Agencies
ROAST opens New York office as part of international expansion
ROAST has opened an office in New York with James Kenna appointed Managing Partner
31 March 2026
ROAST has opened an office in New York with James Kenna appointed Managing Partner
NDA is Lead Media Partner at Programmatic Pioneers. As part of this partnership, we’ll be highlighting some of the amazing lineup you can see at the event, which takes place on the 2nd- 3rd of June at The Royal Lancaster in London.
Our first highlighted speaker is Emma Lacey of Onetag
Everyone in the creative and tech industry is obsessing over AI skills right now. We are all scrambling to become the ultimate prompt masters and code moguls. But the brutal reality is that these skills have a terrifyingly short expiration date.
When did we stop asking if an image is real and start asking if it simply looks native to the feed? During a recent regional escalation, a high-production [reels] video of a night-time missile strike went viral on Instagram, accumulating millions of views in mere hours. It looked authentic, it sounded raw, and it captured the visceral fear of a city under fire. By the time digital forensics teams identified the footage as a clip from a combat simulation game, the video had already been shared by thousands and cited by several commentators. The footage succeeded because it inherited the visual grammar of trust that we associate with raw, mobile-first documentation.
The current regional tensions are being felt across sectors and the impact is immediate and real. But if there’s one thing I’ve learnt from nearly two decades in the UAE, it’s that this industry and its people have an extraordinary ability to come together and move forward in the face of adversity.
In my opinion, the Middle East isn’t just growing; it’s transforming at a pace few other regions can match, but the current climate, shaped heavily by the ongoing conflict, is forcing everyone to get smarter and faster.
There is a growing and uncomfortable gap between the conversation happening on stages at events like AWE and the reality inside most agency holding companies, mid-size independents, and brand marketing teams. The gap between AI as a narrative and AI as a genuinely redesigned way of working, between the press release and the P&L.
Venatus Unveils “In the Zone” Insights: Gaming Environments Drive 5x Higher Attention Metrics
Ad tech does not suffer from a lack of innovation. The real challenge is translating complex technology into clear commercial narratives that resonate with agencies, advertisers, and internal sales teams. In many cases, technology capability has evolved faster than the marketing frameworks used to explain it. Ad tech doesn’t have a technology problem; it has a marketing problem.
Over the past several months, working deeply in CTV, one uncomfortable truth has become increasingly clear: the industry treats Connected TV as premium by default. Often not proven, nor inspected. Just assumed. And that assumption is quietly shaping budgets, pricing, and expectations… often in ways that don’t reflect reality.
Lyza is Global Senior Client Partner at TXT Media, where she builds strategic partnerships and helps brands and agencies unlock growth through innovative media solutions.
The digital broadcasting landscape is undergoing a profound transformation, moving beyond traditional linear models to embrace a complex, multi-platform ecosystem.