August 29, 2025  |  SIGN UP

Jim Cooper
DIGIDAY, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

As we head into the long Labor Day weekend this afternoon, there is a lot to reflect on, as well as look ahead to.

To help execs unwind their minds a bit, and hopefully put things in their proper perspective, this morning we published a list of must reads, cleverly parsed by platform and agency focus and recommended by execs from those two sectors. They range from Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell (a must read for platform exes, according to Karen Kang, global lead, culture and education partnerships at TikTok) to The Body by Stephen King (a good page turner for agency folk, per Matt Larson, vp of media and connection strategy at Collective Measures).

Every recommendation comes with reasonings which read like a catharsis of sorts — much needed as we spend these next few days apart from the hype cycles relentlessly framed on Zoom and Slack. We’ll be back to it soon enough. …Read more below ICYMI – Happy Friday!

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MARKETING ON PLATFORMS

Platform and agency execs recommended must-reads to unwind during busy periods

As the summer draws to a close, it’s safe to say it hasn’t been a quiet one. So before we head into the final stretch of the year, we asked top execs across platforms and agencies to recommend some good page-turners – in a bid to escape the laptops, deadlines and Slack notifications just for a minute.

MARKETING ON PLATFORMS

Amazon reverses its Google Shopping retreat, making life harder for performance buyers

According to Mike Ryan, head of e-commerce insights at Smart Commerce, Amazon’s share in every market fell from 70% to 0% after July 22; as of Aug. 23, it was back up at 74% in every market bar the United States, implying a return to investment. 

THE PROGRAMMATIC MARKETER

The Trade Desk’s redefinition of supply paths ripples across ad tech

For years, SSPs were cast as the critical pipes carrying publisher inventory into demand platforms. Now, The Trade Desk has decided those pipes are just resellers — middlemen moving ad inventory at arm’s length rather than direct conduits between buyers and sellers.

GENERATIVE AI

How Perplexity’s new revenue model works, according to its head of publisher partnerships

The company created the new model based on feedback from publishers that are already part of Perplexity’s ad revenue share program, Jessica Chan, Perplexity’s head of publisher partnerships, told Digiday. Publishers in its program include Blavity, Der Spiegel, Fortune, Gannett, The Independent and Time.

SPONSORED BY FLUENT

WTF is the growing brand opportunity in non-endemic commerce media?

Brands feel pressure to do more with less, and retailers have what advertisers want: untapped high-intent traffic and first-party data. Enter non-endemic commerce — how marketers are reaching new audiences and targeting smarter with ads on sites and apps that don’t sell their products. Read the WTF explainer guide.

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THE CREATOR ECONOMY

What Blue Apron’s move to in-house its influencer marketing strategy says about the creator economy

The move is to move influencer marketing in-house to curb costs, improve go-to-market campaign speed and build closer relationships with more than 100 creators. It’s part of Blue Apron’s larger brand refresh announced earlier this month.

THE CONFESSIONS

Confessions: How an indie agency’s over-reliance on AI drove it out of business

In this candid conversation, an indie agency exec talks us through the collapse of their agency, which slid into administration in July after its founder and creative figurehead became convinced that generative AI tools would provide a silver bullet solution for existential business threats.

SPONSORED BY KEEN DECISION SYSTEMS

Why short-term marketing budget cuts hurt long-term growth

As brands navigate economic uncertainty, they might need to modify their business plans to protect their bottom lines. Marketing budgets, even if reduced, are a valuable tool in combating market volatility and emerging in a stronger position, once conditions have settled.