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Brian Gleason, a prominent figure in the advertising technology landscape, has transitioned from his leadership role at Criteo, where he spearheaded retail media initiatives, to embrace contextual advertising as a potentially larger growth frontier. In his new capacity as CEO of Seedtag, a contextual ad platform, Gleason expresses a fervent belief in the resurgence of advertising’s foundational principles, emphasizing connection, attention, and emotion over hyper-focused targeting. This strategic shift signals a broader industry recalibration as the digital advertising ecosystem navigates the post-cookie era and seeks more meaningful ways to engage audiences.
Gleason’s departure from Criteo, a company deeply entrenched in the burgeoning retail media sector, underscores the perceived potential of contextual advertising. His previous tenure at Criteo, where he served as CRO and president of retail media, was marked by a strong commitment to that specific vertical. However, his recent pronouncements suggest a reevaluation of where the most significant advancements and opportunities lie within the ad tech ecosystem.
"We’ve become so hyper-focused on cookies and targeting that we lost what advertising really was about: connection," Gleason stated in a recent interview with AdExchanger. This sentiment reflects a growing dissatisfaction with the limitations of data-driven, cookie-dependent targeting, which some argue has led to a more intrusive and less effective advertising experience. Gleason posits that true advertising success hinges on eliciting attention and emotional resonance, elements that are not easily quantifiable by traditional cookie-based methods or even standard content categorization.
The advent of advanced artificial intelligence, particularly agentic AI, is seen as a critical enabler for unlocking these deeper insights. These AI tools, capable of analyzing content and user sentiment with greater nuance, can surface contextual signals that go beyond simple keywords and categories. Seedtag, under Gleason’s leadership, is actively integrating these capabilities into its platform. A significant step in this direction was Seedtag’s acquisition of Beachfront, a video-focused Supply-Side Platform (SSP), last year. This acquisition has empowered Seedtag’s AI agent, codenamed "Liz," to target audiences across Connected TV (CTV) and the open web by leveraging context and emotional resonance, aiming to capture the subtle nuances of user engagement.
The Scale of the Opportunity: Contextual Advertising’s Ascent
Gleason estimates the global contextual advertising market to be substantial, ranging from $250 billion to $350 billion. This figure highlights the significant financial implications of this advertising approach. While acknowledging his passion for retail media, Gleason asserts that the opportunity within contextual advertising is "even bigger."
Seedtag itself has demonstrated robust global growth and market penetration. The company operates in 17 different markets and maintains connections with over 16,000 publishers. Originating in Madrid, Seedtag made its entry into the U.S. market two years ago and experienced a remarkable 120% growth in the region last year. In the EMEA region, the company reported over 30% growth in the most recent quarter, indicating strong momentum.
Seedtag’s Strategic Pillars Under New Leadership
Gleason outlined three primary priorities for Seedtag:
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Championing Neurocontextual Targeting: This innovative approach aims to connect with audiences by understanding their emotions, attention levels, and interests. While traditional contextual advertising relied on keywords and categories, Seedtag’s AI platform, Liz, is designed to delve deeper, analyzing the sentiment and emotional undertones of content. This move is intended to create more relevant and impactful advertising experiences.
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Continued Global Scaling, with a U.S. Focus: A core objective is to expand Seedtag’s presence and capabilities across all its existing markets, with a particular emphasis on continued growth in the United States. This involves strengthening publisher relationships and increasing the platform’s reach.
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Cross-Channel Expansion, Especially in CTV: Seedtag is committed to broadening its services to encompass a wider range of channels, with a significant focus on Connected TV (CTV). Despite the rapid growth of the CTV market, current contextual capabilities in this space are seen as limited, presenting a key area for development and innovation.
Continuity and Acceleration: Gleason’s Vision for Seedtag
Gleason emphasized that his appointment as CEO will not herald a fundamental shift in Seedtag’s strategic direction. Instead, he anticipates leveraging his extensive background to accelerate growth in key areas.
