Robert Williams

CANNES – The popularity of ChatGPT, a chatbot powered by generative artificial intelligence that’s adept at creating a variety of text-based content, has helped to ignite interest in the technology among media and marketing executives. That group includes attendees of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The term “AI” is among the five key […]

CANNES – The significant changes in how people spend time with media and advertising have led marketers and media companies to find measurement solutions that accurately reflect consumer behavior. Rivals to Nielsen, which has dominated television ratings for decades, are gaining acceptance in helping to set the value of ad transactions, or what are known […]

CANNES – Uber Technologies in the past year has diversified into advertising sales, building on its relationships with consumers who have used its apps to hail a car-ride or to order food for delivery. The data the company gathers about people’s destinations and their buying habits are a key resource in helping to provide brands […]

CANNES – The fragmentation of the media marketplace has challenged marketers to find more ways to measure the effectiveness of advertising, including a metric for people’s attention to brand messaging. Advertising agency Havas teamed with measurement partner Adelaide to develop the Meaningful Attention Unit (MAU) as a key metric. “We’re going to change how we […]

CANNES – The advertising industry’s carbon footprint was a major topic at this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, with plenty of discussion about how marketing professionals can include sustainability issues in their decision making. “Our agencies are getting more and more interest in not only what they’re doing for their organization, but what […]

CANNES – The ad-tech industry relies on computers whose power partly comes from burning fossil fuels. Natural gas and coal are used to generate 60% of the electricity in the United States, while 20% comes from renewable sources such as wind and hydroelectric, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Demand-side platform Adlook is looking […]

CANNES – Responsible media investment seeks to support a diverse range of publishers, broadcasters, streaming platforms and creators of content. The effort also reflects the growth of multiethnic audiences, especially younger consumers with growing spending power. Publicis Groupe several years ago created the Once and For All Coalition to advance diversity and inclusion goals. “We […]

CANNES – The advertising industry’s effect on climate change was a big topic at this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, with plenty of discussion about how marketing professionals can include sustainability issues in their decision making. John Osborn, the former chief executive of OMD USA and BBDO New York, wants to help them […]

There is growing awareness among companies that their marketing activities affect the environment. Greenhouse gasses not only come energy-intensive operations like running a factory or a fleet of trucks, but they also come from the electricity to host websites, store data or for automated bidding on digital advertising. As global chief sustainability officer of UM, […]

CANNES – Many retailers have created media networks to sell digital advertising space to brands that want to reach consumers as they shop online. The emergence of these networks is adding another dimension to the relationships between marketers of consumer brands and retailers, as retailers become suppliers of advertising inventory to the companies that supply their […]

CANNES – Marketers seeking to reach a mass audience have many ways to do that through a variety of channels – and retailers that sell online advertising are a fast-growing way to do that. However, these retail media networks have ad formats and definitions of engagement that can make them hard to compare with each […]

Uber will soon introduce full-length video ads for the first time on its ride-hailing app, food delivery service Uber Eats and alcohol sales platform Drizly, the company announced. The ads will appear on the main Uber app while customers wait for drivers to arrive and during their trips, Mark Grether, vice president and general manager […]

As marketers, agencies, media companies and adtech firms gather for this month’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, there will be more discussion about the role of artificial intelligence in the creative process of advertising. The explosive popularity of ChatGPT, a chatbot developed by tech startup OpenAI, has many people asking about the possibilities and […]

This year’s Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity includes a second round of refreshed criteria for the Media Lions awards to better reflect how significant upheavals in the media marketplace affect the way media buyers operate. This year’s festival comes as advertisers and agencies are adjusting to the effects of economic uncertainty on consumer behavior. “There is […]

The media and marketing industries are growing more mindful about their effects they have on the environment. While media companies and ad agencies may not spill deadly chemicals in waterways or strip-mine forests for minerals, advertising relies heavily on electricity that is mostly generated by burning fossil fuels. That’s where ethical advertising platform Good-Loop fits […]

Automated buying and selling of television advertising this year is a bigger part of negotiations among advertisers, agencies and media companies during the upfront sales season. As marketers seek to secure ad placements on network television for the next year, programmatic deals are more prominent. “We’ve seen a pretty big shift this year with programmatic […]

Adtech company PubMatic this month introduced a service called Activate to help marketers find the most efficient way to buy the advertising inventory of media companies with what’s known as supply path optimization (SPO). Activate lets media buyers to execute non-bidded direct deals on PubMatic’s programmatic platform, accessing premium video and CTV inventory at scale. […]

The dizzying changes in U.S. media and advertising technology can make it easy to forget that many people worldwide don’t have access to a basic education. Team Dayā, a not-for-profit group started by ad-tech executives, is working to build schools in lesser developed countries to help boost literacy as a key step in lifting people […]

MIAMI – Leaders can best inspire people by sharing their ideas in ways that have resonance among their colleagues. That can be challenging as more seek personal meaning and fulfillment from what they do at work. “The most important traits for a leader are, number one: vision, and having that clarity and being able to […]

Major buyers and sellers of television advertising this year formed a Joint Industry Committee to help set standards for ad transactions in cross-platform premium video. A key goal is to set some common standards that make the media marketplace more efficient. “Standards are important to create innovation,” Mike Fisher, executive director of investment innovation at GroupM, said in […]