Influencers, or content creators, are your go-to partners for media performance in the digital age Photo Credit: Perfecto Capucine Think quick: I bet you can name your favorite influencer faster than your favorite celebrity endorsement.  The global creator industry is projected to reach some $480 billion in size by 2027, nearly doubling in three years, according to  Goldman Sachs . And just in the US, EMARKETER forecasted influencer marketing to grow 14.2% in 2025 to $9.29 billion—not including paid media amplification or spend outside social media . We all see this trend in our feeds every day! As Exverus Senior Media Planner Lorus Samo explained to AdAge , “Social platforms allow consumers to share products with friends, leave reviews and engage in the process of discovery in a more personal way than clicking Google search links.” And the right creator can do more than just recite your product’s features; they can demonstrate to an audience how  to use your product in real life and instantly show its effects.  For example, when we won a 2024 WARC Effectiveness Award for our work with Premier Protein on Amazon Prime Days , it wasn't for product-based ads listing the ingredients and health benefits. Instead, we partnered with fun, aspirational health influencers that made videos demonstrating how they use Premier Protein in their daily morning routines. This helped the audience visualize themselves using the product and increases the chance of a buy. Let's answer some FAQs about creator marketing in 2025: What's the difference between an influencer and a creator? We often use these terms interchangeably, but there are some subtle differences: Influencers are primarily defined by their ability to influence purchasing decisions and drive audience behavior. Follower count is traditionally the key metric for success. Creators emphasize content quality, storytelling, production value , and longer collaborations. They're usually positioned as experts with specialized skills, rather than merely people with large followings. Creators typically diversify their revenue streams, going beyond product sponsorships to subscriptions, courses, speaking opportunities, or their own product launches. Photo by Anna Nekrashevich How do we identify the right niche creators and local influencers? Bigger isn’t always better. In the past, larger influencers were thought of as better for brand awareness and broad reach, while micro- or nano-influencers were more likely to drive sales conversions for their trustworthiness and relatability. But today, that's not always the case. Algorithmic social feeds are now highly astute at feeding the right content to the right consumer at the right time, making follower count just one of many factors determining placement . The key to identifying the right niche creators for your project is precise targeting based on deep insights about your audience. Establish: Demographics and psychographics Campaign objectives Budget parameters Geographic scope Content format preferences These will help you narrow down your search to make the most of every influencer dollar you spend. Photo by RDNE Stock project Should I hire an influencer marketing agency or use a self-serve platform? This depends upon a few factors like your campaign budget, your in-house manpower, the length and complexity of the campaign, and the level of control and oversight you want to maintain. Agencies are excellent for managing complex or long-term partnerships, especially if you have limited time and resources to do the legwork in-house, but they can cost more. Choosing a self-serve creator marketing platform can be daunting, as the available options are ever-growing. But platforms like CreatorIQ and Captiv8  have been building out their tech capabilities to better automate creator vetting, brand safety management, customer service, and reporting. In short: More budget, less time? Agency. More time, less budget? Platform. Photo by MART PRODUCTION What's the relationship between UGC and creator marketing? User-generated content (UGC) is a highly effective type of content, which can come in the form of photos, videos, reviews, or text created by people, rather than brands. UGC can be: Organic , in which actual customers voluntarily create content for free. This type is the cheapest and most authentic but hard to scale and control. Paid , in which creators make content for a brand's channels that looks like organic UGC. It's cheaper than a full influencer partnership. 93% of marketers report that UGC performs better than branded content, according to Hootsuite . UGC can be integrated into social but also CTV campaigns , with shoppable ad formats  and interactive features for a smooth path to purchase. Organic UGC builds authentic community, UGC creators provide scalable authentic content, and influencers reach new audiences. Most successful brands use all three strategically. How to build a successful UGC partnership:  1. Run A/B tests to determine which creative messaging resonates best with your audience 2. Create a natural, relatable vibe that feels more entertaining or educational than promotional 3. Use UGC to retarget people who have already interacted with your brand to reinforce trust and push conversions 4. Integrate UGC onto your product detail pages (PDPs) to reinforce trust & drive conversions Photo by Liza Summer How does creator marketing fit into an omnichannel media strategy? Creator content can serve marketing objectives at all levels of the customer journey: Brand awareness & discovery As the Premier Protein example above illustrates, social media channels can be a powerful brand discovery source that displays your products and messaging to a wide audience with broad reach. Purchase consideration Creators can "unbox", review, or give informative tutorials on your products or services Link directly from content to purchase pages through link stickers, tappable buttons, or other interactive features. Creator discount codes & affiliate links drive conversion Source: WARC "The Future of Media 2026." Repurpose content Exverus recently partnered with ad-tech vendor SeenThis to launch a new ad format called Social Reach , which takes vertical videos (brand-made or creator-made) and places them in premium Display slots across the open web. This allows media teams to repurpose creative assets and extend their reach far beyond social media platforms. It's already beating the efficiency of paid Meta ads by 50%! Social Reach is just one example of repurposing creator content for multiple channels. Other ways include: Linking to YouTube videos from social posts or blog posts Reusing YouTube videos for CTV ads Building earned media coverage around brand/creator partnerships The key is keeping the visual vibe and the messaging consistent. Earned media & organic reach Trade publications like AdAge and Marketing Dive love to report on a good brand/creator collaboration, so leverage it to earn even more publicity for both parties. Planning a PR strategy around your partnership is a cost-efficient way to multiply the impact on awareness and reach. Live, experiential events Think outside the screen! Live, IRL activations with brand reps and creators onsite draw crowds, encourage organic posting, and leave a deeper impact on attendees than a digital ad alone. Get some ideas for experiential marketing activations here. What mistakes should brands avoid when partnering with professional creators? Freebies aren't payment Sending a free product sample is not sufficient payment for a whole day's worth of work packing, commuting, shooting, editing, writing copy, sharing content, and doing internal admin tasks. If you don't have the budget to pay a creator's going rate for a day of labor and supplies, please don't reach out. It's a waste of their time and yours. Let creators do what they do best Don't hire a well-known internet personality and then snuff out their whole personality by making them read your scripts and perform your corporate-speak. Let creators do what made their audience love them in the first place. If you can't relinquish that control, then just hire actors for a traditional commercial. No generic template emails Lia Haberman , social & creator marketing consultant to Fortune 500 brands and author of the popular ICYMI Substack newsletter , advises: Don't send out a generic message. Don't address them as "Dear creator" or use their social handle instead of their name. Take the time to do your research. Make the effort, use their name and some acknowledgment of why they're a good fit for this campaign. Personalize the outreach. I've worked with creators who say they don't want to feel like they're just a cog in the wheel and impersonal pitches are a deal breaker for them. In 2026 and beyond, brands will start looking at influencer marketing as an overall strategy, rather than a silo in their marketing mix. Influencer and creator marketing can elevate, if not lead, every pillar of marketing communication when planned and executed thoughtfully. To learn more about what the right creator partnership could do for your brand, drop us a line ! This piece originally appeared in our weekly Paid Media Insights newsletter. For more tips, research, and analysis; subscribe for free here .

