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. How do you measure the ROI of creator partnerships? 79% of marketers cite determining creator ROI as their biggest challenge. That's not a measurement problem – that's a strategy problem. Why creator ROI feels impossible Attribution gaps  plague creator campaigns because creator content often drives awareness and consideration rather than direct conversions, making it difficult to isolate impact.  Add platform fragmentation —where each network offers different metrics, attribution windows, and reporting standards—and cross-channel comparison  becomes nearly impossible. But the silliest reason? Over 50% of marketers spend only 30 minutes or less vetting  a single influencer, and only 25.6%  consistently receive documentation on influencer vetting. You can't measure what you didn't plan for. The answer is upper-funnel Many brands push creator partnerships toward social commerce—buying products directly on TikTok or Meta . But as we've noted before , social platforms are still most effective for upper- and mid-funnel awareness goals, not direct conversions. Just because a platform is popular doesn't mean it's the most cost-effective way to close sales. Creator content builds discovery and demand; search  and retail media  convert it. How to measure creator ROI Map creator partnerships to funnel stages, not vanity metrics. Use creators for brand awareness and product education, then retarget engaged audiences through retail media networks where purchase intent is highest. Track assisted conversions, not last-click attribution. Also, build creator briefs that define success beyond engagement rates—brand lift, consideration, search volume increases.  Finally, invest in proper vetting: Consider audience quality, brand alignment, and past performance data. 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 ! For further reference: Marketing Dive. "Creators work, but measurement doesn't -- yet." March 2026. EMARKETER. "FAQ on the creator economy: How marketers can stand out in 2026." January 2026. LINQIA. "2026 State of Influencer Marketing Report." January 2026. This piece originally appeared in our weekly Paid Media Insights newsletter. For more tips, research, and analysis; subscribe for free here .

Interactive TV ads collapse the path between entertainment and purchase. With the FIFA Club World Cup, Super Bowl LX, and 2026 Winter Olympics on the horizon, it's no wonder CTV ad spend is projected to grow by 13% this year to $26.6 billion! 70% of the US population was a CTV user in 2025. That's truly a can't-miss advertising opportunity for brands. But sophisticated media buyers are looking at ways of measuring sales conversions from CTV investments, not just awareness-related metrics like impressions, reach, and frequency. In the context of omnichannel marketing, advertisers must bridge the gap between the TV ad watch and the point of purchase for the modern shopper. Shoppable CTV ads may be the solution. What is a shoppable CTV ad? Shoppable Connected TV, sometimes referred to as T-Commerce (short for television commerce), is the newest evolution in television advertising, incorporating interactive or transactional features directly into television platforms. In other words, consumers can purchase products directly from a TV ad without ever leaving the couch. Premier Protein lets shoppers buy straight from a QR code to their phones What is an example of T-Commerce? The actual formats can vary: It could be as simple as a call-to-action (CTA) with a text message discount code, or a TV ad could display a QR code to scan and checkout via mobile phone; or a voice-activated command to a smart speaker; or even check out right from the TV Are shoppable CTV ads effective? Data shows...yes! In a recent study by LG, 51% of the 1200 CTV users surveyed said they "wish they could shop online using their TV." Many TV watchers today have their phones closer at hand than their TV remotes. This strategy capitalizes upon the increasing trend of consumers turning to digital platforms for both entertainment and shopping (we see you, TikTok Shop). With T-commerce, consumers can seamlessly explore and purchase products with a simple click while watching their favorite shows. This frictionless experience eliminates traditional barriers between content consumption and commerce, providing consumers with a more simple and enjoyable path-to-purchase journey. Technological advancements such as smart TVs, interactive content overlays, and seamless payment gateways, have played a pivotal role in making T-commerce possible, and all the major TV players want a piece of the pie. Disney, NBCUniversal, Samsung, Paramount, and others have already rolled out shoppable ad features to brand marketers and media agencies. What are the benefits of shoppable CTV ads? The shift from conventional TV commercials to shoppable CTV ads: benefits advertisers in measuring and optimizing campaigns, enhances the viewing experience for consumers, and creates new revenue streams for content creators and streaming platforms T-Commerce relies on data analytics to provide a personalized and curated shopping experience. As consumers engage with shoppable content, their preferences and behaviors are tracked, allowing for targeted product recommendations. Data-driven personalization benefits consumers by presenting them with better offerings, and it helps advertisers improve their inventory and media strategy going forward. Shoppable ads for "The Chosen" by KERV let viewers watch the trailer or buy tickets immediately How do I measure ROI on shoppable CTV ads? Every brand will have different