Overheard at ANA Masters of Marketing: ‘90% of banner ads are fraud and they don’t work’
The Drum team is on the ground at the ANA Masters of Marketing 2024 this week in Orlando, Florida. Here are the real-time insights we’ve been hearing from industry leaders.
Lucy Kriz, vice-president of global brands, Criteo: “There’s been a lot buzz around this term ‘brandformance.’ We’re experiencing this next wave in advertising where brands are leveraging mid and lower funnel commerce signals to inform both brand marketing and creative strategies. In the next 12-18 months, we’re going to see retail and commerce media continue to emerge out of the performance shadows and truly evolve to help power precision marketing at scale.”
Shelly Palmer chief executive officer of The Palmer Group: “I don’t know how political anybody in this room is, [But] we’re now sharing the planet with … intelligence decoupled from humanity. It’s the first time in history that we are sharing the planet with another intelligence that we don’t understand. The role of government … is to protect us as best they can from this, but we have to protect ourselves first. So, the number one thing for everybody to do is get deep into this. Get a Gemini account, a chat GPT account, a Claude account … Go deep and have a personal opinion about it that you learned, that you earned … Then, contact your local officials and say … ‘As a citizen, as a parent, as a grandparent and as a human being, these are the things I need to be true for the world.’”
Carlton Wood, partner & executive viceo-president of business development, Lewis: “We’re starting to see more fractional CMOs, and from a business development standpoint, we’re focusing on former agency colleagues who have transitioned to the client side in these roles. Some of the relationships we built five, 10 or 15 years ago on the agency side are now resurfacing, as these individuals, now fractional CMOs, are looking to build their brands through agency partnerships.”
Marc Siegel, president of sales, SimulMedia: “90% of banner ads are fraud, and they don’t work.”
Michael Perdigao, president, The Wonderful Company: “Looking ahead to 2025, one of the tailwinds we have is that consumers are starting to eat healthier, which benefits us. However, inflation is real and likely to worsen, which may challenge us as a premium-priced product in a category where consumers can easily trade down to more affordable options like peanuts or almonds. We’ll need to keep driving that emotional connection to stay competitive.”
Jonathan Heit, co-founder & global chief executive officer, Allison: “A combination of strategic communications and full-funnel, 360-integrated marketing ensures that someone from both sides of the business is involved from the start. Too often, in either PR or marketing, people focus on their own channels rather than putting the client’s business problem front and center … One thing that Allison does really well, particularly as a mid-sized agency compared with larger ones, is operating as a single P&L … Now, being part of the Stagwell network, which also embraces a challenger mentality, has further enabled our impact and influence on the marketing world.”
Jaime Robinson, co-founder & chief creative officer, Joan: “What’s really exciting to me is hearing the focus on women’s athletics and sports – not just for the sake of equality, but because it’s genuinely lucrative. Sponsors are recognizing the value and investing in it, which is fantastic. Now, it’s time to bring top-tier, groundbreaking creative to these media buys and truly blow everyone’s minds.”
Carla Dodds, chief marketing officer, Nova Mercatus: “Today, we tend to over-complicate marketing by trying to tackle too many things at once. If we go back to the basics – strategy, structure and staffing – it becomes much easier. First, we need to focus on the business strategy we’re aiming for, then build the right structure to support it, and finally, find the right talent to execute it. This is far more effective than the current approach, which often involves filling roles with individuals who might not have the necessary skill set or only have temporary expertise. By aligning staffing with the original strategy, everything becomes simpler.”
Christine Guilfoyle, president, SeeHer: “You can do so many great things with your marketing dollars, especially considering that women make 85% of all purchasing decisions – $30tn globally and $10tn in the US. And yet, while this ‘sheconomy’ has existed for a long time, many marketers haven’t fully tapped into it. Women’s sports, in particular, present a huge opportunity. The cost of entry is much lower compared with men’s sports, but the viewership is surging. For example, the NCAA women’s basketball tournament had higher viewership for each game than the men’s final, and the winner of the US Women’s Open drew more viewers than the men’s. This isn’t a passing fad – it’s a real opportunity for business growth.”
Matt Wasserlauf, chief executive officer, Blockboard: “We’re facing a $22bn problem in the advertising industry, and with the rapid rise of AI, that number could easily balloon to $22tn. The issue, uncovered by the ANA and one we’ve been tackling at Blockboard, centers around ‘made for advertising’ sites – essentially bots that drive fraudulent activity. While many avoid using the term, this is fraud, plain and simple. At Blockboard, we’re committed to being part of the solution, addressing these fraudulent practices to clean up the industry and ensure that marketing dollars are being spent effectively.”
Jann Schwarz, senior director of marketplace innovation, Linkedin: “The role of B2B marketers isn’t just to convince the world that they have the best product. It’s to convince the world that theirs is the easiest product to agree on. In any buying group, some members care about how innovative the product is, while others are more concerned with security risks, existing contracts or payment terms. Marketers often forget about that part. It’s like trying to buy one shoe instead of a pair – you need to cater to both sides.”
Lara Vandenberg, founder, Publicist: “The industry is shifting toward a freelance model, driven by AI and hyper-specialization. In the next five years, only 20% of workers will be full-time, with the rest hired for specific projects at varying capacities. Like the Hollywood studio model, advertising will rely on small core teams and top freelancers for specialized work. AI is boosting productivity, so that also means fewer full-time roles, with companies hiring people only as needed.”
Rocco Pallatto, senior vice-president of development, Ad Council: “One of my favorite parts of the job is working with brands to move society forward positively and help people stay safe and healthy. To do so, we bring subject matter experts from nonprofits and government agencies to the table with fact-based information, along with amazing creative from top talent … Take gun violence prevention – it’s the leading cause of death for kids aged one to 19 – and while we’re not debating gun ownership, we’re leveraging the power of creativity to find real solutions that keep kids safe.”
Suggested newsletters for you
Daily Briefing
Daily
Catch up on the most important stories of the day, curated by our editorial team.
Ads of the Week
Wednesday
See the best ads of the last week – all in one place.
The Drum Insider
Once a month
Learn how to pitch to our editors and get published on The Drum.
Jim O’Donnell, senior director of strategic sales, T-Mobile: “T-Mobile Tuesdays has been a huge success for the entertainment industry. We consistently average 5% of the opening weekend box office sales for every movie we feature with $5 movie tickets. For instance, we sold $6m worth of tickets for Spider-Man through the app alone. Movie studios spend millions to drive ticket sales, but we can guarantee significant ticket sales just through our platform. Entertainment is a natural fit for us because we can identify entertainment enthusiasts through the apps people use … while maintaining privacy compliance. This allows us to deliver highly targeted and valuable audiences to studios.”
link