Once everyone has AI, the real advantage for marketers will come from the data no one else has — both their own and their partners’
By David George, CEO Pixability
Everyone in marketing suddenly has an “AI strategy,” and more recently an “agentic strategy.” You can’t open LinkedIn without seeing another post about generative content, predictive modeling, or “intelligent optimization.”
But here’s the uncomfortable truth: any kind of application of AI without proprietary data is just noise–because it can be easily replicated.
If everyone’s using the same foundation models, the same open APIs, and the same public data, then every AI output starts to look the same. There’s no differentiation — just automation.
What will separate the winners from the rest isn’t who uses AI. It’s who owns and feeds AI with data that nobody else has.
Why Proprietary Data Is the Real Edge
Marketers already understand the importance of first-party data — it’s the foundation for accurate targeting, personalization, and measurement. But as AI becomes central to how campaigns are planned, bought, and optimized, proprietary data that’s meaningful becomes even more powerful.
When a brand uses its proprietary purchase data, CRM records, or site analytics to train or inform AI, that AI becomes smarter for them and them alone.
According to a Google/Kantar study, companies with a strong first-party data strategy are 1.5x more likely to see positive outcomes from AI. That’s not a coincidence — it’s cause and effect.
It’s Not Just About You — It’s About Who You Partner With
Here’s the other half of the equation most marketers miss: your partners’ proprietary data matters just as much as your own.
When you’re evaluating ad platforms, agencies, or tech vendors, don’t just ask, “What AI tools are you using?” Ask, “What unique data do you have that I can’t get anywhere else?”
Because that’s where the edge is.
Take YouTube. Every advertiser gets access to the same standard metrics and targeting tools. But some partners can tell you more — that a specific creator’s channel has grown 60% in six months, that its audience over-indexes for Gen X males who buy sportswear, and that the content tone aligns with your brand. That’s proprietary intelligence. That’s differentiation.
The same applies across connected TV, retail media, and programmatic. Two platforms may both use AI to optimize bids, but only one might have deep contextual and behavioral data layered in to make those optimizations smarter.
The Agency Arms Race: Data as the Moat
Agencies have caught on. That’s why nearly every major holding company is now grounding its AI strategy in proprietary data.
Publicis’ March 2025 acquisition of data management company Lotame (folded into its Epsilon platform) and WPP’s purchase of clean-room pioneer InfoSum both reflect the same thesis: to build AI systems that do more than everyone else’s, you need access to data no one else has.
One of the newer tactics resulting from, and further fueling, this evolution is Super Signal Aggregation (SSA) — the push to tie as many meaningful signals as possible to every piece of media an advertiser buys.
If two partners are both running your CTV campaign, but one can layer in richer proprietary data — identifying not just the show your ad runs in, but the tone of the content, the sentiment of the storyline, and whether the audience over-indexes for your target — that partner wins. Not because its AI is smarter, but because it’s operating with more context.
The smartest partners are already using SSA to uncover those deeper layers of insight — context, sentiment, engagement, competitive overlap — across every channel. It’s how they transform the same ad inventory everyone else can access into intelligence no one else can replicate.
The Future of Advertising Belongs to the Data-Rich
AI is already becoming table stakes. Proprietary data is becoming the differentiator.
So if you’re a marketer, your 2026 roadmap should have two clear priorities:
- Get your own data house in order. Clean it, connect it, and activate it so your AI actually has something meaningful to learn from.
- Choose partners who bring unique data to the table. The more signals you can access — about audiences, content, context, and outcomes — the smarter your AI will get.
Virtually everyone will soon have AI-powered solutions. But only those with proprietary data — their own and their partners’ — will have intelligence that cuts through the clutter.
That’s not just the next phase of marketing transformation. It will become the way to win.
