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26 Marketing Moves to Make After RampUp 2026

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LiveRamp
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March 19, 2026
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Two weeks ago, more than 2,000 leading marketers, media owners, and data experts gathered in the heart of San Francisco for RampUp 2026. Through inspiring keynote speakers, insightful panels, meaningful networking (and a few puppy snuggles), the adtech community built a definitive playbook for success. 

This year’s theme – The Collaborative Advantage – empowered attendees to seize their competitive edge in the AI-powered world. In the opening keynote, History’s Guide to Winning (in the AI Era), LiveRamp CEO Scott Howe painted a clear picture:

“AI creates advantage when it's powered by collaboration, connected data, shared insights, and a network of partners that help you capture a unique opportunity." 

Simply put, no one can win in isolation anymore. The most successful teams are building their collaborative advantage by leveraging the network effect – using shared data, shared standards, and shared intelligence to move faster.

Now, the work begins. 

This guide distills 26 marketing moves from over 45 sessions to help you turn the big ideas from RampUp into meaningful impact on your team. Before you dive in, remember: you don’t have to tackle ‌everything at once. Choose the 3–5 moves that map best to your current priorities, and build from there.

Where will you start?

Key takeaways

  • Collaboration is the new competitive advantage. In the AI era, success depends on connected data, shared insights, and strong partner ecosystems.
  • AI is transforming how marketing work gets done. Automation, generative optimization, and AI-assisted research can streamline workflows and free teams to focus on strategy.
  • Data collaboration and clean rooms expand activation and insight. Secure partnerships help brands access richer signals while maintaining governance.
  • Measurement requires a multi-method approach. Combining attribution, experimentation, and media mix modeling reveals true incremental impact.
  • Privacy and evolving consumer journeys must guide strategy. Brands that prioritize responsible data use and adapt to new discovery and commerce environments will be best positioned to grow.

Table of contents

The AI and agentic revolution

Move 1: Embrace the transition to agentic marketing

Agentic AI was all the rage at RampUp. Marketers are buzzing with excitement to bring this powerful technology into their workflows.

Simon Whitcombe, VP, Global Business Group, North America at Meta shared from the main stage, “Embrace the chaos because you can't make answers. You can't make decisions right now for things that are going to last a year, two years, three years. You really have to jump in, experiment, test, and learn." 

Now is the time to audit your team's weekly workflows. Identify manual reporting and orchestration tasks that an AI agent can automate to free up time for strategic planning.

Move 2: Prioritize generative engine optimization

As consumers increasingly rely on AI assistants for research, your content strategies must evolve to meet your audiences where they are.

“One of the most important things is for businesses to be present in AI  conversational surfaces. There's SEO that's been around for a long time. It's different with generative engine optimization. You need a rich FAQ that pulls in reviews,” explained Dave Osborn, GM Agentic Solutions at Microsoft Advertising in the panel, From Personalization to Prediction - How AI and Customer Intent are Reimagining Retail.

Move 3: Spark a "brand renaissance" in AI discovery

Unaided brand recall is becoming absolutely paramount in a conversational AI landscape. Consumers specifically asking an AI agent for a preferred brand name acts as a shortcut that completely bypasses the AI's standard discovery and recommendation process.

This dynamic is fueling a "brand renaissance," where balancing technical generative optimization with strong top-of-funnel brand-building efforts is more important than ever.

Move 4: Accelerate customer research with AI

Daniel Ryback, Sr. Director of Experience Design & Innovation at Marriott, shared how his team uses AI to generate synthetic user personas, instantly draft qualitative interview guides, and summarize massive customer research transcripts. If you can’t get in front of your customers, rely on AI to help you make the most of the intelligence you do have.

Move 5: Weigh the costs of the economic Turing test

In The State of AI for Advertising keynote, Paul Roetzer, Founder + CEO of SmarterX and the Marketing AI Institute, covered how the business world is rapidly confronting the "economic Turing test" – the tipping point where an AI agent becomes more cost-effective than a human for specific tasks. How do you evaluate which tasks to automate? Roetzer advises breaking down complex marketing jobs into individual daily tasks. 

As your company calculates the cost, you must determine which functions require a human touch and which are primed for automation.

For advertisers, this means looking closely at routine, data-heavy execution. Tasks like writing manual SQL queries, dashboard-hopping for measurement, or stitching together audience segments are prime candidates for AI automation. Handing these over to agents frees up your human talent for the areas that require nuance, empathy, and strategic thinking that comes from experience.

Move 6: Leverage AI for hyper-contextual advertising

Consumers expect brands to understand them. AI is powering a new era of hyper-contextual advertising by analyzing the granular emotional tones of video content for brands like The Walt Disney Company. By perfectly matching ad placements to the specific mood and theme of a scene, brands are driving massive, proven lifts in consideration and favorability.

Data collaboration and clean room activation

Move 7: Treat proprietary data as your strategic AI advantage

LiveRamp CEO Scott Howe explained that while foundational AI models are rapidly becoming commoditized, your proprietary data remains your most valuable asset. "In an AI world, data is power," he shared, highlighting that proprietary signals are what truly differentiate you from the competition.

