The Future of Integrated Media: Smarter Digital Marketing for Revenue Growth

The Future of Integrated Media – Smarter Digital Marketing for Revenue Growth

"It’s no longer about winning the channel; it’s about winning the customer. Too often, brands optimize for individual platforms without considering the bigger picture. Today’s consumers move seamlessly between channels. If we reach the right audiences with the right message and high-impact creative, we lift all ships. The brands that break down silos and adopt an integrated, customer-first approach will drive real, measurable growth." That’s a quote from Sammy Rubin, VP of Integrated Media at Wpromote, and a sneak peak at today’s episode. 

In this episode The Future of Integrated Media: Smarter Digital Marketing for Revenue Growth I  sat down with Sammy Rubin, VP of Integrated Media at Wpromote, to discuss the evolving landscape of digital marketing and how business leaders can optimize their media strategies for sustainable revenue growth.

With budgets tightening and expectations rising, business leaders must rethink how they allocate marketing dollars. Sammy emphasizes the need for brands to unify their internal teams, leverage data-driven decision-making, and test integrated strategies that align with evolving consumer behaviors to drive sustainable revenue growth. 

Be sure to stay until the end when Sammy shares what you need to start optimizing integrated media asap! 

Are you ready to take your marketing strategy to the next level! Let’s go! 

Kerry Curran, RBMA (00:01.186)
So, welcome, Sammy. Please introduce yourself and share your background and expertise.

Sammy Rubin (00:07.025)
Thank you so much for having me. I'm Sammy Rubin, VP of Integrated Media at Wpromote, a leading independent marketing agency. I do everything from consumer insights and category intelligence to media planning and buying. Everything we do is underpinned by industry-leading intelligence, and we have an amazing creative team as well. So, we really support clients in achieving their business goals through all aspects of our work.

In my role as VP of Integrated Media, I oversee the teams developing integrated strategies for our clients—everything from CPG to retail to entertainment. I have the privilege of being part of these teams and helping to guide what we take to market.

Just a bit more background about me: I've been on the agency side my whole career and have had the privilege of working with some amazing brands. I’ve partnered with disruptor brands like SoulCycle and Yasso Frozen Greek Yogurt (which is always stocked in my freezer), as well as Fortune 500 companies like Nike and WarnerMedia. I started as a paid search manager, and it’s been an incredible journey evolving from a single-channel focus to an integrated media leadership role.

It’s been amazing to watch media evolve and see how having an integrated media lead on your business is a no-brainer. It provides a holistic view of how all marketing investments contribute to business results—which is what we’re all rallying around today.

Kerry Curran, RBMA (01:51.15)
Thanks, Sammy. I'm so excited to have you and hear about what you're seeing, hearing, and doing these days. We’re such kindred spirits—I also grew up in the performance media world. I actually started as an SEO manager because, at the time, paid search was still new. But you’re right—there has been so much evolution, and the channels are constantly changing and getting smarter.

To your point, you can’t just have a single-channel approach or strategy anymore. I love your integrated media role. You must get to see it all. What trends are you seeing these days?

Sammy Rubin (02:33.041)
Yes, my focus over the past 18 months or so has really been on commerce. There are many definitions of commerce in this space right now, but what I mean is partnering with brands that have direct-to-consumer objectives—whether through e-commerce, their own brick-and-mortar stores, or wholesale retail relationships, including Amazon.

When it comes to commerce, what we’re finding—back to the point of integration—is that it’s no longer about winning the channel; it’s about winning the customer. And when I say "channel," I mean both media and sales channels. Clients have sales objectives across different retailers and distribution points, but if we do our jobs right as marketers—effectively reaching the right audiences with the right message and high-impact creative—it lifts all ships.

We see this reflected in data and our own behaviors. You and I, like most consumers, search on social media, pre-validate in-store purchases on Amazon or Reddit, and then take the next step. So, it’s really important for brands to take a customer-first approach—understanding where they show up and ensuring their creative is more critical than ever before.

