Robert Andrews

CANNES — What do executives at the bleeding edge of marketing strategy think about the way the business is changing? That was the main question on the lips of moderator Jay Sears, the SVP of MasterCard’s advertising intelligence, when he chaired a panel discussion on the topic on the shores of the Cannes Lions festival […]

CANNES — Cannes Lions is billed as “the international festival of creativity” but, judging from some of the tech talk that has made in-roads in recent years, you could forgive a delegate for not feeling very creative anymore. So, in a world of ad-tech, what place does creativity have at the table anymore? Creativity is […]

CANNES — Across the TV industry, MVPDs are examining how they can upgrade their ad sales processes. Taking a cue from online video ad sales, they want to start trading ads using data-infused insights, allowing advertisers to target audiences, not just content. Brian Golbere wants to help, though he says the prospect has a ways […]

CANNES — After a few years in which the advertising industry has talked plenty about targeting, precision and data, many executives used last week’s Cannes Lions to talk about rebalancing the narrative with a nod back to creativity. But the two hemispheres of the industry don’t have to be divorced from each other, says one […]

CANNES — Marketers should start preparing for an age in which their independent intelligent brand assistants are at consumers’ beck and call to answer pre-purchase questions using artificial intelligence, according to one leading ad agency executive. At Cannes Lions, AI – perhaps surprisingly – emerged as one of the key trends and opportunities facing modern […]

CANNES — Driverless cars are already here. But that doesn’t mean drivers shouldn’t be able to take control at the wheel whenever they fancy putting pedal to the metal. The marketing chief of one big auto maker believes owners should be able to choose their vehicle’s driving mode depending on their preference. Earlier this year, […]

CANNES — The world of online advertising has grown up by using metrics like click-throughs as proxies for advertisers’ real end goals, like driving sales. Now, slowly, as new attribution technology hots up, brands are being promised the ability the ability to close the loop. But, whilst, to many, this evolution appears to be driven […]

CANNES — Many brands remain wedded to an advertising planning system developed by econometricians – but the so-called “marketing-mix modelling” doesn’t necessarily give them all the answers about campaign performance. In this discussion panel recorded by Beet.TV, ad agency tech executives say many clients are capable of moving forward – but they are caught between […]

CANNES — When they burst on to the scene a few years back, so-called “programmatic advertising” techniques focused on unlocking lower-grade ad inventory using real-time auctions. But times have changed. And one ad-tech exec is witnessing a maturation of programmatic that now includes a focus on premium ad space and a “flight to quality”. “Programmatic […]

CANNES — As Cannes Lions played host to plenty of discussions about the role of artificial intelligence in advertising and marketing, many might have wondered how far off some of the technologies may be. Certainly, tools like 3D brand avatars imbued with lifelike emotions and empathy may seem far-fetched. But they are real, here and […]

CANNES — The market for addressable TV, the practice of using data to digitally target TV viewers over connected devices, could double this year, says one leader working in the space. Speaking with Beet.TV in this video interview, Cross MediaWorks CEO Nick Troiano says the technology is rolling out well in local TV, and will eventually […]

CANNES — Artificial intelligence may get talked about a lot as a future technology. But the reality is that some of the big technology firms already make several AI and machine learning disciplines available for any developer to use in their own applications today. That means the time is now to pick a horse in […]

CANNES — Artificial intelligence is promising the touch and revolutionize every industry on the planet – even journalism. Already, algorithms are beginning to take the basic inputs of data and write coherent narratives, But one top magazine editor doesn’t believe robots will be calling the shots in the newsroom any time soon. “I’m not terribly […]

CANNES — Twitter says it wants to help down-play shady user-generated content (UGC) in the advertising offerings it serves up to big agencies. in this video interview with Beet.TV, Twitter agency development director Stephanie Prayer says the network is trying to soothe brands’ concerns over the safety of environments in which ordinary folk publish their own […]

CANNES — Peering in to consumers’ credit card purchase history to target them with advertising is no longer a new prospect in digital media. But now that same opportunity is coming to TV. Nielsen Catalina Solutions already helps advertisers target ads using so-called “buyergraphic” data, using its database of purchase history from 90mn households. Now […]

CANNES — As research continues to show growth in podcast consumption and digital music subscription continues to go from strength to strength, advertisers once more have an opportunity to embrace audio. The prospects for radio advertising had been looking shaky. But now new advertising technology looks like helping networks benefit from the same kind of […]

CANNES — Chatbots may have been one of the big tech trends of 2016, but few advertisers have yet embraced the idea of making artificial brand personas that consumers can interact with. Mindshare is one agency that has dipped its toe in the water – but it now thinks artificial intelligence technology may help catapult […]

CANNES — Artificial intelligence technology will significantly upgrade the ways in which marketers can develop models that find the right consumers online, according to a Nielsen executive currently rolling out the technology across Europe. Nielsen added Nielsen AI to Nielsen Marketing Cloud in April, bringing machine learning that optimizes audiences based on consumer behaviour. But […]

CANNES — He is better known to Beet.TV viewers as the man who helped grow Publicis’ programmatic advertising business. But this year Marco Bertozzi jumped out of the agency world and in to a music subscription startup, when he was named Europe VP and head of sales for Spotify. Why music? Because Spotify has a […]

CANNES — He had spent six years leading the build-out of GroupM’s programmatic audience-buying division Xaxis in the EMEA region, but now Caspar Schlickum has moved on to another part of the sprawling WPP empire. Last year, Schlickum left Xaxis to become CEO of Wunderman’s APAC division – a move he says was motivated by […]