Ditch the Decks: What We Actually Learned at Advertising Week New York

At Advertising Week New York (AWNY), we decided to skip the standard playbook. No finger-guns. No stale promo decks. Instead, we opened a record store.

Stirista Records wasn’t just a booth; it was a vibe. People came out of curiosity, drawn by the music and the merch, but they stayed because it offered a different kind of space for conversation. We talked about what’s genuinely moving the needle in the industry: data, identity, and performance marketing.

Our team was everywhere—in the sessions, in the hallways, and behind the counter. Here’s a breakdown of what stuck with us. What actually matters.

Heard in the Sessions: Beyond Optimization

The biggest takeaway from the main stage? The industry is moving past the obsession with process and returning to fundamentals.

“Execute. Experiment. Evaluate.”

A broadcast media executive said this in a performance panel, and it hit hard. The message is simple: stop optimizing for the sake of it. The best strategy is a tight feedback loop. Learn fast, adapt quickly, and build from real experience.

MMM + MTA Isn’t an Either/Or Question

This theme surfaced repeatedly. The most sophisticated marketing teams aren’t picking a lane between Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) for long-term impact and Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA) for real-time sharpness. They’re realizing that both are essential. You need the big picture and the granular view to win.

Beyond Vanity Metrics

In a packed session on social sentiment, a banking brand marketer laid out the new reality. They aren’t just counting views; they’re using qualitative tools to figure out why a campaign connects. Is the sentiment positive? Are people actually sharing the feeling of the brand? Metrics need to tell a story, not just a count.

First-Party Data is the Play, Not the Talking Point

Forget the buzzword. During a joint session with a cloud platform and a professional network, the focus was all on real activation. This means smart segmentation, targeting through APIs, and—critically—cleaner inputs. It’s no longer about whether you own the data, but whether you know how to use it effectively.

Heard in the Booth: The Reality Check

The most refreshing conversations happened one-on-one. Away from the stage, people got real about the day-to-day challenges.

“Perfect Attribution is a Myth.”

We heard a version of this from multiple visitors. The pressure to tie every single dollar to a click is fading. Marketers are accepting that attribution is an imperfect science. The goal has shifted: “We’re just trying to get close enough to decide.”

Clicks Don’t Explain Loyalty

As a creative lead told us, “We can see what they clicked. That doesn’t tell us why they stayed.” They’re right. Emotions matter. Context matters. The metrics are only the beginning of the story, not the full narrative of customer loyalty.

The First-Party Data Dilemma

Agency-side folks were candid: they’re hearing the mandate to use first-party data, but they aren’t always set up to deliver. Everyone wants the result, but “Audience building is easy to say. Harder to operationalize and clean.” The plumbing is the problem.

Clarity, Not Jargon

One of our own team members sighed, “If I hear ‘curated SSP’ one more time…”—and five people around them nodded in agreement. The industry is drowning in buzzwords. What people actually want is clarity and straightforward solutions.

Strategic Conversations 

In a booth conversation with an executive from a major video platform, the topic turned to how different clients approach data. While many still chase volume, the more strategic teams are shifting focus. As he put it:

“Unfortunately, a lot of our biggest customers are still completely focused on audience volume, while our smartest partners are focused on measurable results.” 

That same week, the CEO of a behavioral insights company brought up a very different but connected problem. They’re trying to verify identity-level data from a third-party source. The ask? Could Stirista’s ID graph and email resolution help confirm some of the linkages they’re receiving?

These weren’t soft-touch vendor chats. They were focused, real-world conversations about data quality, verification, and how to build smarter targeting strategies. The fact that Stirista is part of those conversations says a lot.

The Common Threads: What Truly Matters

From the stages to the sidewalk, three undeniable themes emerged as the foundation for modern marketing:

1. Data Needs Context: Models and dashboards don’t make decisions—people do. Data needs human analysis to be actionable. The “what” is in the dashboard; the “why” and the “how” are up to you.
2. Experimentation Isn’t a Tactic, It’s Culture: Testing shouldn’t be limited to A/B-testing campaign creative. It needs to live in how teams work, plan, and think. Build a culture that rewards learning over being right.
3. Intent Beats Attention: This was powerfully evident in a session about fitness platforms. The number of impressions doesn’t mean much if the user is passively scrolling. When a user acts with purpose—researching a product, signing up for a trial, or seeking a specific answer—that intent is exponentially more valuable.

The record store proved one thing: the best conversations happen when you change the channel. What’s the biggest disconnect you’re seeing between the conference stage and real-world marketing?

On the Ground at AWNY 

We didn’t just take notes. We also hit “Record” and captured some of the sights and sounds happening at Stirista Records: