MALAGA, SPAIN -- Hola. I'm on assignment this week covering the I-COM Global Data Summit here, so keep an eye out over the next several days for some real-time coverage of presentations, roundtables and hackathons as some of the world's top marketers and marketing data scientists discuss the "race to the direct customer relationship."

Ad tech has hit the wall and has even begun to erode as marketers and agencies shift their focus to marketing technology solutions.

For a generation raised on massive multiplayer shooter games, the combination of real-time social-sharing and toxic dehumanizing rhetoric is creating a new media form altogether: a massive hate crime in which spectators become vicarious participants of a twisted new esport that targets all of us.

One of the not-so-surprising things I learned from Advertiser Perceptions' benchmark study of the role "trust" is playing in media planning and buying decisions, especially the digital kind, is how ad execs relate to the topic on a personal basis. Among other things, the study asked advertisers and agencies how their own personal use of social media platforms has been trending, and given what those insiders know about them, you also may not be surprised to learn it's heading south -- significantly.

Madison Avenue has been transformed by the emergence of Big Data, now it's betting big on data to transform itself. Publicis' $4 billion acquisition of Epsilon, on the heels of Interpublic's $2 billion acquisition of Acxiom, and Dentsu Aegis Network's $1.5 billion acquisition of Merkle, comes as another big agency holding company, WPP, is expected to shed its investment in the kind of insights that used to fuel advertising and media -- primary research -- vis the sale of Kantar later this year.

One of the most important issues advanced so far on the 2020 campaign trail isn't coming from a frontrunner, but a dark horse candidate straight out of Silicon Valley, and I hope others start paying attention to it, literally. It's the role the "attention economy" is playing in disrupting and distorting our social order -- from news and information to politics to the way we feel about ourselves and others. "The data clearly shows, that in addition to the problems with our democracy because people are getting their information through social media, we're also seeing a huge surge in depression, ...

At a time when much of the industry is moving toward AI and advanced forms of machine learning to leverage real-time data about consumer behavior, Nielsen is going the opposite route: helping human beings learn how to influence other human beings. After years of investing in a variety of behavioral sciences, especially so-called neuromarketing research, Nielsen today will unveil a new service practice that will focus exclusively on educating marketers on how to apply them.

The big news in Zenith's updated global ad outlook is that digital media is expanding far more than previously thought, and a big part of that is due to the ease and efficiency of programmatic media-buying.

If a young media trade journalist from the 80s were to wake up today and read about a white nationalist using a global network to broadcast a real-time massacre of innocent people in a place of worship, he'd probably say, "WTF." Coincidentally, that's the same thing an old media trade journalist would say today.

Even as parent WPP considers its long-term strategic position in the consumer research marketplace, its Kantar unit is rolling out a new interface aimed at on-demand enterprise users, as well as the long-tail. Dubbed Kantar Marketplace, the new platform effectively is a turnkey, on-demand research and insights store drawing from Kantar's massive historical data, as well as offering quick, agile surveys and polling for those looking for a quick turnaround to power their real-time marketing and media strategies.