Marketing, Media & Adtech

Ever wonder what happens when a seasoned ad veteran starts pulling the thread on 30 years of marketing lies—and doesn’t stop?In this sharp, hilarious, and wildly informative episode of The ADOTAT Show, host Pesach Lattin sits down with James McDonald, Managing Director of Audience Group, to rip apart the industry’s most sacred assumptions and expose the real mechanics behind successful advertising. Spoiler: it’s not your CTR. And it’s definitely not your last-click attribution report from Google Ads.With the energy of a detective, the wit of a comic-book superhero (literally—check the thumbnail), and the experience of someone who’s seen every adtech hype cycle from dial-up to programmatic, James delivers insight after insight on what actually drives effectiveness in media and why most marketing dashboards are just dashboards of delusion.🔍 In this episode, we go full-on X-ray vision into:Why Cost Per Memory Day (CPMD) might be the only metric worth fighting forHow to tell if your “attention” vendor is selling smoke and mirrorsWhat went right with Slater & Gordon’s attention-optimized campaignCoca-Cola’s underrated playbook on brand salience and light buyersWhy performance marketing without memory is like selling coupons in a blackoutWhat “search as shelf space” really means—and why branded keyword spend might be your budget’s saddest line itemAnd yes—we talk about the platform scam economy:💸 Google selling you the ad, grading the test, and sending the invoice💸 Meta promising viewability while hiding actual engagement💸 The rise of performance marketing addiction and what happens when you pull the plug👓 “If advertising’s job is to make decisions easier, why are we optimizing for things people forget in 3 seconds?”Whether you’re a media buyer trying to escape the CTR hamster wheel, a CMO who wants long-term brand equity without boring decks, or a performance marketer who suspects the spreadsheet is lying to you—this conversation is your sanity check.🧠 Plus:James unveils his Campaign Reality Check Worksheet—a practical tool to align your media, creative, and strategy teams around real metrics, not marketing cosplay.https://new.adotat.com/subscribe

Alexis Hochleutner has been behind the curtain at Google, Meta, Amazon, and more — not as a bystander, but as one of the few people actually trying to fix what most of the adtech world prefers to ignore.In this no-holds-barred conversation, Alexis unpacks a career spent inside the engine room of digital advertising — putting out fires caused by brand safety meltdowns, battling fraud rings operating in plain sight, and navigating the ethical black holes of platforms more interested in revenue than responsibility.She’s seen how verification vendors quietly normalized fraud. She’s watched premium inventory get outbid by garbage traffic. And she’s done being quiet about it.This episode isn’t about theories. It’s about what actually happens when your ad shows up next to extremist content, when your DSP bundles 40 MFA sites under one line item, and when your brand safety strategy depends on a spreadsheet that can’t update fast enough to keep up with reality.What you’ll learn:📉 Why MFA sites still dominate even after being “blocked”🧾 Why fraud isn’t a bug — it’s a business model🌴 What adtech would look like if you rebuilt it on a desert island (spoiler: no dashboards)🤖 Why AI is mostly theater, not strategy🧠 Why real change starts with people who actually give a damnIf you work in advertising, adtech, media buying, or just wonder why your CPMs keep rising while your results get worse — this is essential viewing.Subscribe. Watch. Share it with someone still measuring success by CTR.🧠 Stay Bold. Stay Curious. And Know More Than You Did Yesterday.

Andrew Casale, CEO of Index Exchange and ad auction expert, dives into the evolving world of ad tech with Pesach Lattin. They discuss why SSPs are gaining respect and the transparency of take rates compared to sparkling water. Andrew humorously dubs CTV as the 'high-maintenance teen' of ad tech, delving into its challenges like burst traffic and inventory fragmentation. He also shares insights on the industry's shift towards efficiency and accountability, along with personal anecdotes about moving from Toronto to the bustling NYC.

🎙️ The ADOTAT Show – Hosted by Pesach LattinWelcome to the episode that brand safety tools wish never existed.In this chaotic, hilarious, and dangerously insightful installment of The ADOTAT Show, host Pesach Lattin sits down with Brian O’Kelley — the legendary co-founder of AppNexus, the original architect of modern programmatic, and the only person alive who has both crashed CNN.com and reimagined how we think about suitability, AI, and the ad tech status quo.Together, they unpack the uncomfortable truths of digital advertising, including:🔥 Why traditional brand safety tools are medieval nonsense🧠 How AI can actually understand context (and why that terrifies some vendors)👀 What happens when bots unionize and demand PTO📉 Why most point solutions in ad tech are either obsolete or about to be🧩 How Brian’s building toward a world where every brand has its own AI agent😱 And yes, the time he crashed a fifth of the internet from a basketball courtThis is NOT a sanitized fireside chat. This is a full-blown tech therapy session meets startup roast meets future-of-advertising manifesto, where nothing is off limits and no acronym is safe.💡 Sponsored By:Troutman Amin – The legal team you call when you accidentally disrupt an entire industry. Smart, surgical, and ready to keep you compliant without killing your momentum.Incremental – The measurement platform that tells the truth, not just what your media buyer wants to hear. Real lift, real outcomes, no smoke, no mirrors.📌 Subscribe to stay ahead of the industry curve.📢 Drop a comment if you’ve ever been flagged as unsafe by a keyword blocklist for saying “funeral.”👁️‍🗨️ Stay bold. Stay curious. Know more than you did yesterday.#ADOTATShow #BrianOKelley #AdTech #AI #ProgrammaticAdvertising #BrandSafety #Suitability #Incremental #TroutmanAmin #AdvertisingInnovation #Scope3 #PesachLattin

