A big marketing myth is that people don't shop in line with their values. There is no such thing as a consumer value-action gap. The real gap is what marketers know about people's values.

And by "world," I mean media optimization stack as we transition from a bifurcated linear/digital process to a holistic cross-platform one.

That's what my colleague Steve Smith just asked me as we begin finalizing an agenda for our first-ever Planning & Buying Insider Summit. Full disclosure: I'm not an industry insider, I'm just a journalist who writes about them. So I'm asking you.

The biggest challenge brands face is standing out from the crowd. Difference is rare because difference is hard. This challenge will become even harder in the future.

There I was covering the trial for Ad Age when I received a call from Mark Weiner asking if I wanted to know how much it was worth to brands.

When CIMM was founded in 2009, advertisers and agencies dominated its membership. Fifteen years later, the demand-side represents only 9% of its members -- all agencies, and not one advertiser.

Just for fun, I posed this fairly generic question (see graphic) to ChatGPT. What follows is my answer and ChatGPT's, as well as my two cents worth.

Of all the partnerships the consumer credit ratings bureau has struck since commercializing audience targeting the one it just announced with MRI-Simmons will have the most profound impact on the way planners and buyers think about identifying, targeting and reaching consumers.

While the game advertising market still has some blurry lines, ad execs say it has become as easy to plan and buy as other digital platforms such as CTV, online video, and social media. Increasingly, it has dedicated ad budgets, too.

Wieser cites the continuing improvement of the U.S. economy, including an upward revision for expansion of GDP by nearly a percentage point, approaching +5%.