Interviews, insight & analysis on digital media & marketing

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Picture of Andy Oakes

Andy Oakes

Andy Oakes is the Publisher of New Digital Age. Few people can match his longevity and connections within adtech; he remains a familiar face on the global events circuit, speaking, hosting and moderating at industry gatherings around the world, from Possible in Miami to Cannes Lions. He co-hosts the popular NDA podcast and leads NDA’s MENA project.
Advertising

Fandom is deliberate and dedicated. Planning should be too

As the road to the 2026 World Cup accelerates, brands across the GCC have the opportunity to rethink sports marketing and engage highly intentional audiences through omnichannel strategies built for modern sports fandom. With exceptional live sports viewership across the region at 84% in the UAE and 81% in Saudi Arabia, the World Cup represents a major opportunity for advertisers to connect with deeply engaged audiences at scale.

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21 May 2026
AI

We are not going to the Moon by being cautious

AI in marketing is at an inflection point. The technology is moving faster than the governance frameworks designed to manage it. Questions of data ownership, Agent responsibilities, security and ethical consideration in infrastructure and model building, AI-generated creative attribution, algorithmic transparency in media buying. These are live commercial and regulatory risks, and the industry is largely trying to navigate them with policies written for a pre-generative AI world.

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13 May 2026
Digital Women

Leading with authenticity: the career conversations women usually whisper

At Miami’s POSSIBLE conference, for which NDA is a media partner, a panel titled Unfiltered: The Career Conversations Women Usually Whisper cut through the usual polish of leadership discussion to focus on what is often left unsaid in media and adtech careers: the personal trade-offs, the internal pressures, and the structural changes still needed to support women at senior level.

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28 April 2026
Zoe Jones of Zoder Collective
OOH

You can’t mark your own homework: why independence matters

The global award management market is a multi-billion-pound powerhouse. Cannes Lions alone reportedly generated over $40m in entry fees in 2025. Businesses don’t pour that kind of money into being judged out of vanity, they do it because in a market saturated with self-proclaimed ‘bests’, ‘largest’ or ‘leading’. Third-party, independent verification is one of the signals people trust.

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22 April 2026