_Editorial

Byron Allen in Conversation with Bill Carter

As the traditional players decamp from late-night television, comedian turned media mogul Byron Allen is seizing the opportunity, forging a new business model for the time period–one that promises to be a win-win for all involved.

Beyond Buzz: Immersive Storytelling and The Lyft Effect

Lyft Ads isn’t just connecting top brands with relevant moments – we’re creating them with exclusive, buzz-generating solutions that bridge digital to IRL, deliver product innovation to reach the right audiences and can only be found on Lyft.

Game On: The Future of Fandom

In this conversation, Adrian Sutherland and Jeremi Gorman will unpack how displaced fans, shifting loyalties, women’s sports, and even the rise of athletes over celebrities are changing the playbook for marketers.

Moments That Matter: Building Brand Trust Across Every Touchpoint

Connection today is built in the moments that matter—across screens, shelves, and shared culture. This conversation explores how brands are creating emotionally resonant, consistent experiences that inspire trust and loyalty, meeting consumers where they are—from retail shelves to digital screens.

Doja Cat: The Business Behind The Brand

Today, the world’s bigger stars are no longer just entertainers, but multimillion or even billion dollar brands themselves, as meticulously managed as the media conglomerates that power them.

Transformation With Integrity

A candid, future-forward session where Horizon Media’s founder and visionary Bill Koenigsberg and Bob Lord, President of Horizon Media Holdings, unpack the future of media, technology, and business transformation.

The ROI Revolution: Moving B2B Marketing from Vanity to Value

78% of CMOs state proving ROI has become more important in the last two years. But as sales cycles grow more complex, traditional attribution models built for B2C often miss the mark. Faced with mounting pressure to show the impact of every campaign, marketers need clarity on where and how to invest to drive tangible revenue impact.

Passion to Performance: Unlocking the Power of Sports, Fandom, and Measurement

Sports are a key stronghold for engaged, appointment-based viewing —and with that comes unmatched opportunities for brands. We’ll unpack how advertisers are tapping into the emotional intensity of fandom, using advanced measurement tools to quantify impact across platforms for full-funnel outcomes. From real-time engagement metrics to breakthrough attribution strategies, discover how sports marketing is evolving to deliver both cultural relevance and business results.

The Ochocinco Brand Playbook

From electrifying fans on the field to building a powerful presence as a creator and media brand, Chad Ochocinco has redefined what it means to be an athlete in today’s sports economy.

Woj on the Future of College Sports

St. Bonaventure’s GM Adrian Wojnarowski sits down with Pat O’Toole, CMO of Unleashed Brands, to unpack the future of college sports in this era defined by NIL, athlete creators, and the ever-changing collegiate landscape.

Unrivaled Partnerships That Move Culture

Success in today’s crowded sports economy is about more than logos on jerseys, it’s about tapping into cultural moments that deepen fan connections and drive business growth.

Private Equity View of Media, Advertising, MarTech

Join us for an illuminating discussion on the Private Equity view of the state of the media and advertising deal market, current investment themes, and AI’s impact on the industry with two of the industry’s leading investors, Lucy Dobrin from Providence Equity and Eric Franchi from Aperium Ventures moderated by Richard McDermott Managing Director Rosenblatt Securities media and advertising investment banking group.

Brand Building in the New Sports Economy

From creator-led ventures to breakthrough performance products and established household names, the business of sports has never been more diverse—or more dynamic.

Making Women’s Sports Easier to Buy

In this session, Deep Blue Sports + Entertainment will unveil their newest solution to alleviate women’s sports growth challenges: a business intelligence tool powered by Precise and Mondo Metrics to support brands and buyers in making informed investment decisions in the category.

From Startup to Super Bowl: How Cirkul Delivered Winning Results

In 2025, Cirkul, a rapidly growing company that transforms how beverages are developed, distributed and enjoyed, leveraged its debut Super Bowl commercial as an opportunity to elevate the brand to a new national level after staying purposely quiet the past few years while the company focused on keeping up with growing demand.

AI Needs a Human Layer

AI is rapidly reshaping marketing, but without human grounding it risks sameness, eroded trust, and poor decisions.

Making Experiences Go Viral

Meet the extraordinary community builders and creators of viral event sensations that have broken through the noise, garnering global attention with billions of views and millions of event attendees.

How to Perform in the Performance Era with Brand

Marketers and brand leaders know the industry has become addicted to short-term performance metrics like Last Click and ROAS — but those numbers rarely capture the full story. In this session, Mike Menkes, Group SVP at Analytic Partners, will share ROI Genome® insights that reveal why the most successful brands are rebalancing toward strategies that connect brand in order to drive performance.

How Brands Grow on Reddit over Time

In today’s challenging market, brand success depends on investing in meaningful conversations with consumers to shape your message and understand the consumer’s needs.

