Digitas CIO Liane Nadeau on Context, AI, and the Future of Media Investment

What if the biggest media trend is just a new label on the same old strategy?

On this episode of Breaking Through the Mayhem, host Ben Lambert is joined by Liane Nadeau, Chief Investment Officer at Digitas North America, for a grounded and refreshingly honest look at how real innovation happens in media today.

From local TV buys to leading investment across North America, Liane has seen every evolution and built a few herself. She shares how Digitas is bridging creative, strategy, and media to design brand experiences that actually connect, and why the real differentiator isn’t tools — it’s context, creativity, and the courage to try something new.

They cover:

• Why curation isn't a trend — it’s table stakes
• Digitas’ hybrid approach to AI 
• How AI is changing both media workflows and weeknight dinner
• What most brands still get wrong about contextual creative
• The underrated power of slowing down to think strategically

Plus, Liane gets real on mom life, golf swings, and her dream gelato tour through Portugal.

Whether you’re a media exec, creative lead, or just curious where AI meets ad strategy, this episode is for you.

TRANSCRIPT

Ben Lambert
Welcome everybody to another exciting episode of Breaking Through the Mayhem. I'm Ben Lambert, your host today.

Extremely excited to have our guest Liane, down to join us today. Anybody in the industry that has ever heard or seen Liane speak knows what a special guest she is that for us to have today? I'm one that anytime I see her speaking, I stop what I'm doing to make sure that I'm paying attention and listening and taking furious notes.

She's a true, true inspiration in the industry. Liane. Welcome today.

Liane Nadeau
Thank you. You're so kind. You're going to have to talk to my children.

Ben Lambert
I'm more than happy to let them. To let them know how special, special they are to have you as their mom, that's for sure.

Liane Nadeau
Thank you. Thanks for having me, Ben.

Ben Lambert
Excited today to get into some various topics. I think to start with love to have you introduce yourself and explain to our listeners about your new role. Although not so new as of today, but new ish. With your recent promotion, but would love for you to share with you. Share with everybody, your current role and then, you know, kind of a little bit about your history and how you got here today.

Liane Nadeau
Yeah, absolutely. So as you mentioned, I am Chief Investment Officer, within the media org at Digitas, which is a part of Publicis Groupe. In that role, my job is to oversee our investment practice, nationally across North America, thinking through how we bring inventive solutions to our clients within the media investment world. As an agency, we like to position ourselves as the networked experience agency.

So we're thinking about how we can design experiences for people, not just deliver ads to them. So my role is very similar to investment roles at other agencies, but different in the sense that I'm part of an ecosystem that is a full service agency, which unlocks a lot of opportunity in terms of how we can think, not just in a silo of media, but truly across an entire experience to allow consumers to engage with a brand in a way that's meaningful.

How I got here. So I started my career actually, on the media planning side, planning local TV and radio. I moved over to the digital side of the business a couple of years in, as I saw kind of the speed with which things were changing and evolving in the digital side of things. So very much linear routes.

That allowed me to kind of learn the mechanics of media, the fundamentals across things like JPEGs and CPMs. And then moved rapidly, as I mentioned, into the digital space and then quickly into the platform buying space. That's what brought me over to Digitas almost ten years ago. To really help grow and scale the programmatic buying practice within the agency.

So programmatic then was not a new concept, but the way in which agencies were changing and moving away from traditional trading desk models to agency led buying, and solutions teams. I was able to be at the forefront of that, alongside a number of other folks at Digitas. And then from there, I've just broadened the number of channels under my remit.

So starting to oversee other digital channels like Search and Social. And now able to represent the full investment ecosystem in both traditional and digital and everything in between across all digital assets, brands.

Ben Lambert
Yeah. I don't I don't think your kids are going to kind of worry about being being so having somebody to look up to with, with that background

Liane Nadeau
It's more of the stopping and listening path that we struggle with. But they're four and one and a half, so we've got a ways to go.

Ben Lambert
If you've got time, you've got time. And you know there's plenty that you know they'll learn to listen to over the years. And I'm sure hearing, you know, about the speed and innovation, that you're driving to help them, you know, learn for the future. Will definitely be the important but curious kind of on that note of you talked about speed and innovation, and obviously you started out, you know, on the local linear side and then now are leaving full investment for full service that's a, you know, really cool growth path.

