Scoring AI & Advertising Points with Aaron Goldman
In the weeks leading up to Street Fight LIVE 2025, we’ll be getting up close and personal with some of our speakers, encouraging them to share stories of how they found themselves in the MULO (multi-location) ecosystem. Today, we speak with Aaron Goldman, advertising guru and Chief Marketing Officer of Mediaocean.
How did you first get into your industry? What led Aaron Goldman to Mediaocean?
“I went to school for journalism because I love to write. After one semester, I got burned out on essay deadlines and switched to the only other major at the time in the College of Communications at University of Illinois. It was advertising and the rest is history.
My first job out of school was with an ad network called L90 that bought DoubleClick Media and became MaxOnline. The COO of the combined entity was Bill Wise and he is now Mediaocean CEO. We re-joined forces when 4C was acquired in 2020.”
When did the concept of “omnichannel advertising” really take hold? Why is it especially critical today?
“I think it wasn’t until CTV came along that omnichannel advertising really took hold. Linear TV had always been the king of brand building with sight, sound, and motion across premium video but then CTV popped up offering the same form factor. This forced the industry to take a truly converged approach to buying and selling. It no longer made sense to have specialized teams or separate transactions.
At the end of the day, the consumer does not view TV and CTV differently, and neither should marketers. Within Mediaocean, we’ve made all our workflows across Prisma, Innovid, and Protected truly omnichannel so you can manage advertising consistently from end to end – and that goes for video, audio, display, social, mobile, and everything in between.”
And, of course, how has AI impacted advertising strategy and planning?
“AI is transforming every aspect of advertising. Whether it’s using AI for research and analytics or developing creative and optimizing campaigns, AI makes things more efficient and drives better outcomes. Looking ahead, it’s only a matter of time before you can buy ads on all the major AI platforms.
Agentic AI (ads within AI agents) is poised to be the next $100 billion category in advertising. The only question is if it will look and feel like a search with paid text ads or something more integrated into the experience, with pricing tied to conversions. I think short-term we’ll see the former, but long-term we’ll climb the latter.”
What is ONE big thing that multi-location companies need to be thinking about RIGHT NOW in terms of AI and advertising?
“How is your brand showing up in AI search? When someone uses AI mode on Google or prompts ChatGPT for info related to your category, are you in the considered set? If not, you’re in trouble.
I’m an advisor for Brandlight, which is a company that built tech to monitor AI visibility and deliver recommendations for improving positioning. They’ll be joining me on stage at Street Fight Live to talk about how it all works – should be a great session!”
What do you do when you’re not working? How do you incorporate AI into your own life?
“I do basketball trick shots. I have a channel on YouTube called Jude Perfect (because I’m the Jewish Dude Perfect) and I often get accused of using AI to make it look like the shots are going in but I can assure you I don’t. Sure, sometimes it takes hundreds of takes before I make one but that just gives me good fodder for the blooper real.
That said, I do use AI in just about every other part of my life. Right now, my favorite is creating cartoons to post on social. Watch out Tom Fishburne, I’m coming for your Marketoonist throne! I adhere to the philosophy that AI won’t steal jobs but people using AI will.”
We invite you to join us and meet Mediaocean’s Aaron Goldman (as well as leaders from companies like TikTok and Fat Brands) at Street Fight LIVE 2025 , September 30th in Los Angeles. Who knows…maybe you can even challenge Aaron to a game.
