Fred Bertino, Co-Founder & President, MMB

Creativity has always thrived at the intersection of knowledge, imagination and intuition. Every great Chef for example, doesn’t create magic by discovering brand-new ingredients; most have existed for centuries. 

What makes their work remarkable is the imagination, curiosity, and intuition they bring to the kitchen. 

Given the same pantry and recipes, most cooks will follow the rules—but the top chef uses them as a springboard, experimenting with unexpected combinations, inventing flavors no one has tasted before.

Artificial intelligence is the newest ingredient in the creative kitchen. 

While some fear it will replace the human touch, in truth it functions more like a sous chef than a replacement. 

AI provides today’s creators with a pantry overflowing with digital ingredients—data, words, images, sounds—all ready to be mixed, reshaped, and reimagined. But just as a world-class chef transforms familiar ingredients into something transcendent, it’s the human who directs the process, guided by human curiosity and intuition. 

Creativity at its core lies not in the ingredients themselves, but in the mind that wields them. Used well, the result isn’t less human, it’s a new flavor of creativity, born of an artistic recipe that includes imagination and intelligent technology.

Bon appétit! 

Scott Savitt, Sr. Partner, Chief Digital Officer

Let’s be honest: The agency value proposition is in crisis.

AI tools are now generating polished copy, creative variations, and optimized workflows in seconds. In an environment of tightening budgets and rising ROI scrutiny, the flawless delivery that once defined a great agency, the ability to get work done faster, cheaper, and without error, is rapidly becoming an automated commodity.

This shift is the industry’s wake-up call. Agencies focused only on AI for speed and perfect outputs are missing the only thing that truly matters to clients: measurable business outcomes.

Flawless execution is no longer a differentiator; it’s table stakes.

The real differentiator is performance: whether campaigns drive leads, increase sales, or deepen engagement. Agencies that treat AI as a tool to simply crank out reports and deliver work will be commoditized. The winners will be those who own the entire customer journey and link perfect delivery directly to tangible business outcomes.

It’s time to shift from outputs to outcomes. 

Make the Full Journey Visible 

Don’t let delivery end with the campaign launch. Agencies must track every interaction, from first impression to final conversion, to see where audiences are leaning in, dropping off, and engaging across channels. It requires access to the brand data and systems that shape the customer journey. This visibility, and the tighter collaboration it requires with clients, is how “on time and on budget” evolves into true business performance. 

For the V Foundation for Cancer Research (v.org), optimizing the digital journey helped ensure more people not only found their site, but also engaged with and supported the mission long term. By partnering on the systems behind that journey, website, donations, CRM, DAM, media/analytics, it made it possible to link platforms directly to performance. By measuring the full funnel and refining key touchpoints, we turned visibility into meaningful donor action. It wasn’t about flawless execution alone; it was about continuously aligning delivery with business outcomes.

Use AI to Accelerate Testing, Not Just Delivery

The worst misuse of generative AI is using it only for speed. Instead of simply generating infinite variations, agencies should be using AI to fuel smarter experimentation. This means rapid A/B testing and micro-optimizations that allow us to quickly and continuously refine the journey, a crucial strategic function that AI makes scalable.

Close the Loop With Continuous Optimization

Clients don’t need more recap calls; they need partners who optimize in real time. Data without action is just reporting, and boring reporting at that. Agencies must go beyond collecting insights to acting on them in real time: shifting spend, refining creative, or tweaking user experiences as they happen. AI can uncover trends at scale, but it still takes human teams to interpret, prioritize, and apply changes that align with client goals. Continuous optimization should be the expectation, not the exception.

Accessibility as a Core Business Driver

Accessibility isn’t just a compliance checkbox, it’s a driver of performance. A digital experience that excludes segments of your audience can’t maximize outcomes. Inclusive design broadens reach and improves usability for all, which directly impacts traffic, engagement, and conversion. Accessibility and performance aren’t separate conversations; they’re two sides of the same responsibility.

AI has made efficiency a baseline. It will continue to perfect delivery, but delivery can’t be the finish line. The real measure of success is owning client business performance. If agencies can’t prove they move the business, they’ll be replaced by the very tools they brag about using.

Read more here.

