1. How is the transition to cloud-native workflows transforming the media and entertainment industry's approach to content production and post-production? 

I think we’re seeing a real shift in mindset. Cloud-native workflows are giving teams a way to break out of rigid, legacy systems and work faster, with fewer handoffs. Instead of being tied to a single location or hardware setup, everything from ingest to delivery can now happen in one virtual space. At CREE8, we’ve built our platform to take full advantage of that giving creators the flexibility to spin up workstations on demand, collaborate in real time, and keep moving without delays. It's not just remote work anymore, it's rethinking how production should work.

2. In what ways are cloud-based solutions facilitating real-time collaboration among geographically dispersed creative professionals? 

What’s exciting is that real-time collaboration is finally actually real-time even across continents. Teams can edit the same project from three different countries, with no waiting on file transfers or feedback. We’ve made it possible by virtualizing the entire post stack and syncing everything in the cloud. You can jump into a session with a colorist in London and a director in New York, and everyone’s seeing the same thing, instantly. It’s completely changed what’s possible for global teams.

3. How can media organizations balance the need for high-performance virtual workstations with the goal of reducing on-premises infrastructure costs? 

I think the key is giving teams the power to scale up only when they need it. With cloud-native tools, you don’t have to keep expensive machines running 24/7. You just spin up a high-performance workstation when you need one, then shut it down when you don’t. That kind of flexibility means you’re only paying for what you use, but still getting high performance. And if you’ve already invested in some on-prem infrastructure, we can integrate with that too it doesn’t have to be all or nothing.

4. How is the accessibility of enterprise-grade cloud solutions impacting smaller studios and independent creators in the industry? 

This is one of the things I’m most excited about. Cloud used to be something only big studios could afford to figure out  but that’s not the case anymore. With tools like our Free Edition, even small teams can access enterprise-grade collaboration, storage, and security from day one. I’ve talked to solo creators who are now running full post pipelines from their laptops, working with teams across the world. It’s really leveled the playing field in a big way.

5. How can organizations effectively manage scalable cloud storage to accommodate varying project needs without compromising performance? 

Managing cloud storage well is all about being smart with tiers and access. We help teams organize their storage so that active files stay on fast, high-performance tiers, while less-used media gets archived automatically but is still easy to retrieve. You don’t want to be paying top dollar for stuff you’re not touching, but you also don’t want to be hunting for old assets. I think the balance comes from having storage that adapts to the creative process, not the other way around.

6. What emerging technologies are poised to further revolutionize cloud-based media workflows in the next few years?

AI is definitely top of mind not just for flashy use cases, but for making real, practical improvements in how we work. I’m seeing tools that can automatically find the best takes, tag footage, or even suggest edits, which frees up time for the creative decisions that really matter. And with advances in cloud rendering, 5G, and edge computing, live cloud production is getting more viable — even from places with limited connectivity. Long term, I think we’ll see more composability too letting teams build their own workflow stacks from the ground up, completely in the cloud.

1. What are the key misconceptions about PR that startups should rethink when building brand awareness?

That PR is about puff pieces and getting your name “out there” by hiring someone with media contacts to blast press releases. It’s not. That’s the old-school model—and it doesn’t work anymore, especially not for startups trying to cut through a saturated, attention-deficit marketplace. Startups tend to confuse visibility with credibility. But visibility without strategy is like shouting in a crowded room. Nobody listens.

PR—when done with the right strategy—is about building trust through earned media, not paid spin. With Anti-PR®, we help startups pinpoint what the industry isn’t saying, then position them as the truth-teller in that space. When you consistently bring real insight to the table — and stop parroting corporate-speak—you earn a level of credibility that no press blast or ad spend can buy. That’s when PR stops being a cost center and starts driving real business value.

2. How can startups compete with well-funded competitors using innovative brand positioning tactics?

You don’t beat Goliath by playing Goliath’s game. You win by being the voice of truth in an industry that’s starved for it. Anti-PR® arms startups with strategy—not just visibility. You identify what’s broken in your industry, then take a stand. If you're the only one saying what needs to be said, congratulations you own the narrative. You just became unignorable.

