Signal & Noise

Signal and Noise
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Join advertising industry veterans Brett House and Rio Longacre as they share regular updates and analysis on the changing world of data, tech, and AI. You’ll hear real talk from thought leaders across industries about the latest trends having the biggest impact on our jobs… and lives. Signal & Noise means no BS - only straight talk and first-hand insights from leading operators, creators, and founders.

  1. When AI Rewrites Work: Jennifer Borchardt on Jobs, Power, and the Human Cost

    21H AGO

    When AI Rewrites Work: Jennifer Borchardt on Jobs, Power, and the Human Cost

    What happens when AI stops being a tool—and starts redefining what work actually is? In this episode of Signal & Noise, Brett House and Rio Longacre sit down with Jennifer Borchardt—UX leader, systems thinker, and newly minted Signal & Noise Executive Voice contributor—to unpack one of the most urgent questions of our time: What does AI mean for jobs, identity, and society itself? Drawing on decades of experience at firms like Sapient, Slalom, Wells Fargo, and U.S. Bank, Jennifer brings a rare perspective that blends design, behavioral science, and real-world systems thinking. This isn’t a surface-level conversation about productivity gains—it’s a deep dive into the structural shifts already underway. Together, they explore: Why the labor-based economy may be fundamentally incompatible with AGIThe rise of the “hyphenate worker”—and the slow death of specializationHow AI is unbundling work, eliminating entry-level pathways, and reshaping career trajectoriesThe uncomfortable truth about who benefits—and who gets left behindWhy most companies are still wildly unprepared, despite the hypeThe growing tension between innovation, regulation, and power concentrationAnd the deeper question few are asking: If work disappears, what happens to meaning, identity, and purpose?Jennifer also reacts to major industry frameworks, including the OpenAI “Industrial Policy for the Intelligence Age” and the Stanford University AI Index, highlighting the gap between bold policy visions and real-world human impact. This episode is equal parts optimistic and unsettling. Because while AI promises unprecedented productivity and wealth creation, it also forces us to confront a harder reality: Work isn’t just income. It’s identity. And we’re about to rewrite both. 🎙️ About Jennifer BorchardtJennifer is a UX and digital transformation leader who has spent her career at the intersection of design, technology, and human behavior. She recently joined Signal & Noise as an Executive Voice contributor, where she explores the societal implications of AI and the future of work. 📖 Companion ArticleDon’t miss Jennifer’s long-form piece on Signal & Noise:“Architecting Resilience in the Intelligence Age” — a deeper exploration of the ideas discussed in this episode. If you’re building, hiring, leading—or just trying to stay relevant—this conversation is required listening. Because AI isn’t just changing how we work. It’s changing why we work.

    1h 20m
  2. POSSIBLE 2026 Day 3: The AI Endgame, Agentic Media, and Rebuilding the Ad Stack

    3D AGO

    POSSIBLE 2026 Day 3: The AI Endgame, Agentic Media, and Rebuilding the Ad Stack

    This compilation episode captures the final day of POSSIBLE 2026 in Miami — where the tone shifts from hype to clarity. Filmed entirely on-site, these conversations reflect what leaders actually think after three days of meetings, launches, and late-night debates.The signal coming out of Day 3 is clear: The industry is moving from tools → systems, from workflows → agents, and from execution → orchestration. This is where AI stops being a feature — and starts becoming infrastructure.Who’s Featured:- Mano Pillai — Co-CEO & Co-Founder, HyperMindZ: Why AI needs a control layer to manage autonomous systems at scale.- Anthony Dominguez — Senior Director, Multichannel Marketing, Orange142: The reality of multichannel execution and why coordination is still broken.- Ian Maier — GM, AdTech, Hightouch: How the composable CDP model is reshaping activation and challenging legacy stacks.- Laura Foster — SVP, Marketing, GumGum: Moving beyond targeting to moment + mindset as the real driver of performance.- Michael Akkerman — Chief Business Officer, Digital Turbine: The untapped opportunity in in-app media and the importance of relevance.- Luc Benyon — Marketing Director at Adsquare: How platform dynamics and buyer behavior are shifting in a fragmented ecosystem.- Sebastian Pinzon — Data & AdTech Strategist: Why interoperability and data infrastructure are becoming non-negotiable.- Joanna Drews — Co-Founder and CEO at HyphaMetrics: Bridging strategy and execution in a rapidly changing landscape.- Joshua John — Head of DSP Strategy, at Yahoo!: The future of DSPs in an agentic, automated workflow world.- Crystal Wallace — COO at Omnicom's Kinesso: The gap between transformation strategy and real execution.- Adam Woods — Chief Product Officer, Incubeta: Rebuilding the agency model around AI-native operating systems.Key Themes* Agentic AI and autonomous media execution* Control layers, governance, and orchestration* The collapse of legacy AdTech workflows* From point solutions → integrated systems* Why timing, context, and signals matter more than everFinal Thought: Day 3 wasn’t about what’s possible. It was about what’s already happening —and how fast the rest of the industry needs to catch up.

