Growth-stage brands can't afford wasted video advertising spend. Stretch every dollar with smarter placements, formats, and channel mix. Fortune 100 companies may enjoy unlimited digital media budgets, but challenger brands need every dollar to work harder. As the media agency of record for growth-stage brands like Premier Protein & Dymatize, New Belgium & Bell's Brewery, and indie show "The Chosen," Exverus' media planners have mastered the art of meticulously placing video assets where they'll bear the most fruit. Video ads grab attention, boost engagement, and drive conversions. But here’s the uncomfortable truth: most brands are overspending — not because video doesn’t work, but because it’s not being used strategically . For example, YouTube  is now a dominant force in CTV, commanding more living-room TV watch time  than any other single streamer, yet some brands remain hesitant to commit the same budgets they would allocate to traditional television. That hesitation is costing them reach, efficiency, and relevance. Meanwhile; Instagram, TikTok, and Twitch are all expanding their presence on TV screens, blurring the line between social and premium video. The living room is now the battleground for attention, and the old playbook doesn't work there. What this means for marketers:  Smart brands are treating CTV as the anchor of integrated campaigns. Launch with CTV for brand awareness, retarget engaged viewers with shoppable social ads, then convert them through retail media at the point of purchase.   The data connectivity between these channels finally makes true closed-loop attribution possible.   The brands still siloing "TV budgets" from "digital budgets" are the ones wondering why their media mix models  show diminishing returns. Key takeaways: Video advertising can't do all the heavy lifting Shoppable CTV isn't just about sales Instructional beats promotional content Prioritize UGC over AI Repurpose your social videos for Display YouTube reigns supreme for Gen Z viewers Tap into the right frequency Video advertisingcan't do all the heavy lifting Video is powerful for storytelling, but diminishing returns kick in fast. A heavy YouTube  or CTV  buy doesn’t automatically equal stronger results. Often, brands keep layering spend on video because it feels safe, not because it’s proven to be incremental.   The problem isn’t the medium, it’s the mix. Too much video comes at the expense of reach in other channels that may drive more efficient impact ( audio , OOH , retail ) .   Over-investment also creates frequency waste: the same users see the same ads repeatedly, while new audiences remain untapped.   The question isn’t, “Are we spending enough on video?”  but rather, “What role is video playing in the funnel — and is it carrying too much weight?”   Actionable Insight : Run a reach and frequency analysis on your current video campaigns. If 20% of your audience is seeing your ad 10+ times while half your target hasn’t seen it once, reallocate a portion of spend into complementary channels that expand reach. A brand marketer's guide to one of the fastest-growing, most dynamic areas of media buying. Shoppable CTV isn't just about sales Interactive, shoppable CTV (or T-commerce) is an increasingly popular way to shorten the path between TV and purchase this year, but our actual reports show it serves a different purpose, too. Interactive TV ad units collapse the path between entertainment and purchase. Learn how we've run it successfully. After reviewing the performance of QR codes and tappable trailers for "The Chosen" 2025 theatrical campaign , Exverus by Brainlabs Media Supervisor Melanie Mogey explained to Digiday , “The scanning of QR to buy tickets was not the primary KPI for these units. VCR on the trailer for awareness was the focus....despite the interactive units gaining 28.8 million impressions, they drew just 7,500 QR code scans. The scans are not the most impressive numbers in relation to the impressions and completed views." Other agencies have been finding similar results -- brands of all types can benefit from shoppable CTV, not CPG or retail, but the impact is more broad-funnel than sales-focused. Instructional beats promotional content People browsing videos on social media, YouTube, or TV are looking for useful information and entertainment. They're more likely to engage with videos that teach them something valuable, rather than just self-promoting and asking. Demonstrate how your product solves a problem, showcase its features, or offer step-by-step tutorials. This approach boosts brand affinity and consideration. In fact, TikTok's own research demonstrated that videos displaying product usage saw: +25% lift in ad recall +32% lift in ad likability +65% lift in brand affinity , and +18% lift in product consideration. The average engagement for a 3-5 minute instructional video is a whopping 74% ! Knowing where to allocate your social media advertising budget means the difference between breakthrough growth and wasted spend. Prioritize UGC over AI Consumer sentiment on AI-generated video ads is at an all-time low. Generative AI tools like