Why working with professional media planners can be more cost-effective in the long run than hiring one in-house. Brand marketers have to make big decisions every day -- when to launch new products, what the packaging design should look like, who to hire internally and externally. And in 2026, with economic uncertainties looming and marketing budgets on the chopping block, you’ve got to balance cost-cutting with ad-spending that keeps sales up!   Should I hire a media agency or build a media buying team in-house? Just as we saw during the pandemic, the ability to  pivot quickly and eliminate inefficiencies  will be critical for marketing leaders navigating ahead. It would be natural to consider cutting ties with your external partners. After all,  Meta and  Google  are appealing directly to brands, making their buying platforms as user-friendly as possible to eliminate the need for agencies. And generative AI is helping with creative and analytics at record speed. But it's precisely during tough economic periods that you need an experienced, nimble media agency to help. Why?  Because media channels are like ingredients, and agencies are professional chefs. Anyone with a Facebook or Google account can run ads – but if they don’t have a deep understanding of: what your target consumer’s purchase journey could look like your brand’s voice, business challenges, and category positioning how multiple marketing channels work together for brand  and  performance why certain campaigns perform better than others …they might as well throw your money against the wall to see if it sticks. We know we're a little biased here. So don't take our word for it! Steve Boehler , founding partner at marketing agency consultancy Mercer Island Group , explains: It’s incredibly hard for marketers to staff and maintain an outstanding in-house media capability. Platforms and technology change constantly. Best practices today are different from a month ago. Specialized planning tools are needed to plan across platforms. There is no formal career path for the folks that have hands on keyboards. There is no learning from other agency clients. Staffing your own internal media capability may seem like a cost savings, but it often is not. And the actual performance often lags behind an agency’s capabilities. Bradley Keefer , chief revenue officer at  media mix modeling  platform Keen Decision Systems , agrees: “Independent agencies are uniquely positioned to seize this moment. Lean, adaptive, and hungry, they don’t need to wait for bureaucracy to green-light innovation . They’re already integrating best-in-breed tools, building interoperable stacks that actually work, today.” Why are media agencies still relevant in the age of AI? Long-term growth strategies Creative campaign ideas Transparent pricing models Cross-channel reporting & analysis Long-term growth strategies When times are tight, many marketers feel the pressure to close the sale and place a disproportionate emphasis on short-term performance metrics -- that's understandable! But be careful not to lose sight of the long-term brand trajectory. While the immediate ROI metrics can look attractive and seem to reinforce this approach, we caution marketers not to get short-sighted and overlook the importance of long-term brand-building. This mistake is called short-termism , and it must be overcome to ensure brand success. Paid media efficiency isn't about eliminating channels -- it's about reaching new consumers everywhere they discover and building swift, elegant paths to purchase. We go long.  Media planners collect deep audience- and competitive-insights to build a bespoke, full-funnel media strategy that guarantees the most bang for your buck. Creative campaign ideas Exverus lives at the intersection of creativity and technology —where bold media ideas meet cutting-edge execution to drive real business results. In order to remain at the forefront, we strategically partner with advanced ad tech and media platforms to unlock transformative value for our clients. We’re not just using the ad-buying tools Big Tech offers us –  we’re inventing new ones.  In March, we partnered with SeenThis to launch a new ad format called  Social Reach , which splashes brands’ existing social videos across the open web in PubMatic’s premium Display slots. The initial results are astounding: First-to-market brand Premier Protein achieved +3.3MM more completed video views than on Meta at a fraction of the cost — $0.03 cost per completed view (CPCV) vs. $0.06 on Meta in the same 6 weeks, a + 50% improvement in efficiency !  How does Social Reach save so much money?  Guaranteed outcomes due to its CPCV price structure Scalable growth with less investment Zero need for new creative production, just repurposed assets More brands are already preparing to run Social Reach campaigns on the heels of Premier Protein’s early success. Transparent pricing models Exverus is named after the Latin phrase for "from the truth" for a reason! While the holding companies merge into increasingly opaque, profit-blinded conglomerates, mid-sized independent agencies like Exverus only get more transparent, more agile, and more proactively creative for our clients. Holdco agencies often engage in shady transaction practices like principal media buying . Not here! The right media agency partner will only recommend ad buys that will truly move the needle for your brand, based upon precise audience research. Data-informed reporting & analysis Modern, AI-powered measurement and analytics capabilities that were once reserved for the biggest high-rollers are now available to brands of all sizes through your media agency partner. Our in-house programmatic traders and data analysts use platforms like Keen Decision Systems, Resonate, Skai, and DoubleVerify to justify every recommendation with brand safety and suitability for clients’ peace of mind. Again, we're not just reporting today's sales performance -- we're evaluating your whole brand's health to ensure continued growth tomorrow and next year. Is it better to go with a holding-company agency or an independent media agency? Agile brands need agile agencies. EMARKETER data shows in the last three years, overall media spend has grown while holding company (holdco) revenue has dropped. This means brand marketers of all types are recognizing what we've always known: that big ships are harder to steer. This context helps explain the urgency with which many agencies have engaged in M&A processes recently. The holdcos know this, too, and they're downsizing - in the form of layoffs. While legacy agencies lose talent to archaic return-to-office mandates and bloated bureaucracies, Exverus has grown 261% in the last four years, and we’re once again among the Inc. 5000 Fastest-Growing Companies in America. Why are we growing? Because scale can be an advantage if it's balanced with agility. In 2025, we achieved a historic milestone in the company’s story: being acquired by Brainlabs , a larger but still independent, global media agency with the same punk-rock attitude toward client service and employee well-being. Under the Brainlabs umbrella, we have access to host of proprietary, AI-powered media tech capabilities that enable faster planning, precise execution, and stellar results. Together, we're forming a new kind of independent agency - one that puts top people in the driver's seat, fresh AI tools under the hood, and a scientific approach to media planning and buying. Read more about our historic joining of independent media agencies Exverus and Brainlabs. What questions should I ask a potential media agency in the pitch process? If you're a brand marketer considering hiring a media agency, you need to know that your investment will pay off, that you have total transparency into where it's going, & who's managing it. Before you sign your next MPA, make sure you ask these 7 questions in the pitch process: What specific expertise do you have in our industry or with similar target demographics? Which team members would be dedicated to our account, and what are their backgrounds? How do you stay current with emerging media trends, platforms, and technologies? What proprietary tools, data sources, or technology platforms do you use? What attribution models do you use to track performance across channels? How frequently do you report on campaign performance, and what does that reporting look like? Do you have preferred partnerships that might benefit our campaigns? How transparent are you about media costs, fees, and any rebates you receive? If you’re curious about what fresh recipes our chefs could cook up for you – let’s talk. For more advertising news and tips, join our free weekly Paid Media Insights  newsletter.