    4h 18m
  3. POSSIBLE 2026 Day 2: Where AI Meets the Real Operating System of Marketing

    5D AGO

    POSSIBLE 2026 Day 2: Where AI Meets the Real Operating System of Marketing

    Day 2 of POSSIBLE in Miami was Signal & Noise at full speed—filming live from the Press Room, sitting down with some of the sharpest operators across adtech, martech, and AI. If Day 1 was about setting the stage, Day 2 was about how it actually works—the systems, tradeoffs, and rewiring happening underneath the industry. Here’s who we spoke with—and what they unpacked: Adam Heimlich (Chalice AI) — Agentic media buying, containerized decisioning, fixing broken DSP modelsAna Mourão (Black & Decker) — First-party data activation, martech–adtech convergence, retail mediaMike Finnerty (Mutinex) — AI-powered MMM, incrementality at speed, killing “great but late” measurementXander Kotsatos (Aqfer) — Zero-copy data, infrastructure economics, data pipelines as the new moatDavid Nyurenberg (InterMedia Advertising) — Digital evolution, agency strategy, performance realitiesDoug Lauretano (Tuple) — DSP reinvention, supply path inefficiencies, unlocking “lost” inventoryNeej Gore (Zeta Global) — Identity graphs, decisioning systems, AI as the marketing brainSara Martinez (Tracer) & Vinny Rinaldi (Hershey’s) — Semantic layers, measurement clarity, brand executionJill Randell (Fuse) — AI for insights, fixing broken dashboards, trust in dataTom Koch (TwelveLabs) — Video understanding AI, multimodal models, unlocking unstructured data Todd Ulise (Nomix Group) — AI, Synthetic Creators, and Commerce at ScaleThe big themes from Day 2: This wasn’t surface-level AI hype. The throughline was clear: AI is moving from tools → systems → decisioning layersData is still the bottleneck (and the battleground)The stack is collapsing into “operating systems”Measurement is being rebuilt from first principlesThe open web vs. walled gardens fight is evolving—not endingAcross every conversation, one idea kept coming up: The winners won’t just use AI—they’ll re-architect around it. From agentic trading models to real-time MMM, from identity graphs to video intelligence, Day 2 showed what the industry looks like when you zoom past the buzzwords and into the machinery. And it’s clear: The future of marketing isn’t just automated—it’s negotiated, orchestrated, and deeply data-native. This compilation brings together the sharpest insights, debates, and moments from the floor.👉 Want the full conversations?Each interview is available individually on our YouTube channel.About Possible 2026Possible is one of the fastest-growing gatherings in media, marketing, and technology—bringing together brands, platforms, agencies, and innovators to define what’s next. More from Day 3 coming soon.

    3h 40m
  4. Possible 2026 Day 1: AI, AdTech, CTV & the Future of Media | Signal & Noise Compilation

    6D AGO

    Possible 2026 Day 1: AI, AdTech, CTV & the Future of Media | Signal & Noise Compilation

