Don't Simplify Media, Embrace It: Turning Complexity into Intelligence — a Camphouse Keynote from Advertising Week

Media planning was called a lost art. Now clients are asking for it again. Shenda Loughnane, Global Brand President of dentsu X, explains why planning and brand are back, why global leaders need a local market, and how to lead people who don't report to you.Recorded at Cannes Lions 2026 with Jean-Daniel Germain, VP Marketing at Camphouse.Why is media planning making a comeback? After years of focusing on efficiency and performance, advertisers are asking agencies about planning and brand-building again. With LLMs and AI-enabled search shaping where brands appear, how a brand shows up has never mattered more, and questions like the right balance of CTV versus online video need real planning craft.In this episode:Why running a local market makes you a better global leaderWhat a global agency president's week actually looks likeLeading by influence when country heads don't report to youUsing personality profiles to adapt your leadership styleWhy the best pitches come from new people and new combinationsThe return of media planning and brand investmentBrand visibility in LLMs and AI searchFull-funnel formats: CTV and creator partnership adsHow to stay on top of a media landscape that never stops changingChapters00:00 Welcome to the Carpool00:08 Two jobs: global and local00:27 Why local makes you better at global01:05 Do you lose touch in global?02:22 A global president's day to day04:10 Leading people who don't report to you05:06 Developing as a leader06:36 Curiosity and the richness of people07:30 Side hustles and talent09:24 Scaling pitches with new talent10:46 The comeback of media planning11:52 Brand in the age of AI search12:33 Full-funnel formats13:34 Staying close to innovation15:01 Cannes picks: creatorsAbout the seriesCamphouse Carpool is a short-form interview series with the people running media at the world's biggest advertisers and agencies. Camphouse is the intelligent media platform that gives media and marketing teams a single source of truth for plans, budgets and results.

Content shouldn't just be seen. It should be lived. Philipp Schmidt, Managing Director of Webedia Brand Xperiences, explains why the future of brand content is integrated experiences, and why coherence is what earns positive attention.Recorded at Cannes Lions 2026 with Jean-Daniel Germain, VP Marketing at Camphouse.What is an integrated brand experience? It's one story, or IP, that lives across every platform: video, social, creators, events and media. Webedia Brand Xperiences is the global sales house of the Webedia-Elephant group, launched in 2026. It gives brands and agencies one point of access to four areas of expertise: production, influence, media and events.In this episode:Why the market has kept production, creators and events apart, and why that's changingIPs that live across platforms, and how audiences under 35 already consume content horizontallyPositive attention vs. the negative attention social algorithms rewardWhat a luxury background teaches you about brand coherenceWhy attention measurement still can't tell good attention from badBalancing short-term sales with brand equityThree ways brands can work with WBX: Signatures, Full Funnel and StoriesEvents as living media, from a creator darts tournament to a 7,000-person live broadcast for GeneraliStorytelling in the age of AI, and Webedia-Elephant's new AI lab, Human After AllChapters00:00 Welcome to the Carpool00:11 Who Philipp is: Webedia Brand Xperiences00:40 What is Elephant?01:26 Integrated experiences and IPs02:15 Positive vs. negative attention02:57 What a luxury media leader brings04:11 Luxury and coherence04:46 Building IPs05:49 Why Cannes: augmented storytelling07:13 Can you measure positive attention?08:02 Short-term sales vs. brand equity08:45 Signatures, Full Funnel, Stories10:19 Events as living media11:19 Storytelling in the age of AIAbout the seriesCamphouse Carpool is a short-form interview series with the people running media at the world's biggest advertisers and agencies. Camphouse is the intelligent media operations platform that gives modern media teams a single source of truth for plans, budgets and results.

