Together, these events painted a vivid picture of an industry in the midst of profound change, driven by technology and data-driven insights—and as you can imagine, we attended all three. Whether you were elsewhere in the world or only had the chance to attend one of the three overlapping events, find some key insights that were shared below.

At Advertising Week NY, we shared the secrets to prompting AI for ideal outputs.

As one can imagine, AI was a hot topic throughout Advertising Week, with many speakers mentioning the balance of “art and science” in their creative workflows. Our EVP of Digital Media Brittany Blanchard walked us through exactly what that looks like in a conversation with Noël Paasch, Global Head of Creative Strategy & Programs at YouTube Ads Marketing. In the conversation, Blanchard gave us a glimpse behind the scenes at our work with sleep wellness company Hatch, in which Google Gemini played a key role in the ideation phase.

While generative AI helps us achieve a workable draft or proof of concept in seconds, users may still feel a sense of writer’s block when faced with an empty prompt: how do I verbalize what it is that I’m looking for from the LLM? Blanchard offered insight into how she and her team prompt LLMs like Google Gemini to ensure high-quality outputs.

“You need to give Gemini or the LLM a lot of information to get what you want,” she said. “We use the ‘COSTAR’ method, which is an acronym for the inputs you should provide to Gemini: context, objective, style, tone, audience and response.” For example, context would mean explaining your role and your business, while the objective would be the ultimate goal of the campaign you’re building.

Sometimes, the LLM will react in a way that wasn’t anticipated—in which Blanchard suggests taking a flexible approach. She gave the example of asking Gemini for direct quotes from social media and product reviews left by customers, which the LLM denied citing privacy concerns. But it could provide anonymized paraphrases of that content instead, which benefited the team’s consumer research all the same.

A new twist on a traditional tactic: contextual advertising had its moment in the spotlight.

In addition to AI, another common theme at Advertising Week NY was a more traditional marketing tactic that has been given a new lease on life: contextual advertising. What was once the traditional approach of linking ads with relevant content in print or linear TV has now become more robust thanks to analytics tools and CTV. This helps brands ensure their content is relevant to consumers without the creepiness factor that can come with other forms of personalization that rely primarily on demographic data.

Nick Fairbairn, VP of Marketing at Chime, shared another key benefit of this approach: brand safety, which is especially important when you are a startup that is still working to establish the voice and values of your brand with audiences.

Marketing experts shared how to speak the language of Gen Z.

If the frenzy around Taylor Swift’s Eras tour (and subsequent romance with Travis Kelce) taught us anything, it’s that fandoms are the lifeblood of culture—particularly with Gen Z— propelling trends and conversations into the mainstream with unmatched fervor. Brands looking to engage authentically with Gen Z must immerse themselves in these communities, recognizing their power to shape narratives and influence broader cultural movements.

Megan Weales, Social Media Manager at Wattpad, a platform that thrives on user-generated creativity and fandom, put it this way: “We aim to be one of our users—that’s how we stay engaged with Gen Z.” This approach is about more than just understanding what interests their audience; it’s about digging deeper to understand why consumers gravitate toward their favorite fandoms. For Wattpad, this means participating in communities like #BookTok to learn about what stories and tropes resonate with audiences.

At Mirren AI & Tech Summit, we gave a peek into the development of tools like Monks.Flow.

While Advertising Week NY took place, some of our Monks went downtown to participate in Mirren AI & Tech Summit, focused on artificial intelligent and technology in advertising and marketing. Speakers shared how to implement AI and new technologies across various aspects of agency operations, ultimately helping the community better leverage the technology for client management, strategic development, creative work, new business acquisition, and back-end operations.

Our SVP of Media Solutions & Emerging Technology Victoria Milo gave insight into our end-to-end, AI-powered professional managed service Monks.Flow and the principles that shaped it: the need for a tool that is future-proof, flexible and has ease of management. But another key need that she addressed is interoperability into the brand’s existing tech stack.

