Digitas CEO Amy Lanzi avoids the term "influencer" because it implies a transactional ad buy that audiences reject. Instead, she advocates treating "creators" as a "brand's best friend." They should be integrated into the marketing org to co-create authentically and use their community to feed the product development pipeline.
As platforms like Google consume media traffic, brands can no longer rely on placing ads next to content. They must become the content destination themselves. The strategy is to build a direct relationship, often via an app, winning "the battle of the storefront on your phone" and reducing dependency on paid channels.
Overbooking isn't a flat algorithm. Business routes are overbooked more heavily due to flexible traveler schedules, while leisure routes with fixed plans (like a festival) are a huge risk to oversell, as almost everyone shows up. It's a lesson in understanding customer context to manage risk and revenue.
Instead of just using platforms, Digitas identifies gaps in its workflow and partners with platforms to build solutions. They saw strategists manually mining Reddit for insights, so they collaborated with Reddit to create a Community Insights AI product, turning an internal process into a scalable tool and competitive advantage.
Many marketers are obsessed with customer acquisition cost. Digitas CEO Amy Lanzi emphasizes the 80/20 rule: 80% of sales come from 20% of existing customers. Aggressive acquisition tactics can alienate this loyal core, so a balanced "recruit and retain" strategy is essential for sustainable growth.
The price disparity isn't about viewership. Legacy TV ad buys are often part of complex, negotiated packages that include talent access and integrations. This "engagement model" is different from YouTube's biddable, auction-based system, keeping TV prices high despite weaker analytics.
Despite platform fragmentation, Digitas's CEO argues the job of advertising is fundamentally the same. For a data-driven "quant," the North Star has always been whether an action drove sales. The challenge isn't new complexity, but rather marketers clinging to outdated, unmeasurable goals like "setting culture."
The advantage of a massive holding company like Publicis isn't just efficiency. Its scale enables agencies like Digitas to build deep, product-level partnerships with platforms like Reddit. It also lets them seamlessly pull in specialized expertise from sister agencies for clients without new procurement cycles.