Mid-market brands deserve big-agency thinking without the big-agency trade-offs. Chris Novak, CEO of independent agency Eden Collective, explains how to plan media for brands where media really moves the top line.Recorded at Cannes Lions 2026 with Jean-Daniel Germain, VP Marketing at Camphouse.What is mid-market media planning? Eden Collective is a US planning, strategy and analytics agency. It works with mid-market brands of roughly $100M to $900M in top-line revenue, running full-funnel media planning and execution. These brands often split their media across specialist agencies, and each one pushes its own channel. Eden's job is to make all the pieces work together.In this episode:Why Eden moved from consulting into execution: the execution has to match the strategyHow an independent agency scales across mid-market clients, with intellectual humility and cross-training as the foundationBuilding data literacy with a three-way team of analytics, planning and digitalIs media planning dead? Why experienced, cross-channel planners matter more than everUsing MMM and incrementality without letting measurement wag the planWhy what works for direct-to-consumer might not work for retailIndependent agencies vs. holding companies, and why being independent is "a lot more liberating"How a retainer model keeps an agency focused on business outcomesLearning agendas: six-month test plans instead of one-off A/B testsHelping clients look past platform metrics to build brand while driving salesChapters00:00 Welcome to the Carpool00:07 Who Chris is: Eden Collective00:23 Why do both planning and execution?01:21 Defining mid-market01:54 Scaling across clients: intellectual humility02:57 Data literacy across analytics, planning and digital03:37 Is media planning dead?04:20 MMM, incrementality and keeping the plan first04:51 DTC vs. retail05:40 Independent agencies vs. holding companies06:43 Retainers and staying grounded07:55 Fresh at Cannes09:00 The craft beer theory of independent agencies09:44 Learning agendas10:26 Patience for media results11:19 Data at scale vs. anecdotesAbout the seriesCamphouse Carpool is a short-form interview series with the people running media at the world's biggest advertisers and agencies. Camphouse is the intelligent media operations platform that gives modern media teams a single source of truth for plans, budgets and results.

AI is changing the way media teams plan, buy, and report, but the biggest shifts are happening in operations. In this episode of Media Fika, Camphouse Senior Sales Director Michael Smith talks with Emily Braund, Head of Operations at The Seven Stars, the UK's largest independent agency. They discuss what’s really changing day-to-day: how AI is used in media planning, the importance of data governance, making different platforms work together, and why marketing operations is becoming the backbone of modern media.Recorded live at Advertising Week Europe, this episode features a straightforward conversation about the tools, technology, and people who keep everything running.In this episode:Why the term "AI" is too broad, and where it is actually being used in mediaData governance, clean taxonomies, and why these topics are now a top priorityA simple explanation of interoperability, and why the main challenges are about people rather than technologyHow having fragmented media plans and working with multiple tech partners is changing how agencies operateConnected-TV fraud, the move from DSPs to SSPs, and what remains the same in advertisingCareer advice for people who are just starting out in mediaGuest: Emily Braund, Head of Operations, The Seven StarsHost: Michael Smith, Senior Sales Director, Camphouse Media -Fika is brought to you by Camphouse, an intelligent media operations platform that gives modern media teams one place to manage their plans, budgets, and results.

After ten years at Dentsu, Giulia De Rosi now runs global media for Pomellato. She explains what agency life teaches you, how to coordinate markets across cultures, and why luxury is "the long tail of AI."Recorded at Cannes Lions 2026 with Jean-Daniel Germain, VP Marketing at Camphouse.What does it take to run global media for a luxury brand? Giulia De Rosi is Global Media Manager at Pomellato, the Milanese fine jewellery house. Before moving client-side she spent a decade at Dentsu, including on the Kering account. Her view: agency experience gives you the full channel overview and the data fluency that brand teams often lack — and global coordination starts with understanding each market's culture before enforcing guidelines.In this episode:Why working at a media agency is "like school" for a brand-side media roleBeing the data-centric voice in a brand where PR and creative traditionally leadEducating internal teams on how media channels actually workCoordinating the Americas and Asia: different cultures, channels and consumer journeysGiving local markets more freedom, testing, and accepting mistakesWhy global media reporting is still hard when every market — and China's KPIs — report differentlyHow a brand-side media lead stays curious when nobody brings you the newsAI, the changing display journey, and why luxury has to move fastAdapting luxury creative to Meta's AI-driven targeting — and testing on one small campaign firstNiche vs. broad reach for a brand that is "not Cartier, not Bulgari"Cannes as the one place the global media community meetsChapters00:00 Welcome to the Carpool00:08 Who Giulia is — Milan, Pomellato, ten years at Dentsu00:43 What agency experience carries to the advertiser side01:58 A data-centric role inside a PR-led brand02:27 Educating brand colleagues on media03:04 Coordinating the Americas and Asia03:30 Culture before guidelines04:18 Building local nuance into a global plan05:12 Data and media operations: still a challenge06:02 Staying curious on the brand side06:58 Monthly visits to the agency07:20 AI and the changing display journey08:20 Is luxury lagging on AI?08:58 Adapting creative for Meta's AI09:49 Cannes and the global media community11:17 Niche or big? Luxury's reach dilemma12:21 Paris exhibition, and who decides12:46 What she's doing at CannesAbout the seriesCamphouse Carpool is a short-form interview series featuring the people running media at the world's biggest advertisers and agencies. Camphouse is the intelligent media operations platform that gives modern media teams a single source of truth for plans, budgets and results.

