Redraw the Map: What the AI Revolution Means for Adtech
Adtech folks often talk about the industry in terms of the “Lumascape” pioneered by Terry Kawaja. As almost all of you know, it’s a map that parcels adtech companies and agencies into categories.
Don’t underestimate the importance of this reference. Maps are how customers — brands, agencies, and publishers — make sense of adtech. No one can remember hundreds of adtech companies as unique entities. They can remember the term “DSP,” lump a few dozen companies into that category, and then possibly (if you’re lucky) remember how those companies relate to one another. E.g. “StackAdapt — mid-market DSP.” “TripleLift — native SSP.”
Getting on the map is critical. It is the first job of adtech marketing. If people don’t know you exist — if you’re invisible, and most startups are — your ability to generate deals, close them faster, and sign larger contracts (the purpose of marketing) is severely limited.
But after you get on the map, which necessarily entails getting lumped into a category, it’s hard to break out of that category. And once people start to understand your place within the category via recourse to a particular adjective — mid-market, native, etc. — it’s very hard to get associated with a new adjective. This is good news for incumbents associated with growing sectors. It’s bad news for everyone else, especially those in categories facing long-term headwinds (e.g. open web display).
AI upends that dynamic because it represents the biggest wrinkle in the Lumascape since its inception. Brands, agencies, and publishers are reevaluating their entire tech stack and looking for luminaries who can point them in the right direction. All adtech customers know AI will be critical to the future of their business. They just don’t know exactly how yet. That means adtech companies have an enormous and probably short-lived opportunity to redraw the map, redefining their category and their place within it.
Despite a lot of snark, I wrote favorably last week about WPP’s recent attempts to reposition itself as a leader on AI. Why? Because they seem to get what a lot of folks aren’t taking seriously enough: this is a once-in-a-generation, holy-shit moment for technology. Though the response has mostly been positive and they’ve signed a bunch of huge partners very quickly, some folks also get snarky about (my client) Scope3’s recent AI announcements. Why? Because they’re taking huge swings and broadening their horizons. And people often have a myopic reaction to those moments. “It’ll never work. It’s opportunistic. It’s bluster.” Hell yes, these kinds of moves are opportunistic — in the sense that AI represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity, and savvy CEOs like Brian Lesser and Brian O’Kelley are not going to sit on the sidelines during primetime.
So, if you’re an adtech CEO or go-to-market leader, how do you make the most of this pivotal, generational moment? In short:
Ask yourself what the future of your category (or whatever category you want and can reasonably claim to be in) is, and figure out how you can pioneer that future through an evolution of your existing product. If you’re a DSP, for example, you need to be thinking about the future of media buying technologies and run toward that future. (I know, hard.)
Make bold bets in terms of technology, personnel, and go-to-market to realize that future. (I know, hard).
Shout from the rooftops about the new direction of your company, your category, and the industry. Be as bold in your marketing as you are in the transformation of the rest of your organization. Introduce novel terms and concepts (e.g., large marketing model, agentic media platform) to help people understand the technology you’re pioneering. Explain how it works in text posts and videos. Tout customer victories, and enlist your customers to explain how the technology improves on existing standards. Remember: if an AI product is launched and no one ever thinks about it again, it doesn’t matter. So, you can’t just make a good announcement. You have to beat the drum of your innovations week in, week out. (This one is my domain, and it’s not nearly as hard as numbers one and two, but many companies won’t do it even if they’re doing the first two things. They’ll opt for marketing as usual and, in doing so, minimize their chances of redrawing the map in thief favor.)
Your job in 2025 is to use the channels at your disposal to ensure that, when people think about how your category is evolving with AI, they think about you. You want to be the primary reference point for whatever category you’re building or rebuilding.
It won’t happen through a great product alone, and it won’t happen through a great announcement. It happens through relentless repetition: bold ideas, articulated in your customers’ feeds every day (which will also lead to more press coverage, more event speaking opportunities, and more chatter), all of which leads to sales.
AI introduces the biggest opportunity for adtech invention — and reinvention — since the launch of the ad exchange. Embrace it fully.
It’s time for a new Lumascape. You want to be the one to draw it.