I think the latest eMarketer stats show that adults in the U.S. spend over 13 hours a day with media. That’s a lot. Like, what else do we do? Sleep? I know I get eight hours of sleep every night—at least, all my trackers tell me that. But if we’re spending that much time with media, exposure alone is no longer enough. We need to drive engagement.

That’s where creative is the new media targeting—it’s the new media strategy for many environments. In Meta’s algorithm, over 50% of what you pay is based on projected creative engagement and other creative-related factors. As brands, we must show up consistently across platforms because customers bounce from place to place.

Kerry Curran, RBMA (04:05.422)
That’s a lot—all our waking hours!

Sammy Rubin (04:24.349)
Exactly! And advanced measurement plays a big role here. Consumers will purchase wherever it’s convenient—whether that’s Amazon, TikTok, or in-store. We’re launching TikTok Shops for many clients, and having an integrated measurement approach helps avoid the blind spots created by siloed data.

For example, we often see a CTV campaign or a social program funded by a DTC marketing team drive sales at Walmart or Amazon stores. That’s because, to the customer, those distinctions are irrelevant—unless there’s a specific offer tied to the channel.

We build high-velocity media mix models for our clients through our proprietary tech platform, Polaris. This platform integrates foundational reporting, media mix modeling, and incrementality test design, helping us showcase the impact of different media activities on various business outcomes.

Kerry Curran, RBMA (06:25.41)
Yes, I love that. The holistic experience is key. Customers don’t care if an ad is on Meta or Google, and they likely won’t even remember where they first saw it.

I was just recording another episode on media mix modeling and attribution. The point made there was that we’re going back to measuring impressions and the importance of creative—because it provokes an emotional response and drives action. But we can’t control what action they take. We just have to ensure our brands are out there, engaging, and driving conversions.

Sammy Rubin (07:13.437)
Exactly! It’s about reframing high-intent actions. Are we seeing an increase in Instagram profile views? Organic social video views? These are proxies for site traffic. For many audiences, especially Gen Z, social media is the new website.

Kerry Curran, RBMA (07:41.198)
Right.

Sammy Rubin (07:43.121)
And that perspective needs to be incorporated into measurement strategies.

Kerry Curran, RBMA (07:49.486)
That’s such a great point. You also mentioned retail media—when you and I started, it wasn’t a thing. Now, it dominates strategy and investment dollars. How are you incorporating that shift into your clients’ strategies?

Sammy Rubin (08:15.781)
Retail media investment growth is astronomical. Retailers have turned into media conglomerates, and they want a bigger share of total marketing budgets—not just retail budgets. They now offer influencer marketing, off-site paid search via Google and TikTok, first-party retail data, and closed-loop measurement.

Retail media is just media. We know that brands have historically driven sales across all retail doors through broad awareness campaigns. That still holds true today. Clients now ask us whether they should invest directly with retailers or take a broader media mix approach.

We recently ran a matched-market test for a client, exposing certain markets to media activations while holding others out. We drove measurable 10-20% sales lift in those markets without retail media—proving that broader media strategies can also drive retail results.

Kerry Curran, RBMA (10:45.016)
Wow. Yeah.

Sammy Rubin (11:00.923)
We’re constantly testing to see what works for our clients. What works for one brand might not work for another. But with everything being retail media, the role of an integrated media strategist is to figure out the right places and spaces to activate and how to hold those dollars accountable for achieving objectives.

Kerry Curran, RBMA (11:21.432)
I love that example and the market testing approach because brands’ budgets are getting smaller, yet we’re all expected to do more with less. It’s about driving effectiveness and efficiency and figuring out how to do it. To your point, if you don’t have the budget, you can’t just dump everything into the retailer—you have to get smarter and more strategic.

So much of this revolves around consumer behavior and what they’re going to do. I know this shift—thinking more about consumer behavior versus channel targeting—is a big one fo