Welcome to The Refresh, a weekly newsletter from Marketecture Media. Every Thursday we’ll bring you the latest advertising news, commentary, and memes.

• Ad Tech Briefing: Google’s AI updates are portent of antitrust cases to come (Digiday)

• OMD Shares Its Alternative ID Strategy At AdExchanger’s Programmatic IO (AdExchanger)

• WPP Media launches as fully integrated, AI-powered media company (WPP)

• DoubleVerify Issues Industry Alert for Ads.txt Exploits (Businesswire)

• How GroupM Is Collaborating With PubMatic As The SSP Gets Closer To The Buy Side (AdExchanger)

Horizon Media Declutters Ad Tech with Transparent Partner Curation for Blu Platform

Horizon Media is tackling the complexity and opacity of the ad tech ecosystem by launching a transparent RFI/RFP process to build a curated partner network behind its Blu marketing platform. The initiative aims to streamline choices for marketers overwhelmed by tech redundancy and hidden fees. Rather than building or owning its own tech stack, Horizon is positioning its independence as an advantage free from "tech debt" and profit-driven conflicts of interest.

Horizon is currently working with around 10 core partners including Transunion, Snowflake, and Akkio, and is encouraging clients to audit their tech stacks to eliminate unnecessary vendors and fees. The broader goal is to simplify the media supply chain, build trust, and deliver measurable value through vetted, open tech partnerships.

I fully agree with this approach. The industry doesn’t need more black boxes or bloated stacks it needs clarity, accountability, and collaboration.

Read AdAge

AI Ad Tools Overpromise, Underdeliver Without Proper Oversight

A marketing leader in the DTC space overhauled their ad strategy after discovering that AI-optimized campaigns on major platforms were inflating performance metrics without delivering real results. Despite strong on-platform ROAS, marketing mix modeling revealed the campaigns were often targeting the wrong audiences or taking credit for conversions that would have happened anyway.

Automated ad products were replaced with more manual, controlled approaches, and spend was redirected toward higher-intent targeting and non-branded keywords. By using a quarterly marketing mix model as a source of truth, the team identified inefficiencies, reduced wasted spend, and realigned performance metrics with actual business outcomes.

Read AdExchanger

Scam Amtrak Ads Slip Through Google, Defrauding Riders

CBS News found that Google search ads falsely claiming to represent Amtrak were directing users to scam websites, leading some, like rider Laura Black, to purchase fake tickets. Despite Google's ad review process, these paid listings appeared at the top of search results, bypassing safeguards. Google has since removed the ads and suspended the accounts, but questions remain about how such scams continue to get approved. Amtrak urges customers to book only through official channels and says it works with search engines to remove fraudulent listings.

Read CBS News

Burger King Must Face Lawsuit Over Allegedly Misleading Whopper Ads

A federal judge in Miami ruled that Burger King must face a class-action lawsuit accusing it of exaggerating the size of its burgers in ads. Plaintiffs from 13 states claim that menu items (especially the Whopper) appear significantly larger in marketing than in reality, allegedly showing burgers that are 35% bigger with twice the meat. Burger King argued the images are typical marketing meant to be appetizing, not literal. However, Judge Roy Altman said the allegations may go beyond mere "puffery," especially in post-2017 ads. The case will move forward, marking a contrast to similar lawsuits dismissed against McDonald's and Wendy's.

Even if Burger King did stretch the truth in its burger photos, I’ll stick with In-N-Out—at least what you see is what you get, and it tastes better anyway.

Read Business Insider

Amazon Boosts Contextual Targeting for Prime Video

Amazon is rolling out a new layer of contextual ad targeting for Prime Video, letting advertisers go beyond genre to tap into 700+ metadata points like “female voices” and “high-income households.” It’s a smart move that makes long-tail content more valuable and reflects how powerful contextual ads can be.

While this innovation is valuable, it also feels like the walls are getting higher inside the walled gardens. As platforms add more proprietary targeting layers, advertisers gain precision but lose independence.

Read AdExchanger

Meme of the week

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