Will Eagle

What's the best path to bringing search and social budgets to CTV? That’s one of the questions we debated on the latest episode of Open Market. Joe and I were joined by our friend James Borow of Comcast's Universal Ads for a wide-ranging conversation that hit on: - The state of the CTV market (and why it’s still early innings) - Universal Ads’ big bet: building an API-driven platform for what James calls "economically rational" marketers - Lessons from building and selling two startups: what James would do differently, and how those experiences shape how he’s leading today - The power of compounding in careers: how relationships, reputation, and knowledge stack over time, especially in adtech James is one of the sharpest thinkers in our industry. You're going to love this one. Link below.

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Caught up with friends this weekend trapped in a vicious ~$750K debt cycle with Wayflyer. 4 things to check before taking any Wayflyer or Shopify Capital-style loan (20%+ APR): 1. Model the true APR with scenario analysis Most people miss the fine print. Use AI or call a smart friend. Watch how fast the rate explodes as you grow. 2. Normalize cost of capital per unit sold 90%+ of these loans finance COGS. Run high- and low-growth scenarios and divide by units ordered. Makes the real margin hit crystal clear. 3. Pay your supplier more instead Use the per-unit math above to negotiate better terms. Incentives stay aligned, your cost stays fixed, and it doesn’t spike with growth. 4. Run a proper RFP My friends only talked to 2 lenders. Get 10 competing offers. One day of work with massive ROI. Repeat on renewal. AMA if anything is unclear.

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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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I just spent a day inside the San Francisco garage where bondu is building one of the most creative products I’ve seen this year - screen-free, AI-powered toys kids can talk to. Forget incremental improvements, this is a whole new category. Fateen, Dan and the team behind Bondu (formerly Magical Toys) is merging hardware, software and storytelling into a physical toy that entertains, educates, and actually engages kids without a screen. It’s fun and imaginative… but behind the scenes, it’s pure early-stage chaos. This isn't just another gadget; it's a solution to screen addiction disguised as playtime. 100% tariffs. Hand-built prototypes. Parents skeptical of AI. Shipping thousands of units while iterating weekly. This is what it really looks like to build a new category. Adaptive and resilient, they're tackling challenges head-on. In the episode we dig into: - How to reduce screen time without reducing imagination - The realities of building hardware in a software-first world - What “responsible AI” actually means for children - Rapid iteration and the scrappy road to scale No announcements. No hype. Just the real process of a team trying to make something ambitious work in the real world. Watch how they are proactively identifying problems and rapidly solutioning. The new INSIDE STARTUPS episode is live. If you’re interested in hardware, AI, or creative product building - this one’s worth watching. It’s concise, impactful, and delivers actionable insights. Episode link in comments!

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Everyone is talking about AI and automation in marketing right now. But the real question is how brands stay human while everything around us becomes more artificial. Excited to dig into this at Shoptalk with Pinterest and an incredible group of leaders. We will be talking about visual discovery, incremental growth, and what is actually working for brands right now. See you in Vegas, PJ Andersen!

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AI that understands advertising context like a brain 🧠 In this interview, Grego Martínez, SVP of Product at Seedtag, speaks with Andy Plesser, CEO at Beet.TV, about how innovations like network-level analysis & embeddings are taking contextual advertising beyond simple keyword matching — paving the way for neuro-contextual AI. “We discovered that with new technologies like embeddings, we could train a system in something way more complex: understanding context like a brain. This is where neuroscience meets contextual,” Grego shared. Watch the full interview: https://lnkd.in/dZdp5K_y #AdTech #NeuroContextual #AI

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Bill Ready is speaking some necessary truths here: the industry has to step up to better protect young people online. An important read.

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Google Search is going through it's biggest period of transition since it's launch. Google's Head of Search Elizabeth Reid had a conversation with the Financial Times to discuss how that's playing out. She shared some interesting tips on how Google is going to be changing in the future. AIO is going to open up deeper searches by offering more information at the beginning of your search journey: "What you see with something like AI Overviews, when you bring the friction down for users, is people search more and that opens up new opportunities for websites, for creators, for publishers to access. And they get higher-quality clicks." Ads are going to show up less frequently for some searches and more frequently when they believe the user is showing intent to by, or convert: "When a query is predominantly commercial intent — like we think you want to buy something — then we might often show ads. But sometimes we think you probably don’t want to [see] ads, and so we don’t want to give everyone ads. But some people might want to buy something. If [you search] “how to clean a stain out of the couch” and the first thing we show is a bunch of ads, you’re like, “Whoa, I just wanted some advice.” " The big takeaway on how Google Search will change in the future: --> More multimodal searching --> It will get more personalised over time, not just in the results, but in how you learn well. --> Agents? "This question is about how you make use of tools. People use the word “agents” to mean different things. But the sense of “you can use tools to ask hard questions” will continue. [Google] Search will remain an information product at heart, but sometimes information is hard and there’s a lot of work." Link to the article here --> https://lnkd.in/gUqJVWUs Link to an ungated version --> https://lnkd.in/g4nZE4V2