In 2026, Exverus Cofounder & Managing Partner Talia Arnold went Into the Lab with Brainlabs to discuss the collapse of the brand/performance funnel, what a typical day looks like, how she creates her own joy outside of work, and advice she'd give herself earlier in her career. What is a typical day for you as a media agency executive? The mornings are all about getting up, getting the kids ready for school, packing lunches. Then it's checking email to see the emails that came in from the UK and the east coast because I'm in California, see what I need to catch up on, plan out my day. After the kids get to school, it's the first meeting is usually our all-hands. So it's an everyday Zoom meeting where I meet the entire team on the west coast, and we all do a roundtable of what we're working on that day. It's a great chance to connect and talk to each other and see who needs help on what. Then, it's usually off to client prep meetings and rehearsing for important presentations. And the next most important thing I'm working on is digging into some client research and preparing some thought leadership, some weekly blog posts that I'm going to post on our website to communicate all the media agency news and insights of the day! What's the most exciting trend in advertising? I think the biggest trend in advertising that excites me the most today is the full connection between brand equity, building activity and immediacy of purchase. That's something that we're talking to all of our clients about pretty much on a daily basis. It's the need to simultaneously in one creative asset and one single impression in front of a consumer to communicate brand value and call to action to purchase and make it as seamless as possible. And those worlds, those traditional funnels are collapsing. And so, it's all about how do you pair the right message and the right data segments and audiences within the right format to get that immediacy of lightning strikes? I'm aware of this product and I want to buy it today. What recent client win are you most proud of? Recent client challenge that I was particularly proud to get solved was with a client who had an existing video ad that they wanted to keep running. But unfortunately, the talent rights had expired, and they weren't able to keep running the ad despite the fact that they needed to drive sales of this particular product through advertising in short order. So, how did we solve this? We were able to leverage the tools, the power of AI, to very modestly change the actual content of the ad, the background music and the other elements that had expired, their talent rights, modify the creatives that it preserved the essence of the message and enabled the client to be able to run their advertising and get online when they needed to be. And we did that at no cost. The effort wound up helping the client not only advertise the product but increase sales for it. What are you excited about in your personal life? Through Meetup , I have found a group of buddies to do guitar jams in the park with on the weekends. I am an amateur guitar player, singer, songwriter, and it gets lonely playing by yourself. And now, I've found these strangers on the internet that I can meet at the park, and we play 90s alt rock classics together every Saturday, and it's awesome. If you could have dinner with anyone, living or dead, who would it be? This is maybe an unexpected answer, but it's Reese Witherspoon. And the reason that I choose her is because I admire so much how business savvy she is. She's someone who, you know, obviously is well-known for being an actress, she was in the public eye for a long time. But she just completely pivoted her career and is now a major media mogul. Between her book deals and her licenses for films, and she has these major companies that are super successful. And I just really admire how, even midlife, she's transformed herself. She's super successful. I admire how she manages her personal life, too. And I think she would just give me a ton of great advice, and I would love that. What advice would you give yourself starting out your career? The number one advice I would give myself is just don't be so shy. I used to be a lot more shy, and, I think that the world needs people to speak up. And when you have a thought, you should share it. And when you have a question, you should ask it. And don't be shy, because there's not enough people that speak their mind as freely as they should.

FEBRUARY 2, 2026 (LOS ANGELES, CA) -- Exverus by Brainlabs has hired Christie Wasloski to the role of Group Media Director on the Premier Nutrition Company team, which manages paid media planning, buying, & strategy for the Premier Protein and Dymatize brands. "I was drawn to Exverus for the people, the thinking, and the collaborative energy. I’m thrilled to be on board, pushing brands forward with an excellent team where strong strategy and real impact go hand in hand." - Christie Wasloski The Premier Nutrition account, one of Exverus' largest to date, has earned several major industry awards, including the 2025 Adweek Team Visionary Award for Best Client Team, and others for excellence in: Customer journey mapping ( WARC Effectiveness Award , Best Path to Purchase) Retail media (Numerator's #1 Amazon Prime Big Deals Day bestselling item 3x) Social media innovation (First-to-market Social Reach ad unit beat Meta Ads 50%) Christie brings 15 years of experience at top agencies building omnichannel media strategies for brands like CVS, AmEx, the US Army, Coca-Cola, and more. Outside of work, Christie is a Registered Yoga Teacher and enjoys walking her dog around Venice Beach. Please direct all press queries to michelle.andrade@exverus.com . For the most up-to-date news and tips to improve your media strategy, subscribe to Paid Media Insights here .

(L to R): Talia Arnold, Charles Lai, Tasha Day, Anna Elema, Sam Suarez, Hillary Kupferberg, Melissa Andraos, Melanie Mogey, Ryan Adams, Sean Edwards NEW YORK, NY — Exverus' own Media Director Anna Elema,  one of the agency's four original employees, is shortlisted for Campaign US Agency of the Year's Media Planner/Buyer of the Year category, and her team (which runs paid media strategy for smash TV hit "The Chosen" on Prime Video) is shortlisted for Media Team of the Year ! The seventh annual Campaign US Agency of the Year Awards recognize inspiring leadership, creative excellence and outstanding business performance at creative and media agencies across the U.S. The winners will be announced in March 2026. “Congratulations to our finalists, who have not only persevered through this challenging time in the industry but have also managed to drive breakthrough creativity that moves this sector forward...The jury composed of industry leaders has spoken and we look forward to celebrating together with you and your teams,” said Luz Corona, editor of Campaign US . Anna is known for building out creative media campaigns with fresh ideas that go beyond the basics and leverage midsized budgets for outsized impact. Never one to settle for the tried-and-true, Anna guides her clients into award-winning activations like spreading women’s empowerment messages around New York for Anna Wintour’s MasterClass , splashing Annie Leibovitz’ photography across the globe for “The Chosen” , and running a wildly popular social media giveaway for Stella & Chewy’s that supported local pet stores. There’s a reason Anna’s campaigns keep winning the top industry awards – they prove that creativity and technical agility are the key ingredients for media excellence. "Anna does an amazing job at listening to our vision and needs and turning it into a world-class campaign that drives results. The Exverus team is an active partner with us, not only planning and executing the campaign, but also making real-time optimizations based on what they are seeing. They do not ‘set it and forget it’ – they are a close partner truly obsessed with our success.” - Andrew Young, Head of Global Advertising & Insights for "The Chosen" Entries were evaluated by a panel of brand marketers. As clients, these marketers work with agencies daily and are in the best position to evaluate their successes in the past year. For more information about the 2026 Campaign US Agency of the Year awards, visit: https://www.aoyawardsus.com/ About Campaign US Campaign US captures the evolution of professional creative services, focusing on the U.S. We serve as a resource to creative and marketing professionals adapting to a fast-changing industry, while offering a community where creative talent can share their opinions and celebrate their work and achievements. About Exverus by Brainlabs Founded in 2014, Exverus by Brainlabs is a global, independent media agency growing brands through full-funnel media planning & buying, traditional and programmatic advertising, retail media & e-commerce, paid search, paid social, and analytics. Our data-driven media plans combine brand and performance under one scientific brain to confidently allocate every ad dollar for the maximum return. Named for the Latin phrase "from the truth", Exverus by Brainlabs is dedicated to transparency and long-term client trust.

