Exverus by Brainlabs' deep experience with growth-stage CPG brands earned the business after a competitive pitch Media planning & buying for Right Guard will be directed by Shelby Dolan, who also runs the New Belgium Brewing account. Exverus by Brainlabs has been selected as the media agency of record for Right Guard deodorant, owned by Thriving Brands. The scope of work covers omnichannel media planning, buying, and measurement — with a mandate built around making a challenger brand compete smarter, not just louder. The Challenge: Earning attention in an outspent category The deodorant category is among the most competitive in consumer packaged goods. Global conglomerates command massive budgets, and a wave of high-spending startups has made shelf space (physical and digital) increasingly expensive to capture. Right Guard, a brand with decades of consumer equity, enters this environment with a clear-eyed understanding of its position. "Right Guard has deep consumer equity, but we're vastly outspent in today's deodorant category dominated by global conglomerates and high-spending startups," said Peter A. Olson, Senior Director of Marketing at Thriving Brands. "Exverus' challenger-brand playbook was a great fit for where Right Guard is headed." Exverus has refined that challenger playbook growing across brands facing similar situations, where budget alone doesn't determine who wins. Why choose Exverus as a media agency Thriving Brands evaluated Exverus specifically for its strategic rigor and what it calls an impact-focused measurement framework: a methodology designed to trace media spend to meaningful business outcomes, not just impressions. For a brand that needs every dollar to outperform, the ability to identify white space — underpriced audiences, underutilized channels, moments the competition has overlooked — was non-negotiable. "We knew going in that we'd have to earn attention rather than buy it. That takes a partner like Exverus who is willing to get scrappy and find white space," Olson continued. "Their strategic rigor and impact-focused measurement framework delivered a plan that makes our media dollars work harder than the competition." That orientation — finding leverage rather than adding spend — sits at the core of how Exverus approaches full-funnel planning. Brand and performance aren't treated as separate work streams. They're designed to reinforce each other at every stage of the funnel. Learn how we balance brand & performance media under one scientific brain. Who's leading the work The Right Guard account will be overseen by Shelby Dolan, Media Director at Exverus. Dolan also leads media strategy for New Belgium Brewing and Bell's Brewing, bringing proven experience with consumer brands navigating competitive, culture-driven categories. What this means for Right Guard For a heritage brand reclaiming relevance, this partnership is less about media volume and more about media precision. Exverus will develop an omnichannel plan built around where Right Guard's target consumers actually spend attention — and where the brand can win without simply matching competitor spend dollar for dollar. Exverus by Brainlabs works with challenger brands and category leaders alike, building media strategies grounded in data, accountability, and the belief that smarter always beats louder.

Why podcasts, streaming ads, and programmatic audio are essential marketing channels—and how to buy them efficiently TV commercials, radio spots, social and video ads can worm their way into a listener's ears (if they weren't paying attention before!) and stay in their memory long afterward. (How easily could you recall the "Nationwide is on your side" jingle?) Creating excellent audio ads is part of building your brand's identity as well as selling your product. Learn more about the impact and best practices of audio advertising below. Why is audio advertising effective? How can audio ads build a brand? What are best practices for audio advertising? Why is audio advertising effective? Audio ads have the ability to capture and hold the listener's attention. When people are engaged in audio content, such as streaming music, podcasts, or radio, they are more likely to pay attention to the ads that play during those moments. In fact, research shows that audio ads boost brand recall by 24-45% on average, significantly higher than many other media channels. Another reason audio advertising is effective is the ability to reach well-targeted audiences. With the rise of streaming services and digital radio, advertisers can target specific demographics, interests, and behaviors, ensuring that their message reaches the right audience at the right time. This precision targeting can lead to higher conversion rates. On the backend of campaigns, audio platforms provide detailed analytics, allowing advertisers to track the performance of their ads and refine targeting, messaging, and overall ad strategy for better results. Learn the latest partnerships, features, & best practices for digital and traditional audio advertising in 2026 and beyond. How can audio ads build a brand? Audio ads can thoroughly convey a brand's message, values, and identity. Repeated exposure to a consistent audio branding strategy helps reinforce brand recognition and recall. When consumers encounter the brand later, they are more likely to remember it due to the familiarity established through audio advertising. There's a reason brands pay top dollar for podcast host-read ads. By associating itself with a listener's favorite podcast hosts, musical artists, or radio shows, a brand can gain credibility and relevance among its intended demographic. Omnichannel is everything: Audio advertising can be part of a larger multichannel marketing strategy, reinforcing the brand's messaging across various platforms and touchpoints, such as social media, video, and print. Direct vs. Programmatic: How Should You Buy Audio? Here's where the buying approach matters. Historically, audio inventory was purchased directly through platforms like Spotify or iHeartRadio. But today, the vast reach and effectiveness of audio advertising can now be matched with the efficiency of programmatic buying. Programmatic audio advertising is the process of buying audio inventory (radio, streaming music apps, podcasts, etc.) through automated means using a demand-side platform (DSP) and a supply-side platform (SSP). Audio SSPs include Spotify and iHeartRadio, and audio DSPs include Basis Technologies and SmartyAds. A good media agency has partnerships with various ad tech vendors to get your brand the most functionality for the least investment possible. According to data from EMARKETER, digital audio ad spend in the US alone is expected to grow by nearly 44% from 2023 to 2027—and programmatic buying is leading that charge. What are the advantages of programmatic audio advertising? A. Unparalleled reach and engagement Audio is an intimate medium. People listen to music and podcasts while they're driving, cooking, or exercising – it's a part of their daily routine. If