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What makes great PR in ad tech, and how is AI reshaping the advertising industry? Ari Paparo and Eric Franchi welcome Chris Harihar, EVP at Mod Op, to discuss the future of ad tech PR, effective storytelling, and the challenges of communicating AI and agentic advertising strategies. The conversation explores Yahoo DSP's agentic vision, PubMatic's AI announcements, and why traditional PR tactics are no longer enough. Chris also shares how Aristotle's principles of persuasion can help brands build credibility and connect with audiences. Plus, the team breaks down Google's and Microsoft's earnings, FreeWheel's future with NBCUniversal, Pinterest's partnership with Magnite, Stagwell's acquisition of Freestar, the announced DoorDash and Instacart deal, and Walmart's move into agentic commerce. Takeaways Why traditional ad tech PR needs a fresh approach. How Yahoo DSP and PubMatic are shaping agentic AI messaging. The role of storytelling and credibility in effective PR. Google's AI monetization challenges and advertising growth. FreeWheel's future and the evolving CTV landscape. How major acquisitions are reshaping ad tech and retail media. Walmart's move into AI-powered shopping and agentic commerce. Chapters00:00 Marketecture Live 2027 Announcement00:55 Welcome to Marketecture Podcast02:34 Chris Harihar Joins: The Fortune Cookie Advertising Debate07:46 What Makes Great PR in Ad Tech?09:29 Yahoo DSP and PubMatic's Agentic AI Strategies13:24 When AI Advertising PR Backfires18:52 Apple, Privacy, and Industry Backlash20:43 Aristotle's Three Principles of Effective Storytelling23:17 PR Lightning Round: Research, Executives, and Social Media24:58 Do Press Releases Still Matter in AI Search?27:04 Google Earnings and the Future of Search Advertising31:33 YouTube's Growth and Instagram's CTV Opportunity33:00 Chris Harihar on AI Tools and Muse34:16 Microsoft Earnings and Cloud Growth35:11 FreeWheel, Universal Ads, and NBCUniversal38:44 Could Paramount Skydance Move Away From FreeWheel?39:51 Pinterest Opens Programmatic Advertising With Magnite41:38 Stagwell Acquires Freestar: Agency and Publisher Tech Converge44:03 DoorDash and Instacart: Retail Media Consolidation47:04 Walmart's MCP Server and the Future of Agentic Commerce50:11 Closing Remarks Guests: Ari Paparo, Eric Franchi, Chris Harihar Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ari Paparo and Eric Franchi sit down with Carlo Palomino, President of OpenFortune, to explore how the company transformed fortune cookies into a powerful advertising channel. Carlo shares how OpenFortune built its global distribution network, drives brand engagement through creative campaigns, and partners with brands and creators like MrBeast. Plus, in The Refresh, Ari and Eric discuss Meta's earnings and new ad formats, Apple's privacy restrictions, Salesforce's acquisition of Braze, Kevel's $52 million funding round, Netflix's advertising challenges, and the expansion of ChatGPT ads. Takeaways - OpenFortune is transforming fortune cookies into an advertising channel that connects brands with consumers through memorable real-world experiences. - Meta's strong advertising growth and new premium ad formats highlight its expanding opportunities for brand advertisers. - Apple's WebKit privacy restrictions raise new challenges for identity resolution and cross-site tracking. - Salesforce's acquisition of Braze and Kevel's $52 million funding round reflect continued investment in MarTech and commerce media. - Netflix's advertising challenges highlight the importance of balancing premium brand campaigns with performance marketing. - OpenFortune's distribution network, QR code engagement, and partnerships with Gary Vee and MrBeast demonstrate the potential of experiential advertising. Chapters00:00 Introduction02:05 Meta Earnings, AI Growth, and New Ad Formats08:43 Meta Muse and AI Productivity10:09 Apple's Privacy Restrictions and Identity Resolution13:02 Salesforce Acquires Braze16:30 Kevel's $52 Million Funding Round19:10 Netflix's Advertising Growth Challenges22:26 Netflix's Measurement Tools and DSP Integration23:03 ChatGPT Ads Expansion and AI-Powered Creative25:55 Publicis and LiveRamp Acquisition Update27:13 Meet Carlo Palomino, President of OpenFortune28:19 Turning Fortune Cookies into Advertising Experiences29:22 How Branded Fortune Cookie Ads Work31:39 Building OpenFortune's Distribution Network33:25 Global Reach and Advertising Inventory34:21 Gary Vee's Investment and Campaign Results35:22 Creative Fortune Cookie Advertising Campaigns36:42 Measuring QR Code Engagement and Brand Lift38:26 OpenFortune's Expansion and Fortune Tacos41:29 MrBeast Partnership and Collectible Fortune Cookies42:51 Closing Remarks Guests: Ari Paparo, Eric Franchi, Carlo Palomino Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Recorded at Marketecture Live Chicago, Will Hoyt of Blis, part of T-Mobile Advertising Solutions, sits down with Danielle Mathews, Senior Director of Integrated Marketing at Pura, to explore how mobile data, first-party insights, and omnichannel advertising are transforming retail marketing. Danielle shares how Pura evolved from a direct-to-consumer brand into an omnichannel business, using behavioral targeting, connected TV, retail media, and data partnerships to discover new audiences and drive incremental growth. They also discuss measurement, data clean rooms, AI, and why brand identity and platform-specific content will be essential for marketing success in 2027. Takeaways Mobile Data Unlocks Consumer Insights: Mobile app behavior helps brands discover new audiences, validate assumptions, and improve advertising strategies. First-Party and Third-Party Data Drive Growth: Combining customer insights with external behavioral signals strengthens targeting across retail, connected TV, and digital channels. Omnichannel Marketing Expands Reach: Pura's transition from DTC to retail highlights the importance of connecting digital advertising