Go Hybrid or Die in 2025
Whether we want to admit it or not, 2024 was the worst year on record for Big Tech fraud. Not only did they deal us garbage data accuracy, but they sold us AI as the solution—a “fix” specifically designed to deliver massive bot traffic. We’ve entered a level of agency incompetence that feels straight out of Idiocracy, where those in positions of authority are often the most clueless.
Brand marketers claim they can’t fix the problem because they “partner” for the tech piece of marketing. Meanwhile, tech marketers are so all-in on AI that they can’t uncouple themselves without suffering massive losses—a trap Big Tech carefully designed. Both sides blame each other, and no one takes responsibility.
From an outsider’s perspective, the situation is almost laughable because it was so predictable. Who didn’t see this coming? Did anyone really believe that Meta, Google, and the entire Big Tech ecosystem would use AI to genuinely benefit advertisers? Surely, I’m not the only one who foresaw that AI would be weaponized to enrich investors and secure Big Tech’s dominance (and don’t call me Shirley). What kind of naïve mindset does it take to think Zuckerberg or the Chinese government would adopt AI to serve “activated spenders”? If you had that on your 2024 Big Tech bingo card, congratulations—you’re hilariously optimistic.
The Fraud Scheme of the Century
Big Tech’s scheme hinges on disconnecting technology from marketing fundamentals. Think about it: marketers have been sold on metrics that don’t actually matter. What does a high CTR even mean when bot traffic accounts for more than half of all ad impressions?
Thanks to AI, algorithms are trained to prioritize conversions, and conversions require clicks. Whether it’s an e-commerce checkout or a form submission, it all starts with a click. So, what clicks at the highest rate? That’s right: algorithmic traffic that clicks and crawls everything.
Traffic aggregators—SEO specialists, PPC teams, and affiliate marketers—love this paradigm. They thrive on vanity metrics and won’t push back against it (or deliver meaningful results beyond those same vanity metrics). It’s an Idiocracy in action.
The Hybrid Model: A Path to Sanity
The only way to maintain marketing intelligence and sanity is by keeping technology and marketing fundamentals coupled.
A hybrid model does exactly that. It puts branding minds into audience data conversations and ensures terms like saturation are tied to actual goals—like saturating the right audience, not just random MAIDs (mobile ad IDs).
A hybrid model delivers proof of concept through real attribution and first-party data ownership. It moves marketers beyond surface-level metrics like impressions and clicks, demanding a deeper understanding of both tech functionality and its failings.
Likewise, tech teams need to understand the core principles of branding and awareness. Creative teams must be informed about how and where their work is presented to build customer journeys that genuinely connect people with brands.
The Stakes Couldn’t Be Higher
The disjointed approach we see today is a predictable and systemic challenge. Marketers can’t solve it without tech, and tech can’t navigate it without marketers. At the center of it all is Big Tech—Mr. Burns, rubbing its hands together and doing everything possible to keep things convoluted and self-serving.
A hybrid model offers the sunlight brands need to cut through this intentional murkiness. It’s the disinfectant the industry requires to navigate an increasingly complex and suspicious tech landscape. The longer you wait to adopt a hybrid model, the harder it will be to do so. In 2025, it’s simple: Go hybrid or die.