We helped Coors to bring The Big Chill to life, sparking an unforgettable energy across Cork and Dublin. These sold-out events featured international DJs, mountain-cold refreshment, and a vibe that truly defined the season.

To announce The Big Chill and set the mood, we crafted a standout OOH special build on Dublin’s Camden Street. We utilized icy-neon lighting and dramatic dry-ice effects to transform the iconic Coors mountains into a full sensory moment. This special build, supported by multiple outdoor and social formats, was the pulse that built major momentum across both cities.

Our team was on the ground at the events, capturing vibrant photo and video content that showcased the pints, the people, and the pure Coors chill. By combining cold refreshment with an unforgettable atmosphere, Coors truly owned the winter season.

Gene Begin, Managing Director, CP Education

It was another amazing few days at the AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education. This year’s conference brought together more than 1,600 attendees from 49 states (2026, Alaska?), 14 countries, 99 institutions, and 125+ industry partners to tackle the seismic shifts facing our sector. 

Besides the amazing community that energizes old and new friendships every year I attend, three central themes became clear for me : fostering creativity to energize high-performing teams, re-centering our focus on student success amid daunting macro industry conditions, and strategically integrating and embracing AI’s role in the college search process.

Fostering Creativity: Connecting the Dots From Noise to Wisdom

Author and podcaster Todd Henry kicked off the first full day of sessions with a keynote focused on creativity, bravery and brilliance. In a world drowning in noise, he walked through his framework for filtering that noise into data, information, knowledge, understanding, and finally wisdom. Throughout this process, he identified creativity as our vital differentiator. 

Henry highlighted the famous Steve Jobs quote: “Creativity is just connecting things.” This suggests that creativity is less about a sudden spark of genius and more about the skillful, relentless mixing of a rich, diverse set of life experiences.

To ensure our teams remain prolific, brilliant, and healthy, Todd suggests we need to cultivate a clear creative rhythm. This rhythm can be built on five core elements, which he organizes with the acronym FRESH:

• Focus
• Relationships
• Energy
• Stimuli
• Hours (time for ideas and creative “back burning”)

Henry argues that by actively managing these five areas, a person can move from being an “accidental creative” (reliant on chance) to a prolific, brilliant, and healthy creative professional who can deliver great ideas “on demand.” Consistent creative performance is not about waiting for inspiration, but about establishing a sustainable rhythm and structure around these fundamental daily practices.

Student Success: Our Right to Exist

Higher education is currently navigating significant headwinds. A few mentioned at the conference include:

• Economic conditions are impacting student decisions.
• Health and wellness are a growing concern for students.
• The demand signal is shifting, with the percent of jobs requiring bachelor degrees declining, according to data from Indeed.
• We’re facing a perception crisis: two-thirds of Gen Z audiences do not feel they need a degree, and 51% of them who went to college think it was a waste of time and money.

Amidst undeniable macro-level challenges, it was refreshing to hear that the ultimate anchor for all of us in higher education is student success. Ted Mitchell of ACE articulated this perfectly during the panel of higher ed organizational leaders: “Student success is the one thing we can all do. It provides higher ed the right to do what it does.”

Fighting against these headwinds can seem overwhelming. Yet. If you center why we do what we do on the success of each individual student, current and future, we become grounded and able to focus on the immediate impact we can have in this moment.

The AI Revolution in College Search

The most dramatic shift is the increasing role of AI in the college search process. A survey conducted by U.S. News & World Report of 1,600 high school, college, and graduate students shows that students are actively integrating AI into their research:

• 12% of students are using AI Chatbots for their college research.
• More than 50% of high school students reported that AI agents were important for comparing schools.
• Students use AI comparisons for critical factors like: basic college stats, costs, academic programs, debt and financial aid, and graduation rate.
• Only about 10% are using AI for college application development.

Furthermore, the ways Gen Z consumes information are changing. Speaker Vanessa Lea Otero from Ad Fontes Media shared that more than 50% of Gen Z get their news from “news influencers.” The data on traditional search methods also shows how much is evolving in both online search and traditional referral methods. 