    Recorded live from the MadConnect Mansion in Miami, this special Signal & Noise episode captures Day 1 of Possible 2026—bringing together some of the sharpest operators across advertising, media, data, and AI. Across a full day of rapid-fire interviews, Rio Longacre, Brett House, and Krish Raja sat down with industry leaders to unpack what’s actually happening beneath the surface of the hype cycle. Dave Rosner — On the untapped power of publisher data and the buy-side blind spotPete Blackshaw — On brand trust in an AI-driven discovery landscapePatrick Duggan — On AI monetization and the race to profitabilityErez Levin — On ad quality, attention, and the race to the bottomAubriana Alvarez Lopez — On orchestration, AI, and fixing the adtech operating modelNathan Lindberg — On gaming, creators, and the next media frontierMK Marsden — On AI’s impact on sales and the future of the revenue engineSarah Caputo — On CTV monetization, frequency, and the viewer experienceFrom AI-driven operating models and monetization strategies to CTV fragmentation, ad quality, and the rise of new creator ecosystems—Day 1 of Possible made one thing clear: The industry isn’t lacking innovation—it’s struggling to operationalize it. This compilation brings together the sharpest insights, debates, and moments from the floor. 👉 Want the full conversations?Each interview is available individually on our YouTube channel. Possible is one of the fastest-growing gatherings in media, marketing, and technology—bringing together brands, platforms, agencies, and innovators to define what’s next. Day 1 set the tone: AI is here, but execution is the real battleground. More from Day 2 coming soon.

    2h 41m
  5. Beyond the Stack with Lucas Longacre & Viktor Williamson

    MAY 4

    Beyond the Stack with Lucas Longacre & Viktor Williamson

    What does it actually mean to be “full stack” in a world where AI is starting to write the code for you? In this episode of Signal & Noise, Lucas Longacre sits down with Viktor Williamson for a deep, practitioner-led conversation on the evolution of software engineering—from fundamentals to the fast-emerging agentic future. This marks Lucas’s second long-form appearance on S&N and builds on his work as an Executive Voices contributor, bringing a product-led perspective to a rapidly shifting technical landscape. Together, Lucas and Vik break down: What “full stack” actually means—and why it’s becoming more critical than everHow modern frameworks like Next.js are reshaping development paradigmsWhy performance, flexibility, and cross-functional thinking are redefining engineering rolesThe real impact of AI and agentic coding on how software gets builtWhy engineers are shifting from writing code → reviewing, guiding, and orchestrating itThe growing importance of accessibility, security, and human-centered design in modern systemsBut this isn’t just a technical conversation—it’s a philosophical one. As AI accelerates development, the question isn’t whether engineers will be replaced. It’s whether they can evolve fast enough to stay relevant. “We’re not doing less work. We’re being asked to do more—with higher expectations and faster timelines.”  From personal projects and “disposable apps” to the future of software as hyper-personalized infrastructure, this episode explores where the craft of engineering is headed—and what it means to stay human in the loop. Full stack as a mindset, not just a skillsetAgentic coding and the rise of AI-assisted developmentFrom builders to orchestrators: the new role of engineersPersonal software, micro-apps, and the death of bloated platformsAccessibility and security as non-negotiablesHuman judgment in an automated worldViktor Williamson is a full stack engineer, educator, and mentor with a passion for human-centered development. With roots in front-end engineering and deep experience across the stack, Vik brings a rare combination of technical depth, communication skill, and real-world perspective on how engineers learn, build, and evolve.

    44 min
  6. The Activation Gap: Rob McLaughlin on Why First-Party Data Still Isn’t Moving the Needle

    APR 27

    The Activation Gap: Rob McLaughlin on Why First-Party Data Still Isn’t Moving the Needle

