Thought Leadership

This article was originally published on The Drum, March 17, 2023. “Senator, we run ads.” This response by Mark Zuckerberg to a question from Senator Hatch in 2018 is fundamental to how the US Government needs to start in understanding TikTok. TikTok, like its contemporaries – including Google, Facebook, Snap and others – makes money from […]

This article was originally published on The Drum, November 18, 2021. The advertising and marketing industry prides itself on being attuned to cultural and consumer trends. The cost of getting this wrong isn’t just the pain of wasted media spend, but the risk of backlash or embarrassment for an awkward “How do you do, fellow kids?”

The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) predicts that ad fraud will become the biggest market for organised crime by 2025, worth about ~US$50bn. The opaque digital advertising ecosystem enables this and there is little to no accountability or understanding about the scale of the problem – until now. The Unclickable Project, a documentary film looks

This article was originally published on Campaign Asia, February 19, 2021. Facebook’s decision on February 17 to ban Australians from posting and sharing content from both Australian domestic and international news sites has far-reaching implications. The catalyst for the decision is in response to Australia’s proposed Media Bargaining Code, expected to pass into law within days. Similar laws, modeled

This opinion piece was first published on AdExchanger on Jun 5th, 2020. Twitter’s decision to flag one of President Trump’s tweets with a fact-check has set a precedent for how social media companies can and should respond to false information published by accounts with significant audience reach. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, to his credit, took responsibility for the

This article was originally published on AdExchanger, March 11, 2020. The unprecedented public health challenge of the coronavirus is also uncovering the challenges facing the ad tech industry around how to protect the public by combating the spread of misinformation. As with the virus itself, it’s critical that the industry practices good hygiene and acts

This article was originally published on MediaPost, January 17, 2020. As we enter a new year and with CES now behind us, I have been reflecting on what trends in digital and technology will shape the decade ahead. After some thought, I landed on 3 Rs — Rights, Responsibility, and Regulation — as what will

In May 2019, Joshua Lowcock spoke at the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) Public Workshop on Competition in Television and Digital Advertising. The event was held from May 2nd to May 3rd. Joshua spoke to the DOJ in his capacity as Chief Digital Officer of UM. The official transcript of the DOJ Competition Workshop

This article was originally published on Campaign US, June 15, 2018. A version of this article was also published on Think With Google, June 19, 2018. YouTube, creators, and fan communities have transformed the definition of “premium content.” Brands and agencies can either adjust to this new reality, or they can be left behind, argues

This article was originally published on AdExchanger, March 22, 2018. The advertising industry often talks about trust – trust between advertisers and their agencies, trust between advertisers and media owners. But very little is publicly said about the trust placed by the public in the advertising industry. Individuals and the public at large have a right

by Joshua Lowcock September 24, 2017 It’s been ten (10) years since the release of the iPhone and five (5) years since Facebook’s pivot to mobile. We have collectively witnessed mobile transform categories and industries from photography (Instagram) to music (Spotify); to banking (ApplePay) and transportation (Uber). From a media perspective, mobile first has become