Startups can move faster, speak bolder, and take positions on things that their legacy competitors can’t touch. With Anti-PR®, we help startups uncover the uncomfortable truths in their industry—and then say what no one else is willing to say. That’s how you dominate a conversation without dominating ad spend. It’s not about being louder — it’s about being clearer. Own the uncomfortable. Be the company that calls out what’s broken and offers a better way. That’s how you stand out and get taken seriously, even without a Super Bowl budget.

3. What role does community-building play in amplifying a startup’s presence without mainstream media backing?

Media validation is important but it’s not the only game in town anymore. In a world where trust is decentralized, the most powerful form of credibility is community. And I’m not talking about “likes” or followers. I mean actual humans who care about your mission and are willing to evangelize it.

For startups, community-building is a superpower. When people feel like they’re part of something bigger — something that challenges the status quo — they don’t just buy your product. They share it. They defend it. They grow it.

4. How should startups balance controversial marketing stunts vs. sustainable brand trust?

There’s a fine line between being provocative and being performative and most stunts cross it. If you’re only trying to go viral, you’re playing a short-term game with a long-term reputation. And trust me, the court of public opinion has a very long memory.

That said, startups should be bold. They should take risks. But those risks need to be grounded in truth. When we work with clients through the Anti-PR lens, we help them take strategic stands—ones that reflect their mission and expose the real problems in their market. That’s how you get attention and build credibility.

If a marketing move doesn’t educate, provoke meaningful dialogue, or lead with value, it’s not disruptive — it’s just noise. When you disrupt with purpose, you build trust even while ruffling feathers. And that’s what keeps a brand top of mind and top of trust.

5. What role does thought leadership play in building credibility and market influence?

Everyone’s trying to be a “thought leader”, but they’re just recycling the same jargon, stats, and predictions. That’s not leadership — that’s regurgitation.

Real thought leadership is about insight. It’s about being the first to say what everyone else is still whispering or too afraid to admit. When startups tap into their founders’ unique lens and connect it to broader market truths, that’s when people start listening.

Through Anti-PR®, we coach startups to stop selling and start teaching. Every piece of content, every media appearance, every quote should do one of two things: challenge an assumption or solve a problem. That’s how you position your brand not just as relevant, but as essential.

6. How can a well-crafted data-driven Anti-PR® strategy improve a startup’s chances of overcoming funding challenges and scaling sustainably?

Investors aren’t just looking at your product or your deck anymore—they’re watching your traction, your message, and your influence. If you can’t tell a compelling story backed by third-party credibility, you’re just another risky bet.

This is where Anti-PR® shines. We use data — market data, competitor data, earned media performance — to craft narratives that aren’t just interesting, they’re investable. We show startups how to create momentum that’s visible to VCs, partners, and the public.

We’ve seen startups land funding because of the credibility our campaigns helped them earn. One media hit in the right outlet, supported by the right positioning and market timing, can do more for funding prospects than six months of cold outreach. When you’ve got third-party validation echoing your value proposition, the conversation shifts. You’re not just telling investors you’re ready to scale — you’re showing them that the market already agrees.

1. How is your organization adapting its marketing strategies to meet the increasing demand for personalized and interactive video content?

Our research shows that all demographics are expecting the brands they work with to use more video in general, and more next gen video (such as personalized and interactive video) specifically. Customers are 3x more likely to prefer receiving a next gen video over traditional video, and in the case of Gen Z a staggering 93% of them are interested in both interactive and personalized video content from brands.

Brands are listening but still have a long way to go. The “video gap” in this year’s market study — the percentage of consumers who want brands to send them more video content — dropped to 78%, which is still a very large gap.

In addition, some of our financial services clients have specifically targeted Gen Z customers with these next gen video services due to how much it resonates with them and how upset they get when the content sent to them isn’t personalized.

2. How do you balance automation with creative input to maintain authenticity in your video content?

We allow users to find the balance that works for them. Our Next Generation Video Platform can create ready-to-use videos from a simple prompt, but we allow human intervention at every step of the process: from uploading brand kits to editing the script, narration, voiceover, style and any and all media used. Typically, users will let our automation take a first crack at creating the video and then use our easy touch-up editor to add their own creative flair if desired.

