The Incremental Marketer

Why are so many marketing teams still struggling to get real value from AI—and what will it take to move beyond experimentation?

In this episode of The Incremental Marketer, Paul Boruta sits down with Shiv Gupta, Founder and CEO of U of Digital, to explore how AI is reshaping marketing organizations, the martech stack, and the skills marketers need to build now.

Drawing on nearly two decades in digital advertising and his work educating marketers and ad tech professionals, Shiv shares why the biggest AI opportunity may not be another tool. It may be helping teams develop a shared playbook, rethink workflows, and use AI in ways that actually improve the work.

They discuss:

• Why AI enablement is an organizational challenge—not just a technology decision
• The skills marketers should develop as AI handles more operational work
• Why companies get stuck in build-versus-buy analysis paralysis
• How AI may reset and consolidate the martech stack
• Why no single measurement methodology can be a true source of truth
• How marketers can triangulate attribution, incrementality, and MMM
• Why MMM is having a moment again
• Shiv’s candid take on the state of programmatic and the open web
• How AI agents inside platforms could change the marketer’s role
• Why AI-native advertising could reshape search and the customer journey

Shiv also shares why marketers should be cautious about handing strategy over to platform AI—and why the teams that move fastest will be the ones that pair better technology with smarter ways of working.

If you’re trying to help your team move beyond AI experimentation, make measurement more actionable, or understand how AI may change the way marketing gets done, this episode is for you.

Learn more about Slingwave at https://slingwave.com/.

🔥 ABOUT THE CHANNEL
Join Slingwave Founder & CEO Paul Boruta as he sits down with top marketing leaders to uncover the strategies, experiments, and data-driven moves that actually drive growth. No fluff. No vanity metrics. Just real, actionable insights to help you optimize, scale, and win.

If you geek out on analytics, love testing what really works, and want to stay ahead of the latest marketing trends, this show is for you.

👉 Ways to connect & explore:

• 🎥 Prefer video? Watch full episodes on YOUTUBE.
• 🤝 Want to talk marketing analytics? REQUEST A DEMO.
• 🔗 Stay in the loop and follow Slingwave on LINKEDIN.
• 💬 CONTACT PAUL

🎙️ Smarter marketing starts here → slingwave.com

Why do brands matter even more as AI changes how people discover products, evaluate information and decide what to trust?

In this episode of The Incremental Marketer, Paul Boruta sits down with Babs Rangaiah, Founder and CEO of cc:babs, to explore what he learned leading marketing, media and digital transformation at Unilever, IBM and Paramount.

Drawing on more than 30 years of experience, Babs shares why transformation often stalls inside large organizations, how fragmented consumer attention is changing marketing measurement and why building a great brand begins with understanding what makes it distinctive.

They discuss:

• Why organizational complexity can be a bigger barrier to transformation than technology
• Why brand impact remains so difficult to measure
• The role consumer insights play in building differentiated brands
• How creators, affiliates and organic influence are changing the marketing mix
• Why brand and trust become more valuable in the age of AI
• The human skills - including judgment, imagination, communication and EQ - that AI cannot easily replicate
• How AI may accelerate the shift toward portfolio careers and a more flexible workforce

Babs also shares stories from Axe, Dove and Nike that illustrate how a powerful consumer insight - and the willingness to act on it - can change the trajectory of a brand.

If you’re navigating marketing transformation, trying to measure brand impact or thinking about the skills marketers will need in the age of AI, this episode is for you.

Learn more about Slingwave at https://slingwave.com/.

🔥 ABOUT THE CHANNEL
Join Slingwave Founder & CEO Paul Boruta as he sits down with top marketing leaders to uncover the strategies, experiments, and data-driven moves that actually drive growth. No fluff. No vanity metrics. Just real, actionable insights to help you optimize, scale, and win.

If you geek out on analytics, love testing what really works, and want to stay ahead of the latest marketing trends, this show is for you.

👉 Ways to connect & explore:

• 🎥 Prefer video? Watch full episodes on YOUTUBE.
• 🤝 Want to talk marketing analytics? REQUEST A DEMO.
• 🔗 Stay in the loop and follow Slingwave on LINKEDIN.
• 💬 CONTACT PAUL

🎙️ Smarter marketing starts here →slingwave.com

Modern marketing is a complex system. You can’t track every interaction, impression, or dollar perfectly - but you can understand how the system behaves.

In this episode of The Incremental Marketer, Paul Boruta sits down with Jeremy Hines, Vice President of Business Development at Overline, to explore how digital advertising has evolved from the early days of ad tech to today’s AI-driven environment.

Drawing on more than 20 years of experience across agencies, publishers, SaaS companies, and consulting teams, Jeremy shares what marketers often underestimate about the systems behind media, measurement, operations, and growth.