Invideo and Gemini Veo can quickly churn out content, but the rise of misinformation and low quality concerns highlights the need for a human touch . If you're going to use AI, always double-check facts, ensure accuracy, and prioritize a personal, relatable voice. Or, better yet, try UGC. EMARKETER data from 2025 shows 36% of marketers say user-generated content (UGC) is "extremely important" to their social media strategy, compared with just 2% who say the same about AI. Why is UGC such an effective digital video advertising format? Trust sells. There's a reason why "authenticity" is a burnt-out buzzword in marketing: A 2024 study of 8,000 consumers showed almost half (47%) consider user reviews of products the most influential content when shopping online, compared to just 11% for brand content and 10% for influencer posts. This boils down to one key element: trust. Peer reviews are much stronger purchase drivers than brand advertisements. Northwestern University's Medill Spiegel Research Center agrees: The purchase likelihood for products with 5 reviews is 270% higher than those with none. That's a powerful testament to the impact of UGC video. What's the difference between an influencer and a creator? How do I choose the right one? Answers to these questions and more. Repurpose your social videos for Display Imagine you’re perusing various websites on your phone. Instead of the usual square, static or video ads around the content, you see vertical video ads like on TikTok or Reels. In 2025, Exverus by Brainlabs partnered up with SeenThis to develop the first-to-market Social Reach , which expands vertical video ads to the open web and improves upon them with high-quality streaming delivery and premium placements in brand-safe environments. Premier Protein's 6-week Social Reach by SeenThis campaign beat Meta Ads in efficiency by 50%! Social Reach powered by SeenThis vertical video ads can deliver in standard display ad slots, giving brands the ability to scale their campaigns across more of the open web and reach their audiences in new ways. “Social Reach powered by SeenThis streaming vertical video gives us access to new environments to deliver social creative to audiences beyond the social walled-gardens,” said Hillary Kupferberg, VP Performance Marketing at Exverus. "This represents the next generation of much needed social extension. SeenThis’ adaptive streaming technology takes existing social assets and delivers them more efficiently than standard social formats via targeted inventory from PubMatic across the open web." Premier Protein was the first brand to run a Social Reach campaign, and it outperformed Meta Ads in terms of efficiency in the first 6 weeks! YouTube still reigns supreme for Gen Z viewers While TikTok may seem like the popular kid at school, YouTube remains a dominant force for Gen Z viewers. EMARKETER's 2025 Gen Z Social Media Usage report showed that over half of Gen Z social media users are spending more time on YouTube than they did a year ago. D aily YouTube usage among US adults 18-24 will surpass that of TikTok and Instagram by the end of 2025. This reinforces the notion that Gen Z can be captivated by longer, horizontal videos if the content is compelling and the creators build connection. In other words, the length isn't as important as telling a compelling visual story. Additionally, 59% of Gen Zers have used YouTube as a search engine, making it ripe for brand discovery and product reviews on par with TikTok and other social-search platforms. The ubiquitous video platform is now America's #1  home for podcasts. Learn how your brand can benefit from its reach, engagement, and loyalty. Tap into the right frequency   For FY26, we need to shift away from static frequency caps to a more performance-based approach that finds optimal exposure levels through data and modeling. There's a "sweet spot" where campaign performance peaks -- Amazon Ads' testing showed optimal results at 2 exposures per user , with efficiency declining outside of that. Rather than arbitrarily setting caps like "once every 24 hours" or "three times per week," advertisers should use total exposure modeling that considers the consumer's entire cross-channel journey, including digital, streaming, and even linear TV. The goal is to identify the specific frequency threshold where your campaign achieves maximum impact—which Amazon demonstrated with 15% lower CPCs at optimal frequency versus no frequency targeting. Remember, video content is an investment, not a quick fix . By embracing the power of storytelling, leveraging the latest trends, and understanding your target audience, you can create video marketing magic that drives engagement and fuels brand growth. For further reference: AdExchanger. " Advertisers Should Think Of Video Holistically. Consumers Already Do. " Google. " Reach potential customers at every stage of the funnel with video. " The Trade Desk. " McDonald’s and Publicis innovate custom full-funnel video measurement solutions. " For more media buying tips, agency news, and case studies, subscribe to our weekly   Paid Media Insights  newsletter.