Lucie Guillerminet came to marketing through media — and says you can tell. The (ex) VP of Marketing for Match Group's Match/Meetic division on what media fluency changes, and why moving into tech didn't solve the long-term brand problem.Recorded at Cannes Lions 2026 with Jean-Daniel Germain, VP Marketing at Camphouse.What does a media background change about how you do marketing? Lucie Guillerminet led marketing for the Match/Meetic division at Match Group, after a career that went from agencies to media at (ex)Dentsu, then (ex)AB InBev, then tech. Her answer: media-native marketers think about reach, amplification and measurement while the message is still being written — not after the creative is signed off.In this episode:Why colleagues can spot a marketer who came from media, and what that changes about strategyThe trade-off between creative ambition and the media plan, and why it's a budget question before it's a creative oneWhat you invest in production, creativity and strategy vs. what's left for amplificationWhy aligning teams and partners is "deep work, a real job"Working across a brand portfolio and multiple markets: why more data only helps once every plan is comparableWhy "we delivered 12 million impressions" isn't an insight, and over- or under-delivery versus plan isMoving from delivery to impact, and what a measurement framework has to coverThe pull between immediate business results and the fact that building brands takes timeWhat AB InBev understood about long-term brand value, and what tech looked like on arrivalWhy Match Group looks at immediate revenue contribution more than ROIWhat she's hunting for at Cannes: real AI use cases from people who've actually tested themChapters00:00 Welcome — a new season, a Pontiac, a scorching sun00:28 What Lucie does — (ex)VP Marketing, Match/Meetic division00:52 Why come to Cannes, and what to take from it01:27 Two bridges: agency to advertiser, media to marketing01:44 What media-native marketers do differently02:43 Creative ambition vs. the media plan03:19 The budget balance: production vs. amplification03:36 Getting teams and partners on board04:29 Data across a brand portfolio and multiple markets05:07 Delivery vs. plan as a real insight05:30 From delivery to impact: measurement frameworks06:00 Immediate results vs. the time brands take06:37 The Les Binet / IPA finding: budget beats ROI06:58 How hard is marketing chased on ROI internally?07:16 (ex)AB InBev and the long-term value of brands08:04 Moving to tech, and what trackability really looked like08:44 Immediate revenue over ROI09:14 What she's looking for at CannesAbout the seriesCamphouse Carpool is a short-form interview series featuring the people running media at the world's biggest advertisers and agencies. Camphouse is the intelligent media operations platform that gives modern media teams a single source of truth for plans, budgets and results.

SAS has bought its own media in-house for 50 years. Mibbie Plouvier, Head of Global Programmatic Strategy at SAS, explains what that actually buys you — and what it costs.Recorded at Cannes Lions 2026 with Jean-Daniel Germain, VP Marketing at Camphouse.What is in-house programmatic, and why does SAS run it? SAS Institute, the analytics software company celebrating its 50th year, has never outsourced its media buying. Founder-led conviction — the people who work for the company care most about its advertising — turned into a team of eight running programmatic strategy and buying across roughly nine markets, with creative in-house too.In this episode:Why SAS upskilled non-specialists into programmatic instead of hiring experts, and how "fresh eyes" led to more testing and more betasThe internal rule book that keeps campaign setup consistent across the team, so the brand looks unified rather than fragmentedHow SAS scales globally: a handful of global partners for reach, plus country-by-country partners for specific markets and publicationsWhy B2B measurement has to look beyond the click — and why three to five seconds on site is worth nothing when you sell enterprise softwareThe honest state of attention measurement: "we're getting there"How SAS built a custom, tiered attribution model on site actions that assigns percentage credit across LinkedIn and programmatic, instead of last touchWhere AI genuinely helps measurement — speed of reporting — and where in-house data scientists still do the hard partSynthetic panels and agent-based research: cheaper rich data, and the human judgment it can't replaceThe case against endless creative variants: if you have a beautiful ad, run it, and let people get tired of it