3. What key performance indicators (KPIs) are used to assess the effectiveness of personalized video campaigns?

Our clients use a variety of KPIs to measure success. The primary but most sensitive ones are ROI uplifts, for example, this one that shows a 17x ROI: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHvVIiagS-E

Other clients may use engagement metrics such as how many people click on the call to action at the end of the video, while others use NPS scores. Our next gen videos show significant uplifts in all those metrics.

4. What measures are in place to ensure data privacy and compliance when collecting and utilizing consumer data for personalized video content?

We don’t collect any user data. We work with companies who have a relationship with their customers and who use us for generating video content for those customers. We generally don’t receive any PII (all data is anonymized), and all data is handled with our enterprise-grade security that includes ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type 2 and HIPAA compliance. Our platform has cleared the most stringent security audits with the most regulated companies such as banks, hospitals and telcos.

5. What initiatives are in place to ensure your brand's video content remains engaging and relevant to digital-first audiences?

We are always innovating and adding to our platform. The primary focus is on further scaling our AI capabilities in order to remove friction and cost and allow our customers to make ready-to-use videos for any purpose in minutes and to deploy them to millions of customers.

We have recently added an AI Video Ads module to our Lucas AI Video Creator and plan on adding additional dedicated modules to provide tailor-made solutions that are optimized for key use cases.

6. What plans are in place to further innovate your video marketing strategies to stay ahead of emerging trends and consumer behaviors?

We believe in drinking our own champagne, and we are therefore using our own next gen video services to engage our customers. We used to be very limited in our ability to create our own video content as our production studio was busy working on client campaigns, but now with Lucas, we can create videos for our website, mailers, etc., in minutes, leading to huge time savings and uplifts in engagement.

1. What measures are in place to ensure that your brand's messaging remains consistent and resonates across diverse channels and audiences?

In 2024, Beyond Trending underwent a thorough rebranding process where we analyzed our company values, vision, voice, and overall messaging. It was a big project with plenty of exploration to truly uncover who we are as a company, the types of clients we serve, and what makes us stand out in the crowded PR industry. Thankfully, when we emerged from that process, we felt crystal clear in who we are – and who we are not. We are the opposite of a big-city agency as we move fast and get stuff done. We are strategists who are confident enough to question our clients instead of just saying ‘yes.’ And we never follow a copy and paste model as we know that PR success is dependent on thoughtful and creative storytelling tactics. 

Just as we say to our clients, consistency in your messaging is critical – so we of course must practice what we preach! We don’t try to shift to fit a customer prospect that doesn’t align with our strengths, or offer services that don’t fall within our wheelhouse. We remain consistent across all marketing channels and have messaging guidelines and best practices to further enforce that approach. Because we work with three main categories of clients – tech companies, startups & VCs, and nonprofits – we use those sectors as a benchmark for the content we produce to keep our core audiences engaged. 

2. What technologies are currently employed to monitor and analyze media coverage, and how do they inform your PR strategies? 

In terms of monitoring to ensure we don’t miss any client coverage, we use a broad range of tools – from basic to more complex, as every monitoring service is a bit different. We have Google and TalkWalker alerts as well as more robust tools like Muck Rack and TVeyes. This helps us ensure nothing falls through the cracks. 

By utilizing the analytics capabilities within Muck Rack, for example, we can compare quarter-over-quarter or year-over-year results, conduct competitive analyses, and even see the top publications or writers who cover our clients. This provides us with a picture of where we have strong visibility and as well as areas of improvement.   

3. How does your organization track and measure the effectiveness of PR campaigns in achieving business objectives?

The big question for any company looking to hire a PR agency is ROI and that’s something we’re always seeking to measure in new ways. Some are basic measurements that are standard across all kinds of clients, whereas others are measured in more unique ways based on the specific KPIs that a client wants to achieve. At the start of every engagement, and with a review on a quarterly or half-year basis, we discuss those goals and KPIs with our clients to ensure we’re on track, and if the targets have shifted at all for the business, we can adapt accordingly. 