metrics for success, which can depend on things like: price point retail availability consumption habits how target consumers interact with shoppable ads. Our media planners and ad-tech partners listen to each brand's unique objectives, provide insights on what's worked well for similar campaigns in the past, and tailor the advice accordingly. A few methods for measuring ROI in shoppable CTV include: Tracking pixels and unique landing pages: These can help attribute conversions to viewers who have seen your ad. QR Code tracking: Monitor the traffic and conversions generated from QR codes within your shoppable ads. Platform analytics: Utilize analytics tools provided by CTV platforms or integrated with your e-commerce platform (e.g., Google Analytics, Shopify Analytics) to track key metrics and performance. How do I set up cross-device tracking for shoppable CTV campaigns? Partner with a cross-device vendor. For example, The Trade Desk uses Identity Alliance to map connections between users and their devices into a single graph for better frequency management and accurate measurement. Ad-tech partners like KERV.ai can see both exposure-level data for the ad based on device and any interactor data (various engagement points with the creative) for full transparency. How do I measure across streaming platforms? Most ad-tech platforms have limited relationships with the publishers and streamers, but some (including KERV) have partnerships with all the major streamers and many TV manufacturers for accurate measurement. How do I comply with privacy laws? With the ease and convenience of shoppable TV comes the responsibility of understanding data sharing and privacy. As consumers engage with shoppable content, they need to be mindful of the information they share and the permissions granted to platforms. Contextual targeting ensures relevance and privacy by aligning ads with the content they appear in, rather than consumer identity data. For example, a kitchen gadget brand could appear during an ad break for Top Chef, or an automobile ad could appear during a travel show. Show-level data helps brands appear in front of increasingly relevant audiences without needing to extract data from the consumers themselves. How is AI shaping the future of shoppable CTV ads? AI is the engine driving the contextual targeting and shoppability mentioned above, helping both publishers and brands at the same time. Imagine the ad break in a home remodeling show being a retailer that showcases the exact furniture in the show. Or a paint manufacturer advertising the exact shade of paint in the beautiful home. Imagine ads showing the exact jeans or makeup brand your favorite character was wearing in the last scene. "What we're building today couldn't be done with traditional CTV. The publishers can make their ad breaks more relevant and their content more powerful to brands. Moving that consumer down the funnel with immediate add-to-cart...that's what's exciting and powerful in the space today." - Mark Corte, VP of Brand & Agency Partnerships, KERV With the expansion of CTV ad formats and interactive capabilities, paired with premium streaming video content and audiences hungry to buy, our programmatic advertising experts predict this space will transform in the next three to five years. Brand clients who are already testing into this will be ahead of the game. This piece originally appeared in our weekly Paid Media Insights newsletter. For more tips, research, and analysis; subscribe for free here.

These two titan channels are joining forces to close the loop for digital advertisers. We've talked a lot about the major investment shifts we're seeing in digital advertising toward retail media networks  (RMNs) and programmatically-bought connected TV (CTV) . But, for the most part, we've considered these separate trends – two pieces of the larger media puzzle. Now it's become increasingly clear that retail media and CTV are more closely intertwined, presenting powerful targeting and measurement capabilities for media planners and brand marketers. Netflix 's 2026 partnership with Amazon Audiences is a groundbreaking example of applying Amazon's trillions of consumer behavior signals to the broad, loyal reach of Netflix's viewing audience. Why are these partnerships becoming more common, and what do they offer brand advertisers? Let's look deeper. Why are retail media and CTV platforms joining? CTV has the reach, Retail has purchase data Shoppable CTV is a Win-Win for CPG Brands Enhanced Targeting and Measurement How can brand marketers benefit from CTV and retail media partnerships? How do you measure the success of omnichannel media campaigns? How do you integrate alternative marketing into an omnichannel media strategy? Why are retail media networks and CTV platforms joining? A few reasons include: CTV has the reach, Retail has purchase data CTV ad spend doubled  from $9 billion in 2020 to $18.89 billion in 2022, and with the recent launch of new ad-supported streaming tiers at Netflix  and Amazon , ad spend is forecasted to double again  by 2026! It's by far the fastest-growing digital advertising channel. And no wonder: eMarketer forecasts that over 80% of people aged 25-54 will be CTV viewers by the end of 2024 . That's a reach that's hard to beat. While streamers know what millions of people are watching , retailers know what those same people are buying . Together, these data pieces are pure gold for advertisers. So far, these data pieces have been largely fragmented and difficult to piece together into a clear picture of whom to serve which ads where. By partnering up, streamers can combine their massive reach with retail media's first-party purchase data to provide us media planners with a simple and measurable product that makes our campaigns run smoothly and effectively. Shoppable CTV is a Win-Win for CPG Brands A prime example is NBCUniversal's partnership with Instacart. This innovative collaboration aims to transform television into a targeted channel for shoppers.  