Despite a plethora of challenges that artificial intelligence (AI) brings to the advertising industry, advancements in the technology will change even the fundamentals of how brands, agencies and publishers reach and interact with consumers. Not all in the industry are ready for the change, according to findings released today by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). The IAB’s State of Data 2025: The Now, The Near, and The Next Evolution of AI for Media Campaigns provides the first industry benchmarks on AI use, adoption, and perceptions, as well as challenges, opportunities, and future needs within the media campaign lifecycle.

Consumer sentiment slumped in September for the second consecutive month, dragged down by worries about job security, price pressures and the outlook for U.S. business, the University of Michigan said Friday, describing survey results. The university’s survey results echo those from the Conference Board and Federal Reserve Bank of New York, highlighting that faster inflation and a cooling job market are undermining consumer confidence. “Economic sentiment declined more than expected in September largely because Americans are fearful of losing their jobs,” Navy Federal Credit Union Chief Economist Heather Long said Friday. “After months of a frozen job market with little hiring outside of healthcare, people now see more industries turning to layoffs.” “The American consumer is feeling the squeeze from tariffs,” Long said, noting that “they are starting to see price increases on everything from food to furniture to auto repair.” Although consumers are still spending, “they are on edge and will be ready to shut their wallets if layoffs pick up this fall and winter,” she said.

RRD introduces Iridio, a unified marketing solutions partner formed to streamline marketing execution and drive meaningful outcomes. Designed for today’s increasingly complex marketing environment, Iridio offers a flexible, composable service stack that scales from single-channel support to fully integrated campaigns. With 96% of CMOs often managing up to 20 fragmented vendors, Iridio solves complexity as a single solution for strategy, creative services, technology, data and analytics and media execution. “The modern CMO wears many hats — marketer, brand builder, technologist and data expert," said Andy Johnson, Senior Vice President and Head of Iridio. "They also juggle siloed agencies and vendors. Iridio cuts through the complexity and chaos, bringing together all the core elements under one unified team."