While social media platforms can often feel enraging, distracting, or dividing; Pinterest commits to being an oasis of self-expression, discovery, and inspiration. Key Facts: Pinterest has 570 million monthly active users globally  and 98 million in the U.S., making it the second fastest-growing social media platform after Instagram as of May 2025. Pinterest delivers 32% higher ROAS than other digital platforms , according to a three-year Nielsen study of US and UK campaigns in food, health/beauty, and home decor. Positively viewed platforms can be up to 94% more impactful  in driving purchase intent compared to platforms viewed as non-positive, making Pinterest's brand-safe environment valuable. Pinterest Media Network Connect launched in September 2025 , enabling retailers to share first-party audience data and conversion data for better campaign tracking and sales attribution. Pinterest is one of the first places we look for fashion ideas, new recipes, design trends, or ways to decorate for a kid's birthday party. But beyond flipping through boards for inspo, it's a highly underrated advertising platform for brands looking to grow. With 570 million monthly active users globally and 98 million in the U.S. [as of May 2025], Pinterest is the second fastest-growing social media platform after Instagram. What's new in Pinterest advertising for 2025? Pinterest Media Network Connect In September 2025, Pinterest began rolling out its newest self-service tool, which collects retailers' first-party audience data, conversion data, and product catalogs to help advertisers better track the actual impact of their campaigns on sales. Holiday spending gold rush With tariffs looming and prices uncertain, marketers are in a particularly tough spot, tasked with making difficult decisions about how to keep sales up while consumer sentiment is down. Fortunately, economic spending continues to grow -- Q2 of 2025 saw 3.8% growth , with robust momentum expected for the rest of the year. This behavioral trend provides a ripe opportunity for brands to marry performance marketing now  (to get in on the doom spending spree) with brand equity building  (to keep customers returning when they’re in a better spot down the road). Fortunately, some media channels (like Pinterest) are proactively preparing for shaky waters by gathering data and sprucing up their offerings to help advertisers do more with less. AI-powered ad creative, targeting, & tracking Pinterest’s AI-powered Performance+ campaign builder ingests conversion signals, audience signals, creative assets, and objectives to automate ad placements and elevate brand affinity, traffic, and sales on the backend. Performance+ bundles creative assistance with target ROAS bidding together  for the strongest lower-funnel performance yet. In 2024, Pinterest expanded its Clean Rooms Partnership with LiveRamp , which allows marketers to safely use first-party data for targeted ads without needing to re-share that information with the social platform. LiveRamp’s Authenticated Traffic Solution can now be connected with Pinterest’s API for Conversions. This new solution builds on existing capabilities by creating addressable audiences that can be reached at scale and measured on any channel. This integration makes Pinterest the first platform to invest in both measurement solutions for their advertisers. Pinterest’s visual search  features let users interact with image Pins to quickly find and shop all the items in a picture. FAQs Why should I advertise on Pinterest? Positivity sells. Pinterest CEO Bill Ready has called out social media as "the new big tobacco," accusing their (faster growing) competitors of utilizing AI in a destructive way, leaving the world "more distracted, more depressed, and more divided." It's an interesting approach, given Pinterest is a social platform itself, but it speaks to the company's dedication to creating a different kind of experience from its rivals -- one that is built around self-expression and discovery. In a 2023 campaign, Pinterest championed the concept "Don't Don't Yourself" to encourage people to break out of their existing habits and routines. This shift to positivity and optimism presents an excellent opportunity for brand safety, something declining in other blue-chip social platforms. Positively viewed platforms can be up to 94% more impactful in driving purchase intent compared to platforms viewed as non-positive. How do I advertise on Pinterest? The media buying process on Pinterest is similar to other digital advertising platforms: Set up a Business Profile for free Establish a campaign objective using Pinterest Ads Manager, like brand awareness, driving web traffic, or converting sales. Define your target audience by demographics, psychographics, location, interest, etc. Creative assets: Choose which Pins to use in your ads, or use the Pin builder to create new ones Set your budget & bidding: Determine your daily or lifetime campaign budget. Then set your bids, which determines how much you pay per click or impression. Create ad groups: Multiple ad groups can target different segments of your audience or display different messaging, each with their own campaign objective, targeting, and budget. Analyze and optimize: Pinterest analytics provides rich insights into campaign performance. Optimize as you go by adjusting your bids, audience, or budget. But don't switch things up too often! Campaigns need sufficient time to gather significant data. How much does it cost to advertise on Pinterest? The cost depends on a number of factors, like: bidding strategy (manual or automated) competitiveness of keywords and industry targeting criteria (broad vs. niche) ad format campaign goals But a typical click-through cost (CPC) ranges from $0.10 to $1.50 per click; while cost per conversion usually ranges from $0.00 to $2.00. A three-year Nielsen study of US and UK food, health/beauty, and home decor campaigns found that Pinterest delivered a 32% higher ROAS than other digital platforms. As advertisers, we find Pinterest's position in the market very compelling. The positive atmosphere, the brand safety, the strong campaign performance, and constantly evolving media buying innovations are a real boon to our clients. To find out what else we’re hearing from Pinterest in agency-exclusive meetings, contact one of our paid social media experts here .   For more advertising news and tips, join our free weekly Paid Media Insights  newsletter.

Even for national or global brands, localizing the messaging and targeting can significantly increase revenue and media ROI. Photo Credit: Valeriia Miller When it comes to ad targeting, bigger isn’t always better.  Even for national or global brands, not every product or marketing campaign will be relevant to every consumer. Spending ad dollars to reach irrelevant consumers is a waste, so segmenting is non-negotiable! On a recent earnings call, Adidas  CEO Bjørn Gulden said, “We need to be a global brand with a local mindset. And I say local again and again and again – the world is developing in a way that you need to be successful locally. And, locally, it always starts with the consumer and the athlete.” And today, a wealth of technological developments are making it easy to get super-precise with your targeting and make the deepest impact for your brand. Why is local marketing important in 2026?  First, in years of economic uncertainty , media buyers need to be extra judicious in allocating every dollar for the maximum return. Focus your advertising budget into areas with the highest potential for conversion (either now or down the road).  Second, we’ve all heard it ad infinitum , but the media consumption landscape is fragmented . Everybody’s watching, listening to, and scrolling something different! Local marketing is a great way to broaden and retarget your audience, wherever they might be online. A recent Gallup poll  shows that Americans’ trust in the media is down  nationwide, thanks to misinformation and bias running rampant. People may be more trusting and responsive to messaging in their local news and communities than mass media outlets.  Source: Gallup 2024 Furthermore, SOCi’s Local Visibility Index 2024  reported that high-visibility brands  increase their revenue 2-3x the rate of the average company are more than twice as likely to be seen by consumers searching for local businesses online Collectively earn about $54.1B per year left behind by low-visibility brands Finally, EMARKETER  reports that 68% of US internet users say localized messaging from national brands makes the ads more relevant … …but only 26% of marketers consider strengthening hyperlocal advertising a top priority! That’s a big opportunity for your brand to swoop in and meet the neighbors.  