Data is the engine driving modern media, but success depends on turning insights into intelligence, not just collecting them. At our Audience Summit at CES, Next in Media’s Mike Shields sat down with Epsilon’s Gillian McPherson and Maggie Zhang, formerly with Amazon Ads, to discuss how brands can build durable, data-driven strategies that connect audiences, optimize performance, and leverage AI responsibly.
“There is now so much data out there that you can do so much better, so much smarter, and they’re not doing that.” - Gillian MacPherson
While tools exist to target audiences far more precisely than basic demographics, many organizations still rely on outdated approaches or misaligned planning and activation. Success depends on both the technical ability to leverage data and the organizational will to implement it effectively. “Do people have the tools to make it easy to both plan and activate using the same data set?” opined MacPherson. “That’s the challenge we need to lean into.”
“Data is useless if it’s underground, it’s unused.” - Maggie Zhang
Fragmentation and interoperability remain key barriers to turning data into actionable insights across teams and platforms. Proprietary and third-party data often live in silos, but high-quality ID matching and collaborative approaches can preserve accuracy while allowing for scale. Transparency and privacy-safe environments are critical for turning data into actionable intelligence for marketers and agencies.
“Visibility and transparency are key. If it’s just on auto-loop optimizing, you don’t know what the machine is doing.” - Gillian MacPherson
Our panelists agree that while AI can enhance campaign performance, human oversight remains essential. AI-powered solutions can optimize across awareness and conversion objectives in real time, but only when built on clean first-party data, supplemented with high-quality third-party inputs and supported by strong governance. “AI should augment what humans do, not replace us,” said Zhang. “Our judgment still drives creative strategy and ensures campaigns truly resonate.”