices when it comes to generative AI - only because it is so nascent - I felt compelled to share this particular piece from my fellow CMSWire scribe, Tiffany Holland Why? Glad you asked. I felt compelled for the simple fact I agree with everything Tiffany opined on, which she breaks down into four truths, which are below along with my brief commentary. Do yourself a favor and read her piece. ➡️ Truth #1: Inaction With Generative AI in Marketing Is the Greatest Risk Yes, yes and YES. If I could climb the highest mountain I would and bellow this to the masses below. This ain't the time to "sit this one out" whilst the rest of the world, AKA your competition is taking full advantage. ➡️ Truth #2: Generative AI Offers More Value Than Just Operational Efficiency Tiffany deftly writes of the "narrow view" many CMOs and marketers have of Gen AI, which "offers only short-term benefits and overlooks the true power of machine learning." Dating myself big time here but this reminded me of the late 70's campaign professing that orange juice is not just for breakfast anymore. https://lnkd.in/e95uWbex ➡️ Truth #3: Generative AI Solutions Fails in the Traditional Marketing Model "Generative AI won’t deliver its full potential if organizations try to plug it into outdated operating models." Full Stop! Read and re-read that over and over and over and then, for the love of all things Holy, do NOT blame Gen AI if you do not adhere to this sage advice. ➡️ Truth #4: Ethical Governance of Generative AI in Marketing Is Critical I love that Tiffany saved this one for last because it is THE most important truth, by far. Gen AI and AI in general, is very much akin to the wild west right now; no rules of governance other than those self-imposed. Brands MUST self-govern the way they use Gen AI if for no other reason, it is the ethical thing to do. Please share your thoughts on all of this. I love a good conversation and yes, a debate if need be. Jeanniey John Aakansha Srota Manny Shelly Lou Jeff Raja Ted Lee David Alma Dom Rhonda #ai #GenAI #cmo

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Building Trust or Driving Leads? Why the Best Marketing Strategies Do Both It’s surprising how often businesses treat branding and demand generation as opposing forces, choosing one at the expense of the other. But here’s the thing—both are revenue drivers, and both are critical for sustainable growth. ✅ Brand builds trust and loyalty. People want to buy from people—and businesses—they trust. A strong brand helps you create that emotional connection, making it easier to win customers and keep them coming back. ✅ Demand captures interest. It drives quick wins, filling your pipeline and delivering results today. This might sound like Marketing 101, but it’s a strategy that’s too often overlooked. In competitive markets, a strong brand isn’t just a “nice-to-have”—it’s what keeps your business human, differentiated, and resilient as new players enter. Check out my latest blog post https://lnkd.in/g4VJ8s2z to learn more about why brand and demand need to work hand-in-hand. (Yes, I just did that.) Would love to hear—how does your team balance long-term brand-building with short-term demand-gen goals?

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📺 TV advertising has evolved dramatically, shifting from age-and-gender targeting to advanced audience-based buying. Alison Levin, NBCUniversal’s president of advertising and partnerships, discusses this transformation on the latest AdExchanger Talks episode. Discover how advanced targeting improves ad relevance over traditional demo-based methods. Tune in to hear more!🎧

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Auditable AI(TM) for targetable look-alike audiences that outperform today's black-box AI alternatives, in market today. Come see it to believe it!

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New Open Market episode featuring Jay Friedman, CEO of Goodway Group. This one’s packed with insights for anyone in ad tech, agencies, or media. Key Highlights: -Why Jay believes marketing belongs at the top of the boardroom agenda. -Goodway Group's incredible 95-year history and evolution. -How Jay’s perspective on remote work has shifted. -The critical role of incrementality in proving marketing’s value. -Smart advice for ad tech CEOs on how to effectively sell to agencies. As always, expertly guided by Joe Zappa. Check it out—link in comments.

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On Deconstructing Data, Alexandra Theriault, Chief Growth Officer at Lotame, explained how modern tools are driving brand-to-brand collaborations. ➡️ Here’s how: Brands are analyzing consumer attributes across their portfolio (think Johnnie Walker vs. Guinness) to identify cross-sell and upsell opportunities. These insights weren’t accessible a few years ago, but data enrichment and advanced tools are changing the game. ➡️ Why this matters: Marketers can no longer rely on isolated first-party data. Collaboration and enriched data are the keys to unlocking audience trends and achieving greater marketing success. How are you leveraging enriched data to drive growth? #Data #Advertising #Marketing

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Think of your marketing strategy as a treasure hunt. LiveRamp's "Measurement Primer for Brands" is your trusty map! Dig into how to maximize ROAS, unravel data silos, and navigate privacy regulations. https://lnkd.in/gBPjigx6

