Digitas

Commerce Media Elevates Agencies into Growth Orchestrators

A Cannes roundtable of industry leaders argues that commerce media has evolved from a lower-funnel, conversion-focused channel into a strategic, full-funnel marketing opportunity. Panelists — including senior figures from Albertsons Media Collective, Digitas North America, dentsu and Omnicom — said agencies are no longer just media buyers but consultants and orchestrators that connect retailers, brands, creative, technology and measurement to drive business growth. Examples cited include creator partnerships, conversational commerce experiences and micro-drama content series built on first-party data. The group emphasized faster operating models, always-on briefs and shared data and measurement between retailers, agencies and brands as necessary conditions for commerce media to reach its full potential.

Advertising Goes Predictive with Deep Learning

Adweek's Adspeak podcast features Jeremy Fain, co-founder and CEO of Cognitiv, discussing how deep learning is transforming advertising by leveraging massive datasets, predictive algorithms and real-time optimization. The conversation emphasizes using first-party data, granular audience signals and log-level data frameworks to predict creative performance before impressions are bought, run continuous learning loops, personalize creative, and improve targeting. Fain frames AI as an efficiency multiplier that can unlock incremental gains at scale — citing the competitive value of relatively small percentage improvements when applied broadly — and stresses that deep learning in marketing is fundamentally a big-data problem rather than merely a creative tool.

Horizon Media & Intent IQ Pilot Reaches 55% Net New Audience

At Cannes 2026, Horizon Media and Intent IQ discussed results from a joint pilot showing 55% net new users reached from existing audiences, with 45% of those converting to purchases. The conversation — led by AdExchanger Editorial Director Sarah Sluis with Fabrice Beer-Gabel (Intent IQ) and John Koenigsberg (Horizon Media) — covered why framing identity as deterministic vs. probabilistic is the wrong debate, the growing importance of accurate identity infrastructure as AI advances, and recommended actions for brands holding first-party data. The pilot reportedly achieved these outcomes without overhauling existing systems.