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Everyone keeps saying “the algorithm is unpredictable.” It’s actually becoming more predictable than ever...if you’re paying attention. Here are 3 platform updates that tell you exactly where social is heading right now: • Threads now lets users customize their feed using the “Dear Algo” prompt. Translation: platforms are rewarding intentional engagement and clear signals. • YouTube is integrating Shorts deeper into Google Search. Short-form video is no longer just scroll content, it’s searchable content. • Hashtags are quietly making a comeback on Instagram. Not 30 spammy tags. 3 to 5 niche, keyword-driven hashtags that support SEO and discoverability. The common thread? Search matters. Signals matter. Specificity matters. We’re moving out of the “post and hope” era and into the “optimize and position” era. The platforms are literally telling brands how to win. Most just aren’t adjusting their strategy fast enough. If you’re a brand or founder trying to grow in 2026, your content isn’t just content anymore. It’s search strategy, brand positioning, and discoverability all in one. That’s exactly what we help our clients build at Ground-Up Social here in San Diego. If your social presence isn’t driving discovery, leads, or real brand growth yet, let’s change that → groundupsocialmedia.com

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So proud to share what our team has been building! Last week Mark shared our exciting announcements at Meta Connect. As we're focused on building the deepest lineup of AI glasses in the world, here’s what we announced: 😎 Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 2): Up to 8 hours of battery life, 3K Ultra HD video capture, and new styles. 🚴 Oakley Meta Vanguard: The Next Era for Performance AI glasses. Built for athletes who want to capture every moment, push their limits, and stay connected to their goals. 👓 Meta Ray-Ban Display: The most advanced AI glasses ever built, featuring a visual display and controlled by the revolutionary Meta Neural Band. #MetaConnect #AI #AIglasses #innovation

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Excited to share what our team has been building! We shared our exciting announcements at Meta Connect. As we're focused on building the deepest lineup of AI glasses in the world, here’s what we announced today: 😎Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 2): Up to 8 hours of battery life, 3K Ultra HD video capture, and new styles. 🚴Oakley Meta Vanguard: The Next Era for Performance AI glasses. Built for athletes who want to capture every moment, push their limits, and stay connected to their goals. 👓Meta Ray-Ban Display: The most advanced AI glasses ever built, featuring a visual display and controlled by the revolutionary Meta Neural Band.  Learn more: https://lnkd.in/dvhqunQN #MetaConnect #AI #AIglasses #innovation

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Sooo... how can the same product, from the same company, with the same experience; suddenly grab market share from the market leader. No flashy launch, no innovation, no nothing. Change your brand positioning. How about if you are Anthropic (Claude), and you go up against a powerful government department like the DoW? Your intent was not brand position change; that'd be too pedestrian. There is of course, a lot of nuances in what happened; but the market does not care about the nuance - most of which I am most likely missing. The market cares about what they see and hear and feel. The Brand Positioning Deck on Amodei's laptop on never changed. Perceptions of the market changed of what Anthropic was. What it stood for, how far it will go for something as abstract, yet important as principles. As an aside: Amodei has re-engaged DoW and opened negotiations again as of late last week. Anthropic is still a business; and sometimes the market make a lot of assumptions, so you never know what is going on behind the scenes. But the users have made up their minds of what OpenAI and Anthropic stands for - rightly or wrongly. Both CEOs played a big role in this evolution. Speaking of CEOs and big companies and their 'products,'.... Nah, that'd be too easy. https://lnkd.in/gyfapkyF

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From Prestige Drama to Reality TV: The Dystopian Pipeline Continues The trend of turning hit dystopian dramas into reality competition formats shows no signs of slowing down. Amazon has officially greenlit Fallout Shelter, a reality competition series inspired by its successful Fallout drama and the popular video game extension. Produced by Studio Lambert (the team behind Squid Game: The Challenge), the 10-episode series will place contestants inside Vault-Tec’s iconic shelters, where they’ll face escalating challenges, strategic dilemmas, and moral crossroads—all in pursuit of a cash prize. This move comes while Fallout Season 2 is still rolling out and after the drama earned an early Season 3 renewal—underscoring just how powerful franchise worlds have become when it comes to audience engagement and brand longevity. What’s especially interesting is how IP is evolving beyond a single format. Successful scripted series are now being extended into immersive, unscripted experiences that allow audiences to engage with the world in entirely new ways. Studios are no longer just telling stories—they’re building ecosystems that invite viewers to experience the universe firsthand. As entertainment continues to blur the lines between genres, one thing is clear: recognizable IP, high-concept worlds, and cultural relevance remain the ultimate currency. Curious to see which franchise jumps into reality TV next.