Then analyzing the effectiveness of a campaign and the media results, we’re tracking the number of media placements, potential reach (UVM), social shares, and advertising value equivalency (AVE). We also often analyze and track competitive share of voice (SOV) as well as review engagement and comments on article placements. 

The real magic happens when we sit down with our clients to learn of the uptick in website traffic, general visibility, and/or secured customers in response to one of our media campaigns. We’ve had many clients share feedback from an investor, partner, or customer who read or heard about them in ‘X’ media outlet and then engagement with the company. 

4. What strategies are being implemented to foster innovation and agility in your PR practices? 

Everyone’s leveraging AI and tools like ChatGPDT in some capacity – and it would be silly not to bolster your team with the ability to save time and accomplish more. But we’re selective in how we use these AI-supported tools. They serve as a great launching off point for brainstorming as well as outlining things like press releases, pitches, or byline articles. But we never use AI to draft full articles, for example, as the content is cookie-cutter and lacks tone; the human touch is 100% still necessary. 

We also use email tracking tools like Mix Max to determine the most opportune time to reach a reporter’s inbox or have visibility into how often they’re looking at our pitches. This helps us tailor and maximize our media relations efforts and ensure we’re giving reporters what they want. 

5. How is your organization adapting its PR strategies to align with evolving media landscapes and consumer expectations? 

The media landscape has changed dramatically not only over the last decade but even the last year, so in order to stay relevant, you must continuously adapt and evolve. On a granular level, we continue to get more targeted and tailored with key journalists we want to build relationships with, and are straightforward and succinct in our outreach to them. We know reporters are time and bandwidth strapped so we’ve learned to get right to it – no fluff. 

Perhaps most important are our efforts to approach communications strategy holistically. What we continue to do is bolster our services through strong partnerships. PR can’t work with a siloed approach, so if our clients are looking for social media, branding, growth marketing, etc., we can pull in the right partners to ensure we’re not only reaching a broad range of media targets, but also incorporating the various ways people consume and digest information. 

6. How are you ensuring that your PR approaches remain adaptable to changes in media consumption and public sentiment?

We continuously analyze traditional as well as non-traditional mediums to ensure our clients are being seen by their core audiences, the ones that drive revenue and growth. That means being familiar with all the ways people consume their news beyond just online, print and television – newsletters, podcasts, social media, and more. 

1. What role does strategic partnerships and technology innovation play in an organization’s growth plan?

At AdCellerant, strategic partnerships and technology innovation are two sides of the same coin regarding sustainable growth. Partnerships allow us to expand our reach, create better outcomes for our clients, and move faster with trusted allies by our side. Whether aligning with top-tier media companies or integrating with cutting-edge platforms, we view every partnership as a way to increase the value we deliver to small and medium-sized businesses.

On the technology side, our innovation engine is always on. We’ve built our Ui.Marketing platform to simplify complex advertising strategies, empowering businesses with automation, data-driven insights, and cross-channel execution at scale. When these two forces—strategic partnerships and technology—work in harmony, they become powerful accelerants of growth for us and our partners.

2. How does the role of a Chief Growth Officer differ from traditional executive roles in driving business expansion?

A CGO is uniquely positioned to examine the entire business and identify scalable, repeatable growth opportunities. While other executive roles might focus on operational efficiency, finance, or sales in isolation, the CGO’s role is to connect the dots across products, partnerships, marketing, and revenue.

At AdCellerant, that means constantly scanning the horizon for emerging technologies, market shifts, and ways to deliver more value to our partners. It’s not just about hitting growth targets; it’s about building the infrastructure, strategy, and culture that enable consistent expansion, without compromising quality or innovation.

3. What are the most significant trends shaping the future of advertising, and how do you plan to address them?

One of the biggest trends is the rise of AI and automation. Advertisers want to do more with less, and automation is becoming a necessity rather than a luxury. I also think it is important to mention the continued diversification of media consumption—Streaming TV, retail media, and first-party data strategies continue to play bigger roles.