    Everyone agrees first-party data matters. So why is almost none of it actually showing up in media? In this episode of Signal & Noise, Rio Longacre and Brett House sit down with Rob McLaughlin, Founder & CEO of AUDIENCES, to unpack one of the biggest disconnects in modern marketing: the gap between data strategy and data activation. Despite years of investment in CDPs, clean rooms, cloud migrations, and identity graphs, less than 3% of media spend is actually informed by first-party data.  That’s not a tooling problem. It’s a model problem. Rob breaks down why the industry has been stuck—and what needs to change: Why first-party data is widely understood… but rarely usedWhere activation actually breaks (hint: it’s not just tech)How data movement, cost, and org friction quietly kill executionWhy brands are still paying a “tax” to use their own dataAnd why the future isn’t more platforms—it’s less movement, more signalMarketers didn’t fail to invest. They failed to connect. Most brands now have: Cloud infrastructureMassive first-party datasetsSophisticated media partnersBut the “last mile”—getting that data into live campaigns—is still fragmented, expensive, and slow.  The result? Campaigns ship without it. Rob’s thesis is simple—but disruptive: Stop moving data. Start moving signals. AUDIENCES flips the model: Keep data inside the brand’s cloudActivate directly from the sourceEliminate onboarding, duplication, and unnecessary costThis isn’t just cleaner architecture—it changes: Privacy dynamics (no data copying)Cost structure (no per-record tax)Speed of activation (real-time, not batch)Forget the buzzwords. This is where it works: Suppression → Stop wasting spend on existing customersSeed audiences → Outperform platform-native targetingLookalikes → Scale what actually drives valueRetail media & supply-side data → Unlock real reachAnd yes—brands are still getting retargeted with products they already bought. This episode goes beyond tactics into structure: Why the future agency looks more like an operating system than a service layerWhy identity + infrastructure is becoming the real differentiatorHow the balance of power is shifting back toward data ownersAnd why agencies without deep data integration risk becoming assemblers—not operators“CDPs are irrelevant in a cloud-native world.”“There should not be a tax on activating your own data.”“The problem isn’t that brands lack data—it’s that they can’t use it.”CMOs and Heads of Media trying to unlock real performance from 1P dataData & platform leaders stuck between cloud investment and activation realityAgency leaders navigating the shift from services → infrastructureAnyone tired of hearing “first-party data is the future” without seeing resultsExplore AUDIENCES: https://weareaudiences.comConnect with Rob McLaughlin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robanalytics/ If you’re building at the intersection of data, media, and AI—this is your playbook. Subscribe to Signal & Noise on: SpotifyApple PodcastsYouTube🔍 What You’ll Learn⚡ The Big Idea: The Last Mile Is Broken🧠 A Different Model: Signals, Not Datasets🚀 Where First-Party Data Actually Wins🏗️ What This Means for Agencies & HoldCos💥 Hot Takes from Rob🎯 Who This Episode Is For🔗 Learn More🔊 Listen & Subscribe

    59 min
  7. From Strategy to Scale: George Musi on What Actually Drives Growth Inside Agencies

    APR 22

    From Strategy to Scale: George Musi on What Actually Drives Growth Inside Agencies

    Everyone says they want growth. Very few organizations are actually built to deliver it. In this episode of Signal & Noise, we sit down with George Musi—former executive across Publicis, WPP, IPG, and Horizon, now an advisor to Fortune 500 and high-growth companies—to unpack why growth consistently breaks inside large organizations. This is not a conversation about frameworks or slideware.It’s about what actually happens when strategy hits reality. George brings an operator’s lens to one of the biggest disconnects in the industry right now: companies are overflowing with ideas, AI roadmaps, and transformation narratives—but still struggle to execute consistently.  Why growth is structurally hardGrowth doesn’t fail because of a lack of strategy—it fails because of how organizations are wired. Incentives, silos, and decision-making systems break execution long before ideas do. The HoldCo → Operating System shift (and what’s real vs narrative)Every agency claims to be building an “operating system.”George explains why most of these are still fragmented point solutions—and what a true system actually requires. Why agencies are colliding with consultancies and platformsAs agencies move into data, tech, and integration, they’re stepping directly into the territory of firms like Accenture and Deloitte—while also competing with platforms like Google and The Trade Desk. AI is not a tool problem—it’s an operating model problemMost companies are layering AI on top of broken systems.The result: more noise, not more output.Real impact requires rebuilding how knowledge, workflows, and decisions actually operate. The real future of the agency modelThe FTE-based, labor-driven model is under pressure.What replaces it? Outcome-based partnerships, deeper expertise, and a shift toward “growth architects” over execution vendors. Why institutional knowledge is the ultimate advantageData is commoditized. Models are commoditized.The real differentiator is the ability to capture, retain, and compound organizational knowledge over time—and most companies are terrible at it. Strategy isn’t the problem. Execution systems are.AI amplifies what already exists—it doesn’t fix it.The agency model is being reshaped from labor → leverage.The winners will be those who build systems of intelligence, not just tools.Growth will be owned by those who can connect strategy, operations, and execution into a single system.George also joins Signal & Noise as part of our Exec Voices platform—bringing a no-BS perspective on growth, go-to-market, and what actually works inside complex organizations. If you care about where agencies, consultancies, and platforms are heading—and what it really takes to scale—this is a must-listen. Listen on Spotify | Watch on YouTube | Read more at signalandnoise.ai What we cover:Key takeaways:

