Corey Koberg

We’re partnering with Amazon Ads to bring the largest authenticated CTV footprint in the U.S. exclusively to Amazon DSP. Advertisers will gain unmatched scale, precise targeting, smarter frequency control, and measurable results across the full funnel. 🎯 Early tests show higher reach and more efficient performance, helping brands connect with the right audiences and drive real outcomes. 📈 This is a major step forward for performance TV and a proud milestone for the team shaping the future of streaming. 👏 🔗 Read more in the press release: https://lnkd.in/gGdravyM #WeAreRoku #AmazonAds #Roku

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Most measurement systems force trade-offs that are hard to accept. Attribution gives speed, but ignores the full funnel. MMM gives scope, but is too slow. Incrementality offers causality, but only in snapshots that mean channel comparability is lost. This trade-off leaves marketers without full-funnel, daily, ad-level inputs they need to plan and optimize spend with confidence and act on emerging opportunities… As brands head into BFCM, that gap matters more than ever. And it’s exactly why we built Fospha.

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The next chapter of agentic advertising is being written at the infrastructure layer. I recently shared some thoughts in Ad Age on why the future of AI in advertising isn’t just better models but building the infrastructure and workflows that allow AI to work within real advertising environments. I also share some of the thinking behind our recently launched Amazon Ads MCP Server. If you’re exploring where AI agents fit into advertising today, take a read. I’d love to hear your thoughts: https://lnkd.in/g7R6fHbQ.

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Was fortunate to take the stage amongst a who's who of Commerce Media Leaders this week at the IAB Connected Commerce Summit! These are many of the folks I chase down to stay on the cutting edge of this industry - here's what they had to say: 🔁 Tension Between Teams Can Drive Progress Retail media forces collaboration between groups that usually stay in their lanes like Brand and Commercial, or Merchandising and Data Science. As David Cohen and Collin Colburn from IAB opened the day, winners see this as a feature more than a bug. 📉 Performance Still Has a Long Way to Go Skai research says 72% of RMN performance is rated “fair” or “good.” Investment has outpaced impact. The next phase of growth will depend on performance, not pressure. 🚀 Agile Teams Are Outperforming Jennifer Leen Berglund from Once Upon a Farm shared how their scrappy, fast-moving approach lets them act on opportunities that big brands can’t touch. Katie Neil from Coca-Cola preached 🙌 about building internal systems for operational agility, measuring accountability early and enabling teams to move fast with confidence. 📊 Retail Data Belongs in your Strategic Planning & Brand Health Metrics Gabi Viljoen from Nestlé Health Science U.S. framed digital shelf presence as a long-term brand health metric, not just a media tactic. Jeff Daniel from The Trade Desk emphasized that brands using retail data beyond media activation are gaining an advantage & that this signal must be treated differently than legacy media inputs. 🏬 In-Store Is Becoming a Strategic Advantage Again Lisa Valentino from Best Buy shared how the Mario Kart midnight release turned into a cultural moment, powered by physical activation of consumer insight. Best Buy is betting big on in-store takeovers and leveraging in-house creative to deliver content tailored to the platform and the experience. 🧠 Shoutout to the many voices who added depth and perspective throughout the day: Michael Schuh, Adam Heimlich, Kiri Masters, and Amie Owen. The side conversations were just as insightful as what happened on stage! 🎙️ I joined a powerhouse panel with: Chelsey Alexander of Open Gate Consulting, Matt Claisse from SMG, Andrew Lipsman from anywhere anyone is talking about Retail Media (check out his substack), and Benoit Vatere of Liquid Death. We explored: → In-store as media → The Evolution of the VP of Media → The ongoing tension between brand and retail investment However... we left a lot unsaid: → The comeback of physical experiences as brand builders → The limitations of legacy performance metrics → Why speed and adaptability are now prerequisites for success Afterward, we floated the idea of continuing the conversation virtually. How many likes to get this group back together? We'll see!