Hyperlocal advertising significantly increases consumer curiosity, trust, and purchase intent. How do I optimize my Google Business Profile to show up when people search “[my product/service] near me?" Google  prioritizes three main factors when determining which businesses show up for "near me" searches: Relevance  is how well a Business Profile matches what someone is searching for. This means your Google Business Profile category, business description, services, and attributes need to align closely with search intent. Distance  (or Proximity) is self-explanatory – the proximity of the business to the searcher is a key factor affecting the positioning of the listing in Google Maps. Google considers the user's location to show the nearest relevant businesses.  Prominence   relates to how well-known and reputable your business is, both online and offline. This includes your review quantity and quality, citations across the web, and overall online authority. Other factors may include customer reviews, multiple locations (businesses with more have an advantage), and recent activity with the listing.  Learn how to adjust your content and search engine marketing strategies for AI-powered brand discovery. How can AI help with hyperlocal advertising? AI has always been the engine of programmatic advertising , which enables precise targeting and measurement  for optimization.  But now, you can get really granular with the help of machine learning models that build AI audience personas   based on behavioral patterns and media consumption in a given zip code.  Generative AI technology helps with dynamic creative optimization (DCO)  by producing multiple variants of a creative visual  asset to test at scale. DCO tech  can recognize patterns between audience behaviors and times of the day or year, customer attributes, and creative aspects.  How can I market to a specific region offline? One of the best ways to reach regional audiences is to sponsor local events.  Professional, college, or even high school sports bring people together by the thousands; and the audiences are attentive, in a positive mindset, and loyal to their teams. Concerts and music festivals do the same. Leveraging this built-in passion and sense of community can really serve your brand.  Out-of-home (OOH)  or digital- out-of-home (DOOH) media  is another great way to expand awareness and spread your message at scale. Dynamic creative optimization comes in handy here, too – you can automatically switch your messaging depending on the time of day, weather, or foot traffic patterns. The creative possibilities are endless, and programmatic DOOH  media buying makes precise targeting and measurement a breeze.  “We've heard skepticism about whether OOH works, but we've made a real impact for clients when we've paired foot traffic measurement with our OOH campaigns. We geofence the OOH targeting, and we can see who has passed by and whether they come into stores. From there, we can track lifts or changes in foot traffic after a billboard goes up. We've seen increases as high as 37% for a single store!” - Georgia Schreiner, Exverus Media Director Experiential activations  like pop-ups, in-store appearances, and guerrilla stunts make a big impression, bring people together, and spur millions of organic social posts for scale. How do I determine which markets to run paid media campaigns in? When we run national campaigns like Equinix B2B  or The Chosen  theatrical premieres, we carefully choose the most important designated marketing areas (DMAs) based on factors like:   Audience fit , which suggests conversion potential Scale of media availability Proximity to selling stores/retailers Size of addressable target audience in each market DMAs have historically been defined by TV and radio advertising networks, but they’re important for efficiently running paid social , search , out-of-home (OOH), experiential, and other media channels, too!  It takes a team of expert media planners and analysts to compile a bird’s eye view of your hyperlocal advertising’s impact on overall brand-building and sales growth.  To ask questions or find out more about hyperlocal, national, or global media planning strategies, drop us a line below! For more ad buying news and tips, join our free, weekly Paid Media Insights  newsletter.

Gen Z shoppers have been skipping digital ads since they were born. They grew up in a world where social media and technology are ubiquitous, making it harder for traditional advertisements to capture their attention. This presents a unique challenge for brands: How can you create memorable experiences that resonate with your target audience? The answer: think outside the screen and build better experiences . What are experiential marketing campaigns? Experiential marketing is about creating immersive experiences that engage consumers on a deeper level. Unlike traditional advertising, which focuses on pushing products, experiential marketing seeks to pull consumers in with memorable moments. It's about establishing an emotional connection with the customer before asking for a sale. One key aspect of experiential marketing is offering opportunities for real-world interactions . It's bringing advertising to life, appealing to more than just visual or auditory senses, as most ads do. Whether it's a pop-up event, a branded installation, or an interactive campaign, experiential marketing seeks to bring people together in the physical world, where they can touch, feel, and sense the brand in a tangible way. These one-off events are a lot of work and can be expensive, so why should brands bother? Why is experiential marketing so successful? As mentioned above, the multisensory nature of brand activations and the opportunities for authentic connection they offer make them more memorable (meaning higher brand recall ) than just seeing a digital ad on a screen. Second, brands looking to capture the attention of Gen Z shoppers should know that this generation values experiences over material objects -- they would rather show off a cool place or event they attended than a room full of stuff. Furthermore, experiential marketing can explode social media engagement . Gen Z is highly active on social media, and they love to share experiences with their friends and followers. By creating memorable experiences that are worth sharing, brands can tap into their attendees' influence and reach a wider audience. Insider Intelligence estimates that 60.7% of US adults between the ages of 18 and 24 are expected to be social buyers in 2024, making the need for experiential marketing paired with social media increasingly important. Finally, well-executed experiential marketing campaigns have a higher chance of getting free publicity for your brand than a standard ad. Publications like Campaign and Ad Age love to cover creative ideas that bring a brand to life. Experiential marketing examples The 2024 Super Bowl in Las Vegas was filled with fun, experiential activations. Ashley Furniture, for example, took over the Dawg House Saloon & Sports Book inside Resorts World casino, replacing tables and chairs with Ashley sofas and loveseats for watching the game. They placed QR codes on the coffee tables, sending visitors to the Ashley website to view inventory and specs for future consideration.   Meanwhile, Gatorade built an immersive, invite-only experience to launch its Gatorade iD membership. Upon signing up for the membership, invitees got an access card to the event, where they could use touch-screen kiosks to customize a Gatorade water bottle, answer questions to be matched with one of Gatorade’s Hydration products, or sit for a photo shoot with a robotic camera—the same technology Beyonce embedded into her Renaissance tour routine last year. Finally, Exverus Media's own 2018 Living Wall out-of-home (OOH) activation for SUJA won an Adweek Media Plan of the Year Award ! For that campaign, we partnered with NPRP Media and Humanaut to create a painted wall with real plants popping out in a trendy part of Los Angeles where Instagrammers flock. Experiential marketing fulfills the need for more holistic and interactive buyer experiences. Innovative strategies like these blur the traditional boundaries of retail, offering an experientially rich, seamless shopping journey that resonates with Gen Z's preference for novelty and convenience. Moving forward, paid media advertisers should explore similar ways to integrate social commerce strategies into their campaigns. Even if you don't have big-game budgets to work with, we can get creative and think of ways to meet potential customers IRL. Is your brand ready to explore experiential marketing? This piece originally appeared in our weekly Paid Media Insights newsletter. For more tips, research, and analysis; subscribe for free here .

