#179: Corey Rice, Director of Strategy at KORTX joins the pod to unpack two decades of evolution in digital marketing—from his early days back around the time of Friendster to today's programmatic, data-driven ecosystem.

He explains how real-time bidding reshaped advertising, why first-party data is an underused goldmine, and how strategy must now bridge the gap between data and creative.

Rice dives into:

✔️Audience targeting

✔️The tension between granularity and scale

✔️And how to balance omnichannel ambitions with limited budgets

✔️His philosophy on letting data guide creative

✔️And KORTX'S growing focus on franchise marketing, where balancing local authenticity with national brand consistency is key.

We also dive into the future of agencies and how they are being asked to do more with less. How AI is now the new teammate that never sleeps. And his belief that if agencies embrace AI as a tool, not a crutch, they'll thrive in the next chapter of digital marketing.

Connect with Corey here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreyrice/

Connect with Pat here: [email protected]

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