However, you don't need to own all the data to win. If your brand lacks substantial first-party data, you can build a collaborative advantage. By leveraging secure data clean rooms, you can safely partner with retailers, publishers, or other brands to tap into their unique signals. This allows you to maintain strict governance and control over your own assets while securely collaborating.

Move 8: Create an activation hub with a data clean room

Data clean rooms are evolving from passive measurement silos into dynamic activation hubs. By embedding AI agents directly into these secure environments, brands can generate cross-media insights and distribute audience segments to partners within a single, streamlined workflow. 

During the A Holistic Measurement Clean Room Playbook session, LiveRamp expert Scott Jones highlighted the value of this evolution. He noted that "unifying audience and measurement into a single platform" empowers brands to drastically compress the timeline from insight generation to deploying campaign optimizations, allowing them to act on data at the speed of the market. Innovators likeSukanya Swetharanyan, Director of Product at Albertsons expressed excitement about the release. Hear from her in the video below.

“The agentic workflows that I'm most excited about this year [are] bringing performance insights into campaign planning as well as audience creation and activation.”

Move 9: Move beyond walled gardens for media optimization

Adam Heimlich, CEO of Chalice.ai, showed how adtech is going through a “modularization”. Core functions like optimization are being unbundled from monolithic platforms like walled gardens – just like identity was previously unbundled. Clean room collaboration and the right AI models can help you achieve this securely.

Interoperability and data collaboration are absolutely essential for resolving the massive inefficiencies caused by walled gardens.

“AI is too important to outsource to a platform that also controls identity and measurement,” Heimlich said.

Move 10: Break down silos with data collaboration

Responsible data collaboration is the only way to meaningfully connect fragmented consumer journeys and establish neutral, cross-channel measurement to prevent ad over-frequency.

During The Collaboration Advantage: Serving Consumers Better, Driving Results Faster session, Lauren Griewski, Head of Chase Media Solutions at JPMorganChase, painted a picture of the future:

“The companies that lead us are the ones that are going to embrace collaboration, not just as a tactic, but as an operating system. And that will allow us to essentially make sure that we not just improve marketing, but we improve the entire customer experience.”

Modern measurement and incrementality

Move 11: Explore in-flight CTV optimization

In Turning CTV Signals into Outcomes, LiveRamp and NBCU highlighted how CTV is shifting to an automated, always-on model via its Performance Insights Hub.

"Collaboration is not [optional] here. It's really a necessity as we think about whether it's bringing in clients first-party data or bringing in third-party data sets via LiveRamp,” said PJ Gasparini, SVP, Insights & Measurement, Advertising + Partnership at NBCUniversal. 

There’s a pressing opportunity to audit how your measurement processes currently work for CTV campaigns. What gaps are there? How might automation speed up the process?

Move 12: Rethink ROAS and embrace incrementality 

Derek Schoen, VP of Integrated Media Strategy at MGM Resorts, noted that relying strictly on platform-reported ROAS can fundamentally break optimization algorithms by misjudging a customer's actual worth. Try implementing a rigorous incrementality test on your next major media buy to definitively prove the incremental sales lift driven by that specific channel.

Move 13: ‌Use the "triangle of attribution"

When it comes to measurement, there’s no silver bullet. A robust strategy requires multiple integrated frameworks to get an accurate, holistic view of your media's true impact. Stuart Watson, Head of Data and Analytics Innovation at PMG, shared that tools like LiveRamp’s Cross-Media Intelligence are a critical lens applied "within the triangle of attribution, media mix modeling, and experimentation". 

Move 14: Prioritize transaction data as the "honest" signal

Verified transaction data is the ultimate buyer intent signal. During the The Collaboration Advantage: Serving Consumers Better, Driving Results Faster session, Lauren Griewski, Head of Chase Media Solutions at JPMorganChase, shared that "the most honest signal is the transaction, the verified transaction," advocating for the creation of a "transaction spine" to enable neutral, cross-platform measurement.

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Privacy, regulation, and empathetic marketing

Move 15: Communicate user intent – securely

Adtech is shifting toward transacting on meaning – securely. In Unlock the Next Stage of AI Growth, panelists from Raptive and the IAB Tech Lab explained how using protocols like Agentic Audiences allow for a neutral communication layer for AI agents.  This technology enables the communication of intent, context, and identity in a secure manner, as agents could share meaning without sharing personal information. Discuss with your data partners the feasibility of testing embeddings-based protocols to target audiences based on semantic intent while minimizing data movement. 

Move 16: Focus on empathetic exclusion

In highly regulated sectors like healthcare and gaming, audience exclusion is often much more critical than audience inclusion. Marketers must proactively remove vulnerable individuals – such as problem gamblers or grieving patients – from their targeting pools to prevent deeply negative, tone-deaf brand experiences. 