Here's the exciting part for Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) brands: the ability to reach their target audience with laser precision across various popular streaming platforms. This extends beyond NBC's traditional channels, encompassing Max, Pluto, and Tubi, effectively reaching a wider audience segment. Our team is already actively testing Instacart's purchase-based audiences for CPG clients. This allows brands to target not just viewers, but category buyers actively engaged with streaming platforms. Imagine the ability to showcase your new cereal brand to viewers who regularly purchase breakfast items through Instacart – a recipe for marketing success. Instacart also announced a new partnership with YouTube at the 2024 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity for similar reasons. YouTube has successfully proven itself as a CTV platform that's effective for food, beverage, and other CPG brands. Enhanced Targeting and Measurement Disney Advertising's partnership with Walmart Connect takes this convergence a step further. Their collaboration focuses on enhancing audience targeting and closed-loop measurement capabilities for campaigns . This translates to highly targeted CTV ad placement across Disney+ and Hulu's vast inventory, ensuring brands reach the right audience and effectively measure the impact of their campaigns. This strategic move by Walmart aligns with their earlier $2.3 billion acquisition of Vizio, a leading CTV network, and partnership with Roku Ads. These initiatives clearly highlight Walmart's commitment to capitalizing on the burgeoning CTV market and competing with its biggest rival, Amazon, which has both a retail media network and a streaming platform in-house. Brush up on the basics of programmatic advertising, from DSPs and SSPs to precision targeting and AI-powered analytics. How can brand marketers benefit from CTV and retail media partnerships? The best way to go about advertising on these platforms is to think about their capabilities in relation to the brand's goals and audience insights. Just running ads on Amazon or another e-commerce platform is nice, but it's ultimately a waste of money if you don't take full advantage of the synergy between e-com and CTV and build a full, omnichannel media plan. Again, these platforms are still largely disparate and fragmented, so a good media agency is crucial to help brand marketers sort through all the options and choose the most effective channels at the lowest possible cost. Despite Google deciding to keep third-party cookies, increasing opt-out functions are still degrading their usefulness, and therefore brands will absolutely need to access the first-party data provided by retailers and streamers in privacy-compliant ways  in order to survive. How do you measure the success of omnichannel media campaigns? As WARC  explains, " Data collaboration allows brand advertisers to measure the impact of their campaigns not only on sales but also at every stage of their consumer funnel, e.g. determine whether a conversion is a new customer or an existing customer." The exact KPIs you should use depends upon your campaign goals -- some of the most popular include click-through rates, website visits, and interactive ad engagements. But it's also important to look at the larger picture with brand lift studies, multitouch attribution, and marketing mix modeling . Focusing too closely on short-term performance  metrics will cost your brand in the long run. Media mix modeling (MMM) and multi-touch attribution (MTA) are both effective ways of measuring the downstream effects of upper-funnel media. Learn the difference here. By combining the power of targeted CTV advertising with the deep audience insights offered by retail media platforms, brands can reach the right consumers at the right time, ultimately influencing purchase decisions at every point in the customer journey. This piece originally appeared in our weekly Paid Media Insights newsletter. For more tips, research, and analysis; subscribe for free here .

The better-burger chain’s new media emphasizes unexpected menu items The campaign’s hero spot, “Float On,” sets the tone for the Fresh Coast — a sun-soaked world where everything is fresh – the food, the people, even the tiny flotation device that delivers ranch poolside. MARCH 4, 2026 (LOS ANGELES, CA) – Today, creative shop Barrett Hofherr and media agency Exverus by Brainlabs launch a springtime-ready rebranding campaign, “You either Habit or you don’t,” for California-based Habit Burger & Grill  emphasizing the chain’s growing product line  of fresh burgers, salads, sandwiches, and bowls. The video-first storytelling campaign will run across premium CTV (Hulu, Peacock, Paramount), high-profile moments like March Madness, paid social, search, and OOH to strengthen Habit’s brand salience and bring in new audiences.  “This spring, we’re balancing brand equity-building for Habit across the country with driving immediate store sales in its key western markets,” explains Exverus Media Director Georgia Schreiner. “The campaign’s colorful, sunny creative reinforces Habit’s southern California roots while expanding the freshness to new audiences.” Habit’s rebrand comes at a time when the “fast casual” restaurant category is eroding into a sea of sameness, squeezed between QSR value deals and casual dining bundles. Habit aims to present its cooked-to-order Santa Barbara Cobb Salads, Tempura Green Beans, Sirloin Steak Sandwich, and more in premium media environments to differentiate itself as the elevated option. This will be the first full-funnel media launch with Exverus, which signed on as MAOR in late 2025.  “We believe our freshly cooked menu and fresh ingredients set us apart,” explains Habit CMO Jack Hinchliffe. “We prepare our food with fresh ingredients, so it tastes great and is something our guests can feel good about. That commitment is why we’re growing traffic and winning awards.” The campaign also marked a milestone beyond the creative itself. Habit was evolving its visual identity in parallel, giving Barrett Hofherr the rare opportunity to shape a new brand world and a refreshed brand identity in tandem, ensuring everything launched as one cohesive vision. “ A lot of brands say “fresh”, said Todd Eisner, Executive Creative Director at Barrett Hofherr . “But Habit actually is – they use fresh avocados and make their ranch by hand daily. Their most popular side is tempura green beans. So we actually drew inspiration straight from the menu to take a different approach.”  Looking ahead, Habit will bring its #1 award-winning food to Dodgers Stadium with a new location in Centerfield Plaza this year. As seen in AdAge: https://adage.com/creativity/campaigns-commercials/aa-creative-ads-today-aw-canada-axe-garage-beer-habit-burger-grill-met-rx-taylormade/ MarComm News: https://marcommnews.com/habit-burger-grill-launches-fresh-like-that-a-new-brand-platform-from-barrett-hofherr/ Ads of the World: https://www.adsoftheworld.com/campaigns/new-brand-platform-fresh-like-that For further reference Placer.AI : https://www.placer.ai/anchor/articles/q2-2025-restaurant-recap-a-cautious-consumer-shapes-dining-trends   FastCasual: https://www.fastcasual.com/news/limited-service-visits-decline-as-customer-service-value-perceptions-hit-new-lows/   QSR Magazine: https://www.qsrmagazine.com/story/which-restaurant-brands-are-getting-credit-for-value-and-other-spending-trends/   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 , LinkedIn , Instagram , and YouTube . Exverus Press Contact: michelle.andrade@exverus.com   About Barrett Hofherr Barrett Hofherr, founded in 2012, is a full-service creative advertising agency that builds brand and business momentum. Client partners include DoorDash, Airbnb, Chime, Habit Burger & Grill, Sutter Health, Ariat, and more. For information, visit barretthofherr.com , LinkedIn , Instagram , and TikTok . Barrett Hofherr Press Contact:  stephanie.farmas@barretthof.com About Habit Burger & Grill Born in sunny Southern California in 1969, Habit Burger & Grill is known for Charburgers cooked-to-order over an open flame. But the menu extends far beyond burgers—it's a celebration of Californian-inspired flavors. Alongside the brand's signature Charburgers is a meaningful array of handcrafted sandwiches, crisp salads, and creamy shakes, ensuring there's something for everyone. Habit Burger & Grill has earned notable recognition, with its Double Char being ranked #1 by USA Today 10Best, its Tempura Green Beans also reaching a #1 rank in USA Today 10Best, and its Chicken Club recognized as the best grilled chicken sandwich by The Daily Meal. Habit Burger & Grill has since grown to over 385 restaurants across 14 states and internationally. Learn more at habitburger.com , Instagram , Facebook , TikTok   and   LinkedIn . Habit Burger & Grill Press Contact:   HBGMedia@yum.com Credits Creative Agency - Barrett Hofherr CCO - Jamie Barrett ECD - Todd Eisner Copywriter - Maddy Cormier Art Director - Emily Joslin Head of Production - Conor Duignan Senior Producer - Marianne Lawlor Head of Accounts - Krista Osol Account Director - Jane Han Associate Strategy Director - Kevin Albrecht  Media Agency - Exverus by Brainlabs Media Planning Director - Georgia Schreiner Media Supervisor - Corey Boyle Media Planner - Jillian Telman Assistant Media Planner - Karla Calderon VP, Planning & Strategy - Tasha Day Director of Programmatic & E-commerce - Sean Edwards Director of Search & Social - Ryan Schuster, MBA VP, Analytics - Josh Edelman Production Company - Fela Executive Producer/Line Producer - Fuliane Petikyan Director - Pedro Pinto Director of Photography - Liam Reardon Editorial - Cut + Run Editor - Frank Effron Assistant Editor - Lara Tillotson Executive Producer - Brian Stanley Junior Producer - Julie Plascencia VFX + Finishing - Jogger Executive Producer: Alicia Cargile CD: Kingsley Harden Colorist: Dan Swierenga Finishing Producer: Ron Rendon Flame Artists: Cary B. Welton, Miles Kinghorn, Lou Schachte Flame Assist: Tim Tom, Jorge Tanaka Animator: Daniel Chang Music Company - Human Executive Producer - Kamela Anderson Creative Director/Composer - Gareth Williams Mix/Audio - One Union Audio Engineer - Joaby Deal Executive Producer - Michael Swarce

