Data + Privacy

Early last Wednesday evening, I found myself in a closed courtyard off the Croisette in Cannes at an exclusive event co-hosted by a publisher and a tech company. Who am I and why was I there? I’m just a dude with a passion for interesting tech accompanying my girlfriend as she navigates her industry’s largest […]

The FTC approved the Omnicom-IPG merger, but with a brand-safety caveat: The agencies cannot create agency-level blocklists of any media that’s political or ideological. With Ad Fontes CEO Vanessa Otero, we unpack the consent order’s ramifications.

In 2025, the Cannes Lions festival entered its third era of creativity.   The first era focused on the creative itself: the work that inspires consumers to change their behavior. Then media entered the mix, and the creativity tent grew to include how publishers, platforms and brands cultivate consumer engagement. This year, it was clear that […]

From Cannes Lions, our editorial team discusses the mix of perspectives on the ad industry’s application of AI: the opportunity, the hesitation and the predictions of how it will disrupt marketing.

We’ve seen this movie before. A new tech-fueled, transformative business opportunity emerges; irrational exuberance takes over; and the bubble ultimately bursts. This is what happened 25 years ago with the dot.com era and then, much less spectacularly, with the programmatic, personalized digital advertising era and its poster boy for bad behavior, retargeting. When it comes […]

In response to the continuing changes and uncertainty regarding tariffs, marketers are amending their strategies and tactics, focusing more on highlighting value and cutting spend on non-digital channels.

In times of economic uncertainty, marketing budgets are often the first target for cost-cutting. Nearly half of marketers now report feeling significantly less optimistic about the US economy compared to the previous quarter, reflecting heightened anxiety across industries. Yet, indiscriminate cuts can undermine long-term strategic goals and may ultimately cost businesses far more than they […]

More than half (55%) of consumers are tired of hearing about AI, according to Twilio’s 2025 State of Customer Engagement Report. And while they do want the technology to improve their brand experiences, what they want is more high touch than high tech.

In the latest sign of massive change among ad agency hold cos, Mark Read is stepping down as leader of WPP. We unpack the impact of AI on agency hold cos and media, including WPP Media’s prediction that 2025 will be the first year in which the majority of ad spend flows through user-generated content.

Google’s recent promise to bring more transparency to its Performance Max product—including better channel reporting and visibility into creative assets—is long overdue. It’s also not a coincidence. Years of litigation and a landmark antitrust ruling finally forced Google to acknowledge what the rest of the industry has long understood: You don’t have to control both […]