They discuss:
• What thermodynamics can teach us about marketing measurement
• Why AI cannot fix weak processes, fragmented data, or poor governance
• How operational complexity creates friction
• Why marketers don’t need to measure every impression to understand what’s working
• What makes business transformation initiatives succeed or stall
• Why human relationships and original thinking matter even more in the age of AI

If you are trying to make better sense of marketing complexity, introduce AI into your organization, or build systems that turn strategy into execution, then this episode is for you.

🔥 ABOUT THE CHANNEL
Join Slingwave Founder & CEO Paul Boruta as he sits down with top marketing leaders to uncover the strategies, experiments, and data-driven moves that actually drive growth. No fluff. No vanity metrics. Just real, actionable insights to help you optimize, scale, and win.

If you geek out on analytics, love testing what really works, and want to stay ahead of the latest marketing trends, this show is for you.

👉 Ways to connect & explore:

• 🎥 Prefer video? Watch full episodes on YOUTUBE.
• 🤝 Want to talk marketing analytics? REQUEST A DEMO.
• 🔗 Stay in the loop and follow Slingwave on LINKEDIN.
• 💬 CONTACT PAUL

🎙️ Smarter marketing starts here →slingwave.com

Retirement planning isn’t just about hitting a magic number.

In this episode of The Incremental Marketer, Paul Boruta sits down with Dan Wendol, Owner of Dolphin Financial Group and host of Dolphin Financial Radio, to talk about building trust through content, using YouTube as a growth channel, and why human connection still matters in an AI-driven world.

They discuss:

• Why video changed the trajectory of Dan’s business
• How specificity beats chasing clicks
• The role of AI in content creation and discoverability
• Why trust is still the biggest differentiator in financial services
• What marketers can learn from retirement planning, day trading, and long-term decision-making

Dan also shares practical advice for people approaching retirement, including why understanding your spending matters more than chasing a single “retirement number.”

If you’re thinking about content marketing, AI, trust-based growth, or the connection between better planning and better decision-making, then this episode is for you.

CHAPTERS
00:00 Investing in Relationships Over Money
01:49 The Journey of Dan Wendol
03:41 The Power of Podcasting in Financial Marketing
07:14 Building Trust Through Video Content
11:43 The Importance of Authenticity in Financial Advice
15:35 Incorporating AI into Financial Content
18:17 The Role of Creativity in Marketing
27:33 Advice for Pre-Retirees
31:18 Common Mistakes in Retirement Planning
32:49 The Evolution of Marketing in Finance

CONTACT DAN
https://dolphinfinancialgroup.com/
Dolphin Financial Radio - Retirement Podcast (YouTube)

🔥 ABOUT THE CHANNEL
Join Slingwave Founder & CEO Paul Boruta as he sits down with top marketing leaders to uncover the strategies, experiments, and data-driven moves that actually drive growth. No fluff. No vanity metrics. Just real, actionable insights to help you optimize, scale, and win.

If you geek out on analytics, love testing what really works, and want to stay ahead of the latest marketing trends, this show is for you.

👉 Ways to connect & explore:

• 🎥 Prefer video? Watch full episodes on YOUTUBE.
• 🤝 Want to talk marketing analytics? REQUEST A DEMO.
• 🔗 Stay in the loop and follow Slingwave on LINKEDIN.
• 💬 CONTACT PAUL

🎙️ Smarter marketing starts here →slingwave.com

What does it really take to drive growth in today’s fragmented advertising landscape?

In this episode of The Incremental Marketer, Paul Boruta sits down with Sean Evans, a revenue and partnerships leader with experience at Amazon, Microsoft, Yahoo, and beyond. Sean brings an inside look at how the ad tech and retail media ecosystems have evolved - and what brands, agencies, and SaaS companies need to understand as they navigate the next phase of growth.

Sean shares insights on:

- The evolution of Amazon Ads and the broader retail media ecosystem
- Why Amazon Marketing Cloud is still underutilized by many brands and agencies
- The growing need for cross-channel measurement across Amazon, Walmart, Google, Meta, and beyond
- How brands should think about DSP, sponsored ads, incrementality, and budget allocation
- The role of strategic partnerships in scaling revenue and expanding platform adoption
- Why SaaS and ad tech companies need to stay focused as they grow from SMB to mid-market and enterprise

From Amazon’s partner ecosystem to the future of retail media, Sean breaks down where the market is heading, where marketers are still struggling, and how better measurement can help teams make smarter decisions with their next marketing dollar.

If you’re trying to better understand Amazon, retail media, partnerships, or how to turn fragmented data into smarter marketing decisions, then this episode is for you.