    1h 27m
  8. The GTM Slop Problem: Marc Sabatini on the Six Dimensions of GTM. Partner Buying, and Winning the US Market

    APR 20

    The GTM Slop Problem: Marc Sabatini on the Six Dimensions of GTM. Partner Buying, and Winning the US Market

    Most B2B companies don’t fail because the product is bad.They fail because the system around it is broken. In this episode of Signal & Noise, we sit down with Marc Sabatini, Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer at HighSignals, to break down what Brett has been calling the GTM Slop Problem—and why so many launches stall before the market even has a chance to decide. Marc has spent 30+ years operating at the intersection of product, sales, marketing, and customer success—the exact place where strategy either turns into revenue… or quietly falls apart.  This is not a theory episode.This is how go-to-market actually works—or doesn’t—in the real world. 1. Why GTM breaks before the market even decidesThe biggest failure point isn’t competition.It’s internal: Misaligned teamsFuzzy narrativeNo shared systemNo clear ICPAs Marc puts it: “It’s not just slop from inexperience. It’s slop from lack of coordination.”  2. The Six Dimensions of GTM (and where they fall apart) We walk through the six dimensions every company thinks they have dialed in: Narrative (not messaging—commercial logic)ICP & targeting (focus vs. “sell to everyone”)Competitive readinessOffer & proofField enablementActivation & measurementThe takeaway:Most companies don’t have weak pieces.They have weak connections between the pieces. 3. Problem Market Fit vs. Product Market Fit vs. Platform Market Fit One of the most important frameworks in the episode: Problem Market Fit → You can sell, but it’s messyProduct Market Fit → You can scalePlatform Market Fit → You can compoundMost companies get stuck in the first phase—generating revenue without ever building a system that scales. 4. Why “great products win” is a myth The uncomfortable truth: The best product rarely wins.The best go-to-market does. Even strong products fail when: Narrative is unclearProof is weakSales is improvisingCustomer success is disconnectedOr simply:Too much activity. Not enough coherence. 5. Partner-Based Buying is changing everything Buyers aren’t buying alone anymore. Agencies, SIs, cloud partners, and ecosystems are now: Influencing decisionsValidating vendorsActing as gatekeepersWhich means:You’re not just selling to the end buyer.You’re selling to the entire buying system. And that changes your proof stack completely. 6. Why most companies fail entering the US market Marc breaks down a common pattern: Too broad ICPWeak local proofMisread buyer expectationsActivity without tractionThe result:Burned time, burned budget, and burned field trust. 7. The real job of GTM: building a system, not running campaigns This is the core idea of the episode: GTM is not marketing.GTM is not sales.GTM is not a launch plan. It’s a connected commercial system. And when that system breaks: Messaging gets blamedSales gets blamedProduct gets blamedBut the real issue is lack of alignment and orchestration. There’s more product being built right now than ever before.AI has lowered the barrier to creation. But it hasn’t solved: PositioningDifferentiationCommercial executionIf anything, it’s made the problem worse. More products.More noise.More GTM slop. Founders trying to turn product into revenueCROs, CMOs, and GTM leaders fixing broken systemsAnyone launching B2B SaaS or AI productsOperators tired of “more activity” being the answerIf there’s one idea to walk away with, it’s this: A launch is not ready just because the product is ready.It’s ready when the system around it is coherent. Most companies never get there.

    58 min
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About

Join advertising industry veterans Brett House and Rio Longacre as they share regular updates and analysis on the changing world of data, tech, and AI. You’ll hear real talk from thought leaders across industries about the latest trends having the biggest impact on our jobs… and lives. Signal & Noise means no BS - only straight talk and first-hand insights from leading operators, creators, and founders.

Information

  • Creator
    Signal and Noise
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    36
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Signal and Noise
  • Show Website
    Signal & Noise

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