What brands need to know about generative engine optimization (GEO) to drive sales rather than traffic Artificial Intelligence (AI) has wedged its way into our daily lives, revolutionizing how we work. From Gmail's suggested replies to HubSpot's AI Assistant, AI has simplified tasks such as responding to emails and planning our schedules. However, its impact on business marketing is more profound and is poised to reshape the digital landscape. What's next for AI-powered search marketing? Google keeps pace While generative AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Perplexity challenge Google's long-held search dominance, Google is keeping pace with a flurry of new developments  like AI Overviews in search results, Multimodal AI, Gemini 3, Meridian , and PMAX, just to name a few.  In fact, Exverus Associate Director of Paid Search Michael Robbins predicted to ADWEEK in 2025: "Google Gemini will even the field with ChatGPT in 2026. ChatGPT struggles to keep pace on quality and profitability because it doesn’t have the advertising infrastructure Google does." As a media buying agency, we're keeping a sharp eye Google and other AI platforms piloting ad offerings for our clients. Agentic commerce AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Perplexity and retailers like Amazon and Walmart began rolling out AI shopping assistants in 2025, helping online shoppers discover brands, recommend products, and compare prices. Brands, in turn, have begun plugging their product info and marketing activations directly into AI App SDKs to meet and convert consumers right where they search . We expect agentic discovery and shopping to quickly develop and transform e-commerce marketing in 2026 and beyond. Click to learn how your brand can get recommended to shoppers by AI chatbots & shopping assistants. Optimizing for conversion value, not just visibility or clicks Google processes 16.4 billion searches daily versus ChatGPT's 800 million queries—a volume gap that seems insurmountable. But here's what the market share charts don't show: AI search visitors demonstrate 4.4x higher conversion rates than traditional organic search visitors , according to a June 2025 SEMRush study . Since we can't buy AI search ads yet, brands must treat AI Overview citations as their competitive moat, shifting focus from traditional rankings and traffic to authority and brand visibility. FAQs about GEO What is generative engine optimization (GEO)? According to SEO.com , generative engine optimization (GEO) is the practice of optimizing your brand to be more visible in generative AI search engines. To appear in generative engines, you need to create good content, answer questions directly, and build your brand visibility. The emerging generative models of search engines prioritize speed and efficiency, resembling chatbots more than the conventional keyword-driven search model. To align with these changes, content must be easily digestible and provide direct answers to users' queries. Why are my click-through rates dropping? AI Overviews (AIOs) are fundamentally altering search result layouts. Recent research  confirms a significant shift in search behavior: both organic and paid CTRs have reached historic lows, especially for queries featuring AIOs. AIOs contribute to "zero-click" searches, where users get answers directly in the search results, reducing website visits.   While CTRs drop, search marketing remains critical for brand authority, trust, and engagement. Your content can still drive awareness and consideration for your business; it just needs to evolve away from optimizing for clicks and toward optimizing for sourcing in AI-generated answers . Plus, your brand website is already writing your ad copy : PMAX, Advantage+, and TikTok Smart Creative all scrape brand sites to generate ad copy.  PMAX optimizes across Google's entire ecosystem, not just traditional search placements. Our clients see optimal results when deploying multiple campaigns with robust creative assets  and comprehensive audience data.    How do I optimize my content for GEO? Answer frequently asked questions (FAQs). Instead of writing around keywords, answer questions your audience is likely to ask about the topic in natural language (no fluffy corporate speak!) Structured data. Schema markup makes a website 6x more likely to appear in rich snippets and reduces the cost per acquisition (CPA) by an average of 23%! First-party data fuel. High-performing first-party data strategies begin with observed on-site behavior. Sites with strong event tracking see 2.8x higher conversion rates! Keep it up to date. Google scans your site every 24–48 hours to optimize ads. Outdated content means outdated targeting. Technical hygiene is non-negotiable. Web vitals, schema markup, load speed, mobile responsiveness—these now determine media performance. Test different ad formats  to maintain visibility. While AI Overviews don’t allow direct ad placement, Google says other formats like PMAX and Shopping Ads can still be included in AIOs if they're aligned with the searcher's intent. Additionally, Google's Demand Gen campaigns deliver immersive, discovery-focused ads designed for upper-funnel objectives.  Include case studies or examples. The word "examples" in a page title or header is a strong signifier to LLMs - and humans love them, too! Repurpose earned media coverage for your owned channels. Quotes or interviews in reputable publications, brand mentions, and positive reviews all contribute greatly to your AI Search ranking. (Thank your PR team!) While some tactics are universally beneficial, it's crucial to tailor them to the specific needs of each business. For instance, a clothing company might prioritize "Gen Z fashion tips" over technical jargon, while health snack food brands may focus on authoritative content and statistics instead of excessive keyword use. How do I measure AI visibility? Rather than click-throughs or site visits, AI visibility as a metric incorporates many different signals pointing to your company's authority level, expertise, and trustworthiness. Here are some of the emerging metrics of GEO success, as reported by WARC: Source: WARC "Future of Media 2026" While AI tools offer powerful awareness-building capabilities, success in using them still hinges on human direction and high-quality data inputs. Fortunately, we're all stocked up on both. For further reference: Brainlabs, "Rethinking marketing metrics in the age of AI Visibility." Profound, "AI Platform Citation Patterns: How ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and Perplexity Source Information. " For more ad buying news and tips, join our free weekly   Paid Media Insights  newsletter.

Reddit has evolved from a niche forum into a marketing powerhouse, reshaping how consumers make decisions & how AI answers their questions. When someone asks an AI chatbot for product recommendations or advice, there's a strong chance Reddit's community discussions are directly shaping that answer. Key Facts: Reddit is now among the most-cited domains by AI models , making it a ripe opportunity for brands to be visible in AI results. Users are more likely to trust recommendations and make purchases from Reddit forums than other social media platforms. Brands can get started with this 7-step Reddit marketing strategy: Audit your audience's Reddit behavior Start with a test budget Test Reddit's standard ad formats Experiment with high impact, custom ad formats Consider organic participation Understand Reddit's emerging Shopping ecosystem Measure beyond ROAS If you're still pouring all your ad dollars into Meta and Google while ignoring Reddit, you're missing one of the most compelling opportunities in digital advertising right now. The platform has quietly evolved from a niche community hub into a marketing powerhouse that's reshaping how consumers make decisions—and how AI answers their questions. 2025 Updates: Reddit dominates AI-generated answers Here's the headline that should grab every marketer's attention: Reddit claimed the number one spot as the most cited domain for AI across all models in Q2 2025, according to data from analytics platform Profound. It was cited twice as often as Wikipedia in the top ten most cited domains. While ChatGPT still relies most heavily on Wikipedia, both Google AI Overviews and Perplexity—the AI models consumers are increasingly turning to for answers—rely most on Reddit as a source. This isn't just an interesting data point. It's a fundamental shift in how information flows online. When someone asks an AI chatbot for product recommendations, travel advice, or buying guidance, there's a strong chance Reddit's community discussions are directly shaping that answer. More than 70 million people now use Reddit's on-platform search each week, and the platform is actively positioning itself as a go-to search engine. For brands, this creates a powerful multiplier effect. A well-placed, authentic contribution to a Reddit discussion doesn't just reach that subreddit's community—it potentially influences millions of AI-generated responses and search results for months or even years to come. Click to learn how we successfully built supplement brand Theralogix' trustworthy reputation and grew sales with Reddit marketing. Why diversifying beyond Meta and Google pays off The advertising landscape is more concentrated than most marketers realize, and that concentration represents a missed opportunity. Google and Meta capture 88% of mobile app ad spend despite shifting user attention, while independent apps have over 2 billion global daily active users—equal to Instagram and TikTok combined. The financial case for diversification is compelling. As EMARKETER reported in August 2025, consumer app marketers who diversify their media mix beyond Google and Meta see an average increase of 116% in Day 30 ROAS. Among categories with statistically significant data, shopping, education, and health and fitness marketers achieved the strongest results, with average Day 30 ROAS improvements reaching 214%. This isn't about abandoning Meta and Google—they remain essential channels. It's about recognizing that your audience's attention has distributed across platforms that your advertising budget hasn't yet followed. Learn social media advertising budget allocation: 60% Meta, 30% TikTok, 10% Reddit. Click for expert tips, metrics, attribution models & real case studies. Why Reddit works: Trust, authenticity, & influence Reddit succeeds as a marketing channel because it operates fundamentally differently from other social platforms. According to Reddit's own research, the platform delivers three critical advantages: Trustworthy 7 in 10 Reddit users agree that Reddit is a trustworthy platform to inform product and brand decisions—outperforming Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, Pinterest, Discord, Snapchat, and YouTube. Authentic 69% of users agree that Reddit conversations offer authentic experiences that make it easier to compare products. Influential Reddit users are more likely to buy a product or brand if conversations on Reddit recommend it. The platform's structure around niche subreddits means you're not just targeting broad demographics—you're reaching people who are actively engaged