Pulling out of my driveway to head to the train station last week, I was surprised to hear a somewhat familiar voice came on the radio – hey wait a minute – that’s Randall Rothenberg’s voice. I know that guy! Randall
The Rebirth of the Integrated Agency
Eleven years ago, two advertising agencies merged: Draft Direct Worldwide and Foote, Cone, and Belding (FCB). Draft was a successful direct marketing agency specializing in direct mail advertising. FCB was more of a traditional ad agency that specialized in creative
The Magic of Unconference
I spent the last few days at the WPP Stream (Un)Conference in Marathon, Greece with our close business partners at Xaxis and GroupM. First off – I have to say that Stream was hands-down the best conference I’ve ever been
Embracing Embarrassing Moments
Next week I have the privilege of attending the WPP Stream (Un)conference (Stream) in Marathon, Greece. It’s a hot-ticket event that has been described to me as the Davos of the ad industry. Among the 300 attendees will be many
Why It’s So Difficult to Sell Technology to Ad Agencies
I’ve been studying ad agencies for the better part of 10 years. First as an insider, working in media planning and analytics at a full service agency, and now as an outsider working for an advertising technology company. Over the
The Tendency Toward Promiscuity in the Ad Industry
To date, I’ve spent nearly my entire career working in the ad business. Through the years I’ve gotten to see the industry from a few different angles. I started out at an ad agency in a media planning/account management role,
“Premium” Blog Post
Early on in my agency career I wrote a 50-some page comprehensive guide to all of the biggest publishers and networks on the web. Written in a world before DSPs, SSPs, and Exchanges, the guide included Yahoo, Microsoft, AOL, Collective,
Learnings from an Ad Tech News Binge
Over the past month I’ve made a real effort to ramp up my reading of advertising industry publications and newsletters. Ad Exchanger, AdAge, ExchangeWire, AdWeek – I have them all sent to my Reader and, save for a few lapses,
The Next Bubble: Eyeballs – Three and a Half Years Later
In the summer of 2009, an article titled “The Next Bubble: Eyeballs” appeared on the Harvard Business Review blog. Much of the article discussed new advertising innovations from the likes of Amazon and Tivo, but the overall message from the
Programmatic Buying and the Meaning of Words
Working in the advertising technology space, I’m a regular reader of AdExchanger.com, one of the industry’s leading trade publications. I usually read AdExchanger’s daily newsletter on my subway ride to work and I feel like they do a pretty good