Kevin Zoss

Excited to share that Aperiam has invested in Bedrock Platform. Obvious statement of the century: programmatic advertising has a complexity problem. The infrastructure that was built to give media buyers control has, over time, done the opposite. Burying teams under layers of operational overhead, legacy tooling, and opaque supply chains. Bedrock is built on a simple but powerful thesis: what if you stripped away the bloat and rebuilt the stack around what actually matters... precision, transparency, and speed to execution. Their platform combines AI-driven campaign automation with curated, premium inventory across video, CTV, DOOH, and audio, and aims to be flexible and get smarter over time. Plus, the team (Shane, Austin, Ryan, James) has deep roots in the infrastructure layer of ad tech and understands the plumbing better than almost anyone. We believe the next generation of programmatic will be leaner, faster and AI-first. Bedrock is building that.

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AI Unlocks a $100B Affiliate & Partnership Market. Introducing VantagePoint™ to Capture Value Beyond the Click. The Machine-Mediated Market is here. AI is fundamentally restructuring digital commerce—and with it, the economics of influence. Traditional content discovery is rapidly giving way to AI-mediated experiences. From search and social to the rise of conversational AI, these journeys are reshaping how consumers make decisions and how value flows through the ecosystem. The core challenge? Capturing the conversion value that happens beyond the click. This transformation is expanding the addressable market for Affiliate and Partnership Marketing dramatically. What is currently a $20B category now has the structural tailwinds to reach $100B over the next three years, driven by the essential shift from direct-response mechanics to comprehensive, influence-based attribution. At Partnerize, we’ve successfully navigated and built for technology transitions before: search, social, mobile. Each wave expanded the addressable market for partnership marketing. AI represents the largest opportunity yet. Today's launch of VantagePoint™ positions us firmly at the center of that shift. It is the first solution designed to measure influence across the full spectrum of AI-mediated journeys, allowing brands to capture value that extends well beyond the traditional click. As attribution continues to evolve, the opportunity is now to also fundamentally reconsider our measurement infrastructure. The companies that can prove value across both click-driven and clickless influence (the core of Answer Engine Optimization) will capture the expanding $100B TAM. That's the market we've built VantagePoint™ to own. A huge congratulations to Erez Nahom, Andy Crossen, and the entire team on the incredible work to make today possible. #VantagePoint #AI #PartnershipMarketing #AffiliateMarketing #Attribution #Partnerize #MachineMediatedMarket

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🎯 Your clients want results. Programmatic DOOH delivers. This isn’t about billboards anymore — it’s about: ✅ Contextual delivery ✅ Centralized access to premium inventory ✅ Clear performance data 📘 Our new guide shows why leading agencies are going all-in on pDOOH — and how you can too. 👉 Get the insights here:  https://lnkd.in/et2quXvE #ProgrammaticDOOH #DigitalOutOfHome #MediaBuying #AdTech #MarketingInnovation

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Until recently, channels like Roku, Paramount, Pandora, or iHeartMedia were reserved for enterprise-scale advertisers with advanced programmatic infrastructures. For emerging and mid-sized CPGs, these platforms were too complex, too fragmented, or too expensive to navigate. Some recent announcements from Kroger Precision Marketing have changed that. Service-Led Activation Model: KPM provides a managed-service approach - handling all the technical complexity of programmatic buying on behalf of the brand. This removes the barrier of entry for brands lacking in-house programmatic expertise. Data-Powered Precision: Campaigns are entirely fueled by Kroger’s massive first-party data set (over 60 million households), ensuring that ads on CTV or audio platforms are precisely targeted to verified, high-value shoppers. Closed-Loop Accountability: KPM is not just selling reach; it’s selling a measurable outcome. The managed service is tied directly to Kroger’s sales data, allowing brands to prove that an ad seen on a streaming platform led directly to a product purchase in a physical or digital store. #RetailMedia #CommerceMedia #CPGMarketing #AdTech #KrogerPrecisionMarketing #ConnectedTV

