Nick Ferrugia, head of media strategy and execution at Fifth Third Bank, put it all into paid search, as it pays the highest value and is based on digital tactics. "We decided to go all in and see how far it goes."

Vitamix, which sells high-end blenders, banks on customer reviews. In 2016, Vitamix jumped into Amazon search and display.

Georgia-Pacific is able to get "additional value" for the retailers it works with, creating a scorecard to measure it differently, said Mike Feldman, retail media-team lead, Georgia-Pacific.

With multi-touch attribution, said Crispin Sheridan, VP digital and social optimization, SAP, think of media as a relay race. "Give appropriate credit to all your runners. Or you have last-click value that goes only to the last runner."

"Search helps us because of our positioning. Paid shopping makes perfect sense. We're cheaper than most of the competition," Thrive Senior Marketing Manager Killian Aubert said, allowing the brand to achieve a "giant reach right off the bat."

Michael Martyniuk, Manager, Digital Acquisitions, Avis/Budget, pointed to the brands' cross-channel messaging strategy that switched things up in the first quarter this year with a spring sale. "We made sure messaging, aesthetics for banners, and display assets were consistent."

"A lot of SEO tools today use clickstream to normalize numbers in systems. We are starting to leverage this data between paid and organic search to see what value can be added," says Rob Pavacic, SEO Lead, Verizon.

For one, "there is very little online that truly helps you understand the value of safety systems," said panelist at MediaPost's Marketing:Automotive conference.

Alfa Romeo, back after an extended absence in the United States, is partnering with Unity Technologies on a video game that is a virtual test drive. In just two weeks, 85,000 people have been taken for a ride.

Jon Pearce, global chief creative officer at Hudson Rouge, said client Lincoln staged a salon-style dinner in Los Angeles for the brand's influencers to meet each other and from which they have formed lasting relationships and "good feelings toward Lincoln."