Эксперт Adobe заявил, что единственная истинная нейтральность в рекламе — это собственные данные бренда

Adobe Advertising today announced the publication of a new ANA Industry Insights article by Phil Cowlishaw, Managing Director, Adobe Advertising, titled  “The Only Data Neutrality Is Your Own Data.” The article examines the advertising industry’s long-standing promise of neutral infrastructure, including neutral identity layers, clean rooms, and connections among buyers, sellers, agencies, platforms, and publishers. Using the industry discussion surrounding Publicis’ planned acquisition of LiveRamp as a timely illustration, Cowlishaw argues that neutrality is never as simple or permanent as it may appear. Every external layer of the advertising ecosystem has an owner, a revenue model, and incentives that can change. Rather than focusing on whether any single transaction is good or bad for the market, the article encourages advertisers to ask a more fundamental question: How much of their media decision-making depends on environments, algorithms, and data sources they do not control, and how much is informed by the customer intelligence they own? Cowlishaw notes that brands have invested significantly in analytics platforms, customer data platforms, CRM systems, consent frameworks, loyalty programs, and direct customer relationships. These investments have helped advertisers develop a clearer understanding of who their customers are and how they behave. However, too much of that intelligence is still left behind when media buying begins. Instead, advertisers often turn decisioning over to systems trained on platform defaults, generic third-party audience segments, or a narrow set of ad-exposed conversion signals. These systems can launch campaigns and optimize them quickly, but efficiency alone does not create a proprietary advantage. Competitors can buy much of the same inventory, use the same platforms, activate similar external data sets, and rely on the same automated tools. The article describes this dynamic as “rented intelligence.” What competitors cannot purchase is another brand’s first-party customer intelligence, including its purchase history, site behavior, conversion patterns, product preferences, loyalty signals and direct engagement data. As AI becomes more central to media buying, Cowlishaw argues that the quality and distinctiveness of the signals feeding automated systems will become even more important. An algorithm optimizing against weak proxies, generic assumptions or the same signals available to every advertiser may simply automate sameness at scale. To create differentiated outcomes, brands need their own business goals, customer knowledge and definitions of value to shape what the algorithm is trying to accomplish. The full article is available now to ANA members through ANA Industry Insights. About Adobe Advertising Adobe Advertising delivers AI-powered abilities designed to enhance advertising capabilities and drive differentiated outcomes. Its purpose is simple: to help brands become more efficient and maximize results. By bringing together intelligent, purpose-built AI, Adobe Advertising equips brands with the tools they need to succeed in this new era of advertising.