Founders and C-suite leaders share their top practices for preventing burnout at work Prioritization, saying no, and leaning into your company's core values can help prevent stress and over-exhaustion. Burnt-out workers cannot succeed. Stress, over-exhaustion, and demoralization can have deleterious effects on a company's bottom-line, not to mention its people's health and well-being. And the best way to cure burnout is to prevent it in the first place. If you're a growth-stage brand, you may not have the budget for corporate retreats or wellness benefits, but anyone can practice a few good habits to prevent burnout in leaders and employees alike. As Exverus by Brainlabs' cofounders Talia Arnold & Jack Win advised to Inc. magazine: “Ruthless prioritization — Get crystal clear about the most important tasks of the day or week, and avoid devoting energy to things that don’t matter. Know that in a difficult decision, there’s always a third option. And laugh at it all because we’re all going to die one day!” - Talia Arnold, Managing Partner “Burnout for me is usually a mismatch between expectation and capacity. Aggressively manage your goals and celebrate every effing win.” - Jack Win, Head of Operations What is workplace burnout? Burnout isn't just "being tired." According to the World Health Organization , burnout is an occupational phenomenon characterized by chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed — and it shows up in three specific ways: exhaustion increased mental distance from one's job, and reduced professional efficacy. In other words, the people doing your most important work stop being able to do it well. For marketing agencies and growth-stage brands in particular, the stakes are high. Client deadlines don't pause for recovery time. Campaigns don't execute themselves. When your team burns out, performance dips — and so does your clients' trust. That's why prevention isn't a "nice to have." It's a business strategy. How does prioritization prevent burnout? Talia's advice to "get crystal clear about the most important tasks of the day or week" sounds deceptively simple. In practice, it's one of the hardest skills to build — and one of the highest-leverage. Most burnout doesn't come from doing too much of one big thing. It comes from doing too much of everything , spreading attention thin across tasks that feel urgent but aren't truly important. The Eisenhower Matrix  — a framework for sorting tasks by urgency and importance — is one practical tool for this. But the discipline to actually stop  working on low-priority tasks? That's a cultural practice, not a productivity hack. Credit: https://www.eisenhower.me/eisenhower-matrix-canvas/ At Exverus, ruthless prioritization means asking a harder question before accepting work, extending a scope, or adding a deliverable: Does this actually matter?  If the answer is no, the answer is no. And when you're stuck in a genuinely hard decision — the kind where every path forward has real costs — Talia's reminder that "there's always a third option" is worth sitting with. Binary thinking is a stress amplifier. Giving yourself permission to look for a creative third path opens up space that pure either/or framing closes off. What causes burnout at work? Jack's framing — "burnout is usually a mismatch between expectation and capacity" — cuts to something most burnout conversations miss. We talk a lot about workload. We don't talk enough about the gap between what people think they're supposed to accomplish and what they can actually accomplish given their time, energy, and resources. That gap is often invisible until it becomes a crisis. A team member takes on a stretch goal in Q1 without adjusting their existing responsibilities. A manager nods through a capacity conversation without flagging what's already on their plate. A leader sets an ambitious OKR without building in any slack for the unexpected. None of these feel like burnout triggers in the moment. They accumulate. The fix isn't just "say no more." It's aggressive goal management  — which means regular check-ins on what's realistic, honest conversations when scope expands, and a team culture where flagging overload is treated as good judgment, not weakness. And then: celebrate every effing win. This is more than morale management. Research from Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer at Harvard Business School  found that the single most powerful driver of positive emotion and intrinsic motivation at work is making progress — specifically, recognizing that progress when it happens. Teams that don't celebrate wins don't get the motivational fuel that makes the next hard sprint sustainable. Celebration isn't a distraction from the work. It's part of what makes the work continue. How can leaders build burnout prevention into the company culture? The habits Talia and Jack describe aren't individual practices. They scale into team culture when they're modeled consistently from the top. A few ways to build this at the organizational level: Protect prioritization time.   Build weekly or daily check-ins where teams explicitly name their top priorities — and where deprioritizing something is treated as an achievement, not a failure. Make the expectation-capacity conversation normal.   Regular 1:1s that include honest workload assessment — not just status updates — give managers the information they need before burnout becomes visible. Celebrate publicly and specifically.   Vague praise doesn't do much. Specific, public recognition of wins — especially the messy, incremental ones — does. Keep criticism private and performance-focused. Model perspective.   When senior leaders demonstrate that they can hold their work seriously without treating every setback as catastrophic, it gives the rest of the team permission to do the same. The leaders at Exverus by Brainlabs have been building growth-stage media strategies for brands at every stage of scale — and the habits that prevent burnout are the same habits that produce consistent, high-quality work over time. Want to work with a team that practices what it preaches? Let's talk. Talia Arnold and Jack Win's quotes were originally published in " 19 C-Suite Leaders Reveal How They Stop Burnout Before It Starts " by Amanda Coffee, Inc. magazine.

