Steve Ellwanger

PALM SPRINGS, Calif – Like many adtech companies, AppNexus had long supported video. Two years ago, it decided to lean hard into the winds of change roiling the television industry by investing in its own video demand-side platform, supply-side platform and ad server. “The cool thing is it’s working,” says CEO Brian O’Kelley. That turns […]

PALM SPRINGS, Calif – The Internet Advertising Bureau’s focus on brands at the 2018 Annual Leadership Conference marks an inflection point for the organization and all of advertising and media, according to NBCUniversal’s Scott Schiller. That it’s happening now “is a perfect setting for us to really focus on how do we bring brands closer […]

PALM SPRINGS, Calif – NBCUniversal’s Total Audience Delivery is a first for its coverage of Winter Olympics and a model for what the company believes will be more acceptance of the way it is helping marketers re-aggregate fragmenting audiences. So far, one of the biggest takeaways from the PyeongChang Winter Games for Krishan Bhatia has […]

PALM SPRINGS, Calif – Unilever is working with social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube on a “collaborative” basis to improve their content for the good of society while building a private blockchain to tackle transparency issues surrounding its own digital advertising. “The swamp isn’t very transparent,” says Unilever Chief Marketing & Communications Officer Keith […]

PALM SPRINGS, Calif – Behind Unilever’s public demand for greater trust on digital platforms is an ambitious plan by the global marketer to embrace blockchain technology. Its first step is to build a private blockchain to begin cleaning up the digital media supply chain, with its preponderance of middlemen and conflicting numbers. “Blockchain was built […]

NEW YORK – With brands waiting for attribution of their television ad effectiveness, it used to be a case of wanting it “as quickly as possible.” Now it’s “immediately as possible,” according to Alphonso’s T.S. Kelly. “They want to see that every minute of the day, every hour of the day, every day of the […]

PALM SPINGS, Calif  – In the interest of promoting digital advertising transparency, AppNexus has done “a complete opening” of its books over the last six months. This type of leadership role should be adopted by  every participant in the digital ecosystem for the benefit of marketers and publishers, says CEO Brian O’Kelley. “I think it’s […]

NEW YORK – Media agencies don’t have a lock on consumer data that informs their clients’ ad campaigns. And that’s a good thing to Shenan Reed, President & Chief Client Officer at Publicis Groupe. “It is fascinating to me that the creative agencies really want to have access to the data, and as media agencies […]

NEW YORK – While there’s always been a research component of creative agencies, what’s different now is the availability of identity based data. It enables brands to “travel with an individual and understand how they live and what motivates them throughout their day to consume different brands,” says Sharona Sankar King, EVP, Head of Marketing […]

Once again, the topic of “brand safety” will be front and center at the upcoming Internet Advertising Bureau Annual Leadership Meeting, but it will take on new meaning in light of IAB research into what it calls the Direct Brand Economy. Other industry semantics need to be updated as well, IAB President & CEO Randall […]

What’s the difference between “direct” brands and “indirect” brands? The distinction is the subject of the largest research project the Internet Advertising Bureau has ever done and it will be the centerpiece of the organization’s upcoming Annual Leadership Meeting. In this interview with Beet.TV, IAB President & CEO Randall Rothenberg explains why incumbent brands that […]

NEW YORK – Marketing needs to become more relevant to corporate business outcomes, while the digital walled gardens suffering from hygiene issues need to clean up their act, according to Bank of America’s Lou Paskalis. For starters, agencies need to perform a basic assessment for their clients and not avoid tough challenges, Paskalis, who is SVP, […]

NEW YORK – Tide’s seeming takeover of the 2018 Super Bowl was part of a “multidimensional solution” that started with a pre-game tease in social media featuring Terry Bradshaw, who didn’t end up in any of this year’s commercials. “We preplanned out a lot of how we wanted the social to work around it and […]

The Interactive Advertising Bureau is going bi-coastal with its Digital Content NewFronts presentation/negotiation event by trimming the original New York affair from two weeks to one and kicking off a Los Angeles version in the fourth quarter. “We decided this year to change it up a little bit because we have been getting feedback consistently […]

When you’re fashioning what’s designed to be a cutting-edge marketing agency, it’s good to know what not to do. One example is not trying to recreate what a creative agency does but being flexible when it comes to deciding who produces content for clients. “We’re set up to be super flexible,” says Noah Mallin, Head […]

The traditional consumer purchase “funnel” doesn’t carry much weight with new marketing agency Wavemaker. “A lot of communication agencies out there look at the purchase journey as a funnel and really it’s not that whatsoever. It’s actually quite cyclical,” says Derek Bhopalsingh, VP, Digital, Wavemaker Canada. The new GroupM agency that launched in the U.S. […]

How do you reboot an agency to take on more of marketers’ problems in a world where consumer change is fast and furious? In the case of GroupM’s Wavemaker, it’s thinking far beyond simply combining agencies Maxus and MEC. “It has to be more than a merger. If all we did was take two great […]

Roku is going all in on measurement of both streaming and linear television with a suite of tools called Roku Ad Insights, which includes the ability for advertisers to quiz viewers on-screen. “Measurement is essential to moving OTT forward within the media and advertising space,” says Dan Robbins, Head of Ad Research & Insights, Roku, […]

LAS VEGAS – Verizon’s Oath is intent on spreading the love in 2018 as it ramps up to offer advertisers alternatives to more unified competitors like Facebook and Google. “Build brands people love” is the mantra of the amalgamation of AOL and Yahoo that is Oath. Fittingly, the company has decided to share its “love” […]

LAS VEGAS – When Brian Wieser looks at The Walt Disney Co.’s desire to buy certain aspects of 21st Century Fox, he sees the impact of both shifting viewing habits and the intrusion of big digital players. For Disney, it’s the appeal of a big, quick deal and the options here and overseas it will […]