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Just read Quad’s piece on how in-store retail media networks (RMNs) are doing more than just “ads in aisles.” They’re becoming strategic conversion tools. Here are some of the key take-aways - with a twist of how this applies to what we do here at The Customer Club: ✅ Standout points & what they mean 1. “Address shoppers when they’re in the buying mood.” The notion: when your consumer is already in-store, with intent, you get a moment of truth. 👉 For us: this reinforces that SMS + digital offer moments / gamification (we do) should align with when the shopper is in the path-to-purchase. It’s not just push messaging — it’s timely and contextual. 2. “Strengthen brand visibility and loyalty.” The data: ~31.5% of shoppers will immediately buy a new product they just learned about in store. 👉 For CPG brands using our platform: digital offers / gamification + retail media can work hand-in-hand. 3. “Create flexible, fast-to-market campaigns.” Very relevant: in-store digital signage + RMNs allow shorter lead times and responsive activations. 👉 For our SaaS offering: we want to emphasize our agility to CPG marketers — from campaign launch to distribution using SMS + QR + retail-media integration. 4. “Influence impulse purchases.” ~70% of US shoppers report making unplanned purchases to some degree. 👉 Real opportunity: brands often focus only on “planned purchase” funnels. This shows that the in-store moment (supported by endemic advertising) offers incremental upside. For The Customer Club: SMS-triggered offers and gamification can catch that unplanned moment and could be a differentiator. 5. “Drive incremental store revenue.” An academic study found in-store displays, when optimally placed, increase store revenue by ~11%. 👉 Big number. Our CPG clients can link digital offer activations + in-store RMN ads -> the conversation moves from “drive awareness” to “drive measurable ROI” — something CFOs care about. https://lnkd.in/gizq6Rkq

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When APIs first came on the scene, they promised simplicity. Connect, integrate, innovate. Over time, we’ve seen the opposite. Version mismatches, endless updates, and a patchwork of integrations that often consume more resources than they free up. Unified, domain-driven APIs make a real difference. Reducing friction gives developers back the one thing that truly drives innovation...time. Investing in developer experience cultivates trust and loyalty with the very people shaping adoption decisions. #APIs #AdTech #DeveloperExperience

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https://lnkd.in/gibjbMSx This article has two amazing tidbits: "During the hearing, Karen Dunn, Google's lead attorney, told the judge that Google would be willing to make real-time bid amounts from AdX available to all rival ad servers for open web display ads." This is spectacular news! If AdX bids in real time most of the supply side harm of the Google monopoly goes away, as we can write an adapter for it to participate in the publisher auction, and make the publisher auction the final auction, not theirs. This will make the web experience for advertisers and users dramatically improved; it can be so much faster! Hopefully this means Google will get rid of directFromSellerSignals, which was built to prevent Google from needing to do exactly this in the PAAPI auction. "At the hearing, the DOJ strongly advocated for a forced divesture of Google Ad Manager (GAM) as one way to break the exclusive tie that exists between Google’s ad server (DFP) and its ad exchange (AdX)." I strongly disagree with the DOJ suggestion to split AdX and GAM. They should stay together, otherwise GAM will not be economically viable at its current pricing. What should split instead is AdWords from AdX; that's the only thing that ties people to Google's supply stack, the self-preferencing of the buy side dollars they control. GAM and AdX being tied together doesn't compel a publisher to use GAM unless AdX remains "special". That's how the GAM monopoly was built, not on UPRs (which btw make us a ton of money, long live UPRs [with tweaks]). Other ad servers, eg MS Ads and maybe new entrants, will be suddenly exponentially more viable without the buy side dollars being tied to AdX. And the AdX / AdWords split should have teeth, perhaps as simple as AdWords is not allowed to buy on the AdX. Or perhaps somehow institutionalize the choices DV360 has already made, as they have somehow figured out non-preferencing. Without the ties to buy side dollars, this new entity, let's call it Google Supply (AdX/GAM), would need to earn all of our business, and I for one cannot wait to submit my feature requests.