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As the CTV landscape evolves, contextual AI is becoming essential for advertisers, addressing key challenges like targeting limitations, transparency issues, and lack of real-time insights. Jon Wallett, VP of Sales, East Coast at Seedtag, emphasizes that innovation in contextual targeting is crucial for future success. Seedtag's contextual AI, Liz, enables brands to develop effective audience strategies, enhance creative messaging, and gain valuable insights, all while adapting to real-time trends. Wallett argues that embracing these advancements will drive greater transparency and more inclusive, interest-based targeting, making contextual AI indispensable for modern advertising. Watch the full interview here to learn more 📺 : https://lnkd.in/eJ9Q3PDJ #ContextualAI #CTVAdvertising #InnovationInMarketing

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How often do you leverage old-school approaches like direct buying, contextual advertising, and brand lift studies? See why legacy strategies like these are making a comeback as advertisers adapt to signal loss 👇 #DigitalAdvertising #Adtech

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Check out my latest blog post for @SEMpdx: Navigating the @Reddit Rabbit Hole: #SEO Opportunities and Pitfalls for Brands https://ow.ly/ROYW50TOAwR #reddit #redditSEO #redditmarketing

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Are CMOs becoming CAOs? CAO = Chief Advertising Officer. Looking at the new #Gartner survey of CMOs, paid media spending has gradually increased and has overtaken the spending on #Martech. While the survey also highlights that IT is getting more involved with Martech stack, its also a welcome sign that the budget may get split between #IT and #Marketing thereby giving some leeway to the already depleted #CMO budget. My only worry which is also in the long term will affect marketers is, what is the reason for a steady decline in marketing budgets? If you are a #marketer, you have something more to worry about beyond the budget cuts. And that's #GenAI.

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I think "local at scale" #marketing is the future of brand marketing. Where-to-buy-nearby coupled with real-time #local inventory and #clickandcollect will surely delight online shoppers.

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As Kyoko Minegishi mentioned, brands should focus on building a tribe that you care about and that, in turn, cares about you. In today’s fragmented and scattered global markets, creating a tribe on a global scale, beyond your local market, is truly an art. Rather than engaging in a battle for a small, limited slice of the market with local competitors—leaving consumers fatigued—you can instead connect with the portion of the market that genuinely aligns with your brand (well... which is bigger and profitable as well).

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The Mars Agency's Lindsey Simcik and Kristin Wall joined over 800 practitioners last week for the Salsify Digital Shelf Summit in Nashville, Tennessee, to network and gain insights into the evolution of the omnichannel space. Across the different sessions, five themes emerged: 🧠 Artificial Intelligence 📋 Product Quality ⚖️ Data Governence 📊 Measurement 🌱 Digital Transformation Get their key takeaways here 👇

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We recently had the privilege of interviewing Opella CMO Claudine Patel on our podcast. This story in particular hit me hard. Early in her career at Coca-Cola, she was determined to launch a big, iconic billboard advertising campaign. Armed with every data point imaginable, she fought for her idea, convinced it would be a success. Her boss was skeptical, but Claudine pushed forward... The result? A costly flop. The billboard was so high in the air that pedestrians simply walked by without looking up. It was a hard lesson: data alone isn't enough. You need real-world observations too. But what struck me most was her boss's reaction. Instead of reprimanding her, he acknowledged the mistake but praised her for the learning opportunity it provided. This gave her the confidence to be bolder in her future endeavors and inspired her to give her teams the same gift—the freedom to take calculated risks and learn from them. At OpenFortune 🥠 we strongly believe in the same mantra: Growth often comes from our failures, not just our successes. But to fail, you need to be bold. Like Claudine says at the end of the clip, "You become more brave with permission." ps - nothing better than getting to do these pods live. s/o to ADWEEK and Brandweek for bringing us all together 🫡 (full ep link in comments)

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Are we talking about this enough? We have not seen an anti-trust ruling like this in decades, perhaps you recall the case against Microsoft in the 90s? It had a huge impact on Microsoft. What impact do we think this will have on Google? For Microsoft, it inspired/forced product innovation. https://lnkd.in/e9BCnQ2a #letstalkaboutgoogle #adtech #google #digital

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If you didn't catch our Gen AI expert panel live - do yourself a favor and watch the webinar recording with a nice cup of coffee today! It was an absolutely dynamic discussion among Adobe's Chris Duffey, Estee Lauder Companies' Jennifer Lee, NYU's Nicole Alexander and Ipsos' own Kristy Click. Don't miss out on these epic insights - and check out our "Gen AI In Action" solutions toolkit! #insightstoactivate

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