Chief Mayhem Officer; Bedrock ♥️ Ad Nets; Carpio, Your AI Saviour

This week’s edition of the FPC newsletter was delayed a few days due to our annual trip to Cheltenham.  Apologies to avid readers of the newsletter.  We are now back on schedule. Let’s get this show on the road, shall we?

The Chief Mayhem Officer 

Cutting through a noisy market has never been more critical, especially for European ad tech, which is notoriously bad at marketing itself.

Remember the basic rule of ad tech: it's 60% tech and 40% quality bullshit.  But your BS needs to be at a different level.  

The story and application of your product are imperative in an industry where capability overlap is so frequent. 

The importance of good ad tech marketing was covered recently in Marketecture when Ari and Eric spoke to Joe Zappa about best practices. 

We want to expand on that thinking and introduce a new member of your C-Suite, Chief Mayhem Officer. 

Every ad tech company with any level of aspiration needs a Chief Mayhem Officer. Your CMO needs to be in the market talking about your product daily - whether on social media (specifically LinkedIn), in the trades, at events, or pitching clients face-to-face. 

What are the requirements of the Chief Mayhem Officer:

• You must be able to articulate and evangelise your product in the market, creating the right narrative across social and the trades

• Lead on shaping the public message around the product 

• Provide momentum around your outreach and sales process 

• Ability to produce engaging content that not only helps the cos profile but also engages/educates the industry at large 

• Be a respected authority on ad tech. The megaphone is all well and good, but if you don't know your ad tech, you are just a blowhard hack. 

• Creating or shaping a specific ad tech zeitgeist.  Can you create a new category?  Or even a TLA.  What's probably most important is making sure your company is top of mind in that topical retail media, post-cookie tech, or CTV conversation

BFF: Bedrock & Ad Networks 

As you know, we recently launched Bedrock. It is already becoming a go-to tech platform for innovative ad tech cos. 

In this edition, FPC wants to focus on one of the most essential Bedrock customer segments: the ad network. 

Readers will know that FPC ♥️ the ad network model.  It works in terms of media activation.  It works in terms of outcomes. It works from an M&A perspective ($4.8 billion in M&A over the past three years). 

To use a natural analogy to hammer home my point: ad nets are like the humble bumble bee, pollinating the vast and rich media ecosystem with cash and performance.  Magnificent. 

Building ad tech that enables ad networks to build great businesses has always been a key objective of this fund.  Bedrock is making this a core strategy. 

Here are a few key points why Bedrock is the ad net’s BFF:

• Customisation: We work with ad nets globally to give them a competitive edge in a cluttered market.  You must be differentiated if you are selling into an indie and holding.  Bedrock makes you custom and relevant.

• Control: Bedrock offers the type of control that enterprise solutions do not, whether it’s product or margin.  Think of Bedrock as your buddy in an ad tech brawl - always having your back.

• New ad tech framework: We see cookie deprecation as a massive opportunity for an overdue reset. Bedrock will be the ad tech operating system for the next decade. We are building for a multi-signal world: from attention to Privacy Sandbox to SDA.

• More margin for ad nets: This might be the most important aspect of this BFF relationship. You will hear more about this in the coming weeks, so we won’t go into too much detail here. But it’s the most transformational thing you will see in ad tech economics for some time. In summary, Bedrock makes business sense.

• A trusted ad tech partner: Bedrock is deliberately setting itself up as an ad tech layer only. We will NOT compete with customers. The great enablers (IPONWEB, Beeswax, and AppNexus) got tangled in this net.  We will explain how we are doing this in the coming weeks.

Agencies… The AI Hordes Are At The Gate; It Is Time To Call Carpio

San Altman’s throwaway comment about the ultimate demise of the agency model because of AI automation sent a few tremors through the industry. 

Altman is calling time on the agency model, saying that AI will handle 95% of tasks currently performed by marketing agencies, strategists, and creative professionals.  Sam has spoken.

Is the agency doomed, then? Will generative AI eat the model alive? The answer is NO. Sure, generative AI will replace many tasks for which agencies bill clients. In parallel, this tech will surface new revenue models.  

Sam might know tech, but like most quasi-messianic Silicon Valley types, he knows little about “media” or the agency model. 

Predictions about the agency's demise are just par for the course at this stage.  Despite the headwinds, they always manage to survive and emerge stronger. 

Can they ignore this trend? The simple answer is NO. They will need to invest heavily in AI and partner with great companies focusing on AI automation -  like Carpio.

Yes, reader, this is a shameless plug for one of our most exciting portfolio companies.  

Carpio is a vertical AI specialist in digital media and marketing. Its sweet spot is updating and translating product listings in real-time across many marketplaces - a UI for managing marketing material.

Much of AI is a commodity with little application. Big tech companies will eventually capture much of its value.   Being specialised like Carpio is the only way to stand out in this ridiculous hype cycle.

Carpio works with several holding groups, including indies and FTSE brands. Customers are using it to increase productivity, saving time and money.

This industry likes to catastrophise about everything.  The rise of generative AI is just another apocalyptic event to grumble about.  

Remember a key stoic tenant: amor fati (love of one’s fate). 

AI is part of modern-day business now. Don’t let it own you. Understand it.  Build for it - partner with great companies like Carpio. Live and prosper with AI.  

Ultimately, it will surface more opportunities than problems.

We will sign off for this edition on that extraordinary note of optimism.  See you next time, readers.