Eric Healy

AI is everywhere in research. Confidence still isn’t. Today I’m hosting a live session on how teams use Digital Twins to pressure-test real decisions before committing — and build confidence they can actually act on. Join me 👉 https://hubs.ly/Q043MWHf0

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CMOs demand guaranteed delivery, lowest CPMs, strategic flexibility, and outcome-based pricing. Physics says you can't have all four simultaneously. Principal media delivers three of them. The question is which three matter most. Forrester's new principal media report from the inimitable Jay Pattisall is very much worth a read, and it's going to trigger the predictable debate. Critics will argue agencies are creating conflicts. Evangelists will tout cost savings. Both will miss the strategic reality: CMOs facing compression don't have the luxury of perfect markets. I've watched boards push CMOs for guaranteed outcomes while slashing budgets. In that environment, academic arguments about strategic flexibility mean nothing. The anti-principal media argument assumes unlimited client patience, perfect information, and rational markets. Reality looks different. Reality is: your board wants cost certainty so they can model P&L without media volatility. Reality is: your CFO wants guaranteed delivery so you're not scrambling for Super Bowl inventory in scatter markets. Reality is: your CEO wants outcome-based pricing that ties media spend to business results. Principal media trades strategic flexibility for the three things boards actually care about: cost certainty, delivery guarantee, and outcome alignment. The Forrester report shows 80% of marketers are interested in principal media advantages. That's not because CMOs are naive about conflicts of interest. It's because they're making rational trade-offs under real constraints. The criticism of principal media comes from people who've never faced the impossible triangle. They can afford to optimize for strategic flexibility because they're not accountable for the P&L impact when media costs spike or inventory disappears. Yes, principal media requires transparency. Yes, it needs contractual controls and performance accountability. Yes, clients should cap how much spend flows through principal arrangements. But the mechanism itself? It's agencies finally building inventory positions that enable the outcome-based pricing we've demanded for years. I'm a big supporter as, for two decades, I've watched CMOs demand that agencies move from billing hours to pricing on outcomes. "Put skin in the game," they said. "Share the risk." Now agencies are doing exactly that with principal media, and the industry is calling it a conflict of interest. We can't have it both ways. Forrester predicts principal media will grow to one-third of billings by 2026. Read their report, then decide which three variables matter most for your business. https://lnkd.in/eKHg5qmk #PrincipalMedia #MediaBuying #CMO #MarketingLeadership #MarketingStrategy

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"This forces a new conversation about what AI is, how it works, how it is controlled, and the limits of its capabilities. The arrival of generative AI causes all companies active in the connected consumer ecosystem to rethink their product development strategies. Generative AI may be a catalyst for growth, a critical new tool for operational efficiency, or a competitive threat. For many, it will be all three. According to Parks Associates latest research study AI in the Smart Home: Applications and Consumer Perceptions, 79% find at least one AI-powered smart home benefit valuable. This research quantifies consumers’ familiarity with and use of generative AI and gauges perceptions and concerns with artificial intelligence. It also highlights the tangible benefits of AI-powered features and services in the smart home that most appeal to consumers today. " https://lnkd.in/gr9RkBEZ

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Canada 🇨🇦 I’m heading your way In June, I’ll be at DSA Canada Connect 2026 and I want to talk about something I’m seeing across almost every Direct Selling company right now: the massive AI acceleration gap opening up. On one side: companies moving fast, solving real problems, building capability. On the other: companies stuck in planning mode, waiting for the “right” strategy. The difference isn’t technology. It’s action. In my session, I’m going to run you through something we’ve done with many of the 20+ direct selling companies we work with, something that accelerated their progress significantly. You’ll learn: → Where you are right now (honestly) → Where your immediate opportunities are → How to lead this, regardless of your title or technical background → Real examples of what’s working and what’s not And we’ll tackle both sides of this transformation: the incredible capability AI unlocks AND the very real risk it poses to human connection at the absolute heart of direct selling. It’s my first time in Canada (getting in a week early to explore), and I can’t wait to help you get on the right side of the acceleration gap. Thanks to Peter Maddox for inviting me and Ben Robinson for recommending me. If you’re there, see you in June!

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GTM isn’t a deck. It’s a discipline. After years leading go-to-market in emerging categories (retail media, digital signage, AI-driven platforms), one thing has become painfully clear: Most GTM strategies fail because they confuse activity with alignment. Real GTM work lives at the intersection of: • A painfully clear ICP • A product that knows what problem it solves today (not someday) • A sales motion that mirrors how buyers actually buy • And a feedback loop between sales, product, and revenue ops that never shuts off At DISPL, GTM isn’t something we “launch.” It’s something we operate. That means pressure-testing pricing in live deals, refining positioning based on objections (not opinions), and building sales motions that scale with partners, not against them. If your GTM lives in a slide deck, it’s already stale. If it lives in your pipeline, your product roadmap, and your customer conversations — you’re doing it right. Happy to connect with others building GTM in complex, high-growth environments. This work is messy, but when it clicks, it’s magic. #gotomarket #ai #sales #tech #retailmedia

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At Escalent, we have a team that tackles when and how to use AI in research. AI is transforming research workflows, but the landscape is still a barbell: at one end, platform providers and hyperscalers are monetizing AI infrastructure; at the other, teams are experimenting with pilots that range from breakthrough accelerators to stalled proofs of concept. To avoid the hype loop, our focus is on high‑value research processes—data synthesis, data mining, and hypothesis generation—where AI can deliver measurable speed and insight. We pair these with rigorous validation and governance to ensure reproducibility and trustworthiness. And there is always a HUMAN at the helm. Our approach: start with well‑scoped use cases, integrate AI into existing research pipelines, and measure impact in terms of time‑to‑insight and quality of findings. This way, we capture the upside of AI without compromising scientific rigor. If you're interested in our POV on the use of AI in research, please reach out! #AI #HumanCenteredResearch

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AI PCs with Neural Processing Units (NPUs) are redefining what “work” looks like. In this latest #DellTechForum episode, Courtney H. sits down with Jon Siegal to explore the new productivity stack: AI-enhanced security, real-world customer outcomes, longer battery life, and how the Windows 11 refresh isn’t just a UI upgrade—it’s a workflow transformation. Listen and subscribe: https://lnkd.in/ey2MD2Je

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Love this - AI is the Oppenheimer moment for marketing. It fundamentally collapses the time and cost of production. A $2.5 million campaign that used to take four months can now be delivered for $500,000 in four weeks. Legacy firms that charge based on hours with the 'time-driven' model are existentially threatened by this.

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Large enterprise CMOs are facing a critical challenge: Drive AI transformation while doing right by the teams that built your organization. The C-suite wants AI transformation yesterday. Their teams—many with decades of institutional knowledge—are skeptical, exhausted, or both. Here's what I keep hearing: "I know we need to move fast. But I can't just blow up my team in the process." These leaders aren't stuck because they don't understand AI. They're stuck because they understand people. They need a plan for that first and foremost when the org gets to a certain size. They know that legacy expertise is still valuable and long-tenured employees deserve honesty about what's coming, not false promises. Transformation that breaks trust isn't really transformation—it's just chaos with better tech. This is the real leadership challenge of AI transformation - navigating the human complexity of change in organizations where relationships, tenure, and culture run deep.

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AI is evolving fast—from reasoning models and agentic systems to AGI-driven robots and edge intelligence. We’re entering a new era where AI shifts from talking to doing. A fascinating breakdown of the trends shaping the future of AI and how businesses can keep pace: https://lnkd.in/gQ5nn6wM #AITrends #ArtificialIntelligence #MachineLearning #TechInnovation #FutureofWork

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