“I always look at marketing as a revenue generator and not a call generator,” Brian Borkowski, CMO of DTC at the Fox Corporation, said at Smartly’s Advance 2025 event last week. "It's actually our job to prove that what we’re doing is driving business performance.”
Marketers face increasing pressure to prove business value and justify every investment. At Advertising Week New York, brands will tackle three priorities: measuring creative impact, using AI responsibly, and protecting customer data.
Here’s how EMARKETER is showing up and what attendees are hoping to take from the event.
Experimental channels become essential
Advertisers no longer need convincing that younger channels like creator marketing and gaming deserve attention. Now that these channels are mainstream, marketers seek deeper, more tactical insights at events like Advertising Week.
“Social-led marketing is no longer a side experiment. It is the main stage,” said Glenn Ginsburg, president of QYOU Media. “Unilever committing half of its marketing budget to creators shows how quickly this space has become core to brand strategy.”
EMARKETER analysts will discuss creators and gaming in the following Advertising Week events:
Scaling AI safety to protect consumer privacy
Consumers aren’t willing to give up their privacy for more advanced AI tools; they prefer a balance between privacy and personalization (49%), per a May Kantar survey. Striking that balance will be a conversation throughout the event, showing up in panels like “The AI Advantage: Where Innovation and Privacy Win Together.”
Attendees will also be looking for guidance on scaling AI internally, said Justin Thomas-Copeland, CEO of 4AS.
“While the C-suite is focused on technology and financial models, a critical area where guidance is needed is in supporting both mid-level and entry-level professionals who are on the front lines of these changes,” he said.
The political climate is making consumers more sensitive about privacy, said Damian Pelliccione, co-founder and CEO of LGBTQ+ streaming network Revry.
"Big themes that will dominate [Advertising Week] this year will be around data management, and how data is being stored and protected as we move into an election cycle next year,” he said.
Safety doesn’t end at AI use. It is also a hot topic in the creator economy as brands invest more into the channel. Expanding this channel without losing sight of brand safety will be the theme of this EMARKETER-led discussion:
Making the funnel work together
As budgets tighten, marketers are focused on combining their efforts throughout the funnel to show that ad dollars move business.
EMARKETER analyst Sarah Marzano will cover how commerce media can trigger both awareness and conversions on this panel:
“Marketers are under immense pressure to prove business impact, optimize in real time, and show how every dollar spent ties back to pipeline and revenue,” said Keith Turco, chief executive at Madison Logic. “[Advertising Week] will be about navigating that tension and moving from impressions to impact in ways that keep pace with what modern buyers want.”