Senior Editor
James covers the intersection of commerce, media and advertising technology.
AUTHOR ARCHIVE FOR:
James Hercher
Articles By James
-
Why Old-School CPGs Are Getting Back To Basics
Brands are getting back to basics. They’re rethinking their packaging and trying to figure out how they fit into the new world of retail store shelves. And while they are getting more data-driven, the data is not necessarily for advertising.
-
Meta Advertisers Prepare For A Holiday Season Of Gifts And Glitches
In the world of online advertising on big walled-garden platforms – Meta in particular – October through November truly is the season of giving. Of giving advertisers ulcers and panic attacks, that is.
-
Based On Its Q3 Earnings, Maybe AIphabet Should Just Change Its Name To AI-phabet
Google hit some impressive revenue benchmarks in Q3. But investors seemed to only have eyes for AI.
-
PODCAST: AdExchanger TalksTalking Shop With Mike Ryan, The PMax Whisperer
Just in time for holiday shopping, AdExchanger Talks is taking a dive into the world of ecommerce with Mike Ryan, the head of ecommerce insights at search and commerce consultancy Smarter Ecommerce.
-
IAB Tech Lab Made Moves To Acquire Prebid In 2021 – And Prebid Said No
The story of how Prebid.org came to be – and almost didn’t – is an important one for the industry.
-
Learning To Love And Let Go Of Attribution Models
Here’s an uncomfortable question for any data-driven advertiser: Is there a good way to measure and attribute marketing campaigns?
-
Amazon Lays Out Its Next $50 Billion Opportunity In Advertising
In its sales pitches, hands-on-keyboard sessions and during conversations with ad tech vendors and Amazon sellers, Amazon consistently combined its content fortress with AWS and its investments in AI and machine learning.
-
Why Mondelez Piloted A Shopper Marketing Test Between Albertsons And Fetch
“I always said, I think we need to change our title, because it’s not the old school shopper marketing,” said Anne Martin, director of shopper marketing for Mondelez International, which owns Oreo, Ritz, and a variety of other snacks.
-
Mid-Tier Ecommerce Marketplaces Are Trying – And Failing – To Make The Numbers Work
Perhaps you’ve noticed – How could you not? – that there is massive competition among the largest ecommerce retailers to be the quickest, cheapest option online. But the mid-tier of ecommerce marketplaces are suffering.
-
TikTok Shop’s Biggest Strength Is Its Biggest Weakness
Legislative drama notwithstanding, it’s time to look at TikTok Shop as a first potential sign that live online shopping in the US can be, well, a thing.
-
Intent IQ Has Patents For Ad Tech’s Most Basic Functions – And It’s Not Afraid To Use Them
An unusual dilemma has programmatic vendors and ad tech platforms worried about a flurry of potential patent infringement suits.
-
Perry Ellis Enlists Wunderkind To Revitalize Its Email Game
For fashion company Perry Ellis, the development of a strong first-party data strategy has also meant a ground-up rethinking of the company’s email marketing.
-
Retailers Are Opening Themselves To Programmatic – But Will They Regret It?
Most retailers are long past withholding their shopper data from programmatic tech. They prefer the low-hanging fruit. But was that a good decision?
-
Buried DOJ Evidence Reveals How Google Dealt With The Trade Desk
In the process of the investigation into Google, the Department of Justice unearthed a vast trove of separate evidence. Some of these findings paint a whole new picture of how Google interacts and competes with its main DSP rival, The Trade Desk.
-
Pacvue Enters The Next Chapter Of Retail Media With New CEO Rahul Choraria
Pacvue has promoted COO Rahul Choraria to chief executive.
-
The Wonderful Brand Discusses Testing OOH And Online Snack Competition
Wonderful hadn’t done an out-of-home (OOH) marketing push in more than 15 years. That is, until a week ago, when it began a campaign across six major markets to promote its new no-shell pistachio packs.
-
Google Ads, Analytics And Merchant Center Are Glitching Out Of Control. Here’s Why
Over the past month alone, there was a major Google Search ranking bug, a calamitous data breach involving Google Ads and Google Merchant Center and outages across Google Ads, the Analytics API outages and Google Merchant Center.
-
How Incrementality Tests Helped Newton Baby Ditch Branded Search
In the past year, Baby product and mattress brand Newton Baby has put all its media channels through a new testing regime for incrementality. It was a revelatory experience.
-
Can E.L.F. Cosmetics Become A Consumer Destination, Not Just A Brand?
History can be a burden for a brand, if it means that company is too set in its ways to pivot and try new things. Just consider e.l.f. Cosmetics, the digitial-first, social-native brand that made good.
-
DTC Brands Are Learning The Hard Way That Winning In Retail Can Be A Losing Bet
Digital-native brands need to figure out how to win in retail shelves. They’re finding it difficult, to say the least.
-
TikTok Wants To Win All The Screens, Not Just Your Smartphone
“There are billions of additional screens outside of mobile phones,” says Dan Page, TikTok’s global head of partnerships and new screens. “We want to be in all of them.”
-
The Trade Desk Says UID2 Has Now Reached ‘Critical Mass’
The Trade Desk delivered another smash earnings report. Meanwhile, Unified ID 2.0, the open-source identity initiative, has “reached a critical mass of adoption,” CEO Jeff Green told investors.
-
Publicis Acquired Retail Tech With Agency Clients – And Now Those Agencies Want Out
Many of Publicis’ fastest-growing and most strategic business units – including CitrusAd, Profitero, Epsilon and Conversant – earn a large chunk of their revenue from other agencies. Is that a problem?
-
Adalytics Report Challenges Verifiers And Pubs That Claim 100% Brand-Safe Media
In the crosshairs this time: media sellers with masses of user-generated content, including movie and video review forums with unmoderated comment and discussion sections.
-
A Google Ads Glitch Likely Triggered A Data Breach Within Google Merchant Center
A major Google glitch caused unencrypted customer and product info to be shared between Google Merchant Center accounts for at least two weeks.
-
Amazon Advertising Earned $50 Billion Over The Past 12 Months, And It’s Just Getting Started
Amazon’s Advertising Services segment is delivering the dough. It generated $12.8 billion last quarter, up by a cool $2 billion year over year.
-
Criteo Touts Its Agency And Walled Garden Partners
Q2 was relatively ho-um for Criteo. Its revenue ticked up by just 1%, although the company did move from a net loss of $2 million in the year-ago quarter to a $28 million profit.
-
The Biggest CPGs Face New Pressures To Increase Ads While Somehow Spending Less
In the past couple of weeks, many of the world’s biggest CPG and grocery store brands have reported their latest earnings. One thing is clear: CPG brands are under pressure by retailers to squeeze their margins, lower prices and spend more on ads.
-
DoubleVerify Breaks The Moat And Storms The Social Castle
What do Pepsi, Ulta Beauty and AB InBev have in common? A year ago, they were Moat clients. Now they’re in DoubleVerify’s camp.
-
Vendors Like RTB House And Raptive Bought Into The Privacy Sandbox. Do They Feel Burned?
For some, Chrome’s news that it’s keeping third-party cookies was a moment of vindication. But was it a cruel blow to partners that tested the Privacy Sandbox in good faith?