They Still Think You Are Dumb

2024 ushered in yet another round of arrogance from the Big Tech partners we all rely on—but should never trust. Once again, they dangled the shiny promise of AI integration in ad manager tools, insisting it would revolutionize advertising. We were assured it had been working behind the scenes, learning and improving, and would now deliver incredible benefits to marketers everywhere.

Here’s how that went down:

The Promise
AI was supposed to lead to intuitive ad placement and audience identification, lifting all our boats in the process. Everyone would benefit, and campaigns would benefit.

The Reality
Big Tech deployed AI in ad manager tools, not to enhance performance for advertisers, but to sustain their platforms with mechanical and bot traffic while meeting the soaring demand for ad serving. The result? They captured hundreds of billions more in revenue without lifting any real metrics for the advertisers footing the bill.

Instead of improvements, we got:

• Dramatically increased bot traffic
• Volatile CPM levels
• Blame shifted onto marketers (“You’re not using the tools correctly!”)

The Takeaway
They think we’re stupid. And why wouldn’t they? Too many marketers have completely lost touch with how the technology works. Concepts like Bitos and MAIDs are foreign to most marketers when they should be foundational. While clients shouldn’t have to know these details, their agencies absolutely must. Unfortunately, many don’t—and that’s professional malpractice on the same level as the fraud Big Tech commits.

It’s easier for agencies to sell clients on the illusion of being “better” at navigating these ad manager tools than to confront the truth: the tools deliver copious bot traffic, unreliable data, and outright fraud. Agencies escape accountability by claiming they can’t change the tools or the data. That’s a lazy, intellectually bankrupt, and, frankly, un-American mindset.

Here are some fundamental questions our industry needs to address:

• Since when did we accept mass fraud as standard practice?
• Does anyone believe Google, Meta, or others can’t detect mechanical traffic?
• Does anyone think Big Tech is unaware of the massive fraud their platforms deliver to advertisers?
• Does anyone genuinely believe they’ll suddenly decide to “do better” for their users out of moral obligation?

Let’s put it into perspective: Imagine if every dozen eggs you bought only contained 4.5 eggs. Sound crazy? Consumers would revolt immediately. Yet in digital advertising, 56% of paid ads are never even seen by a human being, and we tolerate it.

If agencies were honest, their pitch would be:
“We can slightly reduce platform fraud to deliver minor, temporary improvements in vanity metrics.”

The Hard Truth
Unless we, as an industry, stand against fraud, Big Tech will happily continue monetizing it. Don’t hold your breath for a groundbreaking announcement about solving the problem. In fact, expect it to get worse—unless we build solutions and alternatives ourselves. That’s not speculation; it’s the most predictable outcome.

The Solution
2024 has made one thing abundantly clear: the agency model must evolve. Running adtech, social, or digital campaigns through a creative agency alone is a losing strategy.

• Great branding means nothing if it doesn’t reach the right audience.
• Brilliant creative is wasted on bot traffic.
• Phenomenal messaging sequences are useless when consumed by algorithms and bot farms.

The future—2025 and beyond—requires a new hybrid model for agencies. Success will demand collaboration between:

• Top-tier branding and creative teams
• Adtech and data experts who understand the technology and its challenges at a granular level

Both must operate under one roof, working in concert to pull the right levers and drive measurable results. You can’t outsource intelligence or cede control of technology to third parties who aren’t aligned with your marketing mission.

The key to success is specificity in every aspect of a campaign. That’s why we named our company Specificity—because that’s what a hybrid model delivers.