Ryan Joe

Product placement is surging, but requires a lot of advance negotiation. Rembrand, which uses AI to make the process faster, raised $8 million in seed.

Product placement is surging, but requires a lot of advance negotiation. Rembrand, which uses AI to make the process faster, raised $8 million in seed.

Insider is looking for the marketing experts at brands and agencies who will be crucial helping marketers navigate the new world of AI-powered search.

Major CPGs like P&G, Clorox, and Coca-Cola aren’t looking to up their marketing investments currently, but might need to if consumers finally balk at paying more for goods.

The number of sites that use Google to power ads has grown from 18 last year to 42 this year, according to research from NewsGuard.

Big brands like Ally, which will release a new campaign on “Fortnite” in April, revealed how they’ve made advertising in video games pay off and the challenges they’ve needed to overcome.

After a rough start to the year, the US ad industry’s hiring picked up significantly during the middle of the year, and the rise of AI-driven tools will further reshape advertising roles, according to Insider Intelligence.From C-levels to AI-talent, advertisers, ad agencies, and adtech companies are turning to top recruiters to find the talent who can help lead their companies into the future.Insider is seeking nominations for outside recruiters, both independent and at agencies, with experience…

Ad giant IPG has officially figured out what to do with its embattled data and technology unit Kinesso, which went through a massive shakeup over the summer that saw many of its top execs depart, as Insider first reported.Kinesso has now been merged with Reprise, an agency within Mediabrands, IPG’s group of media-buying agencies. Reprise CEO Jarrod Martin will oversee the combined unit, rebranded as KINESSO.First launched in 2019, the original Kinesso bought digital ads for IPG’s advertiser clie…

CarMax just promoted its long-time employee and VP of marketing Sarah Lane to the role of CMO and SVP.Lane started as a search analyst at the company at the age of 22 and in the early aughts, when the company was in only a handful of markets. Today, it’s the largest used-car retailer in the US, according to Automotive News.Lane succeeds Jim Lyski, who had been the company’s top marketer since 2014.CarMax has grown significantly since it started as a Circuit City side hustle in the early 1990s, b…

Snowflake CMO Denise Persson has a big growth mandate ahead of her.Persson started at the company in 2016, when it marketed itself with a billboard along US Highway 101 in Silicon Valley, and when its events were so heavily plastered with the Amazon Web Services logo, on which Snowflake had built its technology, attendees often thought they were at an Amazon event.“As a startup, you can’t do it alone,” Persson told Insider. “There’s always some company in your category that you can ride on their…

When generative AI burst onto the public consciousness almost one year ago, it was immediately evident that it would greatly impact the advertising industry. But as concerns around potential copyright infringement, hallucinations, and the quality of its output came into the forefront, it wasn’t clear how the technology could be used effectively.But over the year, a handful of adtech and martech companies have emerged, using some version of generative AI technologies to do things as varied as mak…

Correction: November 15, 2023 — An earlier headline of this story said that Findlay was Sonos’ first-ever chief commercial officer. While previous Sonos execs have had the chief commercial officer title, Findlay’s position is newly-created as it’s a mix of CMO, CRO, and CCO roles.On Monday, Deirdre Findlay started her first day as Sonos’ chief commercial officer. While others have held the title, Findlay’s position is a newly-created role that’s an amalgam of chief marketer, chief revenue office…

Qortex, which uses AI to target ads in streaming TV, online video, and video games, said Monday it had raised a $6 million Series A round, led by GFT Ventures.It plans to use the funds to staff up with business development professionals as it makes a big push to increase its client count in 2024. Other contributors to the round included Silicon Road Ventures.The new round brings Qortex’s total funding to $10 million.About two-thirds of the company’s 26 full timers are engineers, said Qortex cofo…

Insider is seeking nominations for its fifth annual list of PR’s rising stars.We’re looking for promising and ambitious up-and-comers with a history of leadership who’ve shown they can manage teams, coordinate projects, and remain calm in tough situations.Last year was tough as companies had to do business in an economically volatile climate and in a world filled with so many sensitive topics that one misstep could lead to widespread outrage. These challenges will likely continue into 2024 and e…

For most observers, it seems as if Intuit is entering 2024 the same way it usually does: an influx of advertising, including a splashy Super Bowl spot, touting TurboTax to help people get through the dreaded tax season.But the stakes are much higher this year because Intuit, which hosts an investor meeting January 18, is entering 2024 with what it calls a “branded house strategy,” which it first started implementing last March. The idea was to push the Intuit name itself into the consumer consci…

This is Insider’s fourth-annual list recognizing the diverse up-and-coming marketing talent who will define the industry for years to come.This new crop of talent are tapping new technologies to build innovative experiences, finding ultra-creative ways to capture Gen Z’s attention, and developing bold, splashy marketing strategies that are helping their companies drive revenue even in an uncertain economy.The list is based on our reporting and about 40 nominations. These marketers sit below CMO…

The digital consultancy Bounteous is merging with Accolite Digital, and together they plan to become a billion-dollar company in five years.Bounteous and Accolite Digital offer different, yet complementary services. The private equity firm New Mountain Capital, which invested in both companies in 2021, instigated the idea for this merger late last year.Bounteous, a Chicago-based consultancy, mostly works with chief marketing officers in North America and designs customer-facing experiences. Its…

For many advertisers, $7 million for 30 seconds in the Super Bowl is worth the price of admission, since it can announce their brand to a huge audience, many of whom are just as engaged with the ads as they are with the actual game and that, over the past few years, has been almost equally split between men and women according to Nielsen data.But that high cost is often just a starting point, especially since many brands want more time.“It’s very rare that you’re buying a 30-second spot,” said o…

This story was originally published February 15. It has been updated after Walmart announced on February 20 that it has agreed to buy Vizio for $2.3 billion.Walmart just said it will buy TV manufacturer Vizio for $2.3 billion, in an effort to bolster its ad business. The deal talks were first reported by The Wall Street Journal. The retail giant’s ad unit drove $2.7 billion in revenue in 2022, making it the second-biggest retail media business, but well behind Amazon’s $47 billion behemoth. Here…

Business Insider is seeking nominations for a list showcasing the creative agencies that have mastered generative AI technologies and are using them to produce consumer-facing work. Please submit your nominations using this form.Over the last year, ad agencies have taken big steps familiarizing themselves with generative AI tools — and they’ve become much more adept at harnessing the nascent technology for their clients’ creative work. Even still, the tech continues to evolve with eye-popping re…