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For years, digital advertising has claimed to be “contextual,” but most solutions have relied on keywords, not a true understanding. That approach overlooks nuance, culture, and emotion, particularly in non-English-speaking markets. AI is finally changing that. By reading meaning, tone, and context, AI-powered tools allow brands to engage audiences with relevance and respect, not just data points. This is how we move from talking at people to speaking with them and why OOH and premium media can lead the way in human-centered advertising.

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Here's how we structure audiences for Instacart shoppable display ads: (we help CPG brands scale 150% YoY through Instacart shoppable display ads and more) Most brands throw everything into one ad group and wonder why their data is a mess. Clean structure isn't optional. It's how you make better decisions faster. Here's what works: 1: Separate Retargeting From Prospecting Warm traffic and cold traffic convert differently. They have different CPCs. Different ROAS. Different timelines. Lump them together and you can't tell what's actually working. 2: Separate Competitor Targeting From Category Targeting Someone shopping your competitor's product page is not the same as someone browsing a category. The intent is different. The creative should be different. The bids should be different. Treat them the same and you'll overpay for one and underinvest in the other. 3: Give High-Intent Segments Their Own Budget Your best audiences shouldn't compete with your broadest ones for spend. Protect your highest-converting segments so they never get starved. Now here's what kills accounts: ❌ Stacking everything into one ad group ❌ Mixing warm and cold traffic ❌ Scaling broad audiences before you've even validated conversion rate Every one of these makes your data harder to read. And bad data leads to bad decisions leads to wasted budget. The rule is simple: Clean structure = cleaner data = better decisions. Audience Structure is just one piece. We put our entire Instacart Shoppable Display Ads playbook into an SOP - and we're giving it away for free. It includes: ✅ Creative best practices — what strong vs. weak Shoppable Display creative actually looks like (and why CTR problems are usually creative problems, not bid problems)  ✅ Campaign structure that separates prospecting from retargeting so they don't cannibalize each other  ✅ A disciplined bidding framework — when to push, when to pull back, and why most brands overreact  ✅ Manual bidding guardrails that prevent overspend without killing delivery  ✅ The signals we check before touching anything — and the order we check them  ✅ A daily and weekly optimization rhythm for staying on top of performance ✅The placement strategy that prioritizes intent over reach Just comment "INSTACART" and I'll send it over. Also, send me a connection request so I can message you.

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Retail Media Networks + Non-endemic? I'm *very* short (esp in US.) I've met with dozens of retailers who dream of monetizing their data to non-endemic only to abandon those plans within 12 months because the cost, time, and level of effort doesn't produce a return above other uses of that time and money. I've met with dozens of brands who recoil at the thought of buying a patchwork of retail media networks when Google, Meta, and TTD/Open Internet already have excellent data, collected in a known privacy-safe way, across the majority of the U.S. population.

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Your domain creates assumptions before they see anything else. Signage.com versus BestSignageCompany.com triggers different brain responses in three seconds. One suggests category leadership. The other screams trying too hard. When we first called prospects after acquiring Newswire.com, something interesting happened. "Oh yeah, I've heard of you guys." Impossible. We'd owned it for three days. They were confusing us with PR Newswire. That confusion became our unfair advantage. → Premium domains borrow credibility from the future → They deposit it in your present → Before anyone experiences your product Most founders think backwards about domains. They focus on clever wordplay instead of understanding what happens in a prospect's mind during those first seconds. Research shows 75% of consumers use domain names to assess company credibility instantly. Your conversion rates improve when people assume you're established before you say a word. Here's what changed for us: Email open rates jumped 30%. Click-through rates improved across every channel. Even our SEO got better because more people clicked our search listings. With AI execution tools, you can build on premium domains faster than ever. Same quality website, same marketing materials... identical timeline. But the premium domain amplifies everything. The math is simple. Founders spend $10K monthly on Google Ads but walk away from a $100K domain. That's $120K annually with zero residual value. Stop the ads, lose all benefits. Own the domain, compound the returns. What assumptions does your current domain create? Like & share if you think your domain deserves an upgrade ↗️ #DomainStrategy #BrandCredibility #DigitalMarketing #BusinessGrowth #ConversionOptimization

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CMO’s and agencies are so enamored with bottom-funnel targeting tactics that they totally lost the ability to move people effectively—their judgement is out of balance with real needs today. The targeting down funnel ‘disease’ gives marketers a feeling that they aren’t being wasteful but so much is showing they aren’t being effective either. “This ….reveals …a fundamental mismatch. Respondents are applying bottom-of-funnel tactics to what they've identified as top-of-funnel brand building objectives.”

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We keep calling AdCP vs programmatic a standards conversation. I don’t think that’s the real fight. Agentic changes where leverage lives: workflow, orchestration, optimization, and measurement. With IAB Leadership coming up at the end of the week, it got me thinking. I believe when new ideas get “standardized,” institutional gravity usually pulls them into the shape of the current ecosystem — often reinforcing existing rails and disproportionately benefiting closed-loop platforms, aka walled gardens. I connected this moment to a lesson from TiVo in 2001: we had the right idea (second-by-second viewing), but we were too early — adoption and incentives weren’t aligned, and the market wasn’t ready to re-engineer its currency. This moment is crucial; let's make sure we're having the right conversation. Full piece (with an incentive map for agencies, DSPs, SSPs, publishers, and walled gardens): 👉 link in comments If you’re a DSP/SSP/agency leader: what’s the shippable path to agentic interoperability?

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The Four Factors Behind DigitasAI’s Impact At Digitas North America, we’re obsessed with proving DigitasAI's value—not just promising it. That’s why we measure the impact of DigitasAI across four factors that actually move the needle: Accuracy: Are we seeing the full picture—unbiased, holistic, and real? Efficiency: How much precious time does AI save our teams, freeing us for lateral leaps and bigger ideas? Impact: Is there measurable lift—for our clients’ business, and for ours? Sparkle: (Yes, you read that right.) Does AI unlock creative magic—unexpected thinking, inspiring ideas, that “wow” factor? And this has direct line to our core principles: Networked Experiences—integrating brand, platforms, and people in ways that earn attention. Earn Your Way In—using intelligence to create real value, not just noise. Integrated Intelligence—where every solution is powered by insight, not instinct alone. We want AI to deliver more than efficiency theatre, so we're measuring what matters. I'll be posting updates on how we're tracking as regularly as possible! #NetworkedExperiences #DigitasAI #EarnYourWayIn

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Most would agree with the perspective on the programmatic ecosystem shared by PubMatic's CEO, stating that it is “multifaceted, certainly complex.” Unfortunately for marketers, this is dramatically compounded by the lack of transparency, which allows intermediaries to siphon media dollars into fees, direct advertiser investment to “owned” solutions, and compounds the failure to constrain non-human traffic.

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Big news in retail media measurement: LiveRamp just expanded Meta insights for Retail Media Networks through its Clean Room. Retailers can now connect Meta campaign data with first-party sales to see exactly how ads drive orders, sales, and ROAS. This gives RMNs and their brand partners a clear view of what’s working across campaigns, brands, and products. It’s a big step toward true closed-loop attribution, more confident media investment, and stronger collaboration between retailers and suppliers—all in a privacy-safe way. If you’re leading retail media or CPG growth, it’s time to ask: do your Meta campaigns connect directly to sales outcomes?

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In his latest Clutch feature, Quentin Aisbett explores why Visibility-as-a-Service matters now and why brands need a strategic search partner to shape how they show up across AI summaries, knowledge panels, and high-trust surfaces that influence both machines and people. "It’s not just a new tactic — it’s a new mindset. One that acknowledges discovery is no longer channel-bound. It’s cross-surface, cross-platform, and increasingly machine-mediated. Is your brand prepared for the AI-driven future of search? 👉 Read the full article at https://lnkd.in/grkC_RUJ #AI #BrandVisibility #DigitalStrategy #SearchMarketing #ThoughtLeadership #FutureOfSearch #Searcht

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For folks in Advertising (not just Adtech), who aren’t active on X, this Marketecture live mega thread from Ari Paparo is a fun read. https://lnkd.in/gefWashr Marketecture Media Katie Brown Josh Raper

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