"Sometimes it's easy to forget that media buying isn't just a theoretical practice. Which is why Carrie Drinkwater, who serves as the chief investment officer for Carat USA, often finds herself pulling anecdotes from her own life when she talks about her frustrations with the larger ad tech industry. And, boy, some of the stories she tells on this week's episode of AdExchanger Talks sure are illuminating."
"For example, Drinkwater mentions a time when her husband and young daughter were watching a children's show on Disney+ without her and encountered an ad for a DSP. That ad was clearly targeted at Drinkwater, even though her family doesn't use individual viewer profiles and the account is registered under her husband's name. "It's so wild to me that this whole industry is so focused on targeting and data and tech, but you don't know where you're running and you don't know who you're targeting," says Drinkwater."
"Drinkwater originally came to Carat because she was excited about parent company Dentsu's robust audience data. But, as she told AdExchanger in 2024 when she first started her role, the marketers still need to adopt a focused, client-specific approach to working with that data, rather than using it just for the sake of using it. She still stands by this. To that end, Drinkwater prefers to think about media planning holistically - a term that gets bandied about as a buzzword, but Drinkwater defines it as "finding the consumers where we can have the greatest impact, not buying everything, everywhere, all at once.""
A DSP advertisement appeared on Disney+ during a children's show and directly targeted the primary account holder despite the household not using individual viewer profiles and the account being registered under another family member. Large, parent-company audience data requires focused, client-specific application rather than use for its own sake. Media planning that prioritizes reaching consumers where impact is greatest avoids buying indiscriminately across all channels. Traditional TV buying roles have evolved, sports inventory is increasingly essential, and CTV's role varies between lower- and higher-funnel objectives. Many consumers may lack a clear favorite TV network. Marketers must balance data capabilities with practical situational awareness of where ads run and who sees them.
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