We’re addressing these trends head-on by integrating AI-powered features into our platform, expanding our Streaming TV and retail media capabilities, and helping businesses future-proof their strategies in a privacy-first world. We aim to ensure that even the smallest business can access sophisticated, adaptive, and impactful marketing.

4. How is the digital advertising landscape evolving, and what new opportunities should businesses leverage?

The digital advertising landscape is evolving rapidly, with consumer behavior fragmenting across platforms and devices. What’s exciting is that this complexity is creating new opportunities for businesses to reach highly targeted audiences cost-effectively.

For example, small businesses can now advertise on streaming platforms, access premium inventory, and use dynamic creative tools that were once only available to big brands. With platforms like Ui.Marketing, these opportunities are more accessible than ever, helping business owners and lean teams do more with less. The key is to stay flexible, focus on measurable outcomes, and use tools that simplify execution without sacrificing performance.

5. How can businesses balance rapid expansion with maintaining service quality and innovation?

At AdCellerant, growth starts with listening. We stay closely connected to our partners to understand their challenges, goals, and evolving needs. Innovation isn’t about chasing the next shiny feature but solving real problems that drive meaningful outcomes. By keeping customer feedback at the core of our strategy, we ensure our roadmap delivers what truly matters.

From there, it’s about intentionality. We know growth without discipline can stretch teams thin, compromise service quality, and create friction. That’s why we’re actively building scalable systems—standardized workflows, flexible processes, and clear communication frameworks—to support our expansion while continually improving the experience we deliver.

6. What advice do you have for businesses looking to scale their digital advertising operations?

In digital advertising, adaptability is everything. What works today may not work tomorrow—so build a team and a mindset that can pivot quickly, test often, and evolve confidently.

That adaptability extends to the partnerships you choose. Just because something looks like a great idea doesn’t mean it’s the right fit. The right partnership should feel like an extension of your team—aligned in goals, transparent in communication, and built to grow together. Take the time to evaluate. The right partner won’t just check a box—they’ll accelerate your momentum.

Ultimately, clarity is what keeps everything grounded. When you understand your audience, define success, and recognize your gaps, you can make smarter decisions, choosing the right partner or investing in tools that scale with your business.

1. How is your organization adapting your products to capitalize on the growth of gaming as a primary channel for reaching digitally native consumers?

We believe that non-interruptive ad formats are the critical next step in the evolution of in-game advertising. When an ad delays or breaks gameplay, it takes away from everyone’s experience. That’s why we developed an in-game audio ad unit that can initiate alongside gameplay, giving advertisers the opportunity to reach players without harming their gameplay experience. As we look to the future, finding non-interruptive formats is our north star.

2. What role does in-game advertising—particularly non-intrusive formats like audio—play in your clients’ broader customer engagement and brand storytelling strategy?

More than ever, advertisers want to reach people where they know their ads have an opportunity to be seen and heard. In-game ads, especially non-interruptive units, maximize this opportunity for brands. For in-game audio, many brands who have already embraced streaming and podcasting are adding in-game as a way to maximize their reach and improve performance of the audio format.

3. How are your clients leveraging gaming environments to reach hard-to-access or ad-fatigued audience segments, such as Gen Z and millennial consumers? 

Mobile gaming is one of the broadest categories for reach, with almost 3 billion players worldwide. We have clients approach us for all of their target demos, whether it’s age, ethnicity, gender, or other behavioral segments. The beauty of mobile gaming is that no matter what kind of audience you’re looking for, you can find them within the gaming ecosystem.

4. How are your clients balancing innovation in ad formats with brand safety and user experience, especially in unmoderated or decentralized content environments like gaming?

There’s a big misconception that buying into gaming means operating in unmoderated environments. We have a multi-step process to ensure brand safety, and we don’t operate in UGC environments - we’re fully focused on mobile games from marquee global publishers in the casual and hyper-casual space. And we give our clients full visibility into our title list and the option to exclude any titles they feel are misaligned with their brands.

5. What performance benchmarks (e.g., listen-through rate, brand recall, engagement time) are most critical when evaluating emerging formats like in-game audio? 

