AI is transforming how organizations generate insights and forecast outcomes, but questions remain about reliability and the need for human oversight. On September 14-15 in NYC, industry and academic leaders gathered to discuss integrating AI into analytics workflows and maintaining transparency.
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AI-optimized, omnichannel campaigns are changing how media are planned, activated and measured. Drawing on in-depth interviews with advertisers and providers, the ARF Cross-Platform Measurement Council’s Attribution Working Group examined omnichannel campaign tools such as Google Performance Max and Meta Advantage+, exploring their potential to simplify execution, optimize across channels and improve performance. Their research also identified important tradeoffs, including transparency, testing capabilities and ongoing measurement and governance challenges.
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AI can accelerate campaign measurement, but how do you know the results are reliable? On July 15, the ARF Cross-Platform Measurement Council led an exploration of validating AI-powered measurement models and systems. Industry practitioners shared validation approaches, frameworks, and tools that work based on real case studies. Plus, attendees had the opportunity to ask questions in a Q&A.
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As retail media expands across onsite, offsite and in-store environments, buyers are looking beyond basic attribution to determine whether advertising is actually driving incremental sales. In a guest article for The Advertising Club of New York, Tracy Adams, PhD, ARF Senior Director of Research & Insights, examines findings from the second phase of the ARF Retail Media Network Standardization Project, revealing what advertisers and agencies say they need to make retail media measurement more comparable, transparent and trustworthy.
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On September 10, DATA POEM introduced interconnected, non-linear optimization using Large Causal Models, which enable real-time, granular decision-making across all marketing levers and market scenarios. This session was designed for leaders who suspect their current optimization framework is leaving significant value on the table—and want to understand what the architectural alternative looks like in practice.
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As generative search and agentic AI transform how consumers discover, evaluate and purchase products, traditional identity resolution and attribution systems are struggling to keep pace. This new paper by the Identity Resolution Working Group of the ARF Cross-Platform Measurement Council, introduces the concept of “Delegated Identity”—a framework designed to reconnect human intent with AI-driven actions in an increasingly AI-mediated marketplace. The report explores the emerging identity gap, evaluates industry readiness and outlines the challenges and opportunities facing marketers, identity providers and AI platforms.
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Artificial intelligence has rapidly become part of the everyday marketing toolkit, transforming everything from creative development and campaign measurement to analytics and customer engagement. Drawing on two nationwide surveys of more than 200 U.S. advertisers and agencies, this new ARF study explores where AI adoption stands today, which tools marketers rely on most, how organizations are validating AI outputs and the governance practices emerging as AI becomes central to marketing operations.
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As privacy changes make it harder for marketers to track individual customer journeys, media and marketing mix modeling (m/MMM) is experiencing renewed interest. Open-source tools from Meta, Google and the PyMC ecosystem promise to make these methods more accessible, particularly for organizations without the resources for customized proprietary models. In this MSI working paper, Julian Runge and Koen Pauwels evaluate the leading open-source approaches, examining their capabilities, differences and tradeoffs. Their analysis shows that while automation can democratize sophisticated marketing measurement, using these tools responsibly requires careful attention to model assumptions, diagnostics, calibration and validation.
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