MAVENS

Comic: The Four Mavens

AdExchanger’s weekly comic strip highlights the digital advertising ecosystem with a roundup of recent headlines. The post notes iSpot’s introduction of SAGE, an agentic AI platform with a ChatGPT-like interface to help media buyers brainstorm campaign ideas. It mentions Criteo as bullish on long-term growth despite market skepticism around LLMs and social shopping. AppLovin is described as delivering rising profits and revenue while shares slipped about 20%. The piece also covers Evertune’s new feature enabling programmatic campaigns on pages cited by AI chatbots, and Albertsons’ Brian Monahan discussing how conversational AI is changing retail media discovery and the importance of incrementality. Finally, Amazon opened its Prebid adapter for beta testing on January 21, with publishers like Raptive and Unwind Media preparing to test.

Review of D+S Digital Dialog 2020

In July 2015, about 120 participants from marketing, sales and customer service gathered at the D+S campus in Hamburg to discuss how the future customer dialogue could look. The D+S 360° Webservice GmbH hosted a day featuring 20 esteemed speakers who presented approaches for Kundendialog 2020 across three forums. Notable speakers included Mark Pohlmann (Mavens), Christoph Klemann (nugg.ad), and Björn Ognibeni (BuzzRank). Benjamin Barnack, Managing Director of D+S 360° Webservice GmbH, emphasized a versatile format and closer collaboration among marketing, sales and customer service to generate real value in customer dialogue. Bernhard Magin, Managing Director of D+S communication center management GmbH, echoed the idea that cross-functional engagement yields benefits for customers. All three forums were fully booked for over four hours, with opportunities to switch topics and extensive networking breaks on the terrace. The D+S group highlights its footprint: over 3,000 employees at 12 locations in Germany.

‘Mavens’ Paving The Way As Yahoo Grows Revenue 15%

Yahoo reported Q2 2015 revenue of $1.24 billion, up 15% year over year, its strongest growth in nearly nine years. The division dubbed 'Mavens'—covering mobile, video, native and social—grew 60% to $399 million, helped by syndication from Flurry and the integration of BrightRoll's video platform. Gemini native ads reached $130 million, up 19% from the prior quarter. Mobile advertising totaled $252 million, representing 22% of Yahoo's total revenue, up from 16%. Non-Mavens revenue declined about 2% to $725 million, while display advertising rose to $407 million as Yahoo emphasized improved sales execution and premium campaigns. Mayer described programmatic sell-side enhancements, including a refined waterfall with Yahoo Ad Manager Plus and Yahoo Ad Exchange, and noted pricing for native ads moving in the right direction. Despite the revenue gains, Yahoo's stock dipped in after-hours trading as investors weighed other financial moves and tax-related questions around its Alibaba windfall.