your brand can reach listeners while they're engaged in daily activities and listening to content they already enjoy, they'll likely receive and recall your message in a positive light. And you may be surprised to know that the majority of audio listeners are not paying for the premium, ad-free versions! B. Contextual targeting Programmatic buying goes beyond basic demographics. You can target listeners based on specific content genres, interests, and even the time of day they're most likely to be listening. Imagine reaching fitness enthusiasts during their morning workout session or targeting foodies while they tune into a cooking podcast. This level of contextual relevance ensures your message resonates deeply with the audience, maximizing its impact. C. Retargeting and amplification By leveraging insights gleaned from audio campaigns, you can retarget listeners in an omnichannel marketing strategy. For instance, a listener engaged with a sports podcast ad can be retargeted with social media ads or CTV commercials highlighting your brand's athletic wear or sports drinks. This creates a halo effect, reinforcing your brand presence across various touchpoints and driving conversions. D. Data-driven campaign optimization In the age of privacy regulations and the decline of third-party cookies, programmatic audio offers a valuable solution. It empowers brands to collect first-party data and track campaign performance metrics with precision. This data allows you to optimize campaigns in real-time, ensuring your budget is maximized and your message reaches the most receptive audiences. Best practices for audio advertising Don't just list your product's features; tell your story. Audio ads can tell compelling stories that resonate with listeners. Narratives can illustrate the brand's values, history, or mission, making it more relatable and humanizing the brand. Google recommends using a consistent tone and tempo. For 30-second ads, aim for 55-75 words. And be conversational! A friendly tone helps listeners smoothly transition between entertainment content and ads. Finally, Spotify Audio Ads recommends employing "a combination of background music and sound effects to instantly conjure a mood and give context to your core message." The bottom line Every single one of your target consumers is likely listening to something – music, podcasts, audiobooks – every day. With programmatic audio buying, the right ones can hear your message, too. The professional media buyers at Exverus do audio advertising for brands directly and programmatically every day. If you have questions or thoughts about how best to get a brand into consumers' ears, drop us a comment below. We'd love to hear from you! This piece originally appeared in our weekly Paid Media Insights newsletter. For more tips, research, and analysis; subscribe for free here.

Streamers are the new home for live sports, offering fans and advertisers big advantages linear TV couldn't. Live sports advertising was already on fire thanks to CTV streaming the NFL and NBA, but Women's March Madness 2024 has been a slam dunk for media buyers. The buzz around Iowa's star Caitlin Clark culminated in an NCAA Final game that drew 18.87 million viewers, the most watched basketball game — college or pro, men’s or women’s — since the 2019 NCAA men’s championship game. That's an enormous audience of highly passionate and engaged consumers. As women's sports viewership grows, the ad dollars flow -- brands like Home Depot, Ritz, and Aflac sold out all of Disney's ad inventory for March Madness two weeks in advance. We all know live sports are popular with consumers, but what about the backend? Does this channel provide advertisers with the results necessary to justify the cost? Why advertise in live sports? Audience Reach and Engagement: Live sports still reign supreme as the most-watched TV broadcasts. Brands have long understood that the sports fan is engaged and deeply loyal - so having access to them via CTV can be a goldmine for marketing teams. CTV Enables Mix of Ad Creative Formats: Live sports streaming on OTT platforms enables advertisers to reach entirely new audiences of dedicated sports fans with creative, personalized ad messaging. Precise Audience Targeting: The ad inventory can be bought programmatically, which allows media buyers to target precise audiences at the most efficient cost. Emotional Connection: Brands can tap into the deep emotional connection viewers feel for their teams by telling impactful stories. Take this Cetaphil Super Bowl ad, for example! Tug at the heartstrings, and you won't be forgotten. Omnichannel Opportunities: Sports isn't just on TV -- the players amass huge followings on social media, tell their stories in the press, sign endorsement deals, and inspire sports betting (another exploding advertising channel!) -- which means plenty of opportunities for retargeting and reinforcement. TV is an excellent brand awareness lifter, but people need to know how and where to buy your product or service in order to drive a sale. How brands can win at live sports advertising: A. Plan It can be challenging to plan, measure, and analyze the effectiveness of ad spend on sports events throughout a season because viewership is subject to peaks and valleys. Fortunately, some programmatic advertising platforms like The Trade Desk have developed pacing tools to help media buyers optimize their ad spend in real time. Partnering with the right media planning and buying agency can be the difference between wasting precious ad dollars and sending them straight to your goals. B. Diversify Since TV ad spots during big games can be expensive (and thus risky), it's important not to put all your eggs in that basket. Make sure you're building a strong brand identity first, then complement your CTV spend with other strategies like DOOH, social media, omnichannel retail, or audio spots. Besides, TV is an excellent brand awareness lifter, but people need to know how and where to buy your product or service in order to drive a sale. Shoppable CTV elements like QR codes or text codes can get viewers engaged right from their couch. Or you could include a clear call to action in your ad creative directing viewers to your website or store. C. Think Local Costly national TV spots aren't the only option for sports advertising. Local affiliate stations sell ad inventory, too, and they might be a more cost-efficient option if you have target audience segments in specific geographic locations. D. Measure To measure campaign effectiveness, be sure you're using the right metrics. For CTV advertising, KPIs like average viewership and unique viewers are most relevant. Cross-reference these with other channels like social media growth and merch sales. E. Grow eMarketer predicts that viewership of digital live sports content in the US will reach 90.7 million by 2025! That's an enormous growth opportunity brands can bet on. This piece originally appeared in our weekly Paid Media Insights newsletter. For more tips, research, and analysis; subscribe for free here.

AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude will soon collapse the customer journey into a single conversation, and brands need a full-funnel media strategy to own them. On a hot, Arizona day in March 2026, Exverus VP of Performance Marketing Hillary Kupferberg took the stage to tell a roomful of marketers and media buyers: You're behind. She was talking about the dawn of AI shopping, or agentic commerce, a process in which consumers turn to AI chatbots like Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity for product recommendations, and an AI shopping agent fills their basket. It's the future (no, the present reality) of e-commerce, and brand marketers need to adapt their marketing strategies quickly. When the whole product discovery-to-purchase pathway is collapsed into a single chatbot conversation, traditional advertising tactics like Paid Search driving clicks to a website become irrelevant. Let Hillary explain: Zero-click Search Marketing We're entering a world where better marketing produces worse-looking Search metrics. One of our CPG brands saw a 30% decline clicks to site but were actually winning and gaining share in AI overviews. Brands relying on website clicks today to measure their success are actually falling behind, and your marketing is looking worse. So, we need to measure differently. We all know the old terms of share of voice, but what we're quickly finding is that in order to win today, you actually need to be looking at share of model. Is your brand or your product being cited and mentioned in these LLMS? The reason this matters is, if we evaluate all these new forms of technology under our own old models, we're going to lose. Now we're marketing to AI and consumers. So we really are thinking about this differently today, rewriting success. And when we look at all the new new traffic sources, where are leads coming from? Is it ChatGPT? Is it Copilot? Is it Gemini? These things matter. Reddit is a huge source that's really powerful. For one of our brands, we were able to identify that Reddit is the third most visible domain on Google, and that's pulling into all of the AI Overviews. Agentic commerce On Amazon Prime Day, we saw a 3,000% increase of GenAI traffic to Amazon. That's huge! And we really entered a tipping point that is quickly transforming the commerce world. The point of sale is now inside the conversation. Discovery is happening within all of these conversations. And if you think about the first prompt you ever gave AI, "I need a new pair of sneakers" is very different than how I talk to AI now and likely you do, as well. Really in-depth prompts about exactly what type of hiking shoe I need, that it needs to fit in my carry-on, I want them to be waterproof, only in blue. These are the types of information that customers are giving; they're having deep conversations with AI to find the right products. They're not visiting your website, but ultimately what we're seeing with retailers and commerce partners actively partnering with OpenAI is the future of retail and e-commerce. Conversational AI is a new purchase channel. As of very recently, we can start to buy ads there. But even without paid media, this is a really important tool for your brands to be thinking about because AI is predicting, recommending, and ultimately completing the transactions all within that chat. The retailers, as they continue to partner with OpenAI, will have really strong purchase data that isn't happening on your brand site. And we see that people are really leaned in. 63% of users are doing this for research and discovery, and 53% take it a step further and compare products and prices. So everything from your search to your retail PDPs need to be specifically consistent and translate to the AI so the AI models can mention and cite your brands and your products when relevant. A full-funnel media approach When we talk about building a brand, we're really talking about creating authentic relationships, repeat purchases, and brand enthusiasts. But LLMs have collapsed the timeline. In the old world, you'd invest in brand awareness for months, watch awareness metrics climb, then capitalize on that brand equity through performance channels like retail media and search. Brand and performance were sequential. Now, they're simultaneous. When a consumer asks ChatGPT or Claude, "What's the best protein powder for weight loss?" the LLM is pulling from: your brand mentions your website authority your customer reviews and the specificity of your product data, all at once. It's not deciding between brand awareness and conversion intent; it's weighing credibility signals and purchase readiness in a single answer. If you've only invested in performance metrics (ROAS, conversion rates), you're invisible to the LLM. If you've only built brand awareness, you won't show up in the purchase recommendation. You need both operating as one scientific brain. That's not a nice-to-have anymore; that's table stakes. Actionable Takeaways I encourage you to save this slide because these are tangible things you can bring back to your organization to introduce new ways of measuring success in this agentic commerce world. And just remember that if your organization is still measuring clicks, you're a little bit behind. But the good news is we're here to help. FAQs about AI shopping Q: I loved your insight about Reddit and how brands could get some leverage there. Jay Walker Smith [of MediaPost] wrote a piece recently that the number one source of expert information on the LLMs is Reddit. Number two is Wikipedia. Is that dumbing down the expertise, and is there going to be kind of backlash for brands who are using LLMs for, how should I say, less than perfect information? A: Definitely. It's it really is the wild west. I can't predict what will happen, but I think it's a "both/and situation" between what's happening on Reddit and Wikipedia (more of that user-generated [content]), plus what the brand is putting out. So you have to do both to in order to succeed. And so it does take a lot to be commerce-ready and visible and consistent across many different touch points where the formats are different. How people want to consume the information is different, but brands