Move 17: Address the data minimization mandate

Legal and policy experts are warning that adtech companies face severe regulatory risks if they ignore increasingly stringent data minimization laws. During the Navigating the Compliance Landscape in 2026 session, Leigh Freund, President and CEO of the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI), stressed the importance of ensuring data collected for advertising is strictly used for its intended purpose. 

Move 18: Understand expanding Data Broker definitions 

In the same Navigating the Compliance Landscape in 2026 session, Freud emphasized that the legal definition of a "data broker" is broadening significantly across the country. Panelists noted that understanding your organization's potential risk increasingly boils down to analyzing exactly where your data comes from and how it is being used.

With recent changes to Data Broker obligations in 2026, it’s best to consult your legal team to determine if your data practices require you to register as a Data Broker in relevant states.

Move 19: Adopt universal opt-out protocols

The adtech industry is experiencing a massive shift toward universal opt-out mechanisms. While the market must still navigate concerns about large tech companies self-preferencing their own tools, moving toward standard mechanisms like the Global Privacy Control (GPC) is now necessary.

Evolving consumer journey and new commerce media

Move 20: Optimize for the shift to passive discovery

The era of active search is giving way to passive discovery. Intelligent, algorithm-driven feeds anticipate user needs before they even perform a search.

During The Collaborative Advantage - How AI Lights Up the Network, Neha Singla, Head of Product and Client Solutions North America at TikTok, explained that highly relevant, personalized creative assets are now the primary drivers of new incremental purchases. 

Move 21: Understand the impact of "curious loyalty"

Digital platforms are fostering a state of "curious loyalty," where consumers remain loyal to core brands while frequently and impulsively exploring new substitute products.

Edwin Wong, Global Head of Measurement at Uber, pointed out that consumers will substitute brands 70% of the time if their preferred choice isn't available on the platform, making your presence critical to protecting your sales.

Move 22: Reimagine the traditional marketing funnel

Today’s consumers are on weaving, complex, non-linear journeys. Nick Winfrey, VP of Data Science, Data + Measurement Strategy at The Walt Disney Company, showed in his keynote that strict funnels immediately cut out audiences who haven't moved neatly from awareness to consideration, which simply doesn't reflect how real people actually shop. 

Map out a non-linear customer journey for your top product. Design messaging that meets consumers at various unexpected touchpoints, rather than forcing them down a rigid funnel.

Move 23: Capitalize on experiential media networks 

Travel and mobility networks are emerging as a powerful new "experiential" media category. The key to winning in this space is delivering value-added advertising that actually improves the customer's journey.

During the session From Transactions to Journeys: Building the Experiential Media Network, Monique Perlmutter, Managing VP of Riott Media Sales at Marriott, explained that true success means “enhancing that guest experience [by] not just doing something from a marketing perspective because we can, but doing it with a consumer-led approach.”

Move 24: Fuel product innovation with retail data

Retail media networks are powerful engines for core business strategy and long-term product development. By analyzing transactional insights from delivery and retail platforms, brands can uncover emerging consumer habits, growing trends, and new engagement opportunities.

Nicole Lesinski, Director of Category & E-commerce Strategy at Nestle, shared that leveraging rich behavioral data from partners like DoorDash goes beyond standard media execution ‌to guide their multi-year product innovation pipelines.

Partner with a retail or delivery media network to analyze cross-category purchase behaviors that can spark ideas for your next product launch or iteration.

Move 25: Capitalize on immersive commerce

RampUp hosted its first gaming session this year. Gaming and tech leaders note that the industry is successfully blurring the lines between interactive gameplay and e-commerce.

New Software Development Kit integrations are allowing players to purchase real-world retail products natively, enabling seamless shopping without ever having to navigate away from immersive gaming environments.

Move 26: Build trust with rewarded ad experiences

By establishing positive value exchanges instead of disruptive ads, brands can create hyper-personalized in-game moments that feel like a natural part of the consumer journey.

James Prudhomme, Director of Advertising Partnerships at Unity, noted that the relationship between brands and gamers should be defined by the word "rewarded." He sees a massive opportunity for brands to tie into the positive emotions of natural in-game achievements – like scoring a touchdown – to create an additive experience rather than generic targeting.

Ready to make your move?

RampUp 2026 made one thing clear: the collaborative advantage belongs to the teams who move first, learn fast, and share what works. Success in the AI era isn't a solo endeavor – you have to find the right partners to get you where you want to go. Take it from Jo McCawley, Head of Product, at Veraset who said," I don't think I've ever been this motivated or excited to take the data I've gotten here at RampUp back to my team and build some really cool stuff."

You now have 26 concrete moves to:

  • Architect a resilient foundation for AI and identity.
  • Embed data collaboration into your everyday business practices.
  • Unify your ecosystem by bringing commerce media, measurement, and creative into tighter alignment.

From here, feel free to share this guide with your team to align on your organization's top priorities. And remember to start smart and move fast. LiveRamp can help you turn these moves into a pilot this quarter.

The future of marketing is collaborative. Now, it’s time to make your move.