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The ANA’s latest transparency report looks ugly for agencies, the ad tech supply chain, marketers and their procurement departments. Probably why its findings – just 36 cents on the programmatic dollar stand a chance of being seen by audiences – have been met with deafening silence. None of the big agency holdcos have piped up, while Google, Yahoo, The Trade Desk, Pubmatic and other major adtech players didn’t allow the ANA into their systems. Not even P&G played ball. Nick Manning, who co-authored the ANA’s scoping brief, says even 36 cents on the programmatic dollar is optimistic – because the investigation spanned sophisticated advertisers and because it doesn’t factor-in things like agency commissions while its calculations are based off feeble viewabilty metrics. “We are talking about a massive global marketplace and it is out of control,” says Manning. “Nobody wants to derail the gravy train.” But the report differs from myriad predecessors because it spells out exactly how advertisers, their procurement departments and agencies can regain control. Here’s what’s going wrong in the $88bn marketplace, and for those with appetite, how to fix it… Before the open web money gets rechanneled from publishers to walled gardens and retail media. 

The marketing supply chain’s talent pool – media and creative agency workers – is too focused on promotion and job titles versus capability, leading to over-promotion of under-equipped talent, particularly at the mid-tier. Brand-side marketing risks falling into the same trap of narrow specialism and short-termism at the expense of the big picture warn marketing and customer chiefs. Here’s how marketing and agency bosses are trying to help – not crimp – those aiming to ultimately usurp them.

It’s official: Sustainability has hit mainstream advertising. According to BBC Studios, 50 per cent of advertising briefs coming through in ANZ are looking to land a sustainability message. What’s more, business leaders are increasingly relying on trusted media channels like the global news house for reliable and relevant information about ESG to build their own knowledge basis. Yet even as Australia edges closer to mandatory ESG reporting requirements, and greenwashing crackdowns escalate, the group’s VP of advertising and distribution is worried there isn’t enough urgency around understanding ESG practically and beyond the message.

How AI is transforming marketing inside and out was a big theme at global consumer electronics jamboree CES. Top level marketers from Pfizer and L’Oréal to Mastercard, Duolingo, Qualcomm, Lenovo and Annalect unpacked how they’re harnessing AI for marketing, creative and product – with some predicting the rise of the “robo marketer”. Here are some of the key brand narratives and use cases for AI emerging from this year’s event.

Annual marketing technology investment is set to hit US$216bn within the next three years – up from US$131bn in 2023 – a growth curve twice as steep as general IT spending. Yet Forrester’s latest report also says most marketers are still looking to consolidate their tech infrastructure. So what gives? It turns out brands are more focused on functional consolidation rather than vendor consolidation. The problem however remains the integration challenge, an area traditional marketing cloud big guns like Adobe and Salesforce are increasingly investing in. Where all that money’s headed has not gone unnoticed by global comms holdcos like Havas, IPG, and WPP, all of whom have been busily restructuring during the last year in a bid to front-run the next big wave of investment.