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One Front Door: why RMNs need ‘one way in’ Retail media is scaling quickly and of course, with that growth comes pressure from all sides. This often looks like pressure to work with more advertisers, to open up more channels & to rapidly capture more demand. That pressure sometimes leads to what on the surface feels like a logical answer: simply open more doors to the RMN. One door for agencies, another for brands directly. Perhaps separate routes for in-store, on-site and offsite. Or maybe one for trade-spend, another for incremental brand-spend. It makes sense on paper – maybe these new entry points mean you can tailor the entry-point to the buyer & simply match the structure to the task? Maybe you even create some competition amongst partners which drives growth faster? But in solving for access or specialism, it’s easy to lose something even more important in your RMN - visibility, control, and cohesion. Without a single, unified way in, a few things can start to slip. The customer experience suffers when campaigns become disconnected (because they're planned &/or sold by different teams). The campaign messaging misaligns, creative doesn’t translate across channels & in-store feels like a different world to digital. Suddenly, what was meant to feel joined-up starts to fragment and it shows to the customer, the most important RMN stakeholder. And this quickly leads to worsening campaign performance too. The advertiser experience becomes worse as well. When different teams compete for the same spend, or sell different channels to the same buyer, trust can erode. I know this from personal experience – when I was on the brand-side, I probably received 10 calls a week from different channel owners before an RMN I was working with was brought together. And when advertisers spend more time navigating the process than planning great work, it’s hard to deliver the impact you want to. The internal experience can also suffer. A one front door model doesn’t mean one person does everything, but it does mean the system hangs together. A shared growth plan, a joined-up strategy, one revenue forecast – it gives you one version of the truth. The biggest issue is the impact on the commercial outcome; that’s where the risk quietly seeps in. Duplication of effort emerges, tactical deals compromise value and RMN margin gets diluted before it’s even noticed. And the long-term value of the business then becomes far harder to protect. A one front door model won’t eliminate complexity, and it doesn’t mean defaulting to one platform or one partner. You can still build a rich ecosystem behind the scenes. But it does create control. It puts the advertiser and the customer at the core of the RMN. And so if growth is the goal, then structure is what makes it possible. Samuel Knights | Lee LeFeuvre | Rosie Houston | Emma Dean | Sean Crawford | Matt Lee | Ollie Shayer | Kate Birtwistle | Claire Reid | Matt Claisse | SMG | SMG North America

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Kroger Just Unlocked the TV and Audio Ad Market for small and medium sized brands. Generally, CPG giants with dedicated in-house programmatic teams have been able to take advantage of first-party data supported Connected TV (CTV) and streaming audio.  However, without significant resources, smaller and mid-sized brand were stuck on the outside looking in. Until Now. Kroger Precision Marketing (KPM) just unlocked the door for challenger brands of all sizes. They recognized the critical gap : Brands want to leverage streaming media but lack the expertise and / or resources for complex programmatic buying. Kroger’s solution?                                                          They’ll do the heavy lifting for you. KPM’s in-house experts will activate and manage your campaigns across premium platforms like Roku, Paramount+, Pandora, and iHeartRadio. The Secret Weapon: Selling Outcomes, Not Impressions. KPM isn't just selling ad slots; they're providing the data-powered precision that's impossible to replicate independently. -Precision Targeting: Using Kroger’s first-party loyalty card data for unrivaled accuracy. -Guaranteed Measurement: Every campaign provides closed-loop measurement, including ROAS, sales lift, and the direct impact on dollar and unit sales. -The Proof: A campaign using this data achieved a 5.5% increase in sales by targeting lapsed Neutrogena buyers on Roku. This is a strategic play that democratizes access to high-value media channels. If you've viewed CTV and streaming audio as out of reach, the door is now open. ➡️ See the full strategic analysis on how KPM is weaponizing its data for the masses and creating a lifeline for challenger brands (Link below and in the first comment!)

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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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The advertising industry is at a pivotal moment with the launch of AdCP, but true advertising automation hinges on one critical factor: connectivity. 🔗 APIs are the foundational interfaces that drive every platform, and while new protocols like MCP and AdCP provide context and communication, they don't execute. 🚫 That's where MadConnect comes in. We are the essential execution layer, unifying and managing APIs across the entire advertising landscape. 🌐 We transform standardized agent communication into actual advertising outcomes, making AdCP actionable in the real world. ✨ MadConnect isn't just a solution; we're the operational backbone that makes the future of advertising automation possible. We are the plumbing that makes the protocol speak. The link to read the rest of my post is in the first comment below. #AdTech #AdvertisingAutomation #MadConnect #APIs #Connectivity #AdCP #MCP

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Meta + LiveRamp = Measurement Jackpot! Big news from LiveRamp! Retailers can now connect their Meta campaign results directly with their own first-party sales data — all within the LiveRamp Clean Room. For the first time, they can clearly see how off-site platforms like Meta drive real outcomes: sales, orders, and ROAS. That means stronger proof of performance and even stronger partnerships with their brand suppliers. LiveRamp and Meta are already working with more than 10 retailers including Albertsons Media Collective and Target (Roundel). And even more new measurement capabilities are coming soon: - Incrementality to measure real sales lift - Halo analysis to see how campaigns influence related products - Buyer insights to understand who’s engaging LiveRamp is helping retailers and their partners get the clearest view of performance so they can tell a stronger story about the full impact of their media investments. Read more about the announcement here: https://lnkd.in/g6yn9Bk6

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