What do a cold wash detergent commercial from the 1980s, a Shih Tzu named Birdie, and Dynamic Creative Optimization have in common?Apparently, everything—when Fred Godfrey is on the mic.In this week’s wildly entertaining and unexpectedly emotional episode of The ADOTAT Show, we’re joined (again) by the inimitable Fred Godfrey, CEO of Origin and the most honest man in adtech, whether the industry likes it or not. And no, we’re not trying to get rid of him. We wouldn’t dare.This isn’t your typical “best practices” snoozefest. This is a deep, hilarious, and slightly philosophical conversation that blows open the safe, soulless walls of performance marketing and asks a far better question:👉 What if the best ad doesn’t try to sell you anything at all?💡 In this episode, we cover:Fred’s childhood obsession with a detergent ad that just said “brrrr”—and how that minimalist storytelling still crushes 99% of today’s over-engineered brand content.Macy’s holiday ads and the British-inspired art of emotional storytelling that makes people cry and shop.Why DCO isn’t the villain—but how we’ve used it like a blunt object instead of a scalpel.How modern ads lost their soul chasing CTRs, and how to bring back curiosity, memory, and actual resonance.The myth of personalization and the horror of creepy geo-inserted “Hey, [CITY]!” ads.The ROI of saying less. Whispering instead of screaming. Leaving space for the viewer to feel something.And yes: Birdie the Shih Tzu, who has stronger opinions on storytelling than most strategy decks you’ve seen this year.🔥 This episode is for you if:You’re tired of being told “optimize more” when your gut knows the problem is creative bankruptcy.You believe branding can be emotional and effective—but the industry’s forgotten how to get there.You want to make ads that people remember 30 years later—not ones they skip after 3 seconds.You miss the days when advertising was closer to art than algorithm.💬 Drop us a comment if you’ve ever made an ad that made someone cry, laugh, or actually remember your brand a week later.👍 Like this episode?🔔 Subscribe for more irreverent, insightful interviews with the smartest (and weirdest) minds in marketing.🐾 Share with your favorite creative director, brand strategist, or dog lover with ad fatigue.Huge thanks to our sponsors Incremental and Troutman Amin—for making sure this show stays on air and isn’t replaced by a generative AI that uses buzzwords like “omnichannel synergistic personalization.”

In this mind-expanding episode of The ADOTAT Show, we’re joined by the one and only Rishad Tobaccowala—marketing visionary, business philosopher, and the man who’s been calling out the corporate charade long before it became fashionable.This isn’t your typical “future of work” fluff-fest filled with buzzwords and LinkedIn-safe predictions. Rishad dives headfirst into the uncomfortable truths most leaders are too scared—or too siloed—to admit. He drops hard truths about the death of traditional leadership, the failure of most org structures, and why Gen Z will never want your job (and probably shouldn’t).💥 Topics we get into:Why leadership training is a joke (unless you're Walmart)What it means to live in the age of debossificationThe rise of the Company of One—and why your top talent is already acting like oneWhy optional, flexible, and freelance work models are the only ones worth buildingAnd how to spot a real leader (hint: they don’t need a title to lead)🔧 Rishad lays out a new blueprint for work, featuring: ✅ Permeable organizations✅ Portable benefits✅ Outcome-based pay✅ Modular leadership✅ Actual intelligence (not recycled best practices from 2012)He’s not here to make you comfortable—he’s here to help you survive the next version of work before your business becomes a fossil.