You know, how you're constantly staying, you know, up to speed with the trends as our industry is constantly evolving?

Liane Nadeau
Yeah, it's it's the number one question that kind of keeps me up at night is how we continue to stay ahead of all of the trends happening in media, but also outside of media and things that are what I'd like to call media adjacent as we think about things like organic, social and influencer and, content. I think what I do myself and encourage the team to do is actively participate in partner meetings.

Frankly, we learn so much from our partners and the solutions they bring to bear. But really thinking about, how we align partner solutions to our client's business problems, I think at the end of the day, we are a client services organization, and while we are the marketplace facing side of that solution, we really need to be still having a seat at the table to understand where clients and consumers challenges are.

And then partnering with the marketplace to come up with solutions ahead of that. So in addition to the basics of, you know, continuing to read the trades, going to industry events, staying engaged in places like LinkedIn to hear about what's happening. Really spending time and truly separating yourself from your desk to think about how do I take a client business challenge and what I'm seeing in terms of innovation in the marketplace often right now, led by AI, but not exclusively AI led, and marry those two things together.

I think what we try to do is have a nice balance of, again, you know, spending time heads down on the work, but also giving teams time to really think about how we bring the next solution to the clients.

Ben Lambert
Yeah, I think that's great. And I think, you know, as somebody that's sitting on the other side, you know, we love having engaged partners. And I think the Digitas team that you're leading is definitely a great team of always engaged and always wanting to learn and listen. So kudos to you and the leadership team over there for enforcing that and getting people to, you know, think outside of the box.

And, you know, especially with AI driven and, you know, everybody talks about AI, everybody wants to use it. But, you know, not everybody necessarily fully understands it. But, you know, so how are you constantly learning about the new AI trends and tips and tricks and, and then also passing that information down to your teams?

Liane Nadeau
Yeah, it's a really good question. And one that, you know, we're talking about constantly, as I'm sure everyone is. The way I'd say we've approached AI within digital is, is there's like a top down, bottom up approach. And from a tops down perspective, we benefit from so much access to the incredible work that Publicsis Group is doing in the AI space.

You hear our CEO, our talks to do and talk about, the investments, M&A investment as recently as today with our first half earnings report and what's happening, and how we're getting ahead of that and staying ahead of it and building what's next for clients. So that is, you know, first and foremost, we have access to all of that, which is incredible.

On the flip side, we have an incredible solutions team within Digitas and systems leadership that has built out, frankly, a sandbox for us to actually be using AI, creating agents of our own and starting to incorporate them into our day to day. And truly, that's the only way. And partly it's because I'm a learn by do person.

But that is truly the only way I've started to learn and truly adopt AI is by using it every single day. And so, you know, you and I were riffing a little bit before this about an agent I'm working on building that's going to help our teams have access to what's available in the marketplace. So, because we've got a closed environment that allows for all of the proper security and privacy protections, we're able to feed and train agents on information like what is available, what are our partners doing?

What are the solutions that, you know, we're starting to see come in via email, via newsletters by, decks, media cats, as I like to call them, as an old homage to my start, my roots. And we're able to feed those things to agents to be able to then query them and say, hey, we have this client problem, we have the solution.

We're trying to build this thing. Where are the places I can go to start to get some of this information? And, we've also got another agent that's been recently built that is able to help us synthesize RFP. So it's got consent, you know, needs to go out and see what's happening in the marketplace. And the proliferation of partners and solutions is endless.

And so for us to be able to RFP, a greater swath of partners ingest that all into an agent and then be able to query it to help design the plan that is right for a brand's brief is immense. And so, because we've been able to build that grassroots, build it within, and really give the keys over to everyone within Digitas, anyone in the organization can and should be making agents that help them in their day to day.

That's where I've seen the most traction, because the futuristic use cases are incredibly important, but they're that they're futuristic. And so to be able to use it in small bits and pieces today is what I think is really a game changer within the digital walls.

