Steve Ellwanger

CANNES – When IBM considers the concept of blockchain, it’s interested less in the technology itself than its capabilities to help people like chief marketing officers. “What we look to do is make sure we’re the convener of this new capability,” says Jason Kelley, who is the company’s General Manager of Blockchain Services. “Let’s start […]

The 2018 television Upfront “is a marketplace with more moving parts than ever,” says media agency veteran Chris Geraci. Still, the age-old dynamics between supply and demand for linear TV advertising inventory endure. Overall, this year’s Upfront is “not all that different from a marketplace that’s reflective of a relatively healthy economic backdrop,” Geraci, who […]

Ben Tatta recalls the early days of addressable television experiments at Cablevision as “really just 100,000 households in Brooklyn” New York. Now there’s more than 35 million homes nationwide capable of receiving addressable ads, but David Kline, who gave Tatta his start at Cablevision, says it’s not enough. “National advertisers don’t want 40 million. It’s […]

CANNES – Having recently made the move from the agency world to big-time consulting, Nikki Mendonca is directing Accenture’s worldwide efforts to help marketers gain more control over programmatic execution and counsel them on data-driven marketing. “With programmatic, we’re starting with a lot of client interest in terms of them wanting to in house and […]

The melding and pruning of assets within AOL and Yahoo under Oath started a year ago this month. A key indicator of Oath’s priorities arose in March when it shut down ONE TV, the self-serve platform for programmatic linear television, to go all in on addressable TV. “The future of how TV is being delivered […]

Cloud-based media inventory yield management specialist Furious Corp.’s new president, Neil Schaffer, has helped execute business process reengineering to industries as varied as paper and optical products. When he views the television industry, he sees more “reacting more than pro-acting” in the face of platform proliferation. With more than a decade in the media industry, […]

After years of talk and wishful thinking about data-driven audience targeting, “I think we’re getting down to the nuts and bolts,” says Anupam Gupta, Chief Product Officer at 4C Insights, the data science and marketing technology company. “A lot of the conversations now are not such much about the promise of all the stuff we […]

David Dworin, VP Advisory Services, FreeWheel highlights findings from a very deep data dive by FreeWheel into the complex subject of creating the optimal video advertising experience for viewers: “We’re realizing that ad experience is more complicated than just cutting the number of ads.” But while there’s plenty of complication, “There’s actually a lot of other […]

Even as digital and traditional media compete for advertising dollars, some traditions remain resilient. A good example is the ongoing Upfront negotiating season, which began in the last quarter of 2017, during which media buyers make long-term spending commitments. “Time has proven that making the long-term bet is a good idea for both sides in […]

One of the more compelling presentations at last week’s Beet Retreat in the City was given by Nancy Reyes of TBWA\Chiat\Day New York. To show how data can not only inform creative but also actually constitute it, Reyes walked the audience through two campaigns from the Netherlands that sought to comfort lonely people and reduce […]

Video engagement advertising pioneer true[X] is looking to leverage the utility of voice-activated assistants and the power of live programming as it rolls out the next generation of attention-based video capabilities. “Engagement advertising is just the beginning,” says Pooja Midha, who recently joined true[X] as President. At last week’s Beet Retreat in the City, Midha—whose […]

When TiVo and Rovi merged in the fall of 2016, one priority was to pool all of the set-top box viewing data from TiVo’s own hardware and combine it with data from cable and satellite operators. But the combined data were useful only to the extent that software could extract insights. “So when we first […]

In the quest for addressable television with greater scale, brand uptake is accelerating concurrent with the efforts of companies like LiveRamp to educate the marketplace. Automation through software is lagging this uptake, according to Allison Metcalfe, GM of LiveRamp TV. “People are still pretty confused about what’s possible and how it works,” Metcalfe explains in […]

Armed with more precise viewer insights, cable television providers are well positioned to help not only their advertisers but their network affiliates as well by raising the value of their inventory. “So the days of us confronting each other I think from an advertising standpoint are over and I think we really are going to […]

Former Starcom CEO Laura Desmond perceives a “full-scale crisis of confidence in marketing” not due to a lack of advertising accountability but to the complicated nature of brand building. “We see it play out with the holding companies and how they’re doing and how they’re under pressure, and that impacts every other part of the […]

A Puerto Rico devastated by last year’s Hurricane Maria is on the verge of its next hurricane season. “And there are still problems,” says GroupM’s Phil Cowdell. There will be more storms and “people are still living under roofs with plastic tarpaulins…there are still people who don’t have power. So what we have to do […]

The TV industry is looking at outcomes and attributions “in a unique way right now” to fend off digital and social competitors that have claimed advertising results for which they’re not always responsible, says NBCUniversal’s Mike Rosen. “There’s that old movie expression don’t bring a knife to a gunfight,” Rosen adds. Yet so far, that’s […]

Giving people choices when it comes to television advertising sounds pretty straightforward, but it’s complicated by the fact that many viewers want an effortless experience. “This is why voice activation is working so well, because it’s actually the only thing easier than picking up a remote and pressing the buttons,” says Ben Winkler, Chief Investment […]

As someone who is responsible for television advertising sales, Joe Marchese is bullish on the medium. But as a viewer, he wants a lot more in return for his investment of time. “I love what advertising affords and supports content and storytelling,” but the current “incarnation of the market” has just been between publishers and […]

If storytelling will be over “when the world is perfect” is true, advertisers would seem to have nothing to worry about. However, storytelling is everywhere and it’s very easy for consumers to avoid. There is a parallel here to the 2018 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. While there is a category for Brand Experience […]