As holiday marketing grows more complex and shoppers navigate countless touchpoints, success now depends on the strategy driving the technology.
Nicolaas van Zeijl of AdRoll explains how leading advertisers are turning to CTV to showcase their story, connect performance to creativity, and move beyond the old playbook of simple awareness and retargeting.
He outlines that winning strategies are built on strong first-party data and adaptive creative, serving the right message to the right shopper at the right stage of intent.
He concludes that there is no "copy-paste strategy" and every brand must uncover its own "secret sauce."
This holiday season is set to break from the familiar rhythms advertisers once relied on. Third-party cookies are disappearing, CTV is stepping into the spotlight, and generative AI is reshaping how brands create, connect, and convert. The brands that stand out will be those that sense the shifts early, move with intent, and weave strategy into every move they make.
Nicolaas van Zeijl, Senior New Business Account Executive, APAC at connected advertising platform AdRoll and a former Uber alum, tracks how shoppers actually move and how creative and data can keep pace this quarter. His perspective offers a clear view of what separates thriving brands from those falling behind and why for advertisers, this holiday season looks nothing like those that came before.
"The sheer number of marketing channels that people can engage with has changed the game. Especially in retail, it’s become incredibly saturated. On average, there are 56 different touchpoints in the customer journey before they make a purchase. They might see a Google Display ad, get hit again on Facebook or Instagram, and finally land on your site through organic search," says van Zeijl. What once was a straight-line customer journey has turned into a maze for advertisers to master.
Back in the day: Just a few years ago, the average holiday shopper followed a far more predictable path. "When I started, programmatic web display was booming," he said. "Retail brands on platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, or BigCommerce would come to us saying, 'Let’s run brand awareness and retargeting campaigns.' The goal was always the same: attract new audiences, drive sales, and build loyalty."
How the cookie crumbles: "What’s changed now is the third-party cookie deprecation that’s been in the works for ages with Google. Most companies are moving to a privacy-first, cookieless world, leaning on contextual targeting and increasingly on Connected TV," says van Zeijl. For brands that stay agile, this season’s shake-up could become their biggest advantage.
The customer journey has splintered across more platforms than ever, and attention is now the hardest currency to earn. CTV gives brands a way to reclaim it, linking storytelling with measurable performance in real time.
Beyond the billboard: "CTV isn’t shooting in the dark like an out-of-home ad. With a billboard, advertisers think, 'Everyone’s looking at it, and then the sales come in.' But CTV is trackable. Add a QR code or a simple way to engage, and viewers can go straight from watching to visiting your site," van Zeijl explains. "What started as a halo channel is now fully interactive: you can click an ad with your remote, explore the product, and purchase without leaving the couch." That instant bridge from awareness to action is what’s transforming CTV into a true performance channel.
Click to cart: Driving traffic is one thing. Turning it into revenue is another. That’s where first-party data and strategy come together. "When a shopper lands on your site, your strategy becomes the most important question. The creative you serve someone who only visits the homepage should be completely different from the dynamic ads you show to a high-intent shopper who’s already added items to their cart," he continues.
As data and creative grow more intertwined, technology is doing the heavy lifting behind the scenes. The same personalization once powered by manual segmentation is now being accelerated by artificial intelligence, redefining how fast brands can move from insight to execution.
Better, faster, stronger: AI is shaking up how advertisers plan and produce campaigns this holiday season, turning what used to take weeks of brainstorming and testing into a matter of moments. "Every brand is doing hyper-personalization or dynamic creative optimization. Generative AI takes it further by automating ad copy and testing what resonates," van Zeijl says.
The need for speed: The biggest advantage is speed and the ability to move from idea to execution almost instantly, he explains. "It makes life so much easier. You can cut costs on creative teams, produce dozens of variations in minutes, and react to performance data in real time. The velocity at which new creative can be developed is something we have never seen before."
As the holiday season unfolds, one rule stands out: there’s no universal formula for success. Every brand faces different audiences, budgets, and creative challenges, and the ones that thrive will be those willing to experiment and define their own approach. "There is no copy-paste strategy," van Zeijl concludes. "I can provide a playbook for what generally works, but some clients find success only with influencer marketing while others rely entirely on Meta. The goal is for every brand to learn its own 'secret sauce.' A cross-channel attribution solution helps by giving a single, unified view of performance across paid, social, and UTM-tracked channels. It shows how each touchpoint contributes so brands can allocate budget confidently and optimize their mix for maximum impact."