Like Blanchard, Milo discussed our work with Hatch to make the case for how AI is encouraging multidisciplinary teams to collaborate more strategically. “Think about who the players are when you're using AI, because it's usually not just you and a client—there's usually a tech partner involved and a platform,” she said. “We're seeing the full spectrum of your marketing department work together--it's not just a creative conversation, a media conversation. You'll have multiple discipline at the table, so the way of working has to adapt.”

A demo of Stable Diffusion walked audiences through ways to build incredible visuals.

Speaking of AI tools, Group Creative Director of Innovation Vanessa Lai and Senior Director of Technology & AI Samuel Snider-Held walked the audience through how to use Stable Diffusion to generate impressive visual results. In addition to weighing the pros and cons of the tool compared to others—for example, it’s more technically complex, but that also opens up greater control of different parameters and enhanced customizability—the two showcased how Stable Diffusion integrates with other platforms like Blender and Photoshop to accelerate visual creativity.

At Brand Innovators, the move toward first-party data strategies remained a key topic.

AI and first-party data were key themes at a recent industry conference, where our VP of Enterprise Data & Digital Media Consulting Kosta Demopoulos sat with Randip Mitra, Head of Global Data Strategy at Kenvue, to discuss first-party data collection and activation. The conversation drew from our work with Kenvue to build an industry-leading global privacy-compliant adtech solution to efficiently use first-party data through modeling, segmentation, and measurement.

Mitra provided insights on adapting to Google’s decision not to deprecate third-party cookies and emphasized that the importance of building robust first-party data ecosystems remained. “The overall destination is still the same, right? We need to move towards a kind of a third-party independent, more consented marketing approach," he said.

Beyond protecting consumer privacy, a robust first-party data strategy unearths incredible behavioral insights that can ultimately help drive targeted marketing. "Understanding what our consumers are doing—what actions they’re taking, are they downloading coupons, are they going to retailer sites—it really helps us understand the content they’re interacting with, the seasonal trends, how should we tweak our messaging and promotions," he said. Furthermore, these insights can enhance precision targeting with AI and machine learning.

Insights from Mars showcased the evolving dynamics of brand strategy and AI integration.

Elsewhere at Brand Innovators, our VP of Growth Samantha Lynch engaged in a conversation with Heather Stuckey, VP of Brands and Content Marketing, North America at Mars. They discussed the evolving landscape of brand strategy, agency partnerships, and the integration of AI in marketing. Stuckey, who has transitioned from a robust career in advertising to a leading role at Mars, shared insights into leveraging agency experience for brand-side innovation. “I loved being on the advertising side, but I was curious about brand building beyond communications,” she mentioned, highlighting the significance of understanding brand dynamics from a holistic perspective.

The two also explored the crucial role agency partnerships play in fostering creativity and challenging brand perspectives. Stuckey emphasized, "What I appreciate so much about our agency partners is they're able to challenge us, bringing new ideas that help us engage with our consumers on a deeper level."

AI's transformative potential was a key theme, with examples like the Starburst “Different Every Time” campaign, where AI-generated assets were used to resonate with consumer behavior. “It's things like that we're just testing and learning,” Stuckey noted, pointing to AI's role in content creation and consumer engagement. “We're focused on modern approaches to brand building, driving personalization at scale and ensuring connected brand experiences.”

Driving impactful marketing solutions demands embracing innovation and adaptability.

As the curtain falls on a week of intense exploration and dialogue across Advertising Week NY, Mirren AI & Tech Summit, and Brand Innovators, one thing is clear: our work continues to be reshaped by the dynamic interplay of AI, data-driven insights and innovative strategies. These events not only highlighted the cutting-edge technologies and methodologies poised to define the future but also emphasized the importance of adapting to these shifts to maintain relevance in a rapidly evolving industry.

Embracing the themes discussed, from leveraging AI for creative processes to refining data strategies for enhanced consumer engagement, is crucial for brands and agencies looking to stay ahead. As we integrate these insights into our own practices, we continue to foster a collaborative environment where creativity, technology, and data converge to drive impactful marketing solutions. The path forward is as much about embracing change as it is about leading it, and these events have provided the roadmap to help teams do just that.