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Observations of founder Alex Mashrabov in creating Higgsfield AI: - rise of the app CapCut for video editing. - trend of creators getting burned out trying to create multiple videos per day. - brands having tens or hundreds of millions in advertising budget but not enough production capabilities.

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For years, brands have hired creators for distribution (to reach audiences and borrow credibility). But increasingly, creators are being hired for production. They're no longer just media channels - they’re agile content engines. Modern creators often operate with capabilities that rival small production teams: filming, editing, motion graphics, sound design, trend fluency and real-time iteration informed by performance data. Many can concept, shoot and deliver platform-ready assets in days, sometimes hours. This evolution isn’t just creative. It’s also operational. Legal, creative, asset management, and media teams are adapting to unlock the speed and scale creators can actually deliver. Excited to share more of this POV in The Clios: https://lnkd.in/gYwjUpgV

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My First AI Post @2025 (and thank you to the Aperiam AI Fellows and to Dawn West and Alex Netelkos for making that happen!): If viewability was the training wheels of digital measurement, attention is the carbon-fiber racing bike we’ve just learned to ride. Erica kicked us off by pointing out the obvious: “viewable” doesn’t mean “seen,” and certainly doesn’t mean “engaged.” McKinsey’s neat formula — time × focus × intent — resonated as a starting point, but the real magic is in using that across channels and across the funnel. Why does this matter now? Because omni-channel is no longer a buzzword — it’s the messy, lived reality. CTV, digital out-of-home, mobile gaming, social feeds — each has wildly different engagement norms. An attention metric gives marketers and publishers a lingua franca, a Rosetta Stone to compare value and outcomes without pretending a click on a banner is the same as leaning into a big-screen spot. Publishers want credit for premium environments. Marketers want to normalize buys across hundreds of brands, countries, and media types. Attention-weighted CPMs (ACPMs) start to solve both. Even a global CPG can look across Meta, YouTube, stadium signage, and print — and make sense of it. Is it perfect? No. Is it better than a stack of inconsistent KPIs and gut feel? Absolutely. And yes, AI is in the wings — not as the protagonist, but as the stagehand making the hard stuff easier. It can normalize messy data, connect attention signals to outcomes, and embolden teams to try bolder experiments. Which brings us to the closing provocation: What if a few brave brands and publishers agreed to really transact on attention — rough edges, no gaming, shared responsibility for outcomes? The moment feels right to test whether attention can become not just a metric, but a currency. Marc Guldimann Adelaide David Zapata AB InBev Michael Shields Cory Treffiletti Rembrand McKinsey & Company

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10,000% agree with the social‑first lens. Why are we still making single, siloed “big brand films”? Brand building shouldn’t live in one moment, it should be designed for an always‑on social world. HOWEVER, going almost all‑in on creator‑led content and letting influencers produce everything for their own channels and the brand’s channels is essentially over‑weighting lower‑funnel tactics. It optimizes for short‑term sales activation at the expense of long‑term brand equity and pricing power. Not entirely surprising coming from Fernando, who previously sat in the CFO seat at Unilever. The answer isn’t “creators instead of campaigns,” it’s a mixed model: strong, distinctive brand platforms translated natively into social, plus creator‑led work that sits on top. Brands like Bandit and Manors Golf are already running that playbook: consistent brand story, adapted for social, amplified by community and creators. Tease – Hero – Sustain: – Tease: build hype around the launch in social and community. – Hero: drop a bigger, more polished brand piece that encodes the story and assets. – Sustain: keep it alive with ongoing creator content and social‑native executions. Unilever should make me CMO... for real

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During our talk at MADFest Up//North, Campfire brought its Cultural Intelligence Suite to the public. Most brands are still trying to win in 2026 using tools built for a different decade. Static calendars, backwards-looking reports, and manual workflows just don't cut it when culture moves this fast. At Campfire, we've spent years navigating this for our clients, but we realised the industry was missing a dedicated map and compass. We all know creators at scale is the way forward, the problem, is in the execution. That's why we built the Cultural Intelligence Suite. The suite gives you trend prediction, a living brand calendar that updates as culture moves, creator intelligence that spots rising talent before the market catches up, and an execution engine that can deploy thousands of creators in a day, not weeks. What to say, when to say it, how to say it, and who should carry the message. It's the unfair advantage of knowing what your audience wants before they even search for it, and acting against it faster than anyone else. I can't tell you how proud we are to finally open this up to everyone today. Take a look at what we've built: https://lnkd.in/eGyADM9P #CulturalIntelligenceSuite #MarketingInnovation #SocialListening #Campfire

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