Everyone's talking about AI, but is the bigger shift happening on your living-room TV? In this episode of Media Fika, Camphouse's Michael Smith talks with Dan Redfern, Global Head of Proprietary Solutions for Mindshare's global clients and a 15-year WPP veteran, to explore the trends changing media. They discuss YouTube's steady rise to dominate the living room, now clearly ahead of other streaming platforms, the growing conversation around proprietary media, and why the industry is starting to embrace modular, interoperable ways of working. Recorded over cinnamon buns at Advertising Week Europe, this is an open conversation about control, collaboration, and building a healthier, more trusted media ecosystem.In this episode:Why YouTube, not just AI, may be the biggest shift in media, capturing "lean-back" moments in the US and EuropeWhat proprietary media really means, and why clients are now engaging with it in more sophisticated waysInteroperability and the shift from walled gardens to modular solutionsWhy friction in media is caused by people, not technology, and how agencies succeed by orchestrating rather than owning everythingWhat great collaboration looks like: having everyone involved and keeping a continuous feedback loopHow AI can boost creativity, why it's time to rethink entry-level jobs, and ways to rebuild trust in advertisingGuest: Dan Redfern, Global Head of Proprietary Solutions, Mindshare (WPP)Host: Michael Smith, Senior Director, Global Agency Strategy, Camphouse

Media used to be messy in the middle. Now it's messy all the way around. In this Advertising Week keynote, JD from Camphouse traces media's journey from a single cave-painting channel to the 375,000 assets an enterprise brand now needs for one product — and argues that the industry's instinct to simplify complexity is exactly what's holding it back.His case: every time you simplify, you move further from your consumer. The smarter path is to embrace complexity, treat it as a data source, and turn it into better, faster media decisions.In this episode:Why media got exponentially complex — more channels, more audiences, more assets, more techWhy audiences (and their niches) are more complex than ever — from ultra-runners to gravel runningWhy simplification frameworks keep failing: the funnel, channel sufficiency, and the "attention" meta-metricComplexity as a data source: unifying planned vs. actual data through end-to-end taxonomyHow anecdotes become insights become ROI — and why allocation beats channel optimisationWhy staying granular at enterprise scale means coding it — and how that unlocks AI that leverages complexity instead of hiding itSpeaker: JD, Marketing, CamphouseRecorded live at Advertising WeekCamphouse is the intelligent media operations platform giving modern media teams a single source of truth for their plans, budgets, and results.

Interoperability is a major topic in media right now, and in this episode of Media Fika, Camphouse's Michael Smith talks with advertising veteran Darren Thompson to explore why. With 25 years of experience and a new perspective from the sales side, Darren explains why it's time to move beyond walled gardens, focus on the metrics that really count, and see that the main barrier to connected media is not technology but people. This episode was recorded over cinnamon buns at Advertising Week Europe. It features an honest conversation about partnership, collaboration, and how to create a simpler, more open media ecosystem. In this episode:Why older metrics like CTR and viewability are becoming less important, and why attention, engagement, and ROAS matter moreInteroperability explained: how using a common language can replace the need to juggle more than 15 vendorsThe shift from walled gardens to opportunities on the open webWhy the challenges in media are about people, not technology, and what it really takes for vendors to work togetherWhat great collaboration looks like: having access, being open, and knowing who is actually involvedSupporting junior and diverse talent, with a special mention for Lisa Goodchild and DigilearningThe future shaped by AI and why simplifying things mattersGuest: Darren Thompson, VP of SalesHost: Michael Smith, Senior Director, Global Agency Strategy, Camphouse, Media Fika is brought to you by Camphouse, the intelligent media operations platform that gives modern media teams a single source of truth for their plans, budgets, and results.