Data-Driven Thinking Archives

What Raising Teens Taught Me About Ethical Marketing In A Hyper-Engaged World

Building a career in social media marketing while raising kids has been a unique, dichotomous experience. From 9 am to 5 pm, I’m heads-down, focused on maximizing audience growth and engagement while crafting content designed to captivate viewers and keep their eyes (and thumbs) locked in. At home, however, I find myself actively monitoring the […]

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Data-Driven Thinking

The Unsung Hero Of Ad Tech’s AI Revolution: The Cloud

Since ChatGPT exploded into public consciousness, the conversation in ad tech has centered around AI. Generative tools, predictive models, attention algorithms: AI now touches nearly every part of the ecosystem, from media planning and creative to optimization and reporting. But while AI captures the spotlight, another foundational technology has quietly enabled much of this progress: […]

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Data-Driven Thinking

A Year In Data Privacy Is A Lifetime, So Your ‘New’ Compliance Policy May Already Be Outdated

Everything seems to get better and last longer. Remember when it was recommended to change your oil every 3,000 miles? Now it is 5,000 miles. Remember when milk used to go sour in the fridge in a few days? Now it will make it through the weekend. However, as the realm of privacy law advances, […]

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Data-Driven Thinking

The Trade Desk’s Blue Ocean Moment: How The DSP Can Rewrite Ad Tech’s Rules

In ad tech, group thinking is the silent killer. It convinces great companies to keep playing the same game long after the rules have changed. Too many leaders keep reaching for the same playbook that worked a decade ago: connect pipes, aggregate inventory, plug data, take a cut. Even The Trade Desk (TTD), arguably the […]

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Data-Driven Thinking

The Guardrails Are Down: It’s Time For Advertisers To Rethink Social Targeting

Most of us don’t realize how much control we’ve already given up. With industry red flag reports now published regularly, we’re forced to confront the hard truth that control and transparency are further away than we thought. At the same time, social platforms have shifted their content moderation approaches, with most of them embracing a […]

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Data-Driven Thinking

Bid Collision Is Dead, Long Live Smart Retargeting

Bid collision is a song of the past. Go ahead, use multiple retargeting partners. Just make sure they’re different in kind. In performance marketing, practices that were once best-in-class can quietly create blind spots. Not because marketers get complacent but because the mechanics underneath strategies invisibly evolve, and the mental models often lag behind. Almost […]

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Data-Driven Thinking

How Vanity Metrics Stole Marketing’s Credibility – And How CMOs Can Get It Back

Vanity metrics have been a sugar rush for marketers for nearly two decades, but they’re ultimately unsatisfying. Clicks, likes, page views and time-on-site may look impressive on a dashboard or great in a deck, but they rarely correlate to true success where it matters: revenue, growth and long-term business performance. These surface-level metrics give a […]

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Data-Driven Thinking

The Mirage Of Reach: Why Festival Marketing Exposes Everything Broken In Media Measurement

Every April, something fascinating happens in the desert. Brands spend millions activating around Coachella. Then they spend the next three months trying to figure out if any of it actually worked. This isn’t just a festival problem; it’s a reflection of our industry’s broken approach to measuring media effectiveness. And while it’s true, it isn’t […]

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Data-Driven Thinking

The Real Growth Strategy: Blending Brand And Performance For Long-Term Impact

For marketers today, the traditional playbook isn’t cutting it anymore. Clients expect marketers to deliver hard business outcomes – and fast. With AI reshaping creative and media workflows, finance teams slashing “nonessential” spend and boards demanding accountability, the role of a marketer has morphed from a brand steward to a growth operator. Holding companies are […]

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Data-Driven Thinking

Quality Over Time: The Long And Short Of Digital Ad Measurement

For much of the digital advertising era, the industry has raced to the bottom on price and quality. But in the past five years, more advertisers have been explicitly incorporating media quality into their measurement and buying practices. As buyers increasingly prove that high-quality media delivers better value, even at premium prices, the market for […]

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