CHAPTERS
00:00 Navigating the Ad Tech Landscape
02:47 Building Partnerships at Amazon
05:53 The Evolution of Amazon's Advertising Strategy
08:58 Understanding Amazon Marketing Cloud
11:56 Leveraging First-Party Data
14:38 DSP vs. Sponsored Ads
17:36 The Future of Retail Media
20:44 Cross-Channel Measurement Challenges
23:48 Advice for SaaS Companies
26:36 Final Thoughts and Future Outlook

CONTACT SHAWN
https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnevans/

🔥 ABOUT THE CHANNEL
Join Slingwave Founder & CEO Paul Boruta as he sits down with top marketing leaders to uncover the strategies, experiments, and data-driven moves that actually drive growth. No fluff. No vanity metrics. Just real, actionable insights to help you optimize, scale, and win.

If you geek out on analytics, love testing what really works, and want to stay ahead of the latest marketing trends, this show is for you.

👉 Ways to connect & explore:

• 🎥 Prefer video? Watch full episodes on YOUTUBE.
• 🤝 Want to talk marketing analytics? REQUEST A DEMO.
• 🔗 Stay in the loop and follow Slingwave on LINKEDIN.
• 💬 CONTACT PAUL

🎙️ Smarter marketing starts here →slingwave.com

What if your marketing problem isn’t a channel problem - but a coordination problem?

In this episode of The Incremental Marketer, Paul Boruta continues our educational series with a look at one of the biggest - and often most invisible - sources of marketing inefficiency: siloed decision-making.

When teams, channels, platforms, and measurement systems are all optimizing toward their own KPIs, the business as a whole can become less efficient - even when each individual team appears to be performing well.

In this episode, Paul breaks down four hidden costs of siloed marketing:

1. Budget duplication
How brands end up paying multiple times to reach or influence the same customer.

2. Measurement fragmentation
Why every platform can appear to be “working” while the business struggles to understand what’s truly incremental.

3. Creative and message inconsistency
How disconnected teams can create a fragmented customer experience across channels.

4. Timing and sequencing conflicts
Why even strong campaigns can lose efficiency when planning, activation, and feedback are not aligned.

The key takeaway: don’t confuse channel optimization with business optimization.

The next big marketing opportunity may not be another channel, platform, or dashboard. It may be getting the whole system to work together.

If your team struggles to connect planning, measurement, and growth decisions, this episode is for you.

CHAPTERS
00:00 The Hidden Cost of Siloed Marketing
03:03 Understanding Coordination Problems in Marketing
05:00 Identifying Hidden Costs in Marketing
06:27 The Impact of Measurement Fragmentation
09:19 Creative and Messaging Inconsistencies
11:21 Timing Conflicts and Their Consequences
14:03 The Role of the Modern CMO
16:45 The Path to Better Coordination
18:36 Conclusion: The Importance of Coordination

CONTACT PAUL
linkedin.com/in/boruta/
slingwave.com

🔥 ABOUT THE CHANNEL
Join Slingwave Founder & CEO Paul Boruta as he sits down with top marketing leaders to uncover the strategies, experiments, and data-driven moves that actually drive growth. No fluff. No vanity metrics. Just real, actionable insights to help you optimize, scale, and win.

If you geek out on analytics, love testing what really works, and want to stay ahead of the latest marketing trends, this show is for you.

👉 Ways to connect & explore:

• 🎥 Prefer video? Watch full episodes on YOUTUBE.
• 🤝 Want to talk marketing analytics? REQUEST A DEMO.
• 🔗 Stay in the loop and follow Slingwave on LINKEDIN.
• 💬 CONTACT PAUL

🎙️ Smarter marketing starts here →slingwave.com

In this episode of The Incremental Marketer, we sit down with Robin Zucker - Co-Founder & CMO of Renovar AI - to unpack what AI really means for marketing leaders today.

This isn’t a conversation about hype or shiny tools. It’s about what’s actually changing inside organizations - and what it takes to keep up.

Robin shares a candid view from working with boards, CEOs, and private equity-backed companies navigating AI, growth pressure, and transformation in real time.

We cover:
- Why “AI-ifying” your business doesn’t work without strong operational foundations
- How boards are redefining marketing success around incremental impact
- The shift from SEO to AI-driven discoverability - and what that means for your brand
- Why traffic may be going down - but engagement and intent are going up
- The rise of the fractional CMO and why speed + pattern recognition matter more than ever
- What a successful CMO looks like in 2026

One of the biggest takeaways:
Doing nothing with AI is a decision—and it’s the wrong one.

But success with AI isn’t about chasing new tools.

It’s about fixing your data, aligning your operations, and building the foundation to actually scale.

If you’re a marketing leader, founder, or operator trying to make sense of this shift - this episode will give you a clear, grounded perspective on what to do next.

