Home Ad Exchange News Key Hires At Commerce Startup Profitero; WPP To Shutter Triad

Key Hires At Commerce Startup Profitero; WPP To Shutter Triad

SHARE:

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here.

Third Time’s A Charm

Bryan Wiener and Sarah Hofstetter joined the ecommerce software company Profitero as CEO and president, respectively. This is the third business Wiener and Hofstetter have jointly led, following their long tenure at 360i before it was acquired by Dentsu and their short stint at Comscore – which ended after a year due to “irreconcilable differences” with the board. Profitero is a pre-profit startup, unlike Comscore, so the pair may have more control over the road map. One new product they plan to introduce with Profitero is Amazon ad campaign management by expanding on the company’s market share analytics, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Triad To Work It Out

WPP will shutter retail media agency Triad within 90 days. Some employees have already been laid off, and others will stay for a transition period, according to Ad Age sources. WPP bought Triad in 2016 for a reported $300 million to grow its ecommerce business under Xaxis. But when flagship client Walmart started in-housing ad sales and tech last year, Triad’s number was up. In late 2019, Walmart-owned Sam’s Club acquired some of Triad’s ad tech IP and a few of its executives. More.

Commerce Dreams

Google will change its shopping search portal this month, eliminating most ad units and elevating free, organic results. Amazon has frustrated some merchants by deprioritizing their deliveries and removing affiliate channels, and Google is trying to seize on that momentum to entice sellers and manufacturers into setting up Merchant Center accounts (which is how ecommerce products can qualify for free search exposure), Reuters reports. Google balked at the multibillion-dollar investment in delivery and customer service that would have been needed to compete with Amazon in commerce, so it will rely on search instead. “It’s daunting the amount of capital and expertise it would take to run such a business,” said Jon Venverloh, former Google shopping director who left last summer.

But Wait, There’s More!

You’re Hired!

Must Read

The IAB Formalizes Its Measurement Initiatives Under Its New ‘Project Eidos’

The IAB unveiled its Project Eidos on Monday, a new program uniting its numerous measurement initiatives under one banner.

John Gentry, CEO, OpenX

‘I Am A Lucky And Thankful Man’: Remembering OpenX CEO John ‘JG’ Gentry

To those who knew him, John “JG” Gentry wasn’t just a CEO. He was a colleague who showed up with genuine care and curiosity.

Prebid Takes Over AdCP’s Code For Creating Sell-Side AI Agents

The group that turned header bidding software into an open standard is bringing the same approach to publisher-side AI agents.

Privacy! Commerce! Connected TV! Read all about it. Subscribe to AdExchanger Newsletters
Meta logo seen on smartphone and AI letters on the background. Concept for Meta Facebook Artificial Intelligence. Stafford, UK, May 2, 2023

Meta Bets That Its Ad Machine Can Fund Its AI Dreams

Meta is channeling its booming ad revenue into a $135 billion AI drive to power its “personal superintelligence” future.

Comic: Header Bidding Rapper (Wrapper!)

Microsoft To Stop Caching Prebid Video Files, Leaving Publishers With A Major Ad Serving Problem

Most publishers have no idea that a major part of their video ad delivery will stop working on April 30, shortly after Microsoft shuts down the Xandr DSP.

AdExchanger's Big Story podcast with journalistic insights on advertising, marketing and ad tech

Guess Its AdsGPT Now?

Ads were going to be a “last resort” for ChatGPT, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman promised two years ago. Now, they’re finally here. Omnicom Digital CEO Jonathan Nelson joins the AdExchanger editorial team to talk through what comes next.