• Use of Google in the college search process is down from 71% to 64%.
• Social search is increasing: Instagram is now tied with YouTube at 17% use, TikTok is used by 15%, and Reddit by 10%. YouTube experienced a 6% drop year-over-year.
• The use of AI is having a significant impact on human touchpoints, causing a huge drop in the number of students meeting with their counselors.

What This Means for Marketers

AI is quickly becoming a trusted initial source for comparative data. This means university website content must be immaculate, transparent, and easy for AI to parse. Content sources feeding AI tools include our website, as well as Reddit, Wikipedia, and trusted 3rd-party sites. We must ensure that the facts and figures AI agents pull from our sites and these trusted partners are accurate, up-to-date and paint the most compelling picture of our institution’s value. Periodic audits of our institutions’ digital footprints must be conducted on a regular cadence. 

We also must acknowledge the rise of social channels as essential search tools. This requires a fundamental shift in our marketing strategy to re-assert the value proposition of a college degree in a way that resonates with today’s audience. Developing branded content on social media is crucial but so is using authentic advocate and influencer marketing to be presently available on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube when social searches occur. 

Finally, the drop in counselor meetings signals an urgent need to pivot the role of admissions staff. Their focus must shift even more so from transactional information delivery to high-value, relational, and empathetic guidance that AI cannot replicate.

The AMA Symposium has given us a clear mandate: Embrace the change. We must be more creative, more intentional about student success, and more strategic about how we integrate AI into our marketing funnels to meet students where they are.

Hillary Williams, Director of Brand Leadership

Takeaways From CP’s Women’s Leadership Panel

Last week, we brought two of Boston’s leading minds in AI to CP for an honest conversation about how Language Learning Models (LLMs) are rapidly transforming our world on a day by day basis. 

• Jenna Switchenko, PwC Partner, FS Risk & Regulatory Data, Tech & AI Consulting 
• Lauren Murphy, COO at Maven AGI

I moderated the discussion with Jen Hansen, CP’s Director of Analytics, and over the past few days, five points have stuck with me.

1. Forget How to Work WITHOUT AI

Jenna shared that if her LLM wasn’t working during a business trip, she would pivot to a completely different task, avoiding computer work altogether. Why? Because doing the work without her LLM assistant would be three times as slow, and the time suck simply wasn’t worth it. AI is no longer a helper, it is a productivity requirement. Jenna working without her LLM would have been like trying to send emails with no internet connection … pointless. 

2. The Speed of Evolution Is Terrifying ( … and Exciting)

As part of our prep for the panel, we discussed how answers to each question would have looked different a mere four weeks ago. That’s how fast this space is moving. This mandates an “Always-Beta” mentality and as Lauren tells her team, “every day is your day one.” We can’t afford to wait for formal training. We must build time into our week to play, experiment, and constantly relearn or we’ll be left behind. 

3. The New Career Risk Is Stagnation

Stop stressing about AI taking your job. Jenna advises to instead, stress about someone who has embraced AI taking your job. If you aren’t actively digging in, testing new platforms, and refining your prompts, someone else certainly is. Career growth now more than ever depends on your curiosity and adoption, not just your tenure or intelligence.

4. EQ Is Your Most Valuable, Unautomatable Asset

In a world drowning in machine-generated content, humanity, empathy, and emotional intelligence have never been more important. AI handles the volume; we deliver the voice and the soul. Lauren’s advice for recent graduates? Take the time to master the art of connection, learning how to impactfully look someone in the eye and shake their hand. 

5. You Must Remain the Master of Your Craft

To use AI successfully, you can’t delegate your entire brain to the machine. You must remain the master of your content and your perspective. As Jenna said, your name is still on whatever goes out the door. The human layer of an effective prompt, editing, questioning, fact-checking, and strategic refinement based on expertise is what transforms a generic AI output into your brilliant, brand-safe piece of communication. The question will be how do current young professionals gain the necessary level of foundational knowledge through “learning by doing” what AI now does for them? This learning gap is one of the biggest challenges in our AI era.

When thinking about how to wrap this post up, I wanted to find a way to synthesize all five takeaways in a concise and meaningful way. I turned to AI and after effectively prompting, editing, fact-checking and refining, here’s where “we” landed:

The greatest lesson from our Women’s Leadership Panel? As AI handles the speed and volume, our human intelligence becomes our most valuable asset. Many thanks to Jenna Switchenko and Lauren Murphy for reminding us that EQ, expertise, and a master’s craft are the unautomatable difference-makers.

