Promoting and media veteran Brian Gleason, who introduced final week that he’s leaving Criteo on the finish of the month, will step into a brand new function as chief government officer for AI adtech agency Seedtag on Aug. 1.
Gleason joined Criteo in 2022 as international chief income officer and added president of retail media to his title in 2023.
Seedtag was based in Madrid in 2014 by ex-Googlers Jorge Poyatos and Albert Nieto. The agency focuses on a kind of expertise described as “neuro-contextual AI.” The tech makes use of AI to evaluate the emotion invoked by content material on a webpage or CTV streaming platform in actual time after which makes use of that info to put adverts based mostly on a model’s product class and marketing campaign goals, Gleason defined.
On the entrance finish, Seedtag employs an AI agent, known as Liz, which permits advertisers to ask questions on issues just like the aggressive positioning, viewers resonance, and contextual alignment of their campaigns.
Gleason described Seedtag’s expertise as on the chopping fringe of the AI revolution that’s remodeling the business and in addition a return to “what promoting was meant to be,” he stated.
In 2022, Seedtag raised $250 million from personal fairness investor Creation Worldwide to increase past Europe. The corporate now has a secondary headquarters in New York Metropolis, in addition to a presence in Asia-Pacific (APAC), Europe, the Center East and Africa (EMEA), and Latin America.
In 2024, Seedtag acquired Beachfront, a sell-side advert platform constructed for CTV and streaming.
A hyper-focus on focusing on has drawn the business away from the core ideas of connecting with human feelings, he stated. By combining agentic AI tech—which Gleason stated Seedtag was doing “earlier than it was a factor”—with the eye to the emotional context that adverts are being served in, Gleason expects Seedtag to prepared the ground in defining the subsequent period of promoting, he stated.
Gleason will succeed founders and co-CEOs Poyatos and Nieto, who’ve led the the corporate since its inception. Each founders will stay on Seedtag’s board of administrators. Poyatos will tackle a brand new function as chief innovation officer and Nieto will serve in an advisor transferring ahead.
“This management transition marks a pivotal second for Seedtag, one which we’re assured will propel us towards an excellent stronger trajectory,” Poyatos stated in an announcement. The corporate has greater than 700 staff worldwide, and is eyeing continued international enlargement, he added.
“Constructing this firm alongside all of our Seedtaggers is our life’s skilled legacy,” Nieto stated in an announcement. “We’re excited to see the corporate flourish and tackle new bold milestones.”
Gleason departs Criteo at a second when the retail media big is dealing with stress from smaller opponents like Koddi, Kevel, Pentaleap, and Topsort. Extra broadly, the retail media business is approaching an inflection level as advertisers demand extra from their retail media community partnerships. The corporate misplaced Uber’s U.S. advert enterprise to Instacart’s adtech platform, Carrot Advertisements, earlier this yr.
