Danilo Tauro, PhD’s Post

Find a job “in the arena” 🏟️ I was discussing Roosevelt’s famous speech with a friend who’s looking for a new job. This was my recommendation to her: find a job “in the arena.” Own a challenging problem. Inspire and coach a team. Draft a vision and get people to challenge it, then design it together. Make mistakes. Learn. Work hard and try new things. Experiment. Explore paths nobody has taken before. Build something. In our professional lives, our first instinct is to maximize title, salary, reporting line or other “vanity” metrics. Real growth happens when we envision, engage, empower, enable, and execute. This is how we push our limits. This is how we grow. #InTheArena #Leadership #Growth #Advertising #Media #Tech

Another Cannes Lions is coming to an end. Here are my top 5 insights: 1️⃣ Retail Media Networks: Who will be the winners? In my experience, successful Retail Media Networks anchor to a marketplace (i.e., sellers willing to buy digital shelf space). While media properties and 1P data are helpful, the key is the marketplace. I’m keen to see if and how the new Finance and Travel Media Networks will succeed. 🤝 2️⃣ AI and Creative Automation: Where to start? Many companies are taking different approaches to this problem: simplification of creative production and adaptation, connection of creative and media data, and pre-flight vs. post-flight creative quality evaluation. An end-to-end creative supply chain management approach, with data and AI as the connective tissue, could be helpful ⚙️ 3️⃣ Modern Measurement: What’s next after MMMs? This question has been around for a while, but for the first time, I’ve started to hear compelling answers. Starting from data—eCom (online) and receipt scan (offline) can provide a full picture across many industries, vendors, and consumers, at scale. Connecting this to media exposure can help us move beyond MMMs to real-time modern measurement ⏱️ 4️⃣ The Power of Digital Out Of Home: Merging digital and physical experiences creates much stronger memory structures for brands. An example? Free pizza in Cannes, late evening. What brand comes to mind? One of the best activations I’ve seen in years, by Uber. Anything to add, Najoh Tita-Reid? Free pizza delivered to one of the top marketing exec in Cannes 🍕🚗 5️⃣ Strategy, Jobs-to-Be-Done (JTBD), Flywheel Effect, and Vertical Stacks: Many companies struggle with similar issues. Where to play? How to win? Start from the actual needs of your customers (JTBD). These will likely be very different by vertical (CPG, B2B, Retail, etc.). Plan your data/supply/tech/partnership tactics accordingly, and ensure each helps spin the flywheel—a synchronized set of initiatives that amplify each other 📝 I’m always keen to chat more about any of the topics above. Feel free to add any other important themes from your Cannes week 🏖️ Comment below if you’d like to get the full 2-pager with a detailed summary of the top 10 insights 👇🏼 #advertising #media #tech #Cannes2024

Boom! 💥 Second big announcement of the week - Uber partners with T-Mobile to scale our supply of modern DOOH, powered by our scale and 1P data. "Today, Uber’s advertising division announced an exclusive partnership with T-Mobile Advertising Solutions and its rideshare media network – Octopus Interactive – which features the largest national network of interactive video screens inside rideshare vehicles. Through this partnership, Uber will leverage a portion of T-Mobile’s rideshare inventory to expand Uber’s JourneyTV offering to over 50,000 vehicles across the US this year, providing advertisers an entirely new opportunity to connect with Uber riders when they're most likely to engage." Kudos Gil Schwartz for the great work on this! 🚀 #advertising #media #tech

Great launch! As of today, US advertisers can buy Uber Ads programmatically, through their preferred buying platforms, whether it be Google, The Trade Desk, or Yahoo. 🚗📱 Why should brands care? This is unique inventory reaching 150 million audiences globally in a targeted, brand-safe environment, with a fully de-cluttered experience, where the ads achieved over 100 seconds of attention on average globally. 🌐 Congrats to the team on this great launch! Always keen to hear feedback. ✍️👇 #advertising #media #tech

Interested in the intersection of media and creativity? 🎨📱📈 Join me and Beet.TV in Cannes for an engaging panel on this topic. In my experience, the key challenge is that media and creative strategies/operations are often carried out in isolation: different teams, different KPIs, different budgets, different agencies, different technologies. There are many opportunities for advertisers, but as always, it starts with asking the right questions: 1️⃣ What KPIs do I want to optimize for? 2️⃣ Do I have the right creative assets? 3️⃣ Do I need modularity to support personalization? 4️⃣ What is the role of my agency? 5️⃣ How does this impact my media performance? 6️⃣ What’s my creative supply chain? 7️⃣ Is there a feedback loop? 8️⃣ What is the role of AI in all this? On June 20, at 10 am local time, I’ll be sharing the stage with Mihael Mikek to discuss how Uber and Celtra are transforming the space for their respective customers 📝 I’m keen to understand where creative tech companies are heading, and I’ll also share how our customers are boosting their retail media performances with custom creatives 🚀 Two calls to action: ▶️ Please let me know if there are specific questions you’d love to unpack. ▶️ Link to register for the session in the first comment. #advertising #media #tech

Great event at the The ADVERTISING Club of New York yesterday 🗽 I’ve learned that this is the oldest organization of its kind, serving its local and global communities since 1896. I loved their focus on ‘doing well by doing good’ in our industry. Specifically, I liked their “media for action” program: publishers donate media, which is bought by advertisers, and proceeds are invested to support diversity, equity and inclusion in our industry (e.g. scholarships to young talents). Link in the first comment for people who want to learn more and support. Congrats to all the people awarded yesterday—your stories were a source of great inspiration: from the importance of empathy and gratitude, to culture, roots, and long-term friendships. Elizabeth Rutledge, Shelly Lazarus, Tiffany R. Warren, ✨Susie Jaramillo, Danny Gardner Thanks Paolo Provinciali for the invite and the opportunity to share these moments with this strong community 🙌🏼 Ad maiora 🚀 #advertising #media #tech

Want to bet I know one thing about your upcoming trip to Cannes? 🏖️ I know exactly which app you’re going to open first when you step outside the airport! 🚗 This year, I’ll be representing Uber at the Festival of Creativity in Cannes. I’m excited to meet with advertisers, partners, and industry leaders to discuss: ✅ The power of the UberEats platform ✅ B2B customer acquisition tactics ✅ Growth strategies for retail media networks ✅ AI and creative management If you're interested in any of these topics, come visit us at the Uber Villa (link in first comment, for detailed schedule). I'd love to chat and explore potential collaborations! See you in Cannes!🚗🏖️ #advertising #media #tech

“Have you traveled with that truck driver?” Cincinnati, 2014. I was working on a large supply chain redesign project. We were discussing some distribution issues and a specific lane where performance was suboptimal: deliveries were late, and no matter what, we could not find a solution. This is when Yannis Skoufalos, the Chief Product Supply Officer at P&G at the time, asked me a simple question: “Have you traveled with that truck driver?” (For reference: it was a 19-hour drive…) This piece of advice stayed with me for years as I changed industries, companies, functions, and roles. How can you build, grow, and win with a company if you don’t know how your customers think, talk, and operate? As I embarked on my new journey at Uber Eats, I thought I could not miss the opportunity to talk to customers at the NRA (National Restaurant Association) show in Chicago. I enjoyed talking firsthand to the ecosystem, from small restaurant owners to large brands like The Coca-Cola Company. I was inspired to see the role Uber can play as a technology, distribution, and advertising partner 📲 🚗 🍝🥤🍫 There are many opportunities to leverage advertising and overall demand generation solutions to grow businesses in innovative and creative ways, joining advertising and entertainment, technology and real life. Feeling inspired for what’s ahead 🚀 #advertising #media #tech