Kicking Off MediaPost’s 2025 Performance Marketing Insider Summit in Deer Valley, Utah

Jeff Alderman to Present “Rethinking Search: Unlocking Performance in an AI-Driven, $1 Trillion Holiday Market”

Next week, Ad.com will help open the MediaPost Performance Marketing Insider Summit in Deer Valley, Utah, where Jeffrey Alderman, SVP of Sales & Marketing, will deliver the kickoff presentation for the event. Taking place December 14–17 at Stein Eriksen Lodge, this year’s Summit brings together senior marketers to examine what’s changing across the performance landscape—and where brands must evolve.

Jeff’s session, “Rethinking Search: Unlocking Performance in an AI-Driven, $1 Trillion Holiday Market,” sets the tone for the week by addressing one of the most urgent challenges in digital marketing today: how consumer search and discovery have fundamentally shifted, even as holiday spending hits record highs.

Why This Topic Matters Going Into 2026

Holiday 2025 sent a clear message to the industry. While U.S. retail spending crossed the trillion-dollar threshold for the first time, the traditional search engine model—long the cornerstone of consumer intent—showed unmistakable signs of strain.

Jeff’s kickoff presentation will highlight the forces reshaping the landscape:

1. The Rise of Zero-Click Outcomes

AI answer modules and rich results continue to keep users inside Google—reducing organic and paid click opportunities for brands.

2. Discovery Moving Outside Traditional Search

Shoppers turned heavily to AI assistants, retail media networks, social platforms, and marketplaces during the holiday season, making the path to purchase more fragmented and nonlinear.

3. Price Sensitivity Driving New Behaviors

With consumers increasingly value-driven, many relied on AI tools to surface deals, compare options, and validate purchases—often bypassing search clicks altogether.

4. Operational Pressures on Performance Teams

Rising CPCs, limited SERP real estate, and new privacy restrictions (GDPR, CPRA, cookie deprecation) made scaling classic search more difficult during the year’s highest-demand window.

Why Google-Centric Strategies Fall Short Now

While search remains essential, Jeff will outline why relying on Google alone no longer reflects how modern consumers shop. Holiday 2025 revealed that single-channel dependency leads to:

• Missed discovery moments

• Higher acquisition costs

• Increased volatility in performance

• Incomplete coverage of the customer journey

The brands that outperformed were the ones that diversified where and how they showed up.

The Framework Jeff Will Present

To help marketers build for the new reality, Jeff will break down four pillars for improved holiday and year-round performance:

1. Cross-Channel Exposure

Reaching consumers across search, social, AI surfaces, retail media, marketplaces, and contextual environments.

2. First-Party Data as a Competitive Edge

Building durable audience strategies that remain stable as precision targeting declines.

3. Retail Media & Marketplace Investment

Capturing high-intent moments where shoppers already compare and buy.

4. AI-Driven Discovery Optimization

Adjusting content, creative, and placement strategies for AI environments that shape buyer decisions.

Setting the Stage for a High-Impact Summit

As the opening presentation of the Performance Marketing Insider Summit, Jeff’s session will frame the conversations that follow—giving attendees a grounded, data-driven understanding of how the market is shifting and what it means for the year ahead.

With search, discovery, and holiday behavior all in flux, the timing couldn’t be more urgent.

Attending the Summit?

Be sure to join the kickoff session to understand the forces reshaping search—and the strategies top brands are using to unlock cross-channel performance in an AI-driven world.