that are paying attention to both I think will be ahead. Q. The relationship between AI and search is undeniable in terms of the level of disruption there. I'm curious what you're seeing in the ripples with programmatic and display as well, because if that whole behavior and model shifts where people aren't searching online, and we're not retargeting them, and going through that traditional funnel, what are the recommendations, or where do you see programmatic moving with AI now? A. I think programmatic will take a lot of signals from what we're seeing and learning honestly with search as new releases are happening, in terms of product, and what the actual ad formats available will be, and it'll change over time. Again, I don't think it's replacing what we've seen. A lot of fears around volume of search decreasing didn't actually come to play; volume of search is actually up, but how people are consuming and ultimately getting the information is just resulting in less clicks. So, what we're expecting in the programmatic space is even more innovation in terms of ad formats and similar results in terms of expectations around click-based performance. Q. I'm excited now that you said we will soon be making a purchase within an AI platform, and I'm just curious, can you share anything about like a personal purchase that you found very smooth through an AI platform? A. Definitely. Walmart is doing it really well. [Adoption] is low right now. We're at about 8% of people are actually transacting within ChatGPT. I think there's still concerns around adoption and trust. So, giving ChatGPT your credit card is the default, but actually you're giving Walmart your credit card. Purchases that I've made are pretty boring, but mostly in the grocery category. For further reference Watch Hillary's presentation video: MediaPost Live on YouTube. "The New Path from Discovery to Digital Shelf." March 2026. For more on personalization in AI shopping: EMARKETER. "How AI has remade product pages, discovery, and personalization." March 2026. For different retailers' offerings: ADWEEK. "Walmart and Target Are Battling to Show Up in AI Shopping Tools. Here's How Their Strategies Compare." March 2026. About the Author Hillary Kupferberg is the VP of Performance Marketing at Exverus by Brainlabs where she holistically oversees the agency's robust retail media and e-commerce team, programmatic advertising, paid search, and paid social teams. Over a decade-plus in advertising, Hillary's expertise has expanded to meet each new technological innovation, bridging gaps between channels for the strongest possible returns. Previously, Hillary served as Director of Digital Strategy for top luxury brands, winning industry awards and speaking at conferences like IAB.

Acquisitions can put employees on edge and dilute the culture you've created. Learn how to ease minds and preserve your values from a founder who's been there. If you're a Founder or CEO in the process of selling your company, or just thinking about your future exit strategy, you'll need to be intentional about preserving the company values that made it successful in the first place. Company culture isn't just what's in your mission statement or posted on the wall; it's how your employees would describe their work life when you're not in the room. It's in lunchtime conversations and private Slack messages and work-from-home habits. A positive culture with team cohesion and high employee engagement requires active maintenance, and a merger or acquisition can seriously threaten it if you're not careful. Independent ad agency Exverus was built by 3 founders on the values of radical candor, work-life balance, passion, and service. So when we sold to Brainlabs (a much larger, but still independent agency); aligning company values was top priority. Exverus Cofounder and Managing Partner Talia Arnold joined the AdvertisingWeek Agency Alchemy Podcast to discuss how we've maintained our people-first, flexible yet high-quality work culture post-acquisition. Q&A about company culture Let's go back to the origins of Exverus. What defined the culture and operating philosophy? Well, the name Exverus is Latin for 'from the truth', and being founded by three partners who all came from larger agencies, we had a deep feeling that things could be done more directly, more straightforward without hiding. This was back in the days before transparency was a major catchphrase in the advertising world. And the idea of starting an advertising agency all around the truth, at that time, was very novel. So, that has always been our foundational value: telling the truth in the work we do for clients, how we charge them, whether or not their results are good or bad or ugly, and how we all relate to each other. We also have this big belief in radical candor, which is something that has not been written or talked about enough. How do you walk that line of telling the truth, even when it's uncomfortable, even when people don't want to hear it, while still being respectful and solution-oriented? That has always been our goal. Acquisitions can often dilute what made an agency special to begin with. What specifically made Brainlabs feel like the right partner for that, vs. any other growth opportunity for the sake of growth? It's something that any company that is thinking about selling will really have to search their souls to evaluate, because it depends on the reason you want to sell. A big part of the reason we wanted to sell was because we felt we were constrained by our ability to grow. We wanted to keep doing what we were doing, what we still believed in, but within a larger support system. And so, when we met Brainlabs, it was very much complementary services: They are very strong on performance, data, tech. They had developed a lot of their own proprietary tech, which we were desperate to take advantage of; and at the same time, we wanted to maintain our culture, our client relationships, the trust we built, our strategic value. We're really a strategy-based agency, so being able to combine the strategic thinking with acting on many areas of our clients' business with data, technology, creative services, and so on -- it gave us the confidence that the partnership would be