"It's called 'innovation'. Or 'the Year of' . Or more accurately: 'the Cat and the Laser Pointer.' Because every single time someone waves a new trend across ad tech, the industry reacts like a cat with a laser pointer. We sprint, reorganise, form task forces, and completely forget what we were doing five seconds ago. This isn't about AI, at least not just about AI. This has been happening over and over again, and if you've worked in advertising long enough, you've survived more 'years of...' than you can count."
"2025 was the Year of LLM AI. 2024 was the Year of CTV. 2023 was the Year of Retail Media. 2022 was the Year of Attention. 2021 was the Year of Privacy First. 2020 was the Year of Cookie Deprecation. 2019 was the Year of ML AI. 2018 was the Year of Brand Safety. 2017 was the Year of GDPR. 2016 was the Year of Viewability. 2011-2015 were the Years of Mobile. 2010 was, of course, the Year of Mobile."
"What happens now is almost comical. Task forces form overnight, as if it's a most-wanted case. Special forces, milestones, AHODs, daily stand-ups, Slack channels... the entire shebang appears out of thin air. Vendors are vetted, products are built on the flight."
Ad tech repeatedly chases new trends and rapidly reorganizes around each declared 'Year of...' phenomenon. Teams sprint to create task forces, special initiatives, daily stand-ups, and dedicated Slack channels to pursue the latest opportunity. Vendors are rapidly vetted and proofs of concept are launched on short timelines. Attention shifts annually between technologies like LLM AI, CTV, retail media, privacy initiatives, cookies, ML, and mobile. Short-term enthusiasm frequently distracts organizations from sustained strategic work, operational stability, and long-term value creation.
Read at Exchangewire
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