“There are no ads in heaven, that's why we have them here.” —Chuck Gafvert
You may not know the name Dan Murphy, but if you are in this industry, Dan has had a profound impact on your career.
First, when digital advertising came to be, it needed people to help lead the way. Dan brought energy, passion, and discipline to those early days. He was the fun guy who impressed upon you that there was work to be done. Imagine a man in a Hawaiian shirt, flip-flops, with a mojito in his hand, not letting you off the hook until you agreed to embrace his ideas about standards, followed by a steak dinner.
Our industry grew to the size it is today because Dan set it in that direction.
More importantly than the standards and the research, Dan brought humanity to an industry obsessed with tech. The integrity and kindness with which he lived became the model by which we all operate. You want to know why some senior people in this industry go out of their way to help others? Dan Murphy. Want to know why we put so much emphasis on spending time with each other outside the conference room? Dan Murphy.
The people in the picture above came together last Friday to celebrate and remember Dan. You are all at a maximum of two degrees separated from Dan, and while you might not perceive it, your life is better because of it.
Here’s to you, Dan.
Fuck. I have tears in my eyes, and I have to shift gears in the newsletter (Dan would find that funny).
Summer/pre-Savannah check list:
- Watch my interview with Chris Kane. The feedback is that not only was Chris his super-smart self, but I had a few good lines in there as well.
- Our August Camp Fire call for publishers and partners will include announcements of our 2026 event plans and other Beeler initiatives. If you aren’t IYKYKing, maybe you should, you know? Join the community.
- I’ll be at IBC. I’ll be at DMEXCO. If you are planning to be at either, I’d love to know that.
Only 62 days to Base.Camp Savannah agenda… but who’s counting? (Us. That’s who’s counting.)
We tried to find some fun facts about the number 62. Like, apparently, at one point Jupiter was reported to have 62 moons. Jupiter’s a bit of a show-off, though, so that count is now up to more than 95. (We get it, Jupiter, you’re a gas giant with an entourage. Whoop-dee-doo.)
But other than that, we couldn’t find any.
So yeah, apropos of nothing, Base.Camp Savannah (October 5-8, 2025) is in 62 days, folks. Rooms are filling, sessions are growing, and we need you there to help talk through big topics like:
- How do we keep up with trends that won’t sit still? Digital advertising is shifting fast, but it’s not all bad news. We’re going to dig into where the real opportunities are for publishers right now and what it means for your 2026 plans.
- Can publishers fix identity strategy before it’s too late? Cookies? No cookies? Doesn’t matter. Both direct and programmatic strategies need an identity plan now. We’ll get into what’s working, what’s not, and what next steps look like.
- How do we turn audience into real value? More users aren’t the goal if they’re not valuable to your advertisers. We’ll break down strategies for making the most of the people already coming to your site.
- Is privacy compliance tanking your revenue? Without consent, nothing moves. Privacy rules are tightening, and compliance isn’t optional, but it also doesn’t have to kill performance. Let’s talk about what’s working.
You need to look at the entire Base.Camp Savannah agenda (which is still growing every day), because we’d need a whole newsletter just to unpack every single topic we’ve already got lined up.
Then, raise your hand to join us. Time is ticking, folks.
ICYMI: Early bird registration is open for Digital Day Camp!
We’re heading back to Toronto this fall. Digital Day Camp (October 22, 2025) is built for senior Canadian decision-makers across publishing, brands, agencies, and ad tech to drive critical, forward-looking conversations on:
- What we can actually bet on in 2026
- Diversity of revenue and diversity driving revenue
- The future of CTV ad quality
- Agentic advertising and its impact on our industry
- Direct-sold innovation, because the world isn’t just programmatic
- How data-driven approaches drive results
- How curation is changing how buyers and sellers work with ad tech
And that’s only the beginning. If you’re in the business of shaping where Canadian media and advertising goes next, now’s the time to join us.
Sales alignment, programmatic, identity, the future of publishing, and more … it’s all on the table at Base.Camp Lisbon
You’ve got no shortage of challenges right now, and no time for surface-level conversations. At Base.Camp Lisbon, we’re bringing together people who actually deal with this stuff every day to get to work on the big questions:
- How do we fix the disconnect between ad ops and sales? Sales sells the dream or programmatic. Ops lives the reality. Until those teams are truly aligned (speaking the same language and working toward the same goals), publisher revenue will keep leaking out. We’ll dig into how to change that dynamic for good.
- What does a better programmatic stack actually look like? Let’s stop pretending the tech stack is fine. We’re going to break it down, talk through what’s working (and what isn’t), and build a better, simpler vision of how it should run.
- Are publishers finally ready to act like brands? If we want buyers to see our value, we’ve got to show up like brands that stand for something. We’ll get into how publishers are owning their story and why that shift changes the entire game.
- Can identity strategies do more than check a box? Knowing your audience isn’t just about compliance, it’s your edge. But most of us aren’t connecting the dots well enough. Let’s fix that, together.
We’re taking over Lisbon, November 2-5, 2025. You should be there. Raise your hand.
Recently, I sat down with Michal Nissenson (Intent IQ) and Rebecca Aliab Deng (TripleLift + The Women in Programmatic Network) to talk about the current state of adtech and AI. And wow, it’s a mess. A beautiful one, maybe, but still a mess. Agentic AI, identity chaos, the cookie phase-out that wasn’t, when personalization gets creepy, and why every SSP suddenly wants to be a DSP (and vice versa), we get into all of it.
👉Watch our whole conversation.
A full list of our 2025 events all in one nice little package:
- Base.Camp: Savannah, GA - October 5-8
- Digital Day Camp, Toronto - October 22
- Base.Camp: Lisbon, Portugal - November 2-5
More things to keep your eyes out for:
- Read our take on the top updates/news items from around the industry.
- Beeler.Tech’s highlights of August Industry Events.
- Look for your next job on our job board. Also - sign up for our Jobs Newsletter (delivered every Thursday). Subscribe here.
- Fill your open positions by helping us help you: Submit a job and check out a job seeker like Job Seeker 33, just search “Job Seeker 33” to be taken directly to their description.
Woman’s Space
Beeler.Tech is all about Community. We want to make space for our community in ways that are helpful for you. To that end, we have created a Slack group and invited many. The WhatsApp Women’s group exists but needs more friends. Please reach out to Melissa if you would like to join one or both.
Join the Community!
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