Unbounded

Podcast: 58-Year-Old Wunderman Tackles Machine Learning

Episode No. 13 of AdExchanger Talks features Seth Solomons, Wunderman’s North America CEO, discussing the potential of machine learning in data-driven marketing. Solomons argues that agencies that embrace ML will experience disruptive growth, reflecting Wunderman’s long history navigating media transformation since 1958. The discussion maps a competitive landscape spanning data architecture players like Acxiom and Epsilon, data advisory firms such as Accenture and Unbound, and creative services including AKQA and SapientRazorfish. On the practical front, Solomons cites email as a low-hanging ML use case, where Wunderman has replaced traditional A/B testing of subject lines with a continuous optimization process that runs hundreds of thousands of cells concurrently, reporting up to a tenfold uplift in returns. Beyond automation, the episode emphasizes a strong service layer—analytics, strategy, and creativity—required to leverage ML within a modern digital agency. The talk also touches on client data hygiene, the rise of CPGs as data contenders, and approaches to measuring walled gardens. Sponsored by Acxiom.