with topics directly related to your product or service. Someone browsing r/fitness or r/personalfinance isn't passively scrolling; they're deeply invested in that interest and actively seeking recommendations. Reddit's long game: Why it matters now Reddit stands out as an under-monetized digital media channel—it earns below-average ad revenues per hour of time spent compared to other major social networks, trailing both Snapchat and X in monetizing its user activity. For advertisers, this under-monetization is actually good news. It means less competition for ad placements, lower costs per impression, and opportunities to establish brand presence before the platform becomes saturated. Reddit is building new advertising tools including product ads, shopping ecosystems, freeform ads, and AMA (Ask Me Anything) units. While Meta and TikTok are established and crowded, Reddit being in build mode means first-mover advantage for advertisers willing to invest now. The platform is also playing the long game on user attention. Reddit is the social platform where consumers are projected to maintain the most "time spent" year over year. Unlike scroll-heavy platforms where users mindlessly consume content, Reddit users are leaned-in, actively seeking information, and often closer to a purchase decision. A simple Reddit marketing strategy that works Based on our experience helping clients build successful Reddit presence, here's the approach we recommend: 1. Audit your audience's Reddit behavior Identify 3-5 subreddits where your target customers genuinely spend time. Use Reddit's search function to see what questions they're asking and what problems they're trying to solve. Match your targeting to the funnel Reddit offers sophisticated targeting options that let you reach audiences based on communities (specific subreddits), interest groups, keywords, and standard demographics. The key is aligning your targeting with where users are in their journey. For example, if you're marketing a fitness supplement: Upper Funnel (Awareness) : Target broad fitness communities like r/fitness and r/bodybuilding Mid Funnel (Consideration) : Focus on nutrition-focused communities like r/nutrition or r/loseit Lower Funnel (Conversion) : Reach users in action-oriented communities like r/MealPrepSunday or r/Supplements This funnel-based community targeting ensures you're delivering the right message to users at the right stage of their decision-making process. 2. Start with a test budget Allocate a small percentage of your social budget (5-10%) to test Reddit promoted posts across your identified communities. Start with awareness objectives before moving down funnel. Test Reddit's standard ad formats Reddit offers three core ad products to get started: Promoted Posts : Reddit's flagship ad format that reaches users in their feeds as they explore content from relevant communities. These look native to the platform and blend seamlessly into the browsing experience. Conversation Placements : Deliver your ad within a conversation thread, beneath the post and before comments, engaging users when they're most leaned-in to a particular topic. Product Ads : A newer offering specifically designed to display important products across all Reddit platforms, reaching lower funnel goals and driving high-intent users to your site with a native look and feel. 4. Experiment with high-impact custom formats Once you've established baseline performance with standard ads, consider Reddit's non-standard offerings: Freeform Ads : This highly engaging format allows for heavy information coverage using multiple asset types (images, videos, text). Users click the ad to read full content rather than leaving Reddit immediately, making it excellent for storytelling and upper-funnel brand building. Promoted AMAs : "Ask Me Anything" sessions are uniquely Reddit formats that allow brands to connect with the community in an exclusive, authentic way. Pick a recognizable host (like a founder, subject matter expert, or brand ambassador) and set the stage for relevant interaction. Reddit has streamlined AMA ad creation directly in Ads Manager with dynamic CTA buttons that drive users to RSVP and participate. Takeovers : For maximum impact, consider Reddit Takeover (site-wide homepage takeover), Category Takeover (owning top communities in your target category for 24 hours), or First View (owning the first unique ad impression on Reddit's Home and Popular pages). Data shows that takeovers incorporated into a full-funnel strategic plan can drive a 68% increase in conversion rates and 12% improvement in cost per acquisition. 5. Consider organic participation. While paid advertising is the fastest way to scale, having team members genuinely participate in relevant subreddits (with full transparency about their affiliation) builds authentic brand equity that amplifies paid efforts. 6. Understand Reddit's Emerging Shopping Ecosystem Reddit is actively building out shopping tools for H1 2026 testing, including organic shopping features, upper funnel shopping ads, and lower funnel shopping ads with contextually relevant dynamic product ads served in product conversations with Reddit-native social proof. Early adopters of these tools will have opportunities to shape how shopping evolves on the platform. Measure beyond immediate ROAS Given Reddit's long-tail nature and influence on AI/search, consider assisted conversions, brand lift, and longer attribution windows when evaluating performance. The brands winning on Reddit today aren't necessarily the biggest or best-funded—they're the ones willing to meet users where they are, contribute value to communities, and think strategically about how the platform's unique characteristics create marketing leverage. That's an advantage any brand can develop with the right strategy and commitment. Ready to develop a Reddit strategy that drives real results? At Exverus by Brainlabs, we help brands build authentic presence across emerging channels while maintaining efficient customer acquisition. Let's talk about what's possible for your brand.

Not just for content creation, generative AI can already optimize ad personalization, predictive analytics, and real-time data monitoring. Generative AI, the advertising industry's buzziest buzzword, is emerging as a powerful tool that could potentially reshape the way we as advertisers strategize our campaigns. But for media planners, it can be difficult to see how generative AI can actually help in day-to-day tasks. When you're constantly planning, launching, and optimizing campaigns, it's easy to dismiss anything that doesn't immediately improve efficiency or increase ROI. But the truth is, generative AI is already proving its worth in media planning and will only become more important in the future. Initial findings show that when AI-based media buying is employed the ROAS can double or triple compared to previous efforts. So: How can generative AI be used for media planning? Here are a few applications available TODAY that we're testing for our clients. Precise Audience Targeting AI's Deep Learning enables a breadth and depth of knowledge in how targeting is applied to ad campaigns. Instead of broad audience targeting segments like "in-market auto shoppers", AI unlocks the nuances of an individual's consumer journey and has a much deeper understanding of the context of the ad . It analyzes customer data and third-party signals to provide segmentation recommendations, making data-based strategies more effective and efficient. The uncomfortable truth is that traditional audience targeting wasn't just legally problematic—it was strategically flawed. We paid a premium "audience tax" for behavioral segments that promised precision but delivered diminishing returns. Consumers rejected invasive tracking. Regulators caught up. And the foundation crumbled. But here's the opportunity: The collapse of cookie-based targeting is forcing brands to rebuild smarter, more sustainable segmentation strategies. At Exverus, we've been helping clients navigate this transition for years, and the results speak for themselves. The new playbook: Three pillars of post-cookie targeting 1. Contextual intelligence.   Modern contextual advertising  goes far beyond keyword matching. It's about aligning your message with the emotional tone, content environment, and audience mindset. Research from Integral Ad Science shows contextually aligned ads deliver 23% higher ad recall and 27% better brand narrative recollection. We've seen it work: Our campaign for The Chosen  achieved 4.6x the industry standard brand lift by meeting viewers in content they already trust and enjoy—no personal data required.   2. First-party data as your moat.  The brands winning right now are building direct relationships with customers through owned channels: email lists, loyalty programs, zero-party data collection. This isn't about replacing third-party cookies with creepy alternatives—it's about earning trust and permission. Retail media networks  exemplify this perfectly, offering first-party purchase data at scale while respecting consumer privacy.   3. Privacy-first measurement.  Ditch vanity metrics like clicks and impressions. Invest in tools that respect consumer privacy while delivering real business insights: marketing mix modeling (MMM) , attention metrics , brand lift studies , and AI-powered contextual solutions. These aren't workarounds—they're upgrades that measure what actually matters.   Ad Personalization Generative AI can be used to create custom ads based on the viewer. This capability is so much more than the "dynamic" ads of the past. Imagine the ability to deliver custom video ads informed by the viewer's demographics and location , and those decisions being made in real time and at a fraction of the cost of producing multiple video commercials for different markets/regions.   At Exverus by Brainlabs, we've spent 12 years refining our approach to full-funnel media planning for growth-stage, culture-creating brands. Here's what demonstrably works. Improved Programmatic Advertising Performance AI is driving improvement in programmatic advertising performance by powering recommendation engines based on past performance and enhanced audience targeting. Unlike its human counterparts, AI never sleeps. This makes real-time bidding and programmatic buys a breeze. Answers to all the questions you never thought to ask.   Automated Planning Documentation The generation of crucial media planning documentation such as investment plans, campaign parameters, creative assets, and media placement selection is being automated by AI, leveraging campaign-level insights in the process.   Data-Driven Virtual Assistants Tools like Omni Assist provide data-driven insights, notifications, and recommendations throughout the planning and buying workflow, reducing discovery time and accelerating learning.   But as with any tool, generative AI is only as good as the data and inputs it receives. The onus is still on us to provide the strategy, prompts, brand information , and feedback to make sure the tech is working for us, and not the other way around. This piece originally appeared in our weekly Paid Media Insights newsletter. For more tips, research, and analysis; subscribe for free here .