Samuel Burghardt, Media Planner
Nichole Bloise, Media Planner

We recently attended a panel discussion on the evolution of Connected TV (CTV)  advertising featuring insights from top talent, including Connelly Partners’ very own Michelle Capasso. The conversation was centered on how CTV has transformed from a “nice to have” channel into a strategic backbone for modern video advertising. Here are our top takeaways from the panel. 

The Rise and Impact of CTV in Modern Advertising

CTV has moved away from an “awareness only” myth, to a way of driving meaningful lower-funnel results. With the advent of more advanced multi-touch attribution, advertisers are able to better track how CTV campaigns drive customers to conversion. This evolution has pushed more marketers to consider CTV as a core component of their omni-channel strategies.

Measurement, Targeting, and the Challenge of Frequency

Measurement remains a challenge — incremental reach and frequency management are key KPIs, and understanding the cost per unique viewer is critical. Nielsen’s “Big Data” is providing more stable and accurate measurements, allowing marketers to solve the co-viewing problem by using panel based models assigned to person level demographics. ONE Ads has a solution for frequency and increasing the efficiency of CTV Buys. This allows marketers to see reporting on large frequency fluctuations and react to financial waste of high frequency.

Creative Collaboration and Storytelling on a Bigger Canvas

Creative teams are producing content specifically designed for CTV placements, recognizing that this is an area for storytelling and high impact spots. Customized, context-aware creative helps brands connect meaningfully with audiences during premium content moments and connect with the audience when they are captivated. For brands like USAA, CTV enables deeper audience education, telling membership eligibility stories that drive awareness and conversion. 

Looking Ahead: Closing the Gap Between Eyeballs and Ad Spend

Linear is still king, delivering 6x more ad impressions due to lighter ad loads and the prevalence of ad-free tiers, but it’s a broad brush without targeting. It has its place, but CTV is the more surgical support needed to reemphasize your message with your key audiences.

As targeting improves, creative strategies evolve, and measurement becomes more robust, CTV is poised to attract larger budgets. Future innovations could include deeper contextual targeting, digital insertions, and AI-driven creative enhancements, all aimed at delivering personalized and impactful experiences.

Our major takeaway from the panel: CTV has evolved from an experimental channel to a strategic necessity, but the industry still has to work on standardizing measurement, inventory availability, and creative execution.

We teamed up with global nonprofit Seva Canada to showcase the transformative power of sight restoration – crafting an acquisition strategy and campaign to attract new donors.

Together, we launched the “Love at First Sight” campaign, featuring beautiful photography captured by Nepali eye patients. The images told the powerful stories of the people and moments they had missed most—now brought into clear focus following eye treatments, including cataract surgery and glasses.

Bringing the campaign to life: We equipped Nepali eye patients with cameras after their sight was restored. They received training on how to use the cameras and documented heartfelt glimpses of their world—families, friends, pets, homes, and even birds soaring through the sky.

Forging an emotional bond with our audience, the campaign drove a 55% year-over-year increase in new donors.

Even amidst the challenges posed by the Canada Post strike during the critical holiday giving season, the campaign achieved remarkable success.

The Seva Canada business was won via our Vancouver office and supported by a global creative team to bring the campaign to life.

Women’s sports are surging in popularity, yet the coverage continues to fall short. Women only get 8% of U.S. sports coverage. We set out to narrow the visibility gap for female athletes by changing the way we cover women’s sports, in partnership with the USGA and Brae Burn Country Club.

When we learned the USGA’s Women’s Mid-Amateur tournament was coming to Brae Burn Country Club, one of the toughest courses in the country, we had one question: how do we get these women the coverage they deserve?

The event had never been televised, and we recognized the need for a new storytelling approach—one that captures the unique female narratives. Research revealed that social media is crucial for boosting fan engagement and increasing visibility for women’s sports.

We launched the “Let’s Shoot Their Shot” campaign. Using social media to turn spectators into storytellers, we rallied a community of attendees, content creators, and fans to post coverage from their own accounts.

