SANTA BARBARA, CA \u2013 When IAB CEO Randall Rothenberg contemplates the rebirth of AT&T\u2019s advertising and media operations in the form of Xandr, he sees a looming competitor to the most powerful digital giants.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no question that lots of folks in the marketing and media world would like more alternatives to Google and Facebook, and AT&T by bringing a lot of extraordinary assets is the latest to present a credible assembly of important capabilities,\u201d Rothenberg says.<\/p>\n
One of the many invitation-only attendees of\u00a0the Xandr Relevance Conference<\/a>, The IAB chief was scheduled to moderate a panel discussion titled Consumers\u2019 Choice: The DTC Revolution. It was based in part on the IAB\u2019s \u201cRise Of The 21st Century Brand Economy\u201d study.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the elite attendance here at The Relevance Conference is an example of the interest, the hunger for an entity that can do what AT&T is promising to do,\u201d Rothenberg<\/a> says.<\/p>\n That\u2019s based on what he considers to be AT&T\u2019s \u201cworld class\u201d assets encompassing entertainment, news, distribution, data, privacy and a \u201cgreat embedded understanding of data security.”<\/p>\n Add them all together and \u201cyou\u2019ve got a company that puts together a lot of remarkable capabilities that can be brought to bear on behalf of both consumers and businesses at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n Rothenberg has words of praise for AT&T management in the walkup to the Xandr<\/a> unveil this week. \u201cI think the fact that they\u2019ve spent a good solid year planning and building before coming out with public announcements was incredibly smart.\u201d<\/p>\n He expresses a special affinity for Xandr CEO Brian Lesser and CMO Kirk McDonald, both \u201ccolleagues\u201d and in McDonald\u2019s case a former IAB<\/a> board member.<\/p>\n \u201cI think everybody here wishes them well and expects that they will do extraordinarily well to help build not just a new media entity, but a new media communications and advertising industry in the United States and elsewhere,\u201d Rothenberg says.<\/p>\n