Robert Andrews

CANNES — From May 2018, strict new regulations governing how companies can handle European citizens’ data will pose a challenge to everyone who handles customer or audience data. Amongst other stipulations, the European Commission’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) measures include: tighter consent conditions for the collection of citizens’ data. consumers can instruct companies to stop […]

CANNES — In the last couple of years, data-driven and programmatic advertising techniques have grown in importance to ad agencies, so many of the agencies have put the processes at the heart of their organizations. For many, that has meant a promotion for the executives who once ran outlier data divisions within an agency but […]

CANNES — Artificial intelligence may be the technology flavor du jour – but some companies out there have been using AI methods for years. In this video interview with Beet.TV, ad agency Omnicom Digital CEO Jonathan Nelson defines AI, outlines how his company applies the tech, and casts a note of caution. “AI’s been in our […]

CANNES — Can artificial intelligence predict the outcome of an election? Back in November, Havas did exactly that. When the world was betting on a Hillary win, Havas deployed what, like large tech firms, it is now calling its “cognitive” technologies, on 15 million news articles, candidates’ speeches and a billion social posts by 10 […]

CANNES — Mobile is one of the biggest forces shaping digital marketing, marketers are challenged to agree common data standards, and advertising can enjoy a healthy future where commerce is taking place. Those were some of the conclusions of a panel of ad agency technology executives, who debated the topics in a session recorded by […]

CANNES — Artificial intelligence has been around for a long time – well, in theory. But one leading ad agency thinker says the technology has reach the point where executives simply must decide what their execution strategy looks like. So OMD’s Jean-Paul Edwards commissioned a Europe-wide research study to understand how companies in different countries […]

CANNES — Would you let a bot do your marketing for you? Ben Parr thinks you should – and so do the investors who just gave $1.6mn to the startup he founded to convince you. Parr, a former Mashable writer, co-founded Octane AI last year, to help brands deploy AI-powered chatbots that can interact with […]

CANNES — Depending on who you talk to, two-bit news sites that play fast and loose with the truth swung last year’s US presidential election. But they also swung advertisers’ ire toward ad-tech platforms that, for a time, seemed unable to stop brands funding the fakers. That is why Wayne Gattinella introduced a new way to […]

CANNES — Will Netflix introduce advertising? That is a question on many minds in Silicon Valley, Wall Street and Madison Avenue alike. Often, the question is framed as an “either-or” in which Netflix would have to choose between continuing its current premium SVOD model or ripping it up in favour of ad funding. Previously, Ampere […]

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 […]