with in-store shopping experiences. Clean Data Improves Measurement: Identity resolution, data clean rooms, and incrementality measurement help marketers identify genuinely new customers and optimize spending. Brand Identity and Content Shape 2027: Maintaining a consistent brand identity while creating platform-specific content will be critical as AI and consumer behavior evolve. Chapters:00:00 Introduction to Marketecture Live Chicago00:54 Meet Blis and T-Mobile Advertising Solutions02:05 How Pura Uses Smart Technology and Customer Data03:19 Pura's Evolution From DTC to Omnichannel Retail04:51 Consumer Behavior and Audience Segmentation06:12 Using Mobile Data to Drive Target Store Traffic07:56 Connecting Mobile Data With CTV Advertising08:23 Combining First-Party and Third-Party Data10:33 Improving CPG Audience Targeting and Measurement11:21 Data Clean Rooms, Identity Resolution, and Incrementality13:09 Marketing Trends and Opportunities for 202714:42 Brand Storytelling and Platform-Specific Content15:40 Measuring Marketing Impact and Final Takeaways Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ari Paparo and Eric Franchi welcome Scott Messer, founder of Messer Media and co-founder of AdTech Therapy, to discuss the challenges facing digital publishers as AI reshapes advertising and the open web. They explore declining publisher traffic, AI content licensing, Google's antitrust ruling, and how agentic advertising could transform direct media buying by reducing programmatic fees. The conversation also covers Apple's Safari privacy changes, Prebid's potential role in a unified auction, OpenAI's advertising strategy, the future of agentic commerce, and emerging retail media partnerships involving Uber, TripleLift, and Instacart. Takeaways: Declining Open Web Traffic: Scott Messer explains how AI and declining search traffic are forcing publishers to rethink their business models, prioritize audience loyalty, and diversify revenue streams. AI Content Licensing: Publishers are exploring bot restrictions, licensing agreements, and regulatory action to protect their content and secure compensation from AI platforms. Agentic Advertising: AI-powered direct media buying could reduce DSP and SSP fees, streamline reservations, and create more efficient transactions between advertisers and publishers. Google Antitrust and Prebid: Google's antitrust ruling could reshape programmatic advertising by opening opportunities for Prebid Server and alternative ad-serving technologies. AI Advertising and Privacy: The hosts examine OpenAI's behavioral targeting approach, Apple's Safari restrictions, and the implications for publisher monetization and consumer privacy. Retail Media and Agentic Commerce: Partnerships involving Uber, TripleLift, and Instacart highlight new opportunities for commerce data, while retailers continue to evaluate AI shopping agents. Chapters:00:29 Introduction to Scott Messer and Ad Tech Therapy01:08 Upcoming Ad Tech Events and Apparium Summit02:16 Scott Messer on Fixing Broken Ad Tech Operations05:23 Declining Open Web Traffic and Publisher Challenges06:37 Building Publisher Loyalty and Protecting Content from AI08:03 AI Bots, Content Licensing and Publisher Compensation13:12 Advertising to AI and the Future of Sponsored Content17:08 The Ethics of Advertising to AI Agents18:37 Google's Antitrust Ruling and Prebid's Future22:49 How Publishers Can Benefit from Agentic Advertising25:11 Reducing Programmatic Fees Through Agentic Direct Buying28:29 Prebid Summit and Ad Tech M&A Outlook30:01 Apple's Safari Privacy Changes and Publisher Revenue33:43 Character.AI and the Risks of AI Advertising Inventory37:49 OpenAI's Advertising Strategy and Behavioral Targeting41:24 Google's Search Scraping Defense and Data Co-op45:06 Retailers Blocking AI Shopping Agents47:00 Agentic Commerce and AI-Powered Product Discovery49:04 Uber, TripleLift and the Future of Retail Media51:31 Will Retail Media Become Programmatic?52:04 Closing Remarks Guests: Ari Paparo, Eric Franchi, Scott Messer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Live from Amazon unBoxed in San Francisco, Marketecture host Ari Paparo sits down with Claire Magruder, Director of GO Studio, Global Overview, and Santosh Gunaseelan, Director, Amazon Ads, Creative Intelligence & Optimization, Amazon, to explore how AI-powered creative tools are making streaming TV advertising more accessible. They discuss Amazon's Creative Agent, the importance of human creativity and brand guidelines, and how Traditional Medicinals used AI-generated video ads to drive new-to-brand purchases, improve efficiency, and expand its advertising reach. Takeaways AI-Powered Video Creation: Amazon's Creative Agent helps brands produce streaming TV ads faster and at a lower cost. Human Creativity Still Matters: AI supports creative execution while strategists guide storytelling, brand alignment, and approvals. Smarter Creative Optimization: Amazon combines performance signals, brand guidelines, and human feedback to improve ad effectiveness. Traditional Medicinals' Results: The campaign achieved 1.24x higher new-to-brand purchases and 1.14x greater new-customer acquisition cost efficiency. Expanding Streaming TV Access: AI reduces production barriers, allowing more brands to reach audiences across video and streaming formats. Chapters 00:00 Introduction: Live from Amazon unBoxed00:50 Meet Global Overview and Amazon Ads01:52Traditional Medicinals' Streaming TV Opportunity02:59 Why AI-Generated Ads Need Creative Intelligence04:09 Creating Video Ads with Amazon's Creative Agent05:12 Brand Guidelines and Creative Performance07:05 Human Judgment in AI-Powered Advertising08:57 How AI Helps Agencies Scale Creative Production09:28 Adapting Creative Across Advertising Formats10:34 Reducing Video Production Costs11:30 Traditional Medicinals' Campaign Results11:59 The Future of AI-Powered Streaming TV Ads13:18 Closing: The Marketecture Animal Question Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices