Marketers instinctively know that better data and higher-quality media drive better outcomes. But bad habits are sticky and they die hard, said Jamie Barnard , CEO of Compliant, a startup that tracks data quality standards across digital media. The ad industry has "a volume-based mentality," said Barnard, who knows that struggle firsthand. He spent nearly 16 years at Unilever as its general counsel focused on global marketing, media and ecommerce before leaving in 2022.
Besides the very obvious impact on the search discipline - zero click search is a reality that's gotten everyone scrambling to retrofit their online content to be recognized by LLMs - we heard agency folk tell of over reliance on the tools, and a face-value acceptance of information and data that in actuality requires human oversight to ensure accuracy. Then there's the toll it's taking by removing learning and training opportunities for entry-level talent as AI handles rote functions and menial tasks.
From brands to agencies, we know many advertisers look to a diverse network of providers across the industry to support their media buying needs on YouTube. This is why we're launching the YouTube Activation Partners program to bring together a collection of trusted third-party partners with expertise in buying strategies and campaign management to help advertisers get the best results out of their work with YouTube.
"I guess I got a little bit disillusioned with only having one string to your bow," he reflects. "If you're given a whole set of marketing and business challenges, there are a gazillion ways of solving those problems. But a media agency will always say you need to buy some advertising, which, of course, is part of the mix, but is only a very small part that usually takes up a big part of the budget."
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I literally laughed out loud. We shouldn't be surprised. We've tried to plan for this. We changed a lot. For five years, there was a lot of urgency.