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 platform s. 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 .

A brand marketer's guide to one of the fastest-growing areas of digital media buying If you work in any area of digital marketing or advertising, you've certainly heard a lot of buzz around programmatic advertising (or programmatic marketing). But what does it really mean, and how's it any different from digital advertising? This quick but comprehensive guide to programmatic media buying will help you build stronger relationships with your media agency and make smarter paid media investments. What is programmatic advertising? What are programmatic advertising platforms? What are the benefits? What are the risks? Which media channels can be bought programmatically? Is Google Ads considered programmatic? What is the difference between digital advertising and programmatic? What is the role of first-party data in programmatic advertising? How is AI used in programmatic advertising? What is programmatic advertising? Programmatic advertising   (or programmatic marketing) is a method of buying and selling digital media (ad inventory) in real time. Programmatic advertising is powered by AI and machine learning to power the auctions themselves, serve targeted ad experiences to consumers, and optimize towards KPIs for efficient marketing efforts. What are programmatic advertising platforms? The programmatic auction has two platform sides: demand-side platforms (DSPs) and supply-side platforms (SSPs) .  DSPs allow ad buyers, inclusive of media agencies (like Exverus), to bid on display, online video, connected TV (CTV) , digital out-of-home media, audio , and rich media across multiple partners in milliseconds. Examples of DSPs include DV360, The Trade Desk, Yahoo, Nexxen, etc. Meanwhile, SSPs allow media owners and publishers to manage their advertising inventory efficiently. Examples of SSPs include Magnite, Google AdX / Ad Manager, PubMatic, and OpenX, among others. Thanks to Eskimi.com for this handy visual What are the benefits of programmatic advertising? Precision Targeting:  Programmatic allows you to target specific audiences based on various criteria such as demographics, interests, and behavior. This precision targeting allows advertisers to reach the right people, at the right time, with the highest likelihood to complete the desired outcome (purchase, video view, download, subscription, etc.) Real-time Optimization:  With programmatic, you can adjust your ad campaigns in real time based on a suite of performance data. This flexibility and ability to learn delivers better results, such as higher click-through rates or conversions. Efficiency and Cost-effectiveness:  Programmatic advertising automates the ad buying process and provides transparency and efficiency. Additionally, the ability to target specific audiences and outcomes reduces wasted ad spend, making advertising campaigns more cost-effective. Access to Premium Inventory:  Programmatic platforms often have access to a wide range of ad inventory (and always expanding), including premium placements on popular websites and apps. This access allows advertisers to reach target audiences across a variety of channels with added visibility, control, and opportunity to optimize towards the most successful tactics and placements. Data-driven Insights:  Programmatic advertising provides detailed data and analytics on campaign performance. This information can help advertisers understand their consumers better and make informed decisions for future campaigns. Cross-device Targeting:  Programmatic advertising reaches people across multiple devices, including desktops, mobile devices, and connected TVs. Brand Safety & Suitability Controls:  Programmatic platforms offer tools to ensure ads are displayed in brand-safe environments pre- and post- bid. These parameters can help protect a brand’s reputation by avoiding ad placement on inappropriate sites or within unsuitable content. High quality media placements yield stronger results.  What are the risks associated with programmatic advertising? Complexity and Fragmentation:  The programmatic advertising ecosystem is complex and fragmented, with multiple platforms and technologies involved. This can make it challenging for advertisers to navigate and optimize their campaigns effectively without a strategic investment and activation strategy in place. Ad Fraud:  One of the biggest concerns with programmatic advertising is ad fraud, where bots or made-for-advertising (MFA) websites generate fake ad impressions. This can lead to wasted ad spend and reduced campaign effectiveness, but there are many ways to protect brands from this risk. Lack of Transparency:  Without proper oversight and transparency, programmatic advertising may seem like an opaque ad buying process, but actually allows for increased transparency and control vs. traditional advertising buying practices. The best way to maximize