We showcased the incredible golf – and also narratives around pregnant and postpartum golfers, matching outfits, the 9-5s these women work outside the sport, and more.

Our digital hub became a gathering place for all content, offering the world a chance to experience the Mid-Am championship & these athletes in a whole new way.

Michele Hart-Henry, Managing Director, Connelly Partners Health

Imagine the following situation (purely hypothetical): Maria, age 58, has successfully managed her Type 2 diabetes for years. Recently, she stopped checking her blood sugar, not because she’s ignoring her health, but because after going down a rabbit hole with Instagram posts and TikTok videos, she felt overwhelmed. Online, she found conflicting advice about new treatments. On TV, pharmaceutical ads promised miraculous results while disclaimers scrolled by. Even her doctor’s recommendations seemed to conflict with what she read on social media. Unsure who to trust, Maria postponed her next appointment and decided that using a combination of ginseng and a highly restrictive diet was a better way to take care of her health. Far-fetched, you say? Not really.

Her story is not unique. In today’s fraught times, wading through health information has become even more challenging, especially for those who may not have high levels of health literacy. 

Across the country, patients pause care, second-guess medical advice, and turn to non-expert sources for guidance. The erosion of trust in “traditional” healthcare professionals and institutions harms people directly. According to reports published by the Kaiser Family Foundation, when patients hesitate, they let chronic conditions worsen, skip preventive care, and potentially drive up costs for everyone.

Recent surveys confirm this pattern. Forty-five percent of adults say they delayed or avoided medical care because conflicting information confused them. Sixty-five percent report they feel overwhelmed by contradictory health messages (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2024). Confidence in hospitals and physicians dropped significantly over the past decade (Gallup, 2024). Meanwhile, misinformation spreads unchecked and deepens confusion (Edelman, 2024).

Case in Point: HPV Vaccine Hesitancy

The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine rollout shows just how trust problems can stall public health progress.

After health officials introduced the HPV vaccine, myths about safety and necessity spread widely. Holman et al. (2014) documented how social media amplified worries about side effects. Lower vaccination rates resulted in population-level protection being behind schedule and delayed reductions in HPV-related cancers (Walker et al., 2021).

Misinformation did not act alone. Providers gave inconsistent explanations, and anecdotal fears gained traction. Despite extensive research and monitoring by health organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), misinformation about the vaccine’s safety remains a significant barrier to its widespread adoption. Unsubstantiated claims linking the vaccine to serious health problems like autoimmune diseases, infertility, and chronic pain syndromes have circulated, often amplified by social media.

This example proves a simple point: even well-supported interventions fail when people do not trust the messages or the messengers.

Why Healthcare Marketing Matters

Healthcare marketing shapes how people perceive treatments and institutions. When marketers serve up ambiguous messaging, they fuel skepticism. Lyles et al. (2023) found that 35 percent of direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical ads used conditional or unclear claims, which undermined consumer trust.

The internet magnifies the problem. McKinsey (2024) found that 72 percent of consumers struggle to navigate online health information, and half rely on non-expert sources. In that environment, misinformation spreads faster and patients lose confidence in legitimate medical guidance.

Strategies to Rebuild Trust

As Marketers and communicators, we can take concrete, evidence-based steps to maintain or restore trust:

1. Be transparent. Disclose benefits, risks, and uncertainties up front, and use easy-to-understand language.
2. Use patient voices. Share authentic, diverse stories that humanize clinical evidence and humanize treatments, conditions and solutions.
3. Simplify and align messaging. Across all platforms and audiences, remove jargon and ensure consistency of your messages.
4. Rely on traditional, trusted messengers. Feature clinicians and community leaders to boost acceptance of messages and messaging. If you’re going to use Influencers, thoroughly vet those influencers to ensure that their corpus of work doesn’t conflict with your messages.
5. Counter misinformation quickly. Monitor all channels and mediums, not just yours,  and correct false claims in real time 

Confusion and lack of trust produce measurable harm. We’re all hit daily with an onslaught of information. Knowing who and what to trust is hard, especially for consumers who don’t work in the industry. They may delay care, skip prevention, and struggle to make informed decisions. 

One thing is clear: from vaccine hesitancy to skipped treatments, individuals and the health system share the cost.

