For the last decade, the industry told itself that more data meant better decisions, but it didn't—it meant mostly safer ones. Marketers traded courage for cover, proving what already worked while bold ideas died in a dashboard because nobody could model them in advance. Today, AI has made that safe optimization table stakes. 

Tom Inbal came into marketing from Strategy and M&A where investment in marketing over other initiatives was never a given. That outside view gave him a clear answer to the uncomfortable truth most marketers are avoiding: the industry didn't just trade creativity for data, it traded courage for cover. And now that AI has taken over the optimization, there is nowhere left to hide. The marketers who survive won't be the ones who just crunch the numbers best. They will be the ones willing to make bets the numbers can't validate. Tom Inbal has made big bets in uncertain conditions, most were far from a risk free choice. This talk is about what survives the automation wave, what doesn't, and what it actually takes to make a call when the numbers won't make it for you.

OMR Festival