MMM and multi-touch attribution are both effective ways to analyze an advertising campaign. Here's how to choose between the two. Wondering whether you should use marketing mix modeling (MMM) or multi-touch attribution (MTA) to evaluate your ad campaigns? We’ve got answers (spoiler alert: it’s both!)  MMM and MTA are both excellent tools for analyzing paid media campaigns, but they’re not interchangeable; they offer different perspectives.  Here’s a quick rundown of each one and what it adds to your campaign reporting:  What is marketing mix modeling (MMM)? Marketing mix modeling (MMM)  is a process of measuring the impact of multiple different marketing channels on sales, revenue, or market share simultaneously and using that data to optimize the allocation of ad dollars to each channel. For media agencies like Exverus, we’re usually measuring the effectiveness of multiple digital media channels like paid search, social media advertising, retail media networks, and programmatic CTV alongside experiential and out-of-home campaigns. It’s a lot to digest! That’s where technology comes in.  How does marketing mix modeling work? There are more digital media channels than ever, so marketers need help to plan their ad spend and analyze campaign data from across many disparate sources. MMM tech providers like Keen Decision Systems use statistical regression models to provide marketers with standardization in a fragmented media world.  MMM software combines historical sales data with inputs like  business goals economic conditions seasonality and changes over time  to deliver a comprehensive picture of an ad campaign. These insights help marketers to better plan and optimize their ad budget allocation across paid media channels going forward.  What is an example of MMM?  Here’s an example output from a MMM analysis that shows which media channels drove the most revenue relative to investment for a previous client, Stella & Chewy’s:  What is the difference between marketing mix modeling & multitouch attribution? Excellent question! MMM is more of a big picture guy, while MTA is more detail-oriented.   MMM analyzes how various marketing elements collectively impact sales or other KPIs, while MTA identifies the specific contribution of each touchpoint in the customer journey. Use MMM when you need a high-level view of your marketing mix and its impact on sales. It's particularly helpful for budget allocation and understanding how paid media interacts with other marketing efforts. Additionally, 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 across channels. Use MTA when you want to optimize individual paid media campaigns. It's ideal for identifying the most effective touchpoints and attributing conversions accurately. The best approach depends on your specific needs and data availability. “We need to balance these newer technologies with vetted data sources and measurement tools. Some agencies can be either too quick to jump on the latest un-tested fad or do not update their toolkits consistently.” - Exverus analytics director Charles Lai in Digiday What is an example of multitouch attribution?  Below is an example dashboard from an MTA project that shows the top combination of touchpoints leading to conversions and the average number of touchpoints in the path to conversion:  MMM tips for brand marketers Carefully define marketing tactics  at the level of granularity where actionable insights could be obtained, but not so granular that results become unstable. A good market model is guided not only by statistics but also domain expertise , or an understanding of the brand’s unique industry and consumer journey and habits, along with an understanding of media tactics.  The optimal model is often not the one with the strongest fit and accuracy statistics, but the one that has reasonably good statistics and produces intuitive and reliable outputs  that converge with other data sources. MTA tips for brand marketers Choose a MTA platform that can track most or all of the marketing channels that you use in your campaigns. Some platforms can only track click-throughs, while others can attribute based on impressions. Also look for data partnerships that could bypass walled gardens. As MTA relies on deterministic tracking, the coverage and maintenance of the MTA provider’s identity graph  and their identity resolution technology  are important considerations. By understanding the strengths and limitations of each approach to campaign analysis, marketers and media planners can make better decisions together that optimize their paid media campaigns and drive stronger business outcomes.  This article originally appeared in our weekly Paid Media Insights newsletter. For the most up-to-date news and tips to improve your media strategy, subscribe for free here .

From media allocation to personalized ads to customer service, AI is closing the gap between omnichannel's promise and its reality. Omnichannel marketing has always been more aspiration than execution. The idea — reach your customer wherever they are, with the right message, at the right moment — is simple. The reality has been a mess of siloed channel data, reactive budget decisions, and creative that couldn't scale fast enough to actually feel personalized. AI is changing that. Not because it's magic, but because it's doing the computational heavy lifting that humans frankly cannot. Here's where it's making a real difference. A. Smarter media budget allocation old way: wait for results to roll in, meet about them, debate them, and then reallocate. By then, you've already wasted spend. AI-powered budget optimization tools can analyze performance signals across channels in near real-time and shift dollars toward what's working before a human would even notice the trend. Within the walled gardens, tools like Google's Performance Max and Meta's Advantage+ already do this automatically. Cross-channel is harder — but media mix modeling tools powered by AI are getting really good at attributing incremental value across paid search, social media , CTV , and more. The result is media allocation that follows results, not assumptions or last quarter's plan. B. Personalization with privacy compliance Static creative is a ceiling, and AI removes it. Brands can now generate and test variations of ad copy, imagery, and CTAs across audience segments without a proportional increase in production cost. More importantly, those ad variations can be informed by where someone is in the funnel, what they've browsed, what they've bought, and what channel they're on. This is categorically different from the "dynamic" ads of the past. We're not talking about swapping out a product image. We're talking about AI making real-time decisions about what message, format, and offer is most likely to land at the individual level. The good news: the best AI personalization today doesn't require creepy data practices to work. Contextual signals , first-party data, and zero-party data can power highly relevant creative without running afoul of regulations. C. Predictive targeting by actual behavior AI models can score audiences by likelihood to convert, churn, or respond to a specific offer, then activate those segments across channels automatically. This shifts targeting from broad demographic boxes to actual behavioral signals, and it makes first-party data dramatically more actionable. The brands winning at this right now are the ones who've invested in building direct customer relationships — email lists, loyalty programs, zero-party data — and are feeding that data into AI systems that know what to do with it. D. Customer service with omnichannel marketing intelligence AI-powered chat can handle a significant share of inbound volume — order status, FAQs, returns, product questions — without a human touching it. That's useful. But the more interesting opportunity is what those conversations reveal: What questions are customers asking before they buy? Where are they confused? What objections keep coming up? That's a direct window into messaging gaps, and it feeds back into better creative, better landing pages, and smarter media . Customer service AI, done right, is a research engine as much as a support tool. E. Attribution and incrementality This is where AI is doing some of its least flashy but most important work. Clean-room environments, probabilistic attribution models, and AI-assisted MMM are giving marketers a clearer read on true incrementality — especially as third-party cookie deprecation continues to erode legacy measurement approaches. The question is no longer, "How many clicks did this channel get?" It's, "What would have happened if we hadn't run this campaign at all?" AI is getting us closer to answering that correctly. Media mix modeling and multitouch attribution are both advanced methods of measuring ad campaign effectiveness. Learn the subtle differences here. What AI cannot do AI handles scale and pattern recognition. It does not handle judgment. Knowing which channels are right for your brand's growth stage, how to position against a competitor, what creative direction will resonate culturally — those are still human calls. The agencies and brand teams getting the most out of AI right now are the ones using it to execute smarter, not the ones outsourcing their strategy to it. Omnichannel marketing has never been more achievable. But tools are only as good as the strategy behind them. That's the part we've always been obsessed with. Further references: MarTech. https://martech.org/how-cmos-can-stay-ahead-in-a-rapidly-evolving-ai-driven-marketing-landscape/ Digiday. https://digiday.com/marketing/inside-the-brand-and-agency-scramble-for-first-party-data-in-the-ai-era/ MediaPost. https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/412840/how-marketing-mix-modeling-is-becoming-a-must-have.html?edition=141619 For more tips, research, and analysis; subscribe to our weekly Paid Media Insights newsletter for free here .