Healthcare leaders must earn trust, not assume it. When marketers prioritize clarity, transparency, and empathy, they can restore confidence and help people make better health choices. 

Ready to learn more about our anthropological approach to moving consumers through their healthcare journeys? Reach out to us to see how we can bring clarity and empathy to your needs.

References

• Blendon, R. J., et al. (2024). Public perceptions of health institutions in the era of misinformation. Health Affairs, 43(3), 123-131. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2023.0142
• Dempsey, A. F., & O’Leary, S. T. (2018). Human papillomavirus vaccination: narrative review of studies on how providers’ communication affects vaccine uptake. Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics, 14(6), 1475-1487. https://doi.org/10.1080/21645515.2018.1442153
• Edelman. (2024). Edelman Trust Barometer 2024. Edelman Intelligence. https://www.edelman.com/trust-barometer
• Freeman, D., et al. (2021). Transparent communication of uncertainty: Effects on trust and engagement. Medical Decision Making, 41(7), 822-832. https://doi.org/10.1177/0272989X211004586
• Gallup. (2024). Confidence in Healthcare Providers in the U.S. Gallup Poll Report. https://news.gallup.com/poll/
• Greenhalgh, T., et al. (2019). The impact of patient narratives on health behavior change. Social Science & Medicine, 234, 112348. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112348

Media fragmentation has made it essential that marketers paint a clear picture of their consumers using data. Look no further than the host of ad agencies developing data offerings this year, such as WPP’s purchase of InfoSum in April.

Brands have no shortage of disparate data sets, but often struggle to derive meaningful insights from them, said Alejandro Fuenmayor, Chief Media Officer at Tombras. That challenge is only magnified as users opt out of sharing personal data and regulators scrutinize the collection and sharing of such information.

What brands often don’t realize is that meaningful consumer insights can be tucked away in unexamined data sets. AdAge spoke with data experts to identify four sources of consumer insights marketers frequently overlook.

Geospatial Targeting as an Alternative to Demographic Profiling

Marketers are focused on identity and demographics, and agency partners have indulged them with things such as AI offerings that test against synthetic audiences. But there is plenty of information on real humans that is being underutilized, including geospatial data, which refers to information gathered from a person’s location and movement.

Marketers have viewed the technology as more of a vehicle for gimmicky activations than a serious source for consumer insights, Fuenmayor said. However, as consumers become more savvy about data privacy, marketers are having a harder time finding a one-stop shop for demographic, psychographic and transactional data. That challenge has made geospatial data more enticing, as consumers still show a willingness to turn on location services that offer key insights about their behavior.

“People are carrying a GPS on their phone 24/7, so you can get a pretty complete picture of what people are doing at different times,” Fuenmayor said. “If you’re an advertiser and you’re thinking about a holistic campaign, suddenly understanding people’s migration patterns can give you a lot of insights.”

For example, seeing commuting details could inform investment decisions in media channels such as audio or out-of-home.

“These are things that can help you build a more logical explanation than what most advertisers do, which is just create an audience roughly based on demographic patterns and then put that into a Meta or Google to try and reach as many of them as possible,” Fuenmayor said. “That may have some degree of success, but it depends on your scale.”

Tombras recently leveraged location data for a grocery and gas client that was challenged by consumers who stopped in for gas without buying food. After launching a geospatial analysis, it found that consumers would get food and coffee at neighboring restaurants after stopping in to get gas. Seeing that consumers were indeed visiting the client while hungry informed the decision to begin marketing food and coffee more heavily.

The Less Popular Use Case for Retail Media

Retail media is by no means overlooked in marketing. However, advocates say it’s still underutilized relative to its potential for providing insights about consumer behavior leading up to a purchase. Marketers are accustomed to pulling insights from Amazon’s data clean room, but take less advantage of similar offerings from retailers such as Walmart and Kroger, said Tavo Castro, Executive VP and Head of Strategic Planning and Investment at Tinuiti.

Walmart offers marketers a data analytics product suite called Scintilla, and Kroger has a similar consumer insights platform called Stratum, which it runs through its loyalty program data business, Kroger Precision Marketing.