We encourage our clients to focus on their key business results, especially since we’ve seen a lot of success with both top-of-funnel and lower-funnel campaigns. For brand advertisers we suggest running brand lift studies to see how powerful in-game audio can be for their brand health metrics. With performance advertisers, we encourage them to work with attribution partners to see how adding in-game audio can positively impact ROAS and acquisition costs.

6. What role do you see for in-game audio ads in clients’ long-term advertising strategy, particularly as gaming becomes an dominant form of digital entertainment?  

We’re optimistic that in-game audio will be as essential as podcasting or streaming audio for advertisers. We know the power of gaming from our experience in other formats, and we know that gaming is one of the few environments where ads really benefit the whole ecosystem. Early adopters are already seeing the benefits, and as programmatic audio becomes more widely adopted, we’re excited to see more advertisers embrace in-game audio.

1. How is the integration of AI-native advertising platforms transforming the landscape of retail and marketplace monetization strategies?

The integration of AI-native advertising platforms is fundamentally reshaping retail and marketplace monetization by shifting the focus from traditional impression-based models to outcome-driven advertising. Retail Media Networks (RMNs) are leveraging AI and machine learning to connect ads directly to transactions, offering brands measurable outcomes such as return on ad spend (ROAS) and cost per order (CPO). With macroeconomic uncertainty pressuring advertisers to prioritize certainty and performance, AI empowers platforms to optimize campaigns in real time using first-party data, personalize user experiences, and drive sales. As a result, retailers are evolving into sophisticated media ecosystems where ad spend is tightly linked to tangible sales results.

2. How can businesses ensure that AI-driven advertising solutions align with their brand values and customer expectations?

To ensure AI-driven advertising solutions align with brand values and customer expectations, businesses must prioritize personalization that enhances rather than disrupts the customer experience. The rise of commerce media emphasizes the importance of relevance; consumers are increasingly resistant to repetitive or poorly targeted ads. Retailers and marketplaces should implement AI technologies that leverage real-time behavioral signals and first-party data to deliver tailored, assistive ads that feel organic and helpful. Maintaining a customer-centric approach, where advertisements align with shopper intent and context. Crucially, businesses must retain transparency and control over how personalization is applied, ensuring it aligns with brand trust and evolving customer expectations.

3. What considerations should be made regarding data privacy and compliance when deploying machine learning models that utilize customer data?

When deploying machine learning models that use customer data, businesses must carefully navigate privacy regulations and compliance standards. As first-party data becomes a cornerstone of effective advertising, safeguarding this information is critical. Companies should ensure that data collection is transparent, consent-driven, and strictly limited to necessary use cases. Additionally, anonymization, encryption, and adherence to regional privacy laws (such as GDPR or CCPA) are essential practices. AI models should be designed to operate within these frameworks, ensuring that personalization does not compromise user privacy. Building trust through responsible data stewardship will increasingly distinguish leading retail media networks.

4. How does the use of AI in advertising impact the attribution models and the overall understanding of customer journeys?

AI is revolutionizing attribution models and deepening our understanding of customer journeys. Traditional models that heavily relied on last-click or basic touchpoints are being replaced by AI-driven, closed-loop attribution that ties ad exposure directly to transactions. Machine learning enables deeper analysis of browsing behavior, purchase patterns, and engagement across the funnel, allowing retailers to attribute value to multiple customer interactions more accurately. This enhanced visibility not only improves media optimization but also empowers brands to allocate budgets more effectively and design targeted, high-impact campaigns.

5. What metrics are most indicative of success in AI-driven commerce media initiatives, and how can organizations effectively track and interpret these metrics?

In AI-driven commerce media initiatives, outcome-based metrics such as return on ad spend (ROAS), cost per order (CPO), and incremental sales lift are becoming the primary indicators of success. Unlike traditional reach or click-based metrics, these measures directly link ad activity to business results, aligning media performance with revenue generation. Organizations can effectively track and interpret these metrics by employing real-time analytics platforms that integrate first-party data and AI-driven optimization to dynamically adjust campaigns based on performance. Continuous learning and real-time optimization enable businesses to adjust campaigns dynamically based on performance, ensuring that marketing investments consistently drive measurable value.

