Why reshoot when you can remaster? Rembrand’s AI Studio lets you drop products into your videos like they were always meant to be there—seamlessly, effortlessly, and without the post-production migraines.

🎬 Creators: Monetize on your terms—no awkward ad breaks, just seamless integrations.
📢 Advertisers: Be part of the story, not an annoying pop-up.

Try it now and you could snag $10,000 (because who doesn’t love free money?).

🔗 Rembrand AI | Virtual Product Placement, Made Easy.

I have to say more about this because I am absolutely furious.

You want to talk about brand safety? Let’s talk about the worst-kept secret in adtech—the part they don’t put in the glossy sales decks or the smug LinkedIn posts about “protecting brands.”

Ads are funding child exploitation. Period.

And the companies responsible? They’re either too incompetent to stop it or too greedy to care.

I know this game better than most. Back in the ‘90s, while some of you were still figuring out how to dial into AOL, I was working as a special investigator for the Secret Service’s Electronic Crimes Task Force. Not an agent—couldn’t be, because I’m practically bat-blind—but they still wanted my hacking expertise. Trained in computer forensics. Worked on child exploitation cases. Had the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children inside my office. Trained by ASAIC Robert-freaking-Weaver, a legend in this field.

I’ve personally worked cases where we caught monsters who raped hundreds of kids. We caught them on video. We caught them at JFK, smuggling drugs and toys for their next victims. And do you know what some judges told me? That photos of naked children were just “artwork.” Let that sink in.

So when some suit from a verification company or an SSP tells you that this is “just a little problem” in ad tech? That it’s a rounding error? Bull***.* If it were “just a little,” they wouldn’t be trying so hard to cover it up. They’re trying because there’s money in it. And this is just what’s been caught. Who knows how much cash is flowing to these sites undetected?

Why does this keep happening? Because SSPs lie. Because DoubleVerify and IAS can’t do what they claim. Because it’s all just an expensive game of “we tried our best” while their clients shovel money into a black box.

And now, Senators Marsha Blackburn and Richard Blumenthal are dragging Amazon, Google, and the verification firms into the spotlight for serving ads next to CSAM. Adalytics found it—not because they were looking for it, but because it was so blatant that they stumbled across it while researching something completely different. Let that sink in. They weren’t even trying, and they still found a mess that ad tech’s billion-dollar “brand safety” industry failed to catch.

So now, the big firms have two options:

1️⃣ Admit they’re running a multi-billion-dollar scam, or
2️⃣ Spew another round of corporate nonsense about how “complicated” programmatic is.

Either way, their time’s up.

📉 IPG’s Struggles Continue Amid Omnicom Merger

💰 The Earnings Report:
IPG pulled in $9.2 billion in 2024, but here’s the kicker—Q4 saw a 1.8% organic revenue decline. In other words, the growth train hit a red light, just as it’s trying to look pretty for its soon-to-be corporate overlords.

✂️ The Plan:
IPG is embracing the tried-and-true “streamlining efficiencies” playbook, which, in plain English, means cost-cutting, offshoring, and layoffs. Because nothing says “we’re strong and stable” like scrambling to save $250 million before a merger.

💍 The Merger Drama:
With Omnicom’s takeover looming, IPG is in full-on “look valuable before the deal closes” mode. But let’s be real—this is survival, not strategy. The big question is: Will IPG enter the Omnicom era as an asset or just dead weight?

We’ve reached out to IPG and Omnicom for comment. Let’s see if they have a narrative better than "please ignore the financial turbulence."

📢 TripleLift’s New CEO: Can Dave Helmreich Shake Things Up?

🔄 The Move:
TripleLift just handed the reins to Dave Helmreich, former chief commercial officer at Innovid. The guy knows his way around ad tech, but stepping into the CEO seat comes with a whole new set of headaches.

📺 The Challenge:
TripleLift has been pushing hard into CTV and premium inventory, but let’s be honest—programmatic is still a mess, and scaling in CTV isn’t exactly plug-and-play. Helmreich’s mission? Prove TripleLift isn’t just another SSP trying to fight Google and The Trade Desk for scraps.

💡 The Big Question:
Can Helmreich actually drive meaningful growth, or is he about to find out that CTV’s big dollars come with even bigger hurdles? Because if the past few years have taught us anything, it’s that expanding in CTV is a lot harder than slapping a "premium" label on ad inventory.

We’ll be watching. Closely.

AdDog(TM): 🐶 Omnicom’s Merger: A Corporate Kennel Shake-Up or Just Another Dog-and-Pony Show? 🦴

Omnicom’s proposed merger is shaping up to be less of a strategic masterstroke and more of an alpha dog move to guard its kibble stash. Under the condition of pseudonimity (because even adtech hounds know when to keep their tails tucked), the real strategy here isn't innovation—it’s margin protection. But will this pack reorganization actually make the brand stronger, or is it just a fancy way to paper over some aging pedigree problems?

🐕 Keeping the Hunters, Not the Lapdogs

If Omnicom wants this to work, they better not send the real hunters to the pound. Account managers—the ones who actually sniff out revenue—are the lifeblood of these agencies. But if history tells us anything, the senior management—those overfed retrievers lounging in corner offices with a plush view—will likely stay put, wagging their tails and barking orders while the real work gets done elsewhere. That’s not a winning strategy. Less executive bloat, more agility—that’s what this pack needs.

🐩 Less Competition? Bad News for Brands

Every time a big dog eats another, the industry gets a little less competitive. And that never leads to lower ad costs or better service—it just means more power sitting in fewer paws. Brands are left with fewer options, leashed to a shrinking number of holding companies who dictate terms with all the charm of a bulldog at a bone convention.

🐕‍🦺 Acxiom: Not a Guard Dog, Just Dead Weight

And then there’s Acxiom. If this merger had any real technological synergy, maybe it would be worth some tail wags. But Acxiom is less a guard dog and more a liability on a leash—and Omnicom knows it. Expect them to take it out back and quietly let it 'retire' to that farm upstate. You know, the one where underperforming data assets go when they stop being useful.

🐾 The Verdict: A Lot of Bark, But Will It Bite?

Mergers are supposed to create stronger packs, but this one smells more like desperation than dominance. If Omnicom wants to make it work, they’ll need to keep the workhorses, trim the show dogs, and not just slap a new collar on the same old problems. Otherwise, this might just be another case of a big agency marking its territory—without actually delivering anything worth howling about. 🐶💨

Adtech Dog is a new column written with the kind of wit that cuts like a well-placed programmatic bid—sharp, fast, and impossible to ignore. Penned by a famous industry commentator who prefers to stay off the record, this insider has seen it all, from DSP wars to the latest cookie-less chaos. Expect irreverent takes, industry gossip, and the kind of brutally honest analysis that makes ad execs shift uncomfortably in their seats.

Become a paying subscriber to get access to this post and other subscriber-only content.

Already a paying subscriber? Sign In.