“Those are incredibly rich data sets that help us understand customers,” Castro said. “Marketers may see it as just purchase data, but there’s information about how customers shop and how they navigate and find products.”

Marketers typically haven’t searched these data sets for insights as often as they could because brand teams and strategists usually lack the technical know-how to navigate data fields, Castro added.

The advent of AI has lessened this problem, however, as marketers have been able to deploy agents to mine data reports and translate consumer insights into plain language. Tinuiti has been developing agents internally so it can navigate a variety of retail media spaces and program the tech to weigh first-party data more heavily than third-party sources or information coming from the open web.

Having tech that can navigate different retail data sets is key, as marketers still struggle to stitch together reports from different providers to create a coherent picture of their consumer base.

Retail networks are attempting to simplify their complexity, particularly for mid-sized and small brands. Last Tuesday, Kroger Precision Marketing launched an in-house team that will help marketers with off-site programmatic advertising across audio, connected TV and dynamic creative optimization for display ads. The managed-service offering will also include retail media measurement.

“It shouldn’t be that difficult for a brand to run what they need to run in the spaces where their audiences are,” said Christine Foster, senior VP of Commercial Strategy and Operations at 84.51°, the retail analytics subsidiary of Kroger.

“There are a lot of mid-sized brands and teams that don’t have the expertise to activate self-service programmatic on their own,” added Brian Spencer, Marketing Director of Kroger Precision Marketing. “This layer of managed service is really about helping those smaller teams and brands tap into retail data they haven’t been able to work with before.”

What Brands Can Learn From Health Data

Marketers can learn a lot about a consumer by looking at the health data they’ve opted into sharing with health tracking companies, said Kevin Dunn, Senior VP of Brands and Agencies at Liveramp. Health data can inform the types of foods, sleep products, clothes and even beauty products a person likes. It can also reveal social conditions that may affect their health, like their job, income, education or neighborhood.

“When you think about building a whole consumer profile, those social determinants of health are a big part of that profile,” Dunn said. “They naturally fit into what a person buys, what they do and where they spend their time. Does a person just buy items through an AI agent or take their time to go to a health company’s website? Marketers need to know this information to paint the story that continues to make a person feel loyal to that brand.”

There are risks to using this data, however. For one, it typically does not come packaged in the same ways that other marketing data does, making it difficult to slot into consumer behavior modeling environments. Certain kinds of healthcare data are also protected under privacy laws such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which may intimidate marketers, Dunn said.

He pointed to the importance of having clean rooms to handle information like health data.

“A health data collection company might be very interested in sharing a lot of the signals that their things collect, but it doesn’t want to share them with certain kinds of AI agents,” he said. “Having the ability to control when and how your data is shared is the advancement that’s going to make it possible for marketers to use so many more signals.”

Pulling Consumer Insights From Creator Marketing

Marketers need no convincing about the value of creators. Bullish brands are increasing spend year after year. U.S. annual spend on influencers is now projected to climb from $7.3 billion in 2023 to $13.7 billion by 2027, with the overarching creator economy expected to reach $480 billion by 2027. Companies such as Unilever, which plans to increase its influencer marketing spend twentyfold and allocate half of its total ad spend to social media, are leading the charge.

Creator marketing measurement is still in its growing stages, but early efforts already yield valuable consumer insights that go unnoticed, said Jen Hansen, Head of Data and Analytics at Connelly Partners. Earlier this year, the independent agency discovered that creators can share organic and paid performance data directly with their agency and brand partners on Meta by clicking into advanced settings and toggling branded content before posting.

This toggle sometimes gets ignored due to perceptions that social media algorithms deprioritize branded content. By forgoing proper tagging, creators lose the option to share performance data within the platform. Instead, they have often shared screenshots of posts and dashboards, or brands have paid third-party influencer analytics companies to relay performance information.

Accessing this information directly within Meta is both cheaper and faster, and has allowed Connelly Partners to make timely creative decisions. For one client, seeing Halloween-related content perform well in early July informed the decision to launch campaigns tied to the holiday ahead of the brand’s typical schedule.

“We’re starting to watch what our data is doing and then change the behavior of our marketing,” Hansen said. “Instead of that client waiting and holding content, we saw that the market was ready for it and we launched it.”

Learn more on AdAge