Insight to Impact: Storytelling, Scale & AI at Apply Digital

Most brands struggle with storytelling not because they lack creativity, but because they skip the step that matters most: insight. In this conversation, Lauren Milne of Apply Digital will dive into how true storytelling begins with digging deep, understanding audience needs (sometimes before they even know them).

Building World-Class Brand Experiences

Adam Charles has spent 30 years bringing some of the world’s most ambitious events to life — from fashion shows and live broadcasts to global sporting ceremonies and brand experiences for top companies.

Beyond Influence: Building Cultural Capital

Discover how creator-led content is driving more than inspiration, it’s delivering real business results. Sarah Bachman and Stacy Carpenter reveal how culturally relevant storytelling and interactive ad experiences are transforming audience connection into sales growth. Don’t miss the live social activation that brings it all to life on stage.

The Peripheral Vision: See What’s Next for Local Advertising

Amazon Ads reveals new research on how local streaming trends align with purchase intent across the U.S. Unpack how neighborhood-level data—from what shows are trending to what people are shopping for—can inform smarter targeting and creative for SMB campaigns.

Brand Values Must Be Unshakable

From divestment to investment, from boycotts to unwavering support, one thing is clear: consumers are tired of trying to deduce what brands stand for and just want clarity so they can make their own decisions.

Beyond Retail: Innovation in Commerce Media with Marriott, Publicis and Adobe

In this session, Marriott, Adobe and Publicis Sapient will unpack how their combined strengths—Real-Time CDP Collaboration, Adobe’s clean room solution and part of its wider customer data management offering, Marriott’s Travel Media Network and the services and strategy expertise from Publicis Sapient empower companies to activate commerce media in a simple yet differentiated way that drives business growth and sustained value.

Creative that Lasts: Making the Most of Every Impression

In a time of shrinking budgets and sky-high expectations, marketers are under pressure to deliver better creative that goes the distance — breaking through with impact, clicks, and sustaining them over longer periods of time.

The AI Dividend

Join us to hear how NVIDIA and media leaders are driving real business success with data-driven AI.

Lift and Mix: What Happens When Sales Lift Meets Market Mix?

Walk away with practical tips for weaving publisher-level insights into your own MMM strategy and learn how greater transparency in measurement can build stronger brand-publisher relationships that lead to real, quicker, measurable impact.

Hollywood & Mind: Unbothered Mondays Live With Omarion

Join Cathy Applefeld Olson, founder of Hollywood & Mind and entertainment industry journalist, in conversation with Omarion, Grammy-nominated multiplatinum singer, songwriter, actor, author and pop culture phenomenon.

NextGen Video: Where Attention Fuels Growth

As Carat prepares to bring to market the industry’s largest ever attention study measuring NextGen Video advertising, join us for a conversation on the short and long-term brand and sales impact of video advertising, alongside IKEA.

Sports and Streaming: Industry Leaders Share Their Playbooks

With the race to own more sports rights and the most coveted match-ups, streaming has become the new battleground for attention in the television landscape. Top leaders in this space share their gameplans and perspectives on the landscape, ad tech, brand opportunities and future.

Independence, Creativity and Innovation: A Masterclass on Modern Leadership

In this candid conversation, hosted by Advertising Week partner podcast creator, Katie Kempner (Perspectives with Katie Kempner), top CEOs from across brands, advertising and media will share the most important lessons they’ve learned about leading through a lens of creativity, innovation and independence.

Meet Ollie, the OtterBox Mascot

OtterBox announced their brand mascot Ollie, a fun-loving otter, had gone missing. The brand put out an SOS on Instagram and encouraged OtterBox fans to join in the search via social media in the “Find Ollie” sweepstakes.

Why SPO Is the Next Big Opportunity in CTV

Remember that SPO is an ongoing process – you’ll want to regularly review performance metrics, adjust bids and budgets based on performance, and test new inventory sources and partners.

Your New Favorite Show is on YouTube

This era won’t be defined by commercial breaks or rented space alongside this new wave of entertainment — it will be about helping co-create it.

Creative Ambition is a Business Strategy

Instead of asking “what’s the minimum we can do to get this out the door?”—ask “what’s the sharpest, most emotionally resonant idea we can build a world around for our brand?”

The Attention Advantage: How Smarter Measurement Drives Results

Advertisers today are navigating changes. The explosion of short-form video and Connected TV (CTV), the rise of AI-generated content and the fragmentation of platforms have made it harder to build reach, ensure quality and prove media value.

Agentic AI Is Reshaping SaaS—and Marketers Need a Game Plan

SaaS isn’t going away tomorrow, but its dominance is already under pressure. What’s coming next isn’t a new app. It’s a new paradigm. And the companies that embrace it early won’t just stay competitive. They’ll redefine what it means to compete.

The Persuasive Power of Social Norms in Marketing

When leveraged ethically and insightfully, social norms tap into the deep emotional wellsprings of behavioral change —creating room for people to feel more seen and aligned with their values.

Are Advertisers the New Content Moderators?