"Our relationships with brands are incredibly important," Gleason stated. He also highlighted the strategic imperative of expanding the company’s publisher supply footprint, particularly within the CTV sector. Furthermore, he stressed the significance of strengthening ties with advertising agencies. Having spent a decade at WPP and possessing strong relationships with major agency holding companies like Publicis and Omnicom, Gleason aims to facilitate the integration of Seedtag’s tools into their planning systems, thereby increasing adoption and impact.
Empowering Publishers in the Monetization Landscape
Gleason’s career began in publishing, a foundation that informs his approach to publisher monetization. He believes in maximizing the value of the unique relationship publishers have with their consumers. This involves not only employing effective targeting mechanisms but also ensuring that advertising is intrinsically relevant to the content itself. Seedtag’s AI agent, Liz, is positioned as a tool to help publishers gain a deeper understanding of their content and the emotional connections it fosters with their audience, thereby enabling more effective monetization strategies.
The Future of Programmatic: AI Agents and Interconnectivity
The industry is increasingly discussing a future where programmatic advertising involves AI agents on both the buy-side and sell-side communicating seamlessly. Gleason acknowledges this evolving vision but expresses a pragmatic view on its implementation.
"I don’t know if they’re going to be separate agents on both sides. How many different agents can anybody operate?" he questioned, hinting at the potential for complexity and fragmentation. However, he firmly believes in the necessity of connectivity between these disparate elements. While acknowledging the challenges, Gleason anticipates that a select few players will emerge as leaders in facilitating this integration. He draws parallels to Meta’s dominance in social and Google’s Performance Max, suggesting that Seedtag aims to become a crucial pathway for connecting the buy and sell sides with intelligence that spans both realms.
The core challenge, as Gleason sees it, lies in creating this interconnected intelligence at a scale that truly matters, a challenge that fuels his excitement about the opportunity.
Addressing the "Black Box" Problem with Agentic AI
Concerns surrounding "black-box" systems and opaque algorithms are prevalent in programmatic advertising. The adoption of agentic AI raises questions about exacerbating these issues. Gleason recognizes this risk and stresses that transparency, brand safety, and privacy must be foundational to any AI-driven advertising solution.
"It can’t just be technology talking to technology," Gleason emphasized. He advocates for a human-centric approach, ensuring that clients understand how AI models function, how they can be customized, and how they surface emotional connections. This commitment to transparency aims to build trust and foster informed adoption of advanced AI technologies.
Seedtag’s Position in a Blurring Marketplace
The lines between Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs) and Supply-Side Platforms (SSPs) are becoming increasingly blurred, prompting questions about where Seedtag fits within this evolving landscape. Gleason clarified that Seedtag does not aspire to be an end-to-end platform. Instead, the company focuses on making its intelligence accessible through various buying paths.
"We have an exchange where our inventory is available, and we’re going to continue to build that out," he stated. The "agentic frontend with Liz" is intended to be the primary activation point. However, Seedtag also provides pathways for those who prefer to use traditional DSPs to activate campaigns through their exchange, ensuring flexibility and accessibility.
Exploring Synergies with Retail and Commerce Media
When asked about potential collaborations with retail and commerce media platforms, particularly Criteo, Gleason expressed openness to such partnerships. He sees a compelling synergy between commerce objectives and neurocontextual targeting.
"If I’m thinking about commerce and neurocontextual, well, emotion is brand recall," he explained. Gleason envisions integrating emotional signals with contextual targeting and purchase intent to influence consumer journeys across the entire marketing funnel. "We’d love to have that conversation with everybody, including Criteo," he concluded, signaling a proactive approach to exploring these potential alliances. This suggests that while Gleason has moved on from retail media as his primary focus, he remains keenly aware of its potential and the opportunities for integration with his new contextual advertising endeavors.
The strategic pivot by Brian Gleason, a seasoned executive from the retail media sector, to champion contextual advertising at Seedtag signifies a potential inflection point for the industry. His emphasis on connection, attention, and emotion, amplified by the power of agentic AI, suggests a move towards a more nuanced and human-centric approach to digital advertising. As Seedtag continues to scale and innovate, its success in navigating the complexities of AI, privacy, and cross-channel integration will be closely watched by the broader ad tech ecosystem.
