AdTechGod Pod

At Marketecture Live, Brad Fox, SVP, Health Media, dentsuX, joins Josh Walsh, Co-Founder & CEO, BranchLab, and Zach Rodgers, Founder, Sensical, to explore how AI and neural networks are reshaping healthcare advertising. From the rise of AI-driven patient behavior to the decline of traditional targeting methods, the conversation dives into privacy-safe audience strategies, evolving patient journeys, and what the future holds for pharma marketers in an AI-first world.

Takeaways

AI is rapidly changing how patients search for and consume health information

Healthcare advertising is shifting away from search, contextual, and retargeting

Neural networks enable privacy-safe prediction of patient populations

Audience targeting must be rebuilt using AI-driven models

Patient journeys are complex and require more nuanced segmentation

AI is making both patients and doctors more informed

True one-to-one personalization remains limited due to regulation

AI platforms may eventually monetize healthcare interactions

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to healthcare, AI, and advertising

00:18 Overview of the panel and discussion focus

01:04 AI as a primary tool for health information

01:53 Surge in AI-driven health queries and behavior shift

02:45 Changing role of search and health websites

03:40 Adoption of AI tools by physicians

04:31 Impact of AI on patient and doctor outcomes

06:33 Decline of traditional targeting and need for new strategies

07:40 Future of pharma ad spend in an AI-driven world

08:45 Neural networks and privacy-safe targeting explained

10:31 AI-driven audience targeting and patient lifecycle

12:28 Predictive modeling for healthcare populations

13:03 Importance of understanding patient journeys

15:57 Scaling AI audiences across media channels

17:11 Faster audience creation and activation

18:40 Personalization limits in healthcare marketing

20:12 Future of AI platforms and healthcare ads

22:01 Regulation and the future of pharma advertising
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Eric Mayhew, Chief Innovation Officer and Co-Founder of Fluency, shares how his experience in automotive advertising inspired the creation of Fluency and its mission to eliminate repetitive AdOps work through automation. Eric dives into the difference between automation and AI, the future of agentic systems, and why human creativity still matters most in advertising. From scaling ad operations to building compliant AI workflows, this conversation explores where marketing technology is headed next.

Takeaways
• Automation should eliminate repetitive tasks so teams can focus on strategy and creativity.
• AI and automation are complementary, but they are not the same thing.
• Human oversight remains critical for compliance, governance, and brand safety.
• AI is powerful, but context quality determines the reliability of outputs.
• Personalization in advertising may finally become practical with AI and automation.
• Agencies want customizable workflows, not one-size-fits-all automation.
• Fluency focuses on deterministic workflows that execute advertiser strategies at scale.
• Agentic systems will combine rule-based automation with probabilistic AI decision-making.

Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Eric Mayhew and Fluency
01:20 How Dealer.com Inspired the Creation of Fluency
04:07 The Real Problem with Manual AdOps Workflows
05:45 Fluency’s Approach to Automation and AdOps Efficiency
07:45 Why AdOps Professionals Should Embrace Automation
10:41 The Difference Between Automation and AI
15:21 AI Risks, Hallucinations, and Governance Challenges
19:21 Where Humans Still Outperform AI
22:54 How Fluency Onboards and Automates Campaign Workflows
27:02 The Future of Agentic AI and Advertising Personalization
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Scott Ensign, Chief Strategy Officer at Butler/Till, joins Amanda Grant, EVP, Global Head of Data and Tech Partnerships, WPP Media, and Chris Feo, SVP, Sales & Partnerships, Unity, to discuss why gaming remains misunderstood, how data unlocks its true value, and what advertisers need to do to tap into its full-funnel potential. From perception challenges to multi-screen behavior, this conversation reframes gaming as one of the biggest untapped opportunities in modern media.

Takeaways

Gaming reaches nearly all demographics, but is still misunderstood by brands

Perception issues and legacy media habits are limiting investment

Gaming environments offer highly engaged, data-rich audiences

Mobile gaming plays a key role in multi-screen consumer behavior

Brands should treat gaming as an audience strategy, not just a channel

Full-funnel opportunities exist beyond performance and installs

Data is the key to unlocking better targeting and planning

Chapters00:00 Introduction to the episode and gaming opportunity

00:18 Why gaming now reaches all demographics

01:45 The gap between gaming usage and ad spend

02:38 Perception challenges holding brands back

04:08 Media buying habits and resistance to change

05:38 How data helps break gaming stereotypes

07:14 Gaming as a high-attention, “lean-in” environment

08:45 Multi-screen behavior and shifting consumption

10:06 Rethinking TV vs mobile in modern media

13:18 Performance vs brand investment in gaming

16:20 Gaming opportunities across industries like pharma

18:18 Unlocking commerce and purchase intent data

20:12 Treating gaming as an audience strategy

21:45 Favorite games and closing thoughts
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Tom Burke, Chief Revenue Officer of AI Digital, joins the show to break down the evolution of programmatic advertising, the realities of in-housing, and how AI is reshaping the media landscape. From his journey through AOL Basis and PMG to leading an AI native consultancy, Tom shares insights on fragmentation innovation and what it takes to stay competitive in today’s ad tech ecosystem

Takeaways

Programmatic has become too complex for simple in housing strategies

Fragmentation is a challenge but also a massive opportunity

AI Digital Open Garden approach prioritizes flexibility across platforms

AI is moving toward becoming the operating system of marketing

Success in the AI era depends on identifying what makes you uniquely valuable

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Tom Burke and AI Digital

01:15 Tom’s journey from Boston Globe to ad tech leadership

02:54 Why Tom joined AI Digital

04:13 What AI Digital does and its three core pillars

07:51 The evolution of housing programmatic

09:52 How agencies are adapting their pitches

11:30 The economics and challenges of in housing

13:25 How AI Digital supports brands and agencies

14:56 Key trends shaping the future of advertising

16:50 The role of AI and what is coming next
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Scott Ensign, Chief Strategy Officer at Butler/Till, shares how a fully employee-owned agency drives innovation, transparency, and growth.

From building trust in digital advertising to leveraging AI and agentic media, Scott breaks down how agencies can stay ahead while delivering real value to clients.

Takeaways

Butler/Till is 100 percent employee-owned, aligning incentives across teams and clients

Innovation in media requires breaking traditional planning cycles

AI should focus on building trust, not just efficiency

Transparency is a core differentiator in agency-client relationships

Innovation funds help test new strategies without risking core budgets

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Scott Ensign and Butler/Till

00:50 Career journey and why Scott stayed for 7 years

02:30 How employee ownership works at Butler/Till

04:20 What a Chief Strategy Officer actually does

06:10 Scott’s path through digital media and strategy

08:20 The future of digital advertising and AI

11:40 Transparency in partnerships and data

13:50 The Innovation Fund and why it matters

17:50 Real-world AI and agentic media testing

20:00 Closing thoughts and industry outlook

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