Ben Lambert
Yeah, that's really cool. And, I love the media kit terminology. It's always fun when, you know, talking to people that have been in the industry for years and people that are new to the industry and saying certain, you know, words and phrases and people look at you like you're crazy, you know, and people are like, I know exactly what you're talking about.

So I appreciate that one. Outside of using AI, obviously for, you know, the RFPs and the agents and being able to help with that, which, you know, I imagine it has got to be a really valuable tool for you today, just knowing how many different partners and vendors and new people come in the space every day. So it's got to make your team more efficient.

But, you know, within your personal life, do you use AI outside of that, or is it one of those? I use it so much for work that, you know, I stay away from it a little bit in personal use.

Liane Nadeau
Oh, no, I love it for personal use. I, my latest, that I've been using it for is. Well, two things that I found incredibly helpful are meal planning. I hate cooking and grocery shopping. I hate the organization around it. And I find that, you know, I get to the grocery store, and I'm just so overwhelmed with choice.

I just throw things in and nothing makes sense, and then I can't make anything with it. So I've been feeding, you know, I have, you know, myself, my husband, two kids. I'm looking to make five meals this week. I want them to be healthy, but still. And it spits out not only the recipes I should make. Oh, and I like to say and make it take less than ten minutes.

I know because I don't have time. And I also have no desire to cook and spend a lot of time in the kitchen. So it's able to feed back recipes and also then shopping lists. And it's incredible. Like instantaneously, you have this kind of tool at your fingertips. The other thing I've been using a lot for personally is just in the summer.

We tend to travel a lot. So, both short trips, like Cape Cod, often on weekends up, sometimes going up to Maine where you are, but then also, we've got a trip coming up to Europe with the kids in August. And just saying, you know, I have this many people going this number of nights.

We have, you know, this type of climate, this is the destination: one getting tips on what to do, and some itinerary building, but two packing lists the amount of things that they pop on that packing list. And I'm like, I never would have thought to bring that. And then, you know, the day before, I'll go back to that same query and say, what are the things people forget the most?

And then I'm like, oh, yep, got to get that. So, those have been two of my most recent use cases and in personal life, but I would say I use it as much in my personal life, if not more than I even do at work.

Ben Lambert
That's awesome.

Liane Nadeau
How about you? Any use cases I should be thinking of?

Ben Lambert
The packing list is huge. I've recently used it the most. I've used it for, I feel like everything is golf related where I'm like, what are some like, if I'm going to play three rounds of golf with friends on a trip, how can we make it so it's not just the same play every time? Or I'm looking to play with a friend who lives an hour and a half away from me. What's a good course in between us? And kind of using it for some of that and then like, what's the what where each course are known for. So I use a lot for golf stuff.

But I also feel like for the trips, especially in the summer, finding top restaurants or like the best places to get ice cream, which you and I grew up in very close towns to each other. Crescent Ridge, very well known for its famous ice cream.

So yeah, you know, curious if you travel how big ice cream is for you on those trips and how it compares to Crescent Ridge or where you're, you know, if that was your favorite place growing up?

Liane Nadeau
Yeah. Well, first I'll say we're going to have to go back and edit out the golf bit because my husband is an active, avid golfer and he does not need any help doing it more. So we'll have to edit that piece out. But back to the important ice cream question. Yes. So I did grow up, frequenting Crescent Ridge.

There was a town over another ice cream place called Bubbling Brook that I will say I favored only because I'm a soft-serve fan and Crescent Ridge soft serve. So, but yes, definitely ice cream planning is a part of it. We're headed to Portugal, actually with the kids in August. And my daughter, who just turned four, is a huge ice cream fan.

So, it'll be interesting to see what she thinks of it over there, because it's obviously a bit richer than what she's used to here. But, I'm sure that will be a hot topic on our trip. Is finding the best gelato or ice cream.

Ben Lambert
Yeah. Have to figure out if the AI can help you find the best ice cream in Portugal.

Liane Nadeau
I think that's a good one for me to query up next.

Ben Lambert
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And all side-email your husband, with some good golf AI stuff.

Liane Nadeau
Please do not.

