Dispatches from Cannes Lions 2025: Interviews on Innovation, a Beet.TV Leadership Series at Cannes Lions 2025
Retailers Feel Left Behind in the AI Race; Topsort’s Regina Ye Wants to Change That
CANNES – The race to stay competitive in retail media is heating up, and the biggest challenge is making sure smaller retailers aren’t left behind, says Regina Ye, co-founder and chief executive of adtech startup Topsort. “I think we’re sitting at a really interesting moment in technology right now where all the retailers are sort […]
Attain’s Brian Mandelbaum: to Break ‘Performance vs. Branding,’ Focus on Accountability
CANNES – Strolling down the Croisette a few weeks ago, Attain Co-founder and CEO Brian Mandelbaum received one overwhelming message: outcomes are everything. For the head of the consumer transaction data analytics company head, that represents a fundamental shift from just a year ago. “I’ve been walking around Cannes for the past five days, and […]
DirecTV’s Matt Van Houten: There’s No Stopping Pause Ads From Going Mainstream
CANNES – DirecTV is betting that Pause Ads — those advertisements that appear when viewers pause their content — will soon become as common as traditional commercial breaks. “Pause Ads… are going to be mainstream very soon,” Matt Van Houten, SVP of Ad Sales at DirecTV, told Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan at the Cannes Lions […]
Perion’s Tal Jacobson: CMOs Still Can’t Show CFOs What Their Media Dollars Actually Do
CANNES – Despite all the advances in marketing technology, chief marketing officers still struggle with a fundamental problem: proving to their chief financial officers that advertising investments drive sales. “CMOs still lack the ability to show CFOs the yield on investment,” Tal Jacobson, CEO of Perion, told Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan at the Cannes Lions […]
Ogury’s Thomas Bernal: Stop Looking for the Right People. Find the Right Personas Instead
CANNES – At a time when identity-based targeting faces mounting challenges, Ogury is betting on a fundamentally different approach: targeting personas rather than people. “Our methodology is based on effectively finding audiences that have the right mindset, the right characteristics, without effectively encroaching on their privacy,” Thomas Bernal, SVP of Go-to-Market at Ogury, told Beet.TV […]
The Trade Desk’s Jill Smith: Retail Media’s Next Wave Requires Breaking Down Internal Silos
CANNES – The Trade Desk is betting that retail media’s future depends on traditionally separate divisions within retailers learning to work together toward common goals. “We are so excited about the ‘One Retail’ vision that we have at The Trade Desk,” Jill Smith, the ad tech platform’s VP Business Development, Retail, told Beet.TV contributor David […]
LiveRamp’s Frederick Stanichev: Privacy Is a Competitive Advantage for Brands
CANNES – Given all the tension surrounding consumers’ and brands’ expectations about customer experience and personalization, LiveRamp is betting that privacy-first approaches will separate winners from losers, particularly in the data collaboration space. “We see brand making privacy a competitive advantage because when the data is actually collected in a trustful manner, it will then […]
AI, First-Party Data, and Passionate Communities Are Driving the Future of Media: Future’s Matt Trotta
CANNES — AI is transforming the media landscape, but for publisher Future the combination of data, editorial expertise, and passionate communities is creating new opportunities for both consumers and brands. “AI is definitely reshaping the publisher landscape,” Matt Trotta, senior vice president of commercial at Future, said in this interview with Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan […]
To Buy or Not To Buy? EXTE’s AI Makes the Call on Ad Impressions
CANNES — In the fractional seconds of a programmatic auction, the decision to bid on an ad impression is a high-stakes gamble. For advertisers under pressure to optimize every dollar, the challenge is separating the impressions likely to perform from the swathes of those that will not, a process often clouded by dozens of competing […]
Quan Media’s Brian Rappaport on Out of Home’s Staying Power — Plus Details On New Tradition Alliance
CANNES – In early June, U.S. out of home ad spending posted its highest-ever Q1 revenue, hitting $1.98 billion. Just looking at that figure from an Out of Home Advertising Association of America (OAAA) report, indicated that the oldest form of mass media was having a sudden resurgence. But look a little deeper, said Brian […]
‘We’re at the Center of Pop Culture,’ and a Gateway to Gen Z: Fandom’s Jeremy Steinberg
CANNES — In a media landscape flooded with fleeting trends and fragmented audiences, Fandom’s Chief Revenue Officer Jeremy Steinberg says the wiki platform offers something marketers crave: direct access to the heart of pop culture, and to elusive Gen Z audiences. “Fandom can help marketers get to the center of pop culture, because we are […]
VuePlanner’s John Cobb: YouTube Is the Cultural Engine of all Generations
CANNES – YouTube presents a unique challenge for marketers. It’s television, radio, retail media, and creator commerce all rolled into one platform. As John Cobb, CEO and co-founder of VuePlanner, most advertisers aren’t set up to handle that complexity. “The challenge for marketers is that generally the way they look at things is they buy […]
Retail Media Is ‘Third Wave’ of Precision Advertising: Jivox CEO Diaz Nesamoney
CANNES – Nearly a decade after helping pioneer dynamic creative in advertising, Diaz Nesamoney, founder and chief executive of Jivox, says retail media is redefining the industry, and his company is evolving to meet the moment. Speaking with Beet.TV’s Andy Plesser at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, Nesamoney reflected on how far the space […]
Walmart Connect Eyes CTV and Vizio Partnership to Drive Shoppable TV Revolution
CANNES – Walmart Connect is deepening its push into connected television advertising, fueled by its acquisition of Vizio and a growing appetite from brands for performance-driven media. Speaking with Beet.TV’s Andy Plesser at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Ryan Mayward, senior vice president of retail media sales at Walmart Connect, said the company […]