the benefits and minimize the risks of programmatic buying is to work with a seasoned media agency that specializes in media planning and data analysis across the ever-changing traditional and digital media landscape. Which media channels can be bought programmatically? Programmatic platforms can be used to buy media across a variety of channels, such as:  Display Advertising : This includes standard display banner ads, rich media ads, and native ads that are displayed on websites and apps. Video Advertising : This includes pre-roll, mid-roll, and post-roll video ads on YouTube  and other video streaming services. Optimal video ads are between :06-:30s for digital advertising. Mobile Advertising : Includes all mobile devices, smartphones, and tablets, across apps and mobile websites. Social Media Advertising : Social media platforms offer similar buying platform options for ads, allowing advertisers to target specific audiences on platforms such as Meta (Facebook/Instagram), TikTok, Snapchat, and LinkedIn. There are also ways to connect social and programmatic activations for continuity in digital advertising campaigns. CTV : Connected TV devices, such as smart TVs and streaming devices, allowing advertisers to reach audiences watching streaming content . Over-the-top (OTT) video content is often included in this category. Audio Advertising : Audio ads   that are played on streaming services, podcasts, and other audio platforms. Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) : Some DOOH  providers offer programmatic buying options, allowing advertisers to purchase ads displayed on digital billboards, screens, and signage -- for example, Vistar and Place Exchange. Paid Search : While not traditionally considered part of programmatic advertising, some platforms offer programmatic buying options for search ads, allowing advertisers to bid on keywords in real time and can connect to other media types for optimization and continuity. Retail / e-Commerce : Includes on and offsite retail media networks, e-commerce digital shelves, and purchase data and trends that can be used for enhanced audience targeting and measurement for online and offline sales. Is Google Ads considered programmatic? Yes! Google’s Display & Video 360 (DV360) platform allows advertisers to programmatically target specific audiences, buy ad inventory across a wide range of channels, and optimize campaigns in real time.  What is the difference between digital advertising and programmatic advertising? Digital advertising  is a broad term that encompasses any form of advertising delivered through digital channels, such as websites, social media, mobile apps, and search engines. It includes both traditional direct buying and programmatic buying.  Programmatic advertising  is a specific method of buying and selling digital ads that uses automation and data to optimize targeting and campaign performance.  CTV is now a performance channel. Learn how best to integrate shoppable ad units into a full-funnel media plan. What is the role of first-party data in programmatic advertising? Programmatic buying is all about precisely targeting the right audience segments with the right advertisements, so understanding your audience deeply is essential.  First-party data is information collected directly from a brand’s customers. This is the most valuable data because it is unique, relevant, accurate, and in most cases only available to that brand. First-party data is sourced from website behaviors, purchase history, surveys, contact forms, etc. and can also be referred to as CRM data. Comparatively, third-party data is publicly available and comes from other external (sometimes unknown) sources. First-party data enables strong audience builds to implement strategies and tactics within advertising campaigns (re-engagement/retargeting, suppression, modeling/lookalike etc.) (As a side note, zero-party data is information that a current or potential customer has willingly and actively offered, though this is sometimes used interchangeably with first-party data.) In addition to audience targeting, advertisers can also use first-party data for personalized messaging , retargeting, measurement and attribution, and increasing revenue. How is AI used in programmatic advertising? Long before AI became a cultural phenomenon, it was the engine driving programmatic advertising platforms through advanced machine learning. AI-powered algorithms analyze vast amounts of data to identify patterns and trends in user behavior – that data is used to create highly targeted audience segments based on demographics, interests, and online behavior, as mentioned above.  As AI technology evolves and advances, so too, will its media buying capabilities -- but it’s not there yet. Media platforms tout their AI-powered ad buying tools, but a proper team is still needed to stitch them together into an effective, omnichannel plan. 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.