Predictive analytics and big-picture insights make marketing mix modeling tools invaluable to brand marketers of all industries in 2026 and beyond. Can you predict the outcome of your brand marketing campaigns? Without the proper measurement tools, your media plan could feel like a (very expensive) shot in the dark. A 2022 McKinsey Global Survey found that only 17% of companies believe they can effectively measure marketing's impact on business outcomes. And with so many different retailers and media networks to reach customers, measuring the impact of your spending across platforms can be a nightmare!   Fortunately, a suite of marketing mix modeling tools has recently emerged to help solve those problems more quickly and accurately. What is marketing mix modeling? Marketing mix modeling , also known as media mix modeling (MMM), is a sophisticated analytical method that provides a comprehensive, data-driven understanding of how different marketing channels contribute to overall brand growth. Unlike user-level attribution, MMM uses aggregated data to evaluate the effectiveness of different marketing channels while maintaining privacy compliance. Marketing Mix Modeling offers a comprehensive, data-driven understanding of how different marketing channels contribute to overall brand growth. For brands navigating an increasingly complex digital ecosystem, MMM is no longer a luxury—it's a strategic imperative. Talia Arnold, Cofounder of Exverus, explained onstage at MediaPost why MMM & incrementality testing are now table stakes in every media budget. How does AI power MMM? In 2025, several announcements brought new MMM solutions to the forefront, all led by AI . AI is revolutionizing MMM in several key ways, making it more accurate, efficient, and insightful. Here's how:   1. Handling Complex Data AI excels at processing massive datasets, including diverse data types like online behavior, social media sentiment, CRM data, and even weather patterns. This allows MMM to incorporate a wider range of factors influencing marketing performance. Traditional MMM often struggles with complex, non-linear relationships between marketing inputs and outcomes. AI, particularly machine learning, can model these intricate relationships more effectively, leading to more accurate results.     2. Improved Accuracy and Insights AI employs sophisticated algorithms like neural networks and Bayesian methods to identify patterns and relationships that traditional statistical methods might miss. This leads to more precise estimations of marketing channel effectiveness. AI can analyze data at a more granular level, providing insights into specific customer segments, campaigns, and even individual touchpoints. This allows marketers to understand which tactics are working best for whom and optimize accordingly.    A study by Forrester Research indicates that AI-driven marketing tools can improve marketing efficiency by up to 40%, with predictive analytics significantly increasing conversion potential. 3. Enhanced Efficiency and Speed AI automates many aspects of MMM, from data cleaning and preprocessing to model building and interpretation. This significantly reduces the time and resources required for MMM analysis.  AI enables real-time or near real-time MMM, allowing marketers to adjust campaigns on the fly based on the latest data and insights. This agility is crucial in today's dynamic marketing environment.     4. Predictive Capabilities   AI can be used to forecast the impact of future marketing campaigns, enabling marketers to make data-driven decisions about budget allocation and channel selection.  AI facilitates scenario planning by simulating the potential outcomes of different marketing strategies. This helps marketers identify the most promising approaches and mitigate risks.     5. Overcoming Limitations of Traditional MMM  AI can more accurately model the long-term impact of marketing activities, such as brand building, by capturing adstock and carryover effects and can help address the complex challenge of attributing marketing outcomes to specific touchpoints across the customer journey.   What is the difference between MMM and MTA? Marketing mix modeling (MMM) analyzes how various marketing elements collectively impact sales or other KPIs, while multi-touch attribution (MTA) identifies the specific contribution of each touchpoint in the customer journey. MMM relies on historical, aggregated data (like campaign budgets or overall sales figures) while MTA needs more granular, real-time data on individual user interactions. Learn more about how and when to use each analysis method below: What are the best marketing mix modeling tools? As with most things, it depends - on your needs, budget, and level of technical skill. Recent innovations in MMM tools are making it easier for advertisers to approach and understand statistical regression models. Keen Decision Systems Take, for example, the collaboration between retail data aggregator Crisp and MMM platform Keen Decision Systems. This partnership represents a significant leap forward, enabling CPG marketers to combine daily, store-level data from multiple retailers with advanced modeling techniques. The result? The ability to plan, measure, and adjust budget allocations in real-time with unprecedented precision. Resonate Insights Another standout tool our own analysts love is Resonate, an AI-powered data platform that goes beyond traditional analytics. By combining consumer data with machine learning, Resonate provides robust audience insights that go far deeper than surface-level demographics. Google's Meridian Meridian is an open-source MMM tool that measures full-funnel performance, integrating incrementality experiments, controlling for organic demand with the inclusion of search query volume data, and making video measurement more actionable by modeling reach and frequency. InsightMix reduces the time it takes our teams to develop MMM models from weeks to hours, and allows us to iterate through hundreds of model variants to maximize accuracy and relevance to real-world business impact. Meta's Robyn Finally, Robyn is an experimental, machine learning-powered, open-sourced MMM package from Meta Marketing Science. These sophisticated tools do more than just collect data—they illustrate the intricate interconnectivity between media channels. By leveraging advanced algorithms and comprehensive data sets, marketers can now confidently justify every marketing dollar spent, transforming what was once a guessing game into a strategic, measurable process. And couldn't we all use a little more peace of mind these days? To ask our media experts how MMM or MTA can help manage your brand's ad budget more efficiently, shoot us a note using the form below! For more ad buying news and tips, join our free, weekly Paid Media Insights  newsletter.