very symbiotic. Digiday first broke the story of our acquisition in 2025. You've emphasized commitment to people, and the culture, and the service. How do those values actually show up in the day-to-day, and how do you protect them at scale? When you start a company with three people and see it grow one by one, you see how literally every individual employee transforms a company. And the way that plays out day to day is, we're very ownership-based, meaning employees feel a sense of ownership over their projects. They can come up with new revenue opportunities, new ideas, new solutions; and there's a lot of freedom to do that - there's not a lot of red tape or bureaucracy, still. We still very much have a remote work culture where that makes sense and a lot of together time. Our annual company retreats, the way we celebrate each other's personal lives and accomplishments. And my absolute favorite thing: We still have 3x week all-hands status meetings, and every Friday, we do shout-outs where individuals send gratitude to people on the team for their contributions that week. It's the most heartwarming thing ever. There's a lot of talk right now about AI replacing people or driving efficiency through cuts. You've taken a different path by building technologies in-house. What's the philosophy behind that decision, and how has your team been impacted by it? Like I spoke about earlier, the team has a lot of accountability and ownership over the work they do. We have basically individual labs where people can digitally develop their own tools using AI, to invite others to collaborate, to say, 'Here's a process we used to do, and I've created a program that automates it or evaluates it.' So, people are really excited about the opportunity to take control of not only the work, but how it gets done. For other agency leaders perhaps considering an acquisition, what do you think is the biggest misconception about maintaining culture? What advice would you give? The day one advice is, establish relationships with people as individuals. It's like any new relationship - dating, marriage - you've got to get to know each other and understand each other's values. It's definitely a learning process for us, understanding What are the Brainlabs values? How do they like to work? How's it different, or what can we take from it? For me, it was a bit like starting a new job, or the 'first day of school' kind of feeling. But at the same time, I had my family back home, my Exverus family where everything was consistent. How do you see growth now and moving forward, say 12 months from now? We've always seen growth as the power of the combined impact between both organizations. We're really seeing the benefit of the full-funnel media approach that Exverus has always had and the deep category knowledge in CPG, entertainment, tech, health and wellness; combined with what Brainlabs has brought in B2B, travel, and tourism. With those complementary skill sets, we can now to go market with so much more experience and credibility; that's the unlock. Links to the full podcast interview on all streaming platforms are on advertisingweek.com

The #1 burger has officially moved in with the #1 baseball team. Habit Burger x LA Dodgers: Hometown heroes in fresh heaven Habit Burger & Grill has set down roots in Dodger Stadium and transformed an existing Habit location on Sunset Blvd. into "Dodgers x Habit Home Base" — a dedicated fan destination open pre- and post-game. Supporting the whole effort is an iconic DOOH media campaign placed along actual fan game-day routes — meeting people where the energy already is, not interrupting it. The eye candy is a sweeping mural by celebrated LA artist Ali Gonzalez that makes the partnership feel less like a sponsorship and more like a love letter to the city itself. Two brands that have spent decades earning deep loyalty in LA are finally sharing the same stage, right as the Dodgers come off of back-to-back championship seasons. Like many brands in 2026, Habit recognizes that consumers are hungry for in-person, communal experiences, and nothing beats a baseball game for that. It’s part of Habit’s nationwide expansion that aims to be a good neighbor in each new local community they enter. Media planning, buying, and analysis is led by Exverus by Brainlabs, with creative by OptimismBH and OOH execution by Kevani. Leading the charge at Exverus is Media Director Georgia Schreiner, a 15-year advertising pro and Ad Age Media Planner/Buyer of the Year. About Habit Restaurants, Inc. Born in sunny Southern California in 1969, Habit Burger & Grill quickly gained a devoted following for its Charburgers, cooked to order over an open flame. Since then, the menu has grown far beyond burgers, offering a fresh take on Californian-inspired flavors. Guests can choose from a meaningful selection of handcrafted sandwiches, crisp salad bowls topped with hot, chargrilled chicken, and creamy handspun shakes, all made fresh and cooked to order. Habit has earned notable recognition over the years, including its Double Char being ranked #1 twice by USA Today 10Best*, its Tempura Green Beans named the #1 side twice by USA Today 10Best, and the brand itself recognized as the #1 Fast Casual Restaurant by USA Today 10Best. Connect with Habit: Instagram, TikTok, & LinkedIn About Exverus by Brainlabs Founded in 2014, Exverus 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 (acquired by Brainlabs in 2025) is dedicated to transparency and long-term client trust. Learn more at exverus.com. Connect with Exverus: LinkedIn, Instagram, & YouTube