A brand marketer's guide to retail media buying strategies for sustained growth Key Facts: Retail media will grow about 15% to $198B in 2026. Amazon dominates with 75.2% market share  — more than 10 times larger than second-place Walmart Connect. Retail media CTV ad spending grew about 45% in 2025 , with Walmart controlling over 20% of the US TV market through Vizio. RMNs have evolved beyond last-touch conversion  to offer full-funnel experiences including CTV, programmatic, and brand awareness campaigns. With retail media set to account for one in eight digital ad dollars, mature retailers are already growing sales by expanding how they reach consumers and the ad products they offer to brands. Historically, retail media networks have focused on lower-funnel tactics, but Amazon Ads, Walmart Connect, and an ever growing list of other retail media networks are now offering a full-funnel experience to advertisers and media buyers. What is a retail media network (RMN)? According to RetailTouchpoints.com , "Retail media is the broader term used to describe the concept of retailers using their systems, infrastructure, data and access to their shoppers to help advertisers reach consumers. A retail media network is the actual platform that retailers put in place to do this." These ads can appear in various formats and locations, including search results pages, product pages, category pages, and even in-store displays. But what sets retail media networks apart is their access to valuable first-party data —the key to effective targeting and personalized advertising. What are the top retail media networks? Amazon is, by far, the top retail media network, projected by EMARKETER to command over $56.71 billion in 2026 , more than 10 times that of No. 2 Walmart Connect. Other big RMNs include Target's Roundel, Kroger Precision Marketing, Alibaba, Instacart Ads, and Costco Media Network. More are popping up every day! This blossoming of RMNs offers advertisers more opportunities to put their products in front of their target audience when they're already in a purchasing state of mind , but the downside is a lack of consistency or standardization across the platforms. The better question is: where are your shoppers, and where is your product actually sold? Sponsored search on Amazon is table stakes for most CPG brands, but that doesn't mean it should eat your whole RMN budget. Brands should always try to maximize exposure through sponsored search campaigns first before tapping into other tactics, since sponsored search typically has the highest return — but that's just the starting point, not the full strategy. How does retail media fit into an omnichannel marketing strategy? At the top of funnel, RMNs' off-site capabilities — including programmatic display, CTV, and DOOH placements powered by first-party retailer data — let you reach in-market audiences with a level of purchase-intent precision that is genuinely hard to replicate elsewhere. If you know someone bought your category at Kroger three times in the last 90 days, that's an audience worth paying for at the top of the funnel, not just at checkout. In the middle , sponsored search on Amazon or Walmart is not just a conversion tool — it's an awareness driver. Appearing at the top of a category search while a consumer is actively browsing tells them your brand belongs there. That's brand building, even if the click leads directly to a purchase. At the bottom , yes, retail media excels at conversion. Sponsored products, retailer-native display ads, and on-site placements close the loop between consideration and purchase with a directness that most channels can't match. What's an example of full-funnel retail media? As we illustrated to The Current by The Trade Desk, " We have one client who is running a CTV awareness campaign — very typical, but what's new is we're able to target Walmart shoppers and then actually drive them to Walmart, and that is an incredible aspect because now we have a CTV awareness campaign that I can actually share back that they're driving millions of dollars in sales, and to have that data and that closed loop attribution is really going to propel the future of what we can do while we're in the weeds." Hear more about this below: Is retail media a good investment? The truth is, retail media can be both a goldmine or  a budget sinkhole, depending on how you use it. The goldmine: closed-loop attribution, high-intent audiences, and endemic relevance -- especially when paired with strong creative and smart sequencing. The black hole: fragmented networks, sky-high CPMs, and opaque reporting.   Many RMNs prioritize margin over performance, which means your media dollars may be going to prop up retail partnerships rather than drive actual growth.   The smart play? Treat retail media like part of your broader media plan , not a separate obligation.   It should work with  your other channels, not in isolation. That means aligning measurement, creative, and budget logic across the funnel .   