AI-driven advertising firm Seedtag is strengthening its leadership bench with a seasoned marketing executive who helped reshape one of adtech’s biggest players.

The company announced that Brendan McCarthy, former chief marketing officer at Criteo, has joined Seedtag to lead its global marketing organization. The appointment arrives as the contextual advertising specialist pushes deeper into global markets and expands adoption of its proprietary AI platform, Liz.

For Seedtag, the hire signals a clear goal: turn rapid growth and technological differentiation into stronger global brand recognition and enterprise demand.

A Marketing Leader With AdTech Transformation Experience

McCarthy brings more than two decades of strategic marketing and communications experience working with global technology and media brands.

Before joining Seedtag, he served as CMO at Criteo, where he played a key role in repositioning the company’s business model. During his tenure, Criteo transitioned from being known primarily for its retargeting technology into a broader AI-powered commerce media platform—a shift that helped the company stay competitive in an adtech landscape reshaped by privacy regulations and the decline of third-party cookies.

Earlier in his career, McCarthy held leadership roles at several major companies, including Nielsen, Samsung, and eBay, building marketing programs that blend data insights with brand storytelling.

That combination of analytics and brand strategy is increasingly important in the modern advertising ecosystem, where marketers must prove measurable ROI while maintaining consumer trust.

Scaling Seedtag’s Global Brand and Demand Engine

At Seedtag, McCarthy will oversee a global team responsible for brand strategy, demand generation, and corporate communications. The company says the goal is to align those functions more tightly into a unified growth engine.

According to Brian Gleason, CEO of Seedtag, McCarthy’s appointment reflects the company’s next phase of expansion.

“Brendan brings the rare ability to turn vision into momentum and innovation into impact,” Gleason said in a statement. “As we expand Liz and our Neuro-Contextual platform globally, his leadership will help brands connect with audiences in more meaningful, measurable ways.”

Seedtag has built its reputation around contextual advertising powered by artificial intelligence—an approach that analyzes content and audience intent rather than relying on behavioral tracking.

That strategy is gaining traction as marketers prepare for a privacy-first advertising landscape where traditional tracking methods face increasing restrictions.

Growth Momentum in a Shifting AdTech Market

The leadership change comes during a strong growth period for Seedtag.

The company reports 46% year-over-year revenue growth in North America in 2025, reflecting increased adoption of contextual and AI-driven targeting solutions among advertisers navigating privacy changes.

Across the broader adtech sector, vendors are racing to offer alternatives to third-party cookies while still delivering measurable campaign performance. Contextual targeting—once seen as a legacy tactic—has been revitalized by AI systems capable of analyzing page semantics, sentiment, and real-time signals at scale.

Seedtag’s platform, powered by its AI technology Liz, aims to capitalize on that shift by providing what the company calls “neuro-contextual” advertising—an approach designed to understand audience intent through content context rather than identity tracking.

Positioning Seedtag as a Privacy-Friendly AI Ad Partner

For McCarthy, the opportunity lies in translating that technological differentiation into stronger category leadership.

“Seedtag has proven it can disrupt the status quo with a years-long track record of rapid growth in mature advertising markets,” McCarthy said in the announcement.

He added that aligning brand strategy and global communications will be key to accelerating adoption among enterprise advertisers seeking alternatives to traditional targeting methods.

As the advertising industry navigates regulatory pressure, evolving privacy expectations, and rapid AI innovation, vendors able to combine performance with consumer trust are likely to stand out.

Seedtag is betting that contextual intelligence—and strong marketing leadership—can help it do exactly that.

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