In this Talks With Teads conversation at POSSIBLE in Miami, Dani Cushion, CMO at Teads, sits down poolside with Melissa Berger, Chief Digital Solutions Officer at Digitas, to explore how brands can move beyond AI hype, operationalize learnings, and scale social in ways that actually drive loyalty, revenue, and ROI.
With AI accelerating workflows and cultural moments moving at lightspeed, marketers across the board face a dual mandate: leverage automation for synthesis, speed, and scale, while ensuring human judgment protects context, nuance, and authenticity.
Key Interview Insights for Marketers
Outcomes Over Hype
Melissa references a theory—2026 is the “year of realism”—originally coined by Anda Gansca, a guest who recently appeared on a recent episode of Melissa’s co-hosted podcast, Spilling the LoyalTea. As discussed with Anda, Melissa frames the current moment as a necessary pivot from shiny objects to “brilliant basics.” The question every team should ask: Does this tactic or technology get in front of the customer in a way that moves loyalty, revenue, or ROI? If not, it’s a distraction.
Agentic AI + Human Verification
Digitas has built a proprietary AI platform led by its chief systems officer and is now connecting agentic systems across capabilities. The team embraces AI for synthesis, speed, and scale—but insists on “human verification everywhere.” Cultural moments must be human-led to avoid missing the mark and coming off as inauthentic—especially with Gen Z, who are pushing back on “AI slop” and leaving platforms that lean too far into it.
Scaling the Right Capabilities
Under CEO Amy Lanzi, Digitas developed a Solutions team to accelerate growth in social transformation, addressable relationships (CRM and loyalty), and commerce. Their social practice now spans nearly 100 strategists across social strategy, social commerce, paid social, creators, and influencers. Commerce continues to expand from retail media into social commerce and D2C, while CRM/loyalty focuses on helping brands build programs that unlock first-party data and deeper relationships.
Close the Loop: Better Briefs, Better Outcomes
Briefs are both “nemesis and best friend.” To improve outcomes, Digitas emphasizes a durable feedback loop—operationalizing performance learnings into the next brief, activation, and experience. Incrementality remains a hot topic because it’s still under-scaled (only 8% of brands have a formal incrementality testing program). Overcoming speed pressures and inertia means committing to holdouts and rigorous testing so marketing is seen as a revenue engine, not a cost center.
Leadership That Invites Bold Ideas
Melissa’s advice to her earlier-career self—and to teams today: be bold, share your ideas, and lean into an entrepreneurial mindset. At Digitas, that spirit fuels new products, practices, and partnerships that move the goalposts for clients.
For more conversations with industry leaders, explore the full Talks with Teads series.