How do we negotiate our JBPs to get more media value? This question comes up a lot during media planning season, and it's a real skill. In the age of the RMN boom, retailers have been all too happy to strike deals with marketers, selling off ad space on their own platforms and audience data for ads on third-party platforms. But not every brand knows how to negotiate media value into those commitments. The brands who treat JBPs as purely a merchandising conversation are leaving significant media inventory on the table. Action items Audit your retail media investments quarterly. Audit more often than that, and you'll miss longer-term trends; any less often, and you'll miss opportunity. Map each placement to a funnel stage Identify overlap or redundancy, and Hold your retail partners accountable to the same standards as your other media  by evaluating the same metrics like reach, frequency, and sales incrementality. Critically, the time is now for brands to leverage the two largest retailers, Amazon and Walmart, as complete advertising ecosystems. Further references: The Current. https://www.thecurrent.com/exverus-media-hillary-kupferberg-vp-marketing-retail-media-ctv-sales Digiday. https://digiday.com/media-buying/wpp-estimates-commerce-media-spending-to-overtake-tv-this-year/ Bain & Company. https://www.bain.com/how-we-help/are-you-ready-for-the-retail-media-revolution/ This piece originally appeared in our weekly Paid Media Insights newsletter. For more tips, research, and analysis; subscribe for free here .

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!

Social media advertising continues to evolve as one of the most powerful tools for brand growth and customer acquisition. As we move into 2026, understanding where to allocate your social media advertising budget can mean the difference between breakthrough results and wasted spend. Key Components: Strategic platform selection  based on verified audience insights and engagement patterns Scientific creative testing  across social media channels to identify high-performing formats and messaging Regular performance analysis  to optimize social media advertising spend allocation Agile budget management  that shifts investment based on actual results rather than assumptions or trends Social media planning: A scientific approach A. Understand your audience Effective social media advertising strategy begins with understanding your audience's digital behavior. Optimizing your social media mix requires clearly mapping where your customers spend their online time and attention. For businesses without enterprise-level analytics platforms, we recommend two accessible approaches to inform social media advertising decisions: Customer research : Survey your existing customer base about their social media usage patterns, preferred platforms, and content consumption habits Platform analytics : Utilize native analytical tools within each social media platform. Meta's insights dashboard, for example, reveals engagement distribution between Instagram and Facebook audiences—providing clear direction for social media budget allocation. B. How to allocate your social media advertising budget At Exverus, we have refined a proven social media advertising rule-of-thumb through years of running campaigns for brands like Premier Protein, Theralogix supplements, and New Belgium Brewing: 60% Meta  (Facebook and Instagram) 30% TikTok 10% Reddit or emerging platforms This distribution maximizes social media advertising ROI while maintaining agility for testing new opportunities as the landscape shifts. Platform-specific strengths Meta: The ROI champion Social media advertisers industry-wide agree that Meta is the strongest performer for your paid social return on investment (ROI) . The platform's sophisticated targeting infrastructure, extensive user data, and conversion optimization tools make it the foundation of most successful social media advertising strategies. Instagram Reels beats TikTok on several key metrics, and Meta's ad capabilities are only getting stronger. Click to learn how. TikTok: A brand exploder TikTok has emerged as a social media advertising powerhouse for brand awareness campaigns. The platform offers unique ad placements that other social media advertising channels cannot match - including positioning alongside trending content, securing first-open placements, and appearing as the initial video users see upon launching the app. Although TikTok Shop was a powerful sales-driver in the holiday shopping season of 2025 for product-based brands, most brands see more success with TikTok as an awareness-builder, rather than a converter . Social media platforms are now brand discovery hubs, and search engines are now mid-funnel. Learn how to meet savvy consumers everywhere they search. Reddit: The community educator For brands with products requiring education or strong community engagement, Reddit represents an underutilized opportunity. The platform enables advertisers to integrate messaging within authentic user conversations and valuable community discussions. Reddit's keyword-based targeting is a significant advantage