Google's Gemini offers virtual try-on for clothes shoppers. The new brand discovery channel In 2026, product recommendations from Generative AI platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Amazon's "Buy For Me" are no longer experimental—they're fully operational. And over the next few years, agentic commerce will evolve the whole shopping experience. The question isn't whether your customers will use AI agents to shop – it's whether your brand will be the one they recommend. What is agentic commerce? Agentic commerce , or agentic shopping, is shopping online powered by AI agents acting on humans' behalf. These AI agents could be embedded into generative AI platforms and/or retailers' own e-commerce sites, automatically recommending or purchasing products based on the human's needs and parameters. What is an example of agentic commerce? To borrow an example from McKinsey , "Imagine that a promising new job opportunity requires you to relocate your family across the country....You need to find a comfortable home with a manageable commute, decide what to bring and what to sell, and engage a trustworthy moving company to deliver everything on time. Then there’s the issue of finding new doctors, veterinarians for the pets, a gym, and after-school programs for the kids. It’s overwhelming. Now imagine that you had an autonomous AI agent to handle these tasks for you. With a deep understanding of your budget, lifestyle, commute preferences, kids’ hobbies, and even your pets’ needs, the agent can get to work. To research neighborhoods and housing options, it synthesizes data from multiple sites and platforms, scanning myriad real estate listings and recommending the most appealing choices. When you e-sign your lease, the agent reviews the terms to ensure anything atypical is highlighted and gets your attention." The possibilities are truly infinite. One day soon, AI agents could: automatically research and book travel schedule appointments help with supply chain logistics, and so much more! What should marketers know about agentic commerce? It completely reshapes the customer journey. Instead of starting a product search on Amazon and a flight search on Priceline, for example, consumers could use AI chatbots as the starting point for everything. This means that, instead of splitting your media spend between "brand-building" and "performance driving" channels, you'll need to build omnichannel ecosystems that an AI agent can easily understand. As of 2026, most retail media  spending still occurs onsite (mostly on sponsored search  and product listings). But that model breaks down when discovery shifts upstream to AI agents who filter and recommend brands without shoppers even needing to visit a retailer or website. The path to purchase will collapse into an instant, and so will data collection and learnings for brands. There is, however, a risk of losing visibility over the customer journey. As Forbes points out, "While orders may be attributed to ChatGPT, Gemini, or other LLMs, merchants are largely in the dark about everything that happened before the transaction." Winning at agentic commerce requires product data quality, structured content, and creative assets designed for AI comprehension , not just search rankings.  How can brands get recommended by AI agents?    Ensure your site is visible to each major GenAI tool For example, ChatGPT uses a web crawler called OAI-SearchBot to find, access, and surface information in ChatGPT search. For your site to be discoverable in ChatGPT, make sure you aren't blocking OAI-SearchBot. You may need to update your robots.txt file, to ensure OAI-SearchBot has access. For Anthropic's Claude, log into your claude.ai account. Access your profile settings. Look for the Web Search feature and toggle it on if it's currently disabled. Other GenAI tools like Perplexity and Google's Gemini may have their own processes for ensuring searchability. Become a trusted source of information Build your brand authority as a reputable source that AI chatbots will want to reference. This cannot be done by simply buying placements in AI answers. It has to be earned through positive publicity, good reviews/referrals, and producing informative content . More on how to do that below: Building your owned content and public reputation for maximum AI visibility will organically increase the likelihood of AI agents recommending your products.   Feed your products directly to the bots ChatGPT launched brand plugins back in 2023 so the bot could relay accurate, up-to-date brand information directly to searchers asking questions. Now, you can provide product feeds directly to ChatGPT to potentially show up as a recommendation. OpenAI's submission periods open and close, so sign up here to be notified of the next opening.   