Digiday

Waseem Alshikh, Writer's co-founder and chief technology officer, talks about how to help LLMs think more like humans — and make fewer mistakes.

According to new research coming out of Omnicom Media Group — aptly called The Future of Search — search has essentially evolved from a channel to a behavior, thanks to some of the above consumer adaptations as well as advances in AI and algorithmic application of content across the social sphere.   Joanna O'Connell, Omnicom Media Group’s chief intelligence officer for North America, spearheaded the research but assembled a variety of team members from influencer shop Creo, cultural specialists sparks & honey, commerce shop Flywheel as well as design and research departments. S&H even did a Boolean query to see the latest cultural chatter on the topic. Story by Michael Burgi

This year, chatter concerning mergers and acquisitions is all about whether 2025 will spark a deal frenzy across advertising and ad tech. Here’s the twist: the deal flow never really dried up in 2024. In fact, the year kicked off with LiveRamp snapping up Habu for $200 million, and the pace of dealmaking steadily picked up — though it never quite became a flood. Month after month of 2024 delivered notable deals, from Walmart’s February acquisition of VIZIO to Outbrain’s August purchase of Teads. Yet, skepticism lingered. Inflation, political uncertainty and fluctuating ad spend kept many dealmakers from proclaiming the triumphant return of M&A. Instead, they framed it as a cautious revival. That revival, however, is poised to gather steam. In this piece by Seb Joseph, we speak to Charles Ping of Winterberry Group, Matthew Lacey, and Jeremy Goldman of EMARKETER.

Marketer reaction to being part of the culture war varies. Some ignore it (Apple and Volvo Group seem to have taken that approach) while others respond to criticisms online (Jaguar’s social media manager replied to many tweets). Understanding how to manage criticism as well as sorting out if a campaign could draw criticism has become more commonplace for marketers given the climate, according to seven agency execs Digiday spoke to. While it “varies from CMO to CMO” with some more conservative about a potential spark for adversity and others who appreciate the talk, noted Kyle Arango, executive creative director at The Sasha Group, a VaynerX company, the level of scrutiny for the work that’s going out across “higher funnel” ad channels is more intense right now. “But it’s far more dangerous to be completely safe because then you’re invisible,” he added. In this piece by Kristina Monllos, we also speak to Ben Russell of Jack Morton Worldwide, Chris Mele of siberia, Dr. Patrice Le Goy, and Kirsten Flanik of REVOLT.

Rather than chasing consumers around the open web, brands use commerce audiences to anticipate a consumer’s next move along the purchase path. With a targeting strategy based on consumer behaviors and product information, advertisers are determining consumer interest and relevance to meet them with the right marketing message at the right time. Sponsored by Criteo.

It’s unsurprising that more teenagers aspire to become influencers, given how many grew up watching TikTok stars like Charli D’Amelio and Ariana Greenblatt go from social media to the big screen. During this year’s U.S. presidential election, we saw greater interest from candidate Kamala Harris to engage Gen Z through TikTok trends like “brat” summer. Many major creators have also expanded beyond social apps to launch careers in acting, music or starting other businesses. These are the first cohorts to grow up as digital natives, so they daydream about being creators, explained Alyssa Stevens, global director of PR, social media and influencer marketing at independent agency Connelly Partners. In this piece by Antoinette S., we also speak to Julia Baker of Instrument, and Amron Lopez of Sixteenth. Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/exDDate8

Despite the technical feats, AI-generated content has gained both eager devotees and harsh critics. Depending who you ask, the category’s a powerful new form of creativity, underwhelming “AI slop,” or an IP-stealing job-killer. However, the question is, which of these viewpoints will be the one to stick. In the coming year, those tools and others from companies like TikTok, Meta and Amazon could see more adoption with users, influencers and advertisers. Better results and lower costs could lead to a surge in AI-generated content for users and businesses alike. However, it’s unclear how regulations and litigation related to copyright issues could impact innovation, adoption and creation in 2025. In this piece by Marty Swant, we speak to Lindsay Brillson of Pika, Kevan Yalowitz of Accenture, Jon Morgenstern of VaynerMedia, Barney Worfolk Smith 🦩 of DAIVID 🦩, and Andrew Frank of Gartner. Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/ecvh9Qbz

In June 2024, the mobile game developer Homa published “Clean It,” a casual game inspired by the #CleanTok TikTok trend — and the game became a viral hit. The game launch, the result of a collaboration between HOMA and TikTok, is the latest example of the TikTok’s intentional bid to court game publishers onto its platform. “Clean It” was not the first TikTok-inspired game to be published by HOMA, whose most popular titles include mobile games such as “Merge Master” and “Aquarium Land.” For years, the developer has created casual games by combining popular game genres with relevant TikTok trends. In this piece by Alexander Lee, we speak to Annie Arsane Mattar of TikTok, Olivier Le Bas, and Linda Qin of Pahdo Labs.

Omnicom’s proposed acquisition of Interpublic Group (IPG), announced last month, would make it the world’s largest agency-holding company, with $25 billion in annual ad revenue and over 100,000 employees. The deal aims to generate $750 million in cost synergies, primarily by consolidating back-office functions and reducing redundancies by potentially cutting 30% of staff. A depressingly familiar page in the corporate playbook. However, the initial pitch from IPG and Omnicom’s executive teams focused on other outcomes, such as AI and the combination of both entities’ big bets in data-enabled marketing. Here, we have a compilation of the proposition’s core aspects, including potential downfalls that aren’t necessarily featured on the pitch deck, as well as insider observations (from Ruben Schreurs of Ebiquity plc, Nick Manning, and Arielle Garcia of Check My Ads Institute) likely to keep clients and investors stroking their chins over the finer points involved in such a market-making move. Read the full story from Ronan Shields here: https://lnkd.in/eTWYU_98

Marketers are faithfully obsessed with the shiny new thing when it comes to their brand activations. So it’s no surprise that in year two of having generative AI at their disposal, marketers have rushed to use it in their advertising. But so far, consumers aren’t as enamored with generative AI created ads as marketers have been. Throughout 2024, the marketers who obviously used generative AI to make their ads (Toys"R"Us, Under Armour, The Coca-Cola Company) or touted the possibilities of generative AI in their ads (like Google’s Olympics ad they pulled following backlash) had their ads panned by the general public, particularly the creative community.