Ibotta

Liquid Death Prioritizes Incrementality to Measure Sales

This AdExchanger Talks podcast features Benoit Vatere, Chief Media & Digital Commerce Officer at Liquid Death, discussing the brand’s approach to measurement. Vatere argues CPG sales largely occur at retail checkout and that channel-specific metrics like ROAS are insufficient on their own; he links ROAS to new-to-brand metrics as a proxy for incrementality. Liquid Death focuses marketing toward light and lapsed buyers rather than only superfans. The piece also notes the brand’s partnership with performance-marketing platform Ibotta for always-on incrementality testing and raises the prospect that agentic AI could change grocery shopping dynamics between consumers, brands and bots.

How Snack Brands Turn Sports Into Spending

At an ADWEEK House Sports Summit session co-hosted with Ibotta, executives from Mondelēz International and Ibotta described how live sports moments and in-store merchandising drive snacking purchases. Mondelēz used World Cup activations—celebrities, limited-edition packs and experiences—to boost in-store performance, while Ibotta overlays targeted coupons and promotions to close sales. Mondelēz recently launched SnackWorks Perks with Ibotta, a rewards program spanning Oreo, Chips Ahoy, Ritz and Sour Patch Kids, that uses Ibotta transactional data and audience insights to build loyalty, tailor offers and enable more precise marketing.

Cannes Costs Spark Industry Reckoning

Digiday’s Cannes dispatch reports an industry split between the ritual value of presence at Cannes Lions and growing scrutiny of the event’s soaring costs. Attendees told Digiday of extreme spends: an ad tech firm reportedly paid $1.7 million for a hotel setup, another large Croisette build was priced at $25 million, and signage fees were negotiated down from six figures to five. Conversations at the festival touched on hidden economics across ad tech and agency relationships — from concerns about SSP rebates and principal trading to debates over AI tool pricing (one marketer said $200/month list prices mask per-user vendor costs closer to $5,000). Despite cost pressure, the piece notes moments of genuine industry recognition, such as agencies celebrating Cannes Lions creative awards, underscoring the event’s continuing cultural value.