Platforms

Retail media, walled gardens, identity and measurement: how the platforms set the terms, and how to buy from them with your eyes open.

Brands

Oct 5, 2026

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6 min read

Two Strangers, Twenty Years.

This week in 2006, Dove put a 75-second film called "Evolution" on the internet, and Google agreed to buy YouTube. The two never met.

Justin Billingsley

Platforms

Sep 24, 2026

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5 min read

The Tornado Guarantee

What a 19th-century tornado forecaster teaches about retail media's 94% accuracy claim

Justin Billingsley

Platforms

Sep 10, 2026

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6 min read

The Other Empty Chair

Amazon, Meta and WPP are being sued over advertiser money. The advertiser isn't suing.

Justin Billingsley

Aug 31, 2026

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6 min read

The Other Meta Story

Meta replaced a tenth of its people with AI agents. The 1890s already knew what would happen next.

Justin Billingsley

Aug 27, 2026

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6 min read

The Eager Seller

ChatGPT Ads arrive in Europe, and a CMO weighs the pitch in real time

Justin Billingsley

Platforms

Aug 10, 2026

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7 min read

The Last Hallmark

Nielsen bought DoubleVerify, and the last public window into ad verification closed

Justin Billingsley

Leadership

Jul 13, 2026

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4 min read

The Fifth P

There is no fifth P. The thing reshaping marketing sits underneath the other four.

Justin Billingsley

Jun 11, 2026

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5 min read

The Last Inch

Apple lost the AI model race and won the only thing that matters: the inch between your thumb and the answer

Justin Billingsley

Platforms

Jun 4, 2026

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5 min read

The Two Noons

The four big ad platforms just agreed a standard socket for AI agents. Nobody noticed, because plumbing doesn't make pictures.

Justin Billingsley

Platforms

May 28, 2026

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6 min read

The Cannibal Strategy

Google deliberately undermined its own $175 billion click business. That was the point of I/O.

Justin Billingsley

Platforms

May 25, 2026

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6 min read

The Wrong War

The holding companies are fighting each other. The war that matters is against the platforms, and only one of them has noticed.

Justin Billingsley

Platforms

Apr 27, 2026

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6 min read

The Missing Bar

Advertising has no professional standards, and the one time it tried, the FTC called it a cartel

Justin Billingsley

Platforms

Apr 23, 2026

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5 min read

The Crooked Ruler

Nielsen delayed a report its clients didn't like. Every panel number you rely on shares the same flaw.

Justin Billingsley

Platforms

Apr 6, 2026

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5 min read

The Fandom Dividend

Why Publicis's $500 million sports acquisition is architecture, not deal-making

Justin Billingsley

Platforms

Apr 2, 2026

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7 min read

The Attention Deficit

The market spent 2024 writing Google's obituary. Google spent it building the most integrated marketing platform ever assembled.

Justin Billingsley

Platforms

Mar 26, 2026

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5 min read

The Transparency Gambit

The Trade Desk audit looks like a fee dispute. It is a rehearsal for a much bigger fight.

Justin Billingsley

Platforms

Mar 12, 2026

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5 min read

The Switching Cost Confession

Omnicom told investors its data platform makes clients harder to lose. Clients should have been in the room.

Justin Billingsley

Platforms

Mar 5, 2026

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5 min read

A Four-Layer Battle

The real competition in marketing isn't between agencies. It's between the four layers of the value chain.

Justin Billingsley

Platforms

Feb 9, 2026

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5 min read

Now, Think How You Feel.

The System1 testing method, described plainly, so you can judge the Super Bowl ratings for yourself

Justin Billingsley

Platforms

Dec 15, 2025

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6 min read

The Keys to the Kingdom

The Disney–OpenAI story the headlines missed: not the billion dollars, the hundred billion in IP

Justin Billingsley

Platforms

Nov 21, 2025

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4 min read

The Great Pipe Debate

First-party versus third-party data is the wrong argument. When content adaptation costs nothing, the signals are the game

Justin Billingsley

Platforms

Nov 13, 2025

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5 min read

Adobe is Fighting from the Middle Out

Adobe MAX 2025 revealed a two-front offensive: absorb the tools that threatened you, then attack agencies and platforms at once

Justin Billingsley

Brands

Nov 5, 2025

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4 min read

Google Learns to Love

Pomelli and Canva Grow build brand understanding into the platform before they optimise. Agencies' third line of defence just got thinner.

Justin Billingsley

OpenAI's Commerce Protocol and the $600 Billion Paradox

Oct 1, 2025

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4 min read

OpenAI's Commerce Protocol and the $600 Billion Paradox

AI can now buy things for you. Someone still has to pay for the AI.

Justin Billingsley

Platforms

The Oracle Was Right: How Larry Ellison's $455B Infrastructure Bet Changes Everything

Sep 15, 2025

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3 min read

The Oracle Was Right: How Larry Ellison's $455B Infrastructure Bet Changes Everything

You've been buying boats with nicer sails. Oracle just invented hydrofoiling: the tools come to your data, and the marketing cloud becomes just another app.

Justin Billingsley

Platforms

Two Strangers, Twenty Years.

The Tornado Guarantee

The Other Empty Chair

The Other Meta Story

The Eager Seller

The Last Hallmark

The Fifth P

The Last Inch

The Two Noons

The Cannibal Strategy

The Wrong War

The Missing Bar

The Crooked Ruler

The Fandom Dividend

The Attention Deficit

The Transparency Gambit

The Switching Cost Confession

A Four-Layer Battle

Now, Think How You Feel.

The Keys to the Kingdom

The Great Pipe Debate

Adobe is Fighting from the Middle Out

Google Learns to Love

OpenAI's Commerce Protocol and the $600 Billion Paradox

The Oracle Was Right: How Larry Ellison's $455B Infrastructure Bet Changes Everything

Brandflow