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The Future of Paid Ads in an AI-First World — What Executives Should Be Asking Now
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How Neopets Is Reviving Its Brand Through Community + Platform Strategy
The long-standing virtual pet brand Neopets is executing a revival strategy centred on platform integration, loyalty systems (NeoPass), community-driven engagement, merchandising and multichannel experiences.
Why it matters
This case illustrates how legacy brands (or legacy IP) can be revitalised by engaging existing communities, leveraging nostalgia, and modernising platforms.
For marketers, it highlights that revival is not just about ramping up spend—it’s about aligning product/platform/experience with community needs and loyalty mechanics.
The shift from “brand as broadcast” to “brand as experience + community” is reinforced. Marketers should examine whether their brand has dormant assets or communities they can re-activate. Read more.
AWS and Zeta Transforming Digital Marketing with AI-Powered Intelligence
A blog post on AWS’s partner network details a partnership with Zeta, integrating Zeta’s AI marketing platform with AWS cloud infrastructure. Together they offer businesses the ability to analyse billions of customer signals, deploy real-time targeted campaigns, and drive measurable ROI across channels.
Why It Matters
This partnership underscores that major cloud providers and marketing-tech vendors are converging: data, AI, cloud and marketing operations are tightly linked.
Marketers must consider not just the creative and media aspects of campaigns, but also infrastructure and capabilities: real-time data, AI decisioning, system integration.
The result is that performance, scale and speed of marketing will escalate; organisations that adopt these capabilities early may gain a competitive edge. Read more.
Brands Must Redefine Consumer Engagement
Dr. Nduneche Ezurike, speaking at the ReThinkAI 2025 conference, argued that brands must shift from a traditional brand-controlled journey to a more human-centred model of engagement. The call emphasises digital value creation, contextual insight, and engagement behaviours relevant to consumers.
Why It Matters
For marketers targeting emerging markets, standard models (broadcast-then-sell) are increasingly outdated; engagement must be culturally relevant and digitally native.
Consumer expectations are rising: mobile, social, data-rich engagements matter. Brands should adapt behaviour, not just messaging.
The shift implies that marketing strategy must integrate local dynamics, digital ecosystems (mobile first, social commerce) and deeper consumer insight—not simply import global templates. Read more.
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💡 Today’s Insight
The Future of Paid Ads in an AI-First World — What Executives Should Be Asking Now
Paid advertising today is grounded in search queries and click-based models. But as generative AI assistants and summary-driven interfaces emerge, the way consumers discover information—and how ads can be placed—may change dramatically. It warns that brands need to ask the big questions now: How reliant are we on current ad formats? What if clicks become less relevant? What if new ad vehicles emerge inside AI assistants?.
Key Takeaways
Don’t assume current paid-search and display models will persist unchanged — disruption is coming.
Ask whether your brand is visible in future “answer” or “assistant” experiences, not only in ad auctions.
Prepare for new metrics: beyond clicks, inclusion, mentions, or “assistant endorsement” may matter.
Diversify your advertising strategy so you’re not overly dependent on one platform or ad format.
Start testing emerging formats now — waiting for full maturity means you may fall behind.
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