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BFD Expert Voices - Media Deals

BFD Expert Voices

Smartly, the ad tech firm backed by Providence Equity Partners, convened clients across brands, agencies and platforms for an all-day event in New York City on Wednesday.

Why it matters: CEOs and other leaders spoke frankly on the state of media and advertising.

Zoom in: Here were some of the main topics.

"There's a misnomer that companies have M&A strategies. They don't. They shouldn't. They have strategies and sometimes M&A fits into it," DoubleVerify CEO Mark Zagorski said.

"I honestly hate M&A," said LiveRamp CEO Scott Howe, adding that there's a high likelihood of failure partly stemming from difficulties in knowing everything about a potential buy.

"Every time we do a deal to some extent I look in the mirror and say, 'Why did we fail?' Why did we have to go do this?' It's generally because we failed to see a trend coming. ... We always co-author a Google document ... that spells out exactly what we're going to do the moment the deal closes," Howe added.

"We have a strategy. We have a path forward ... and there are gaps. HookLogic filled one of those gaps. ... For us, they have been the right decisions, so far, to fill the gaps," Criteo CEO Megan Clarken said regarding the company's acquisition strategy.

"We've added a lot companies. Going back 10 years ... Epsilon for data ... in commerce, in influencer ... our business has changed so dramatically in makeup," Publicis Media CEO Dave Penski said.

"I started as a newspaper buyer. For the first five years of my career, newspaper was our largest media. ... It's changed, and I think what we needed to do was make acquisitions," Penski added.

"As a woman in sports, you always had to say yes to everything. And now it's like, 'No,'" said New York Liberty's Breanna Stewart.

"The rise in the awareness ... and [more] ad dollars will support the program, the athletes, who they are, what they do and how they do it. Because the business is becoming really valuable, it's going to escalate quickly at a time when other sports are getting close to a ceiling in pricing. ... The value proposition is meaningfully better," sports agency executive Casey Wasserman said.

M&A chatter and women's sports boom at Smartly event

Liberty's Breanna Stewart talks the power of saying no.

Rennae Stubbs, Casey Wasserman, Mallory Swanson, Breanna Stewart and Scout Bassett sitting in white chairs on a stage with the background lit in purple

Rennae Stubbs, Casey Wasserman, Mallory Swanson, Breanna Stewart and Scout Bassett. Photo: Kerry Flynn/Axios

Advertising

Smartly, the ad tech firm backed by <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Providence Equity Partners" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/pro/media-deals/2024/02/23/smartly-ceo-laura-desmond" data-vars-content-id="77e4e0c0-f4fc-4619-b9ba-577bc56ff7c5" data-vars-headline="M&amp;A chatter and women&#x27;s sports boom at Smartly event" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/pro/media-deals/2024/02/23/smartly-ceo-laura-desmond" target="_self">Providence Equity Partners</a>, convened clients across brands, agencies and platforms for an all-day event in New York City on Wednesday.Why it matters: CEOs and other leaders spoke frankly on the state of media and advertising.

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M&A chatter and women's sports boom at Smartly event

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