Let me say the quiet part out loud: Publicis-LiveRamp is not a tech deal. It's not even a data deal. It's the repositioning of a major holdco from a neutral agent to a vertically integrated martech and business transformation enterprise.

Pocketbooks are taking a hit, but affordability is not only about price. It's also about how people regard the system itself and the world-at-large. Lower prices won't fix this.

The accreditation process is comprised of two distinct parts: a pre-audit phase; and the audit itself, with actual accreditation being granted once voted on by audit committee members and their board.

More than anyone I've known, Bill Duggan was made-for-advertising. I mean that in the good way. The question is whether advertising can make another Bill Duggan.

"That's not a sustainable chart," the 4As' Matt Kasindorf concluded, using his hands as the best gestural explanation for the decline in agency compensation fees and the rise in principal media-buying.

ORLANDO -- In advance of this week's Association of National Advertisers' Advertising Financial Management Conference here I spoke with Ralph Pardo, CEO of Omnicom Media North America and a speaker at the event, about today's ever-changing media environment. My first question: What excites him most about media.

After half a century covering the media marketplace, I thought I had seen every conceivable model for funding ad-supported media buys. Until I met Piyush Puri.