6. How should organizations prepare to adapt to the evolving technological landscape to maintain a competitive edge in digital advertising?

Organizations should prepare for the evolving technological landscape by investing in scalable, outcome-focused commerce media infrastructure and building specialized teams that bridge commerce and advertising expertise. As retail media matures, successful players will move beyond experiments  and develop robust self-serve ad platforms, automate campaign management, and leverage machine learning. Agility will be key, not only to adopt new formats like in-store digital activations and cross-channel integrations but also to accelerate the cycle of testing, learning, and iterating. By aligning technology investments with customer-centric strategies and performance-driven metrics, organizations can position themselves for sustainable growth and have a significant competitive edge.

1. How is the integration of GenAI reshaping the landscape of commerce media, and what implications does this have for traditional marketing strategies?

The integration of Generative AI (GenAI) is significantly reshaping the landscape of commerce media by introducing intelligent systems like Celeste AI that can analyze complex data, provide real-time insights, and automate tasks, ultimately leading to smarter and faster decision-making for marketers. Skai believes GenAI offers the opportunity to remove complexity from media and introduce a new future for marketers. For example, Celeste AI is designed to transform how brands and agencies navigate commerce media. It leverages Skai’s proprietary data intelligence, real-time signals from over 200 publishers, and cross-channel insights to deliver smarter, faster decisions. Skai’s platform now transforms the growing complexity of commerce media, with its surge in channels, publishers, ad formats, and data, into actionable strategies by unifying and interpreting information.

This transformation has several implications for traditional marketing strategies:

● Increased need for intelligent tools to handle complexity: As commerce media becomes more intricate with more channels, publishers, ad formats, and data, traditional methods of managing information become insufficient. GenAI capabilities are necessary to unify, interpret, and act on this complexity.

● Shift from manual data analysis to automated insights: Marketers will move from sifting through dashboards to interacting directly with data through natural language, asking questions and receiving immediate, actionable insights. 

● Focus shift towards strategic work: By automating routine tasks like reporting and performance monitoring, GenAI allows marketing professionals to focus on envisioning, strategizing, and creating. For example, Celeste can automate tasks that previously took hours or days, such as creating weekly, monthly, and QBR reports.

● Emphasis on faster decision-making: GenAI provides real-time insights and recommendations, enabling marketers to act more quickly and precisely. Speed to insight is crucial, especially in performance channels where trends shift rapidly.

● Importance of integrating and leveraging diverse data: Success in commerce media demands more than just access to information; it requires the ability to unify and interpret various data sources like first-party data, publisher insights, and competitive intelligence. GenAI helps connect the dots between insights and business outcomes by leveraging data.

● Need to adapt to AI-driven optimization: Traditional strategies might become less effective as AI continuously learns and improves campaign optimization based on historical performance, competitive trends, and channel synergies.

2. What challenges do organizations face in unifying data from multiple sources, such as first-party data, publisher insights, and competitive intelligence, to inform marketing strategies?

One of the biggest challenges in advertising today is the sheer volume of data generated across multiple platforms. Traditional advertising tools often struggle to process and interpret this data efficiently, leaving marketers bogged down in inefficient decision-making. While Skai's platform aims to seamlessly integrate omnichannel commerce media, combining first-party advertiser data, publisher insights, competitive intelligence, and digital shelf data, the general challenge remains for organizations using more traditional or less integrated tools. Many traditional platforms are siloed by channel, requiring separate logins and disjointed reporting, which leads to inefficiencies and missed opportunities. Unifying data from diverse sources requires the ability to connect disparate data points and transform them into actionable insights. Marketers often have to sift through complex dashboards and spreadsheets to make decisions.

3. What role does AI play in automating routine tasks, and how does this shift the focus of marketing professionals toward more strategic initiatives?

AI, particularly GenAI agents like Celeste, plays a significant role in automating routine tasks in marketing. Celeste can automate time-consuming tasks such as budget allocation, creative adjustments, and performance tracking. It can also handle tasks like generating reports (weekly, monthly, QBR) in minutes, which previously took hours or days. AI-powered systems can also automate bid management. By automating these mundane activities, AI frees up valuable time for marketing teams to focus on higher-level activities such as strategy development and innovation. This shift allows people to do what they do best: dream and envision, strategize, and create. With AI handling executional complexity, organizations can become more agile.

