LAST CHANCE:

Nine passes left to attend the Digiday Publishing Summit

SECURE YOUR SEAT

‘Agencies Flock to Innovative Companies Consumers Flock to’

My view is that if Yahoo can win over entrepreneurs, it will help drive innovation. If they innovate, that will help win over consumers. You know what agencies flock to? Innovative companies that consumers flock to.
— Jeff Lanctot, chief media officer, Razorfish in “As ‘Tech’ Company, Yahoo Is Giving Ad Agencies A New Look: The Cold Shoulder.” (AdAge)

The age-old dilemma for all Silicon Valley tech companies is whether they’re really media companies. Google went through this debate ad nauseam in its early days. The challenge is these companies are both: They’re tech companies with media business models. Yahoo made the decisive turn to focus on its tech side when it passed over Ross Levinsohn for Marissa Mayer, a virtual unknown to Madison Avenue. Lanctot crystallizes why this tech-company-or-media-company debate is a false one. Ad buyers follow audiences. Yahoo’s relevance depends on that, whether it attracts that audience through hot mobile tech or through great content.

More in Marketing

‘Consumers are dying to get out of their houses’: How Cinemark’s CMO is getting people back to the movies

A look at how consumer demand looks in the movie industry and what other retailers can learn from Cinemark’s loyalty and membership programs.

Platform and agency execs recommended must-reads to unwind during busy periods

Senior execs from the likes of TikTok, Snap, OMD USA, Publicis London and more let us in on their favorite page-turners to unwind.

In Graphic Detail: AI adoption increases, but U.S. consumers are still wary

Digiday has charted the rise of generative AI, big tech’s investment into AI as well as agencies’ top use cases and consumer sentiment.