Programmatic digital out-of-home media is now more precise and more measurable thanks to advances in AI-powered ad placements. Forget static billboards on a dusty highway. Out-of-home media (OOH) is impactful, innovative, and drives major business growth downstream. Now that digital OOH media can be bought programmatically, it's easier than ever to both target audiences and measure outcomes more precisely. EMARKETER projects that DOOH will account for 45.2% of total OOH ad spending by 2028, more than doubling since 2016. This growth is largely driven by AI-powered innovations that enhance targeting capabilities, measurement precision, and creative possibilities. Photo Credit: Marcus Herzberg Benefits of AI-powered digital OOH media buying The integration of AI into digital OOH advertising has created significant advantages for marketers seeking impact beyond crowded digital channels. Real-time responsive adjustments According to the OAAA's 2023 OOH Tech Showcase report, AI-powered solutions are helping advertisers deploy more relevant content by analyzing real-time data feeds and adjusting creative elements accordingly. AI algorithms can analyze environmental factors such as weather, traffic patterns, and time of day to dynamically switch out creative assets, transforming what was once a static medium into a hyperresponsive digital channel. Efficient audience targeting AI-powered bidding platforms use up-to-date information on consumer behavior, location, and environmental conditions to deliver hyper-relevant ads, ensuring the right message reaches the right audience without wasting ad spend. Improved measurement Advances in measurement have addressed one of OOH media's historical challenges. According to a 2022 study by the Digital Place Based Advertising Association (DPAA), 64% of surveyed media planners and brands cite improved measurement capabilities as a key factor in increasing their DOOH investments. What gets measured gets managed, as they say. Omnichannel media plan integration With programmatic buying platforms, AI technology easily connects digital OOH media activations with other advertising channels, making it a key component of a unified media strategy. Programmatic DOOH campaign examples We used DOOH to take over Times Square in NYC with portraits of smash TV hit The Chosen, shot by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz! The client saw financial contributions spike instantly. We also knocked out a Times Square DOOH activation for Premier Boxing Champions (PBC), leading to expanded awareness and pay-per-view clicks. Photo Credit: NPRP Media And check out this award-winning example of a "living wall" we created in partnership with NPRP Media and Humanaut for SUJA organic juices: Current Limitations and Future Challenges Despite impressive advances, AI-powered digital OOH still faces certain limitations. Privacy considerations represent a significant challenge as more sophisticated audience measurement techniques emerge. A 2023 report by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) highlights that while 72% of advertisers want more detailed audience data from DOOH networks, only 47% believe current privacy frameworks adequately address consumer protection concerns. AI-driven OOH will require careful navigation of data ethics and consumer trust. Technical infrastructure presents another hurdle. While programmatic DOOH spending is growing, implementation costs for advanced AI systems and the uneven distribution of digital inventory limit campaign reach in certain geographic areas. Measurement standardization continues to evolve but still lacks the universal acceptance found in online channels. Brands and their media teams will need to determine case by case which marketing metrics and KPIs truly drive the business outcomes they want to see. OOH is no longer just about broad scale; it’s about precision, personalization, and performance. AI is taking it there faster than ever. Break out of that small screen, and get ready to make a big impact your audience won't forget. For more advertising news and tips, join our free, weekly Paid Media Insights newsletter.

We took over Times Square with giantThe Chosen: Last Supper portraits by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz Courtesy of NPRP Media (LOS ANGELES) FEBRUARY 21, 2025 -- Ahead of its debut in theaters nationwide on March 28, creator/executive producer Dallas Jenkins and star Jonathan Roumie were in Times Square February 13 to reveal The Chosen: Last Supper (Season 5) key art with portraits by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz. Shot in cinematic format, The Chosen: Last Supper features Holy Week, the most pivotal week in history, in this special theatrical release. Exverus by Brainlabs, 5&2 Studio’s media agency of record, worked with longtime collaborator NPRP Media to bring the takeover to life. “Times Square was the perfect place to showcase The Chosen’s beautiful photography in anticipation of the theatrical release to the public." - Exverus Media Director Anna Elema “We had 12 units surrounding Times Square for one hour with several units at eye level to be captured in The Chosen's livestreams and social posts. One of the digital wraparound units (TSX) is 18,000 square feet, so it’s fair to say we made a big impression!” - Brad Magers, CEO NPRP Media Annie Leibovitz, cast, and crew in Times Square for the reveal Then, the OOH campaign extended to Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago, Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Rome, Madrid, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, and Sao Paolo; translated to each local language. We selected these markets for the psychographic and movie-going habits of their locals. After the Times Square takeover, financial contributions to the show spiked significantly. Organic branded searches surged to 3.8MM in April alone! The DOOH media activation worked in harmony with the campaign's digital, video, and earned media strategies to lift brand awareness by 4.6x the Entertainment category norms! And most importantly, The Chosen: Last Supper sold 6.1MM tickets, grossing $50MM in theaters and setting a new record for the brand. ABOUT EXVERUS Founded in 2014, Exverus 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 (acquired by Brainlabs in 2025) is dedicated to transparency and long-term client trust. Learn more at exverus.com. ABOUT 5&2 STUDIOS 5&2 Studios connects people around the world to stories from the Bible through uniquely human and authentic storytelling. Founded by Dallas Jenkins following the global success of The Chosen, 5&2 has expanded into producing both scripted and unscripted series, an animated series, and an expansive library of digital content. The independent studio also manages its own distribution, marketing, studio facilities, and consumer product line. For more information, visit 5and2Studios.com.