4. How can AI assist in transforming complex, fragmented data into actionable insights for more effective campaign planning and execution?

AI, with its ability to analyze vast amounts of data, can transform complex, fragmented data into actionable insights by aggregating signals from multiple advertising platforms. Celeste AI, for example, aggregates signals from over 200 publishers, competitive insights, and cross-channel performance to deliver tailored recommendations. AI can identify patterns and optimization opportunities that human analysts might miss. It can provide real-time, context-aware recommendations tailored to each campaign’s unique needs, such as adjusting budget allocations, optimizing bids, or tweaking creative strategies. Unlike traditional tools that might provide static reports, AI actively engages with the marketer’s workflow by delivering tailored recommendations, helping them act decisively and efficiently. Marketers can interact directly with their data by asking tactical and strategic questions and receive immediate, actionable insights. Celeste is designed to deliver real, actionable guidance: budget reallocations, keyword recommendations, SKU-level insights, anomaly detection, and channel-specific strategy prompts.

5. In what ways can AI-driven insights contribute to optimizing marketing performance and achieving higher ROI across different platforms?

AI-driven insights contribute to optimizing marketing performance and achieving higher ROI across different platforms in several ways:

● Improving budget allocation: AI can analyze performance data and recommend optimal budget reallocations across retail media, paid search, and social platforms to maximize ROI.

● Enhancing campaign optimization: AI provides granular insights into factors like keyword performance, audience engagement, and creative effectiveness, enabling marketers to fine-tune their campaigns for better results. 

● Identifying growth opportunities: AI can uncover hidden opportunities by aggregating insights from across the marketing stack and connecting dots that may otherwise go unnoticed, helping marketers refine strategies and identify new segments faster.

● Providing tailored recommendations: AI delivers tailored recommendations based on a brand’s specific needs, enabling marketers to act more quickly and precisely.

● Enabling real-time decision-making: AI provides real-time insights and recommendations, allowing marketers to make immediate, data-driven actions to seize opportunities or mitigate issues.

● Continuously learning and improving: AI is designed to continuously learn and improve with each interaction, ensuring it can make the best decisions possible based on historical performance, competitive trends, and channel synergies.

● Measuring incremental impact: AI-powered tools can help measure the true incremental impact of media spend, providing clarity on which campaigns are driving real growth and enabling more effective budget allocation.

6. What emerging trends do you foresee in the convergence of AI and commerce media over the next few years?

Several emerging trends are foreseen in the convergence of AI and commerce media:

● Evolution to multi-agent systems: AI agents like Celeste, currently acting as a single agent, will evolve into multi-agent systems, with each agent specializing in distinct tasks across planning, forecasting, activation, and measurement.

● Seamless integration with client-side AI: AI platforms will increasingly integrate and collaborate with clients’ own GenAI capabilities and custom AI agents, creating a truly intelligent commerce media ecosystem.

● Increased specialization of AI: AI tools will become more specific to different marketing roles within a brand or company, providing tailored results based on individual needs and objectives.

● AI as the new User Interface (UI): The primary way marketers interact with technology will shift towards natural language interfaces powered by AI, making complex systems more accessible and easier to use. As AI becomes the new UI, marketers need to focus on intelligence when selecting tech partners.

● Focus on enabling technologies: AI will be seen less as a standalone tool and more as an enabling technology that constantly evolves and improves with more data and user interaction, allowing clients to build more value in the future.

● Development of client-specific AI agents: Clients will increasingly want to create their own AI agents within platforms, introducing their own data types, processes, and artifacts to tailor the AI’s capabilities to their specific needs. For instance, Skai’s clients are asking to make Celeste “their” Celeste.

● Continued focus on efficiency, performance, and growth: The core value propositions of AI in commerce media will remain focused on driving efficiency and productivity, improving performance and optimization, and uncovering new growth opportunities for brands.

● The future is about intelligence, not just features: Commerce media won’t be defined by features alone, but by the intelligence driving them.