In this Season Four premiere episode, Pesach Lattin (@ADOTAT) sits down with Jay Friedman, CEO of Goodway Group, the man who took one look at office coffee and said: “No thanks, I’ll scale 1,500x without it.”🧠 This isn’t just another “how we’re using AI” episode. It’s a full-on teardown of the ad industry’s addiction to fluff, inefficiency, and the illusion of innovation. Jay drops enough truth bombs to qualify for a LinkedIn suspension — and we’re here for all of it.🔍 What You’ll Hear Inside This Episode:🎯 AI for Creativity, Not Just Cost-CuttingJay explains why using generative AI just to squeeze headcount misses the point—and why smart agencies are training AI to think alongside them, not just automate reports.🎨 Is This a Picasso or a Coupon Clipper?From executive coaching GPTs to bots that know your KPIs better than your interns, Jay reveals how real innovation requires imagination, not just procurement checklists.🏝️ Remote Work Before It Was CoolGoodway Group went fully remote in 2008 — long before anyone could spell “Zoom.” Jay shares the secret sauce for building culture, avoiding quiet hiring disasters, and yes... what happened when his team defused a bomb in a virtual escape room.🛠️ Transparency vs. Shell GamesWhat if every agency had to show exactly how they spend your ad dollars? Jay says Goodway would grow 5X. And, honestly, he might be right.🧾 Marketing ROI = The Ultimate Magic TrickJay breaks down why most CMOs are still treated like PowerPoint slide filler at board meetings—and how to change that by measuring what actually matters.🎤 Also, We Talk About Nas, Peanut Butter, and Singing Like Adele.Because of course we do.📎 Get Connected & Learn More:👨‍💼 Jay Friedman🔗 l  / jayfriedman  🏢 Goodway Group — Building marketing strategies that work in real life, not just slide decks.🧠 Pesach Lattin🔗   / pesach-lattin  📨 Subscribe to his daily newsletter & podcast updates at:👉 https://new.adotat.com/subscribe

Dan Rua has been coding since the internet was in diapers and is now on a mission to save publishers from their worst habit: giving Big Tech all the power (and all the cash). In this lost episode of The ADOTAT Show (yes, we found it buried under a pile of old banner ads), Dan breaks down how Admiral is teaching media giants to stop begging platforms for scraps and start building real relationships with their visitors.We talk about ad blockers shaking down publishers like a back-alley mob, why most publishers are still measuring success like it’s 2005, and how to stop whistling in the graveyard of dead business models.Subscribe if you’re ready to stop losing revenue and start acting like you own your audience.Brought to you by our friends at Troutman Amin, who keep the ad industry out of handcuffs—and do it bigly.

he ad industry loves its buzzwords. Synergy, engagement, omnichannel, blah blah blah. But let’s cut through the nonsense—most of today’s marketing playbook is a house of cards, built on short-term thinking, meaningless metrics, and an addiction to performance marketing that’s turning brands into digital coupon machines.Enter Carl Fremont, CEO of Quigley-Simpson and a guy who’s been in this game long enough to see the same bad ideas resurface with shinier acronyms. In this episode of The ADOTAT Show, Carl tears into the industry's worst habits, including:🔥 Why ROAS is the junk food of marketing metrics (it looks good on paper but leaves your brand malnourished and dependent on constant ad spend)🔥 How brand loyalty died and why marketers are the ones who killed it (hint: it’s what happens when you treat customers like disposable revenue streams)🔥 Why real leadership has nothing to do with “synergy” and everything to do with actually giving a damn about your team (also, bagels. Seriously, bagels.)🔥 How the obsession with short-term wins is setting brands up for long-term failure (because you can’t buy your way into relevance forever)If you’re tired of marketing BS and want to hear what actually works in 2025, Carl’s got the answers—and he’s not sugarcoating anything. Watch, take notes, and maybe rethink your media strategy before you blow your entire budget on another useless CTR optimization.🔔 Subscribe for more brutally honest takes on adtech, marketing, and why half the industry is just making things worse.

In this episode of The ADOTAT Show, host Pesach Lattin sits down with Sean McCormick, a veteran of performance marketing and someone who has built a career balancing grit, growth, and unflinching transparency. Together, they wade into the murky waters of lead generation, industry ethics, and the all-too-familiar chaos of navigating client demands while trying to stay true to values.Sean opens up about the "dirty secrets" of performance marketing—yes, we’re talking about blending margins, questionable partners, and why some advertisers shop for quality like it’s the clearance aisle at a gas station. From discussing why vendors shouldn't be treated like punching bags to tackling the consequences of regulators stepping in, this conversation pulls no punches.You'll hear candid takes on why some metrics are more smoke and mirrors than meaningful, the risks of AI becoming a marketer's crutch, and why ethics often end up like kale at a BBQ—nice in theory, but left untouched.Sean also shares personal stories about firing nightmare clients, surviving fraud scares, and why "never give up" is tattoo-worthy advice in this industry. Plus, we get real about desert island survival kits, family chaos, and the one meal worth swimming back to shore for.Special thanks to our sponsors:🔥 Incremental.com – Giving you attribution clarity without the headaches.🔥 Rembrand.com – Making sure your CTV and DOOH ads don’t vanish into the void.🔥 Troutman Amin – The legal eagles who help you stay compliant while others are getting subpoenas.👉 Like, comment, and subscribe for more no-nonsense, brutally honest conversations about adtech, marketing, and the people crazy enough to stay in this game.Stay bold, stay curious, and know more than you did yesterday.