This season of FX’s Pose is a shining example of what being able to balance grit, heart and style can get you.  In the narrative it is now 1990, but not a lot has changed.  Blanca (MJ Rodriguez, pictured below right) is still the mother of all mothers, forever putting her children first.  Elektra (Dominique Jackson) is still her usual pain-in-the-ass self.  Angel (Indya Moore, below left) is still working as a model (though no longer as a sex worker).  And Pray Tell (Billy Porter) is still more witty and stylish than you’ll ever be.  However, the AIDS epidemic is only getting worse, and even though Madonna’s new single “Vogue” may be helping shine a positive light on the LGBTQ community, the road to acceptance and equality is a long one, and much of it is left.

Hulu continues to keep up with the times.  When it first launched 11 years ago, it was 100% desktop delivered.  Now, according to Peter Naylor, Hulu’s Senior Vice President of Ad Sales, the company is 6% desktop, 80% living room and 100% subscriber driven.  “It’s all about choice and control,” he explained at the recent VideoNuze conference.  With three different types of subscription services -- depending on if a customer wants ad-free viewing or not, along with the multi-member access option -- Naylor (pictured above right) calculated that 82 million people watch Hulu per month -- with 70% opting for the ad-supported version of the service.

Social media as a channel to influence purchase decisions and drive sales is a tried and true strategy.  Influencers are a natural conduit to connect brand messaging to engaged audiences and marketers are well aware of the potential. The medium and the messengers are now the same, as influence is the final frontier in the quest for seamless consumption.  Shopping is the perfect petri dish toward this end and any path that shortens the time between search and conversation will be the most desired.  Influencers and commerce are moving in unison to create a frictionless shopping experience online.  

New York City -- The old adage “Race on Sunday, Sell on Monday” works only when consumers can see something like those track cars actually in the showrooms.  That concept -- the whole basis of NASCAR, in fact -- has pretty much disappeared as racers have evolved past the point of recognizability.

Agency contracts have to be changed so as to motivate the buying of quality ad experiences, not empty impressions.  But first, marketing leaders need to stand out front and embrace new ways of thinking, taking the risk of offending someone.  That is, taking chances by doing something that looks as if it could raise performance.

In this exclusive Jack Myers interview with Rubicon CEO Michael Barrett (pictured above), he shares a behind-the-scenes look at the past, present and future of programmatic marketplaces, focusing on transparency, open source systems and the emerging connected TV programmatic market.