for social media marketing campaigns. This functionality mirrors Google Search capabilities and enables more cohesive cross-channel marketing strategies. TikTok has similarly introduced keyword targeting, further expanding strategic social media advertising options. Reddit has evolved from a niche forum into a marketing powerhouse, reshaping how consumers make decisions & how AI answers their questions. C. Measurement & Attribution Effective social media advertising requires rigorous measurement to understand what's working and where to optimize spend. Without proper tracking and analysis, even well-allocated budgets can fail to deliver maximum value. Essential Paid Social Metrics Different platforms and campaign objectives require different measurement approaches. For conversion-focused social media buying , track: Return on ad spend (ROAS) : The revenue generated for every dollar invested in social media advertising Cost per acquisition (CPA) : How much you're spending to acquire each customer through social media advertising Conversion rate : The percentage of users who take desired actions after engaging with your social media advertising ROAS and last-click metrics can be misleading because they capture a narrow slice of the journey, understating long-term brand impact. For brand awareness-building social media buying , especially on platforms like TikTok, monitor: Reach and impressions : How many unique users are seeing your social media advertising Engagement rate : Likes, comments, shares, and saves relative to impressions View-through rate : Completion rates for video-based social media advertising content Brand lift studies : Changes in brand awareness, consideration, and preference metrics Brand lift studies demonstrate the impact of your marketing on real brand growth over time. Attribution in Social Media Advertising Modern social media advertising measurement must account for complex customer journeys. Users rarely convert on first touch—they might discover your brand on TikTok, research on Reddit, and convert through an Amazon Display ad. Implement multi-touch attribution models that credit multiple social media advertising touchpoints along the conversion path. Digiday confirms that agencies large and small are using agile, new marketing mix modeling (MMM) tools to track how upper-funnel media leads to sales downstream. Platform-specific attribution windows (typically 1-day view, 7-day click for most social media advertising) provide baseline data, but cross-platform analytics tools offer more complete visibility into how your social media advertising channels work together. Predictive analytics and big-picture insights make marketing mix modeling tools invaluable to brand marketers of all industries in 2026 and beyond. Testing and Optimization Cycles Successful social media advertising programs establish regular measurement cadences: Weekly analysis : Identify trends, pause underperforming social media advertising creative, and scale winners Monthly reviews : Evaluate overall media strategy, test new platforms, and adjust budget allocation Quarterly planning : Reassess platform mix based on cumulative performance data This structured approach to social media advertising measurement ensures you're making data-informed decisions rather than relying on assumptions or outdated performance patterns. E. Case Studies & Examples Theralogix enters the Reddit chat In Q4 of 2024, our Reddit Ads brand campaign contributed to the supplement maker's +33% lift in web traffic and +634% lift in cross-network search! Click to read more below. Exverus' new Social Reach ad unit beats Meta's efficiency In 2025, Exverus partnered up with SeenThis to build a whole new ad unit called Social Reach , which splashes a brand's vertical video assets across Pubmatic's premium open web supply with zero additional production cost. Click to learn more below. Premier Protein was the first brand to test Social Reach and outperformed Meta Ads by 50% efficiency! 'The Chosen' integrates search & social to drive app downloads For TV's "The Chosen" mobile app campaign , we stitched Search and Social Media advertising initiatives together in a cohesive digital strategy that successfully drove nearly 1 million app downloads in 3 months at half the projected cost! Learn more below. To entice viewers, we teased behind-the-scenes footage, access to the stars, and app-exclusive trailers. In 2026 and beyond, the key to social media advertising success lies not in following industry trends, but in developing deep knowledge of where your specific audience engages and what creative approaches drive them to action. For further reference: Creator Marketing: FAQs for brands in 2026 Social media advertising: How it works & tips for success Link in Bio by Rachel Karten Based on insights from Inc. magazine's interview with Blake Anderson (founder, 10x) and Ryan Schuster, MBA (Director of Paid Search and Social, Exverus by Brainlabs). Original article: " How to Get the Most Out of Paid Social in 2026 " by Annabel Burba, Inc., December 23, 2025.