Buying digital out-of-home media programmatically offers stronger ROI, more precise targeting, and easier measurement than ever before. Photo by Marcus Herzberg Consumers are bombarded with digital ads daily, many of them skippable, ignorable, or forgettable. That's why out-of-home (OOH) media has grown as a popular alternative method for brands looking to reach a massive audience with high-impact visuals. OOH and digital out-of-home (DOOH) media reaches audiences in real-world environments, free from the distractions and ad-blocking capabilities of digital screens, making it a highly effective advertising channel. And, unlike the old traditional billboards of yesterday, DOOH media can now be purchased programmatically, applying the advantages of programmatic advertising to scale and memorability of OOH. What is programmatic DOOH media? Programmatic digital out-of-home media (prDOOH) is optimizing the process of planning and buying out-of-home media by facilitating trades through programmatic display-side platforms (DSPs). By leveraging data-driven technology, advertisers can now purchase OOH inventory in real-time, ensuring that their ads reach the right audience at the right time. This level of precision and efficiency is a far cry from the more traditional methods of OOH planning and execution. One of the key benefits of prDOOH is its ability to integrate seamlessly with other digital channels. By combining OOH with programmatic display, social media, and search advertising, brands can build omnichannel campaigns that create a halo effect for maximum impact. Studies have shown that campaigns that allocate spending across multiple media channels are significantly more effective than those that rely on a single channel. What is an example of out-of-home media? Some examples of OOH media include billboards, bus or car wraps, bus station screens, wallscapes, sidewalk prints, or posters. OOH media also includes experiential activations like branded pop-ups, stadium signage, and cinematic advertising. Check out this award-winning example of a "living wall" we created in partnership with NPRP Media and Humanaut for SUJA organic juices: Think beyond the screen and bring your brand to life. Measuring ROI in DOOH For years, OOH advertising has been criticized for its lack of measurability. However, the advent of prDOOH has changed that. By tracking audience impressions, dwell time, and foot traffic, advertisers can now quantify the return on investment (ROI) of their OOH campaigns. We can also measure the interactive effects of DOOH with lower-funnel conversions using marketing mix modeling (MMM), marketing cloud software (MCS), and AI-powered predictive analysis tools. The integrate data capabilities of programmatic buying platforms allow brands to make more informed decisions about their media spend and optimize their OOH strategies going forward. Learn how building giant brand awareness drove major ticket sales for The Chosen in 2025. Emerging trends in programmatic DOOH As programmatic DOOH continues to evolve, we are seeing a number of exciting new trends emerge. These include: Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO): DCO allows advertisers to personalize their OOH ads in real-time based on audience demographics, weather conditions, and other factors. This ensures that ads are always relevant and engaging. 3D Creative: 3D OOH ads offer a more immersive and attention-grabbing experience for consumers. Studies have shown that 3D ads can increase conversion rates by up to 40%. Sustainability: Consumers are increasingly concerned about environmental issues, and brands are responding by incorporating sustainability into their marketing strategies. prDOOH can be a sustainable advertising option, as it often involves less waste than traditional forms of OOH. In-Store Retail Media Networks: As more consumers shop in-store, retailers are leveraging their physical locations to deliver targeted advertising messages. In-store retail media networks provide brands with opportunities to reach shoppers at the point of purchase. For more media buying news and tips, subscribe to our weekly Paid Media Insights newsletter.