Misinformation isn’t just a problem for users anymore — it’s a branding crisis. As media platforms scale back moderation, advertisers are being forced into the role of risk manager—whether they like it or not.

The Future Is Generative

This is a living, breathing playbook for those who see experience as a core growth strategy that generates tangible value for brands.

Adtech is Beautiful

Adtech is the dynamic bridge connecting advertisers to tech-enabled audiences, constantly evolving with consumer behaviors and technological advancements. 

Loneliness: The Crisis Brands Keep Ignoring

We work in an industry that shapes how people experience the world, and we know that comes with responsibility. Let’s bravely think about what we can do about loneliness.

What Genuine Curation Requires

True curation could begin behind the scenes, by shaping impressions at the placement level, by dynamically adapting pricing to specific buyer needs, and by processing decisions at scale.

Shifting Value Perceptions in Tech-Driven Storytelling

Today, brands must focus not just on the stories they tell, but on how they make people feel – and why they matter. For Gen Z, this means stories that are visually bold, co-created, culturally tuned and tech-enhanced – with substance at their core.

Starting Smarter With Social

Your social presense, the signals, stories, platforms, and people that link you to your audience, is your commercial advantage. But only if you build it intentionally.

AI Industry: Security Collaboration?

As ongoing interactions lead to higher levels of trust, AI companies can begin to come together and foster the synergy needed to develop effective security solutions.

Amazon Alexa+ And What An Alexa With Ads Might Mean

The question is, where might Amazon further grow those ad dollars? Some have speculated that Amazon’s recent decision to launch an AI-driven Alexa+ service may pave the way for an ad-tiered Alexa experience.

From Community to Commerce: Why Snapchat Converts

Snapchat lets brands connect with audiences in a way that feels personal, interactive, and natural, like chatting with a friend. In an age of polished perfection, that kind of authenticity is what truly converts.

Why AI Will Never Replace Human Creativity

Though AI will never replace creativity, there are plenty of areas where it does excel over humans—like identifying patterns, predictive modeling, or processing massive amounts of data.

Q&A with Rob Rakowitz, Head of Marketing at Vidmob

We sat down with Rob Rakowitz, Head of Marketing at Vidmob, to talk about how CMOs can find a path through current economic challenges, and why creative data is so important to brand growth and competitive leadership.

3 “Spring Cleaning” Tips For Retailers’ Mobile Marketing Programs

Whether at spring time or at any time throughout the year, it is important for marketers and their legal and compliance colleagues to plan regular check-ins to review and refresh their mobile marketing program compliance, ensuring this powerful marketing tool is set up for success.

Why Growth-First Will Surpass AI-First

We are no longer at the beginning of the AI journey. We are in the development phase. AI is being integrated into the foundation of every modern business, improving how work gets done and value gets created.

How to Choose the Right Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) Partner

Choosing the right MMM tool requires balancing cost, usability, and analytical depth. By carefully evaluating these factors, you can select an MMM partner that aligns with your business objectives and enhances marketing effectiveness through data-driven decision-making.

How Marketers Can Solve the Confidence Crisis

Confidence isn’t just a nice-to-have right now—it’s essential. And brands and their marketers are at the heart of rebuilding it. It’s more than just putting out the right messaging.

Can Brand USA Survive Trump?

America’s isolationist policies are also prompting a growth of patriotic consumerism elsewhere, which is bad news for Brand America, and for American brands.

The Value of Original Thinking

Whether it is a marketing campaign that shifts paradigms or a digital strategy that redefines customer engagement, the fusion of AI efficiency and human originality promises a future of boundless creativity.

Redefining Creative Workflows in the Age of AI

For agencies, the challenge isn’t simply to adopt AI tools, but to redefine how we think about creative work in a world where these tools are part of every brief, brainstorm, and brand system.

Brands, Take A Stand

As we strive to better people’s lives, it’s essential that our actions and policies consistently demonstrate a commitment to creating a more inclusive and equitable world.

How AI Transformed Advertising and What to Expect in 2025

Ultimately, AI has brought about a revolution in how advertising is created and delivered.  It is both enabling faster ideation and creation, inspiring new directions, and even making it possible for advertisers to leverage new channels that reach audiences who had previously become unreachable. 

A Story is Worth a Thousand Words

Through humor, insight, and personal anecdotes, Whittaker offered a masterclass in how storytelling can cut through complexity, connect with people, and prepare brands for a future shaped by machines and data.

What Killed the Open Internet?

Is your video ad partner providing comprehensive campaign logs? Trade Desk and Google don’t do this, which amazes me.  Why don’t buyers demand full transparency in real-time? 

The Era of Curation: Key Insights for LATAM Marketers in 2025

As the industry continues to navigate challenges like privacy regulations, identity shifts, and brand safety concerns, curation offers a path to greater ROI. Done right, it transforms ad buying from a fragmented process into a seamless, results-oriented strategy, ensuring that every dollar spent delivers maximum impact.