Audit your product data infrastructure When deciding which products to recommend, GenAI tools scan the structured metadata of product pages (product description, price, etc.) and third-party reviews for its summaries. This means your copy needs to be thorough, informative, and highlight key features that searchers might be looking for (budget-friendly, limited time only, sustainable, etc.) Are your SKUs tagged with deep attributes (price, size, ingredients, ESG scores)? Is your catalog synchronized in real-time across all retail partners? Also, as website content becomes more Q&A-style and less keyword-based, so should your product copy and media messaging. Anticipate likely questions and answer them naturally to get recognized by AI platforms. AI can help marketers with copywriting, supply chain inventory, personalization, customer service, and more. "Visual search is growing, especially among younger users, so don't neglect your image SEO. Keep your product photos fresh and appealing, with thoroughly descriptive image descriptions, captions, and alt text. These steps will help users discover your brand content." -- Michael Robbins, Exverus Associate Director of Search & Social The choice is simple: adapt your retail media strategy for an agent-first world, or watch your share of voice—and share of cart—get algorithmically optimized away.   Need help?   The retail media & e-commerce  media buying experts at Exverus know how to keep brands top-of-mind and added to baskets everywhere.  For further reference: McKinsey. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/quantumblack/our-insights/the-agentic-commerce-opportunity-how-ai-agents-are-ushering-in-a-new-era-for-consumers-and-merchants Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/claraludmir/2026/02/16/agentic-commerce-adoption-is-inevitable-and-resisting-it-may-not-be-an-option/ Google Cloud. https://cloud.google.com/transform/agentic-commerce-retailers-can-prepare-for-the-new-shopping-era-ai This piece originally appeared in our weekly Paid Media Insights newsletter. For more tips, research, and analysis; subscribe for free here .

Platform decay is real, it's accelerating, and media buyers are partly responsible. The good news is, we can also be part of the solution. The word "enshittification", coined by author Cory Doctorow, describes the predictable lifecycle of online platforms: first they serve users, then they exploit users to serve advertisers, then they exploit advertisers to serve shareholders, and then they die. TikTok's uncertain reinvention in the U.S., Meta 's endless algorithm pivots, Google Search's ad-stuffed results pages — these aren't bugs. They're the feature. Our own Media Supervisor Melanie Mogey (of "The Chosen" entertainment marketing account) called it out directly in a MediaPost op-ed published today : Media buyers have been quietly subsidizing this process for years, and it's time we made different choices. 4 Key Facts: 1. Platform backends are getting harder to navigate by design. TikTok, Instagram, Amazon Ads, and Google Search have grown so complex that only experienced buyers with dedicated reps can operate them effectively. That complexity is not accidental — it creates dependency and raises switching costs. 2. Behavioral targeting fuels platform surveillance (and enshittification). When buyers optimize for behavioral data, they give platforms a direct financial incentive to track users more aggressively. Contextual advertising , or placing ads aligned with content rather than user profiles, removes that incentive and makes your media plan more portable across the open web. 3. Optimizing for "engagement" rewards toxicity. Platforms show ads to the most "engaged" users. Engaged, on most platforms, often means outraged or addicted. Buyers who optimize for engagement metrics are effectively paying platforms to surface their most volatile audiences — and to manufacture more of them. 4. Walled garden formats make measurement harder for you, too. Ad formats that keep users inside a platform's ecosystem don't just trap consumers; they make cross-channel measurement and attribution harder for the brands paying the bills. Favoring formats that drive to owned properties (your website, your product pages) is better for users and  better for your reporting. How to advertise without enshittification: The shift isn't complicated, but it does require intention. Here's how we approach it at Exverus: Observe before you advertise.  Every platform has its own cultural norms. Brands that barge in with high-frequency ads before understanding the environment don't just annoy users — they accelerate the race to monetize those users more aggressively. Spend time learning the local language of each channel. Accept that your brand may not belong in all of them. Use inclusion lists, not just exclusion lists.  Blocking bad inventory is table stakes. Actively curating which high-quality publishers receive your budget is the higher-order move. Allow-lists put you in control of the user experience your ads appear alongside. Measure downstream, not just on-platform.  The metrics platforms give you are NOT the metrics platforms want you to optimize for. Actual sales, customer retention, and lifetime value are harder to game — and they're what your clients actually care about. Moving reporting upstream to real business outcomes removes the platform's leverage to manufacture engagement on your behalf. The Bottom Line We can't control what decisions get made in the C-suites at Meta, Google, or ByteDance. But we control where budgets flow. And budgets are votes. As Melanie puts it, "We may not be able to control Big Tech, but we can do our part on the ground to help promote a healthier digital future that offers a more genuine connection for users and buyers alike." Want to talk through what a less platform-dependent media plan looks like for your brand? Get in touch!

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 .