Ben Lambert
Awesome. Well, I guess, you know, bring it back to work here for a little bit. You know, as far as, you know, obviously, AI being a big trend, you know, in the industry, and, you know, chefs and change is happening constantly.

Is there anything that you feel is is being overhyped right now and not just, you know, share any, you know, trade secrets of what you guys are pitching to win all the new business lately, but something that you believe is, you know, a little overhyped right now, or maybe under hyped, that, you know, brands are, you know, just now starting to pay attention to or paying attention too much that, you know, you think is going to be part of the wave of the future here.

Liane Nadeau
Yeah. I think I wouldn't necessarily say overhyped, but one of the words that I think I'm hearing a lot of right now is . And in a lot of different senses, in the sense of, NPS and, marketplace or DSPs throttling inventory, in a way that they're categorizing as . And while I think in, in concept, it's a very good thing to be selective on the inventory we're choosing, I think the term itself, you know, I, I talk a lot to our head of precision, Leah, about this, where I think the term itself is just a little bit, overhyped in the sense that it's really what we've all been doing since the, the dawn of this business is selecting the right places for brands to, to show up.

And I think it's a way right now for a lot of partners to add incremental fees or try to differentiate and stand out when in reality, I would say a lot of the work that my team does as an agency is . It's selecting the right spaces and places to be. So any way we can automate that, I'm certainly open to, but really the term as something new, it to me is a little bit overhyped.

What I would say on the flip side is still, I believe under overhyped or under utilized is, not context because I think the industry has really aligned themselves behind the idea of context.

In combination and in concert with the audience. We went for a few years, I think, too hard and fast down the audience only path and forgot that we need to reach people in certain mindsets and mind states, that allow them to be in the moment to to digest a certain message, to be receptive, to even be attentive, to that message.

So I think context is certainly having its moment. But creative aligned to context, I think, is still under utilized. I think a lot of brands, agencies, partners are talking about it because we know it's the right thing, is, you know, half getting half of the way there is the right audience and the right moment. The other half, it's not more than half, is with the right message. That's going to allow them to, to actually or interest them in actually paying attention. So I think that there's a lot of talk about it. I don't think a lot of brands have been able to get there, frankly, because, you know, what AI is going to do for us and has been doing for us in the creative space, is probably the most scary and risky for brands.

And so the ability to actually craft in real time or in near real time, crafts and design messages and images that will allow brands to show up in a really contextually relevant way. Is still a little further out, I think less on the technology side. I think the technology is getting there really quickly, but more on brand appetite and concerns around what that could look like.

So I think the brands that chase that the fastest are the ones that are going to win. And again, as I mentioned, being digital, we're in a unique perspective to help deliver on that because for so many accounts, we are both their creative partner, their strategy partner, their media partner, their organic social partner. And we're able to tie that paid owned, earned experiences together.

Ben Lambert
Yeah, I mean, I mean that was incredible. All of that. I think from the standpoint, 100%, it's like the word that, you know, real working, you know, from years and years of being dormant, but it's nothing new. Maybe the style of it is slightly new, but overall the concept isn't new, but it's the hot buzzword now.

But I agree. Yeah. I mean contextual relevance and, you know, making sure you're finding the audience in the right place at the right time is half the battle. The creative aspect is huge. And we've seen brands that, you know, can do it and, you know, react quickly to relevant moments and be there how valuable that is for clients.

But most brands, you know, we talk to, it's like this is our dream, but we can't do that. Or and it's even in similar spaces. We know you guys have some great beauty brands and talking to other beauty brands that, you know, beauty is huge in that moment, those moments. But not all beauty brands can move at the same pace.

And, you know, whether it be the way they're set up or not. And so that aspect then plays a huge factor when the creative can't fully align with the actual content.

Liane Nadeau
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

Ben Lambert
Well, amazing when this has been truly exciting for me to get to talk one on one with you and hear all of your brilliant ideas, how you're using AI. It's been a true pleasure to hang out with you, as always. I will for sure be letting your husband know some cool new golf places and AI and ideas.

But thank you again for being an incredible partner and incredible, to hear you talk and join the Breaking Through the Mayhem episode.

Liane Nadeau
Thank you. Ben, thanks for having me.