The Trade Desk’s recent earnings call positions objectivity as the wedge between open internet adtech companies and the walled gardens. There may be a bigger story for TTD and other adtech companies to tell about AI as a revitalizing force for the open internet — and, by extension, independent adtech.

Sharp Pen is all about the idea that the CEO is the chief evangelist: i.e., we help our clients practice founder-led marketing. Unsurprisingly, then, some of the best marketing thinkers are founders. Steve Jobs is a prime example. Here’s his marketing wisdom.

Marketing grows companies by telling a clear, differentiated, and urgent story and getting that story in front of the right people, regularly, to build attention, clarity, differentiation, urgency, and trust. When that happens, you get more leads, faster sales cycles, and higher-quality deals.

Differentiation is one of marketing’s key objectives. But even better is driving trust. The CEO evangelism playbook can help you win even if your product is perceived as a commodity by building customer affinity.

Nearly everything about communication has changed since 2005, but most B2B companies run marketing as if the smartphone had never been invented. Throw out the 2005 marketing playbook. The CEO is the chief evangelist. Here’s how to empower them to build a company around their vision.

Earning media coverage as an adtech company may feel like a great mystery. It really boils down to three tactics: making the customer the hero of the story, sharing data that shifts the industry conversation, or challenging the status quo with a hot take.

Modern marketing means creating an owned and shared content engine that tells your story directly to customers instead of relying on the media to do it for you. But if you're sold on the modern playbook, how do you implement it? Here's a roadmap for ambitious CEOs.

Most startups, especially in adtech, are invisible because they’re afraid to be provocative, but in an attention-driven landscape, invisibility is the biggest risk. Cluely’s 21-year-old CEO is proof that modern distribution, not polished positioning, is what drives growth, and it’s time for more companies to build like that.

AI offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to redraw customers’ mental maps of the industry. That means companies whose reputations have been frozen in declining sectors can reinvent themselves. But you need bold marketing to alter your customers’ perception.

WPP’s recent series of moves, including launching a “large marketing model” and rebranding GroupM, shows they are on the right track for a company on the precipice of generational disruption.

Meta just put a deadline on the Outcomes Era, aiming to fully automate ad creation and targeting with AI by the end of 2025. That means every adtech and media company now faces a simple mandate: prove you deliver incremental, transparent, full-funnel outcomes.

Adtech must stop romanticizing the open web as inherently superior and instead focus on proving it delivers outcomes — because that’s what advertisers actually care about. In the Outcomes Era, the case for the open internet must be grounded in performance, not nostalgia.

Outcomes, AI, creators, and the war between the open internet and the walled gardens were the key themes at DMS by LUMA. Let’s synthesize those trends into a holistic case for the open internet and the adtech companies that represent it.

Taboola is all in on the Outcomes Era, but they’re not alone. A look at their messaging shift highlights why the focus on outcomes is so popular, what its wrinkles are, and how open internet adtech companies can leverage a focus on outcomes to win the war with the walled gardens.

The Trade Desk CEO Jeff Green has gotten loud on LinkedIn recently, transforming from a conspicuous absence to a frequent contributor. But his posts should be more strategic, actively seeking to shift TTD’s reputation in  three ways, and specific, sharing what only one of the most successful adtech entrepreneurs understands about advertising.

Magnite’s headline on their site is "Helping you win across every screen, everywhere." Forgettable and undifferentiated. Instead, the company should lean into its three core differentiators and weave them into a narrative that situates Magnite at the center of the industry — and where it’s heading. Here’s how.

Most advice on early-stage marketing hires is outdated. Founders don’t need a generalist and a few helpers — they need one or two AI-powered supermarketers who can think strategically and ship fast. With the right person, one hire can do the work of a team. Aim higher.

The performance TV thesis is coming to the open web — let’s call it the “performance web” thesis. Here’s why Taboola is adopting that narrative and why I expect other adtech companies to follow suit.

We need to think bigger about the implications of AI for B2B marketing. AI allows you to run the Sharp Pen playbook — building a brand through first-party channels — on a much greater scale, even with fewer people.

AI hasn’t made great marketers obsolete—it’s made average ones impossible to justify. The best marketers aren’t resisting AI; they’re using it to produce more, faster, and better. Employers should judge them on output, not effort, and focus on what AI can’t replace: strategy, relationships, and taste. The bar has risen—top marketers will rise with it.