Media agency recognized by annual WARC Effectiveness Awards for ingenious e-commerce advertising campaign in 2024 (MAY 23, 2024) LOS ANGELES -- Exverus Media's 'Premier Nutrition: Winning Prime Day' campaign is the proud winner of a Silver WARC Effectiveness Award, presented in association with Cannes LIONS, for Best Path to Purchase North America 2024. The campaign demonstrated ingenious tactics for successfully bridging social media with e-commerce, making Premier Protein shakes one of the top-selling items on Amazon during its October 23 Prime Day event. What is a WARC Effectiveness Award? The North America WARC Effectiveness Award for Best Path to Purchase "recognises how brands have used omnichannel strategies to optimise the customer journey across the funnel. The judges reward activity that has driven businesses forward through a successful orchestration of e-commerce, social commerce, and physical channels." The campaign challenge: Amazon Prime Days are always sales-driving events, but outperforming the heavy competition there required thinking along the entire purchase path. Instead of just loading up on targeted ads on Amazon, we took a risk by meeting our target consumers where they are (largely, social media) - something extremely rare and perhaps never done before in this way. The winning strategy: On TikTok and Instagram, we served up the kind of influencer content our target enjoys to create awareness; nurtured consideration and urgency with TikTok’s timer features; and attached shoppable links from the social videos directly to the Amazon product pages with excellent deals to follow through with purchase. The future of omnichannel marketing success lies in seamlessly guiding a potential consumer from wherever they naturally gravitate toward a purchase with a single click. The results: Premier Protein Shakes were the #1 item sold on Amazon across ALL products and categories during Prime Day! This exceptional achievement garnered widespread attention in leading national press outlets like CNBC, Rolling Stone, Retail Dive, and The Messenger, among others, resulting in millions of press impressions. Total New-To-Brand Customer Revenue also soared, showing a remarkable +56% growth compared to past Prime Days - these were new customers. Additionally, Total Brand Engagements experienced a substantial +47% surge over prior Prime Days. We exceeded the results of every brand in North America by reimagining the social media and e-commerce playbook for a new age. About Exverus by Brainlabs Founded in 2014, Exverus 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 (acquired by Brainlabs in 2025) is dedicated to transparency and long-term client trust. Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.

The 4-Step SAP framework developed by Exverus transforms reactive marketing to agile advantages A year ago, none of this was in your media plan: shoppable CTV, LLMs shaping purchase decisions before a search even happens, agentic commerce marketing. Now it's all part of your customer journey, ready or not. Your media performance can turn on a dime, and if your strategy can't move with it, it doesn't matter how elegant your annual plan looks in a deck. Where most teams fail on agility Agility in marketing is not about trend-hopping; in fact, quite the opposite. Most teams are failing at it in predictable ways: They plan for a funnel that no longer exists. If each impression can't simultaneously build the brand and drive action, you're too slow. They lock decisions too early, with annual plans and rigid allocations becoming a liability in a market that moves monthly. They confuse reaction with agility — cutting brand spend when budgets tighten feels decisive, but it's short-term thinking that hollows out future performance. And they can't execute when things change: creative expires, a platform underperforms, legal delays a launch. If your team goes dark for weeks when any of these happen, you don't have an agility problem; you have an operating model problem. There are better ways to visualize the complex, fractured customer journey today. Click to steal ours. The answer is situation adaptive media planning Situation adaptive media planning (SAP or SAMP) is a proactive framework for anticipating and responding to unexpected shifts like platform volatility, consumer behavior swings, sales fluctuations, or competitive spend spikes before they become crises. It runs on 4 steps: Media Playbook: Establish initial direction for how strategies and tactics flex when the unexpected hits. This is built on past learnings, industry best practices, and media mix modeling tools. Collaborative Monitoring: Keep a shared eye on signals across the ecosystem: sales trends, emerging platforms, distribution changes, competitive moves. Tailored Response: When a situation surfaces, adapt the playbook to the specific goal, KPI, and parameters at hand. No two situations are identical. Optimization & Learnings: Execute real-time budget reallocations, then capture what worked to sharpen future responses. The framework only works when the brand brings the intel — sales patterns, supply chain pressures, distribution changes, seasonality signals — and the media team brings the systems to act on it fast. Exverus by Brainlabs developed this 4-step framework for situation adaptive planning (SAP) in marketing and media strategy "The biggest challenge in SAP is effective collaboration between all involved parties: intel from the brand client, planning from the media perspective, and cooperation from creative agencies, PR departments, or other external teams." -- Tasha Day, VP of Media Planning & Strategy, Exverus Examples of agility in practice Nike didn't get lucky during COVID. When the pandemic forced a shift from physical retail to digital channels, they leaned into their existing app ecosystem — the Nike Training Club app, Run Club, and their retail app — to connect directly with consumers. Digital sales grew 75% in Q4 2020, and the brand finished the fiscal year at $5.5 billion in digital revenue, up 47% from the prior year. That's SAP in action: Recognize the shift. Adapt the approach. Leverage what you have. Measure and move. Closer to home, our partners at Kargo applied the same logic mid-campaign: when they identified performance decline from creative fatigue, they pivoted to an A/B test rather than riding out a bad result. The creative refresh boosted performance. The outcome beat the original plan. In 2026 and beyond, audience segments will reshuffle; media channels will converge; paths to purchase will shorten; and AI will optimize everything. Build your exit ramps before you need them The best defense in media planning is a good offense: Know where the budget goes if a channel stops working — before it stops working. Manage your mix the way a portfolio manager manages assets: continuously, not annually. Let MMM, incrementality data, and retail signals drive in-flight decisions, not just post-mortems. The brands thriving right now aren't reacting faster. They're not reacting at all — because they already planned for this. That's the difference between a media plan and a media system. For more media buying tips, agency news, and case studies, subscribe to our weekly Paid Media Insights newsletter.

We found unmatched engagement and measurability with a Reddit Reminder ad campaign for sports marketing.