CHAPTERS
00:00 Navigating the AI Landscape
04:15 The Evolving Role of Marketing in Boardrooms
08:42 Fractional CMOs: A New Approach to Marketing Leadership
14:01 AI's Impact on Business Operations
20:53 Discoverability in the Age of AI
24:13 The Future of the CMO Role
30:42 The Importance of AI in Marketing Strategy

CONTACT ROBIN
https://www.linkedin.com/in/robinzucker/
https://robinzucker.com/

🔥 ABOUT THE CHANNEL
Join Slingwave Founder & CEO Paul Boruta as he sits down with top marketing leaders to uncover the strategies, experiments, and data-driven moves that actually drive growth. No fluff. No vanity metrics. Just real, actionable insights to help you optimize, scale, and win.

If you geek out on analytics, love testing what really works, and want to stay ahead of the latest marketing trends, this show is for you.

👉 Ways to connect & explore:

• 🎥 Prefer video? Watch full episodes on YOUTUBE.
• 🤝 Want to talk marketing analytics? REQUEST A DEMO.
• 🔗 Stay in the loop and follow Slingwave on LINKEDIN.
• 💬 CONTACT PAUL

🎙️ Smarter marketing starts here →slingwave.com

Most marketers think incrementality is something you measure.

The best marketers know it’s how you run your business.

In this episode of The Incremental Marketer, Paul Boruta breaks down why incrementality isn’t just a tactic - it’s a capital allocation system that should shape every marketing decision you make.

Because the real question isn’t “what performed?”

It’s: what actually drove new growth?

In this episode, you’ll learn:
• Why most companies misallocate 10–30% of their marketing budget
• The difference between capturing demand vs. creating it
• Why attribution (especially last-click) leads to bad decisions
• The concept of the Marketing Optimization Stack
• How incrementality exists across every layer—not just channels
• What happens when marketing starts speaking the language of finance
• How to build a system that continuously improves ROI over time

Incrementality isn’t about proving marketing works.
It’s about making marketing work better.

If you want to move from optimizing dashboards to allocating capital - and unlock real, incremental growth - this episode is for you.

CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction to Incrementality
02:04 Understanding Incrementality
04:30 The Misallocation of Marketing Spend
06:55 The Shift from Tactic to System
13:06 Building a Foundational Model
18:15 Conclusion and Key Takeaways

CONTACT PAUL
linkedin.com/in/boruta/
slingwave.com

🔥 ABOUT THE CHANNEL
Join Slingwave Founder & CEO Paul Boruta as he sits down with top marketing leaders to uncover the strategies, experiments, and data-driven moves that actually drive growth. No fluff. No vanity metrics. Just real, actionable insights to help you optimize, scale, and win.

If you geek out on analytics, love testing what really works, and want to stay ahead of the latest marketing trends, this show is for you.

👉 Ways to connect & explore:

• 🎥 Prefer video? Watch full episodes on YOUTUBE.
• 🤝 Want to talk marketing analytics? REQUEST A DEMO.
• 🔗 Stay in the loop and follow Slingwave on LINKEDIN.
• 💬 CONTACT PAUL

🎙️ Smarter marketing starts here →slingwave.com

Most marketers are still making decisions based on data that… frankly, can’t be trusted.

Every platform grades its own homework. And with more channels than ever - Amazon, Meta, Google, TikTok - it’s never been harder to understand what’s actually driving revenue.

But what if you could change that?

In this episode of The Incremental Marketer, I sit down with Slingwave’s Lead Engineer, Piotr Motykiewicz, to break down how we’re tackling one of the biggest problems in marketing measurement - and what we’ve just launched to solve it.

We get into:

• Why traditional measurement is broken
• How AI and agent-based systems are changing what’s possible
• And how Slingwave is delivering incrementality insights in days, not months

If you’ve ever questioned your attribution, your budget allocation, or what’s really working in your media mix -  this is a conversation you don’t want to miss.

CHAPTERS
00:00 The Evolution of Machine Learning and AI
02:03 Piotr's Journey in Tech and Engineering
04:01 Changing Roles in Engineering Leadership
05:15 Cultural Shifts in Engineering Practices
07:54 The Intersection of Business and Technology
09:57 Building a Modern Engineering Culture
12:17 Challenges in Marketing Measurement
14:45 Unified Architecture for Marketing Solutions
18:12 The Promise of Incrementality in Marketing
22:47 The Future of AI in Marketing

CONTACT PIOTR

https://www.linkedin.com/in/piotr-motykiewicz-48597519/

🔥 ABOUT THE CHANNEL
Join Slingwave Founder & CEO Paul Boruta as he sits down with top marketing leaders to uncover the strategies, experiments, and data-driven moves that actually drive growth. No fluff. No vanity metrics. Just real, actionable insights to help you optimize, scale, and win.

If you geek out on analytics, love testing what really works, and want to stay ahead of the latest marketing trends, this show is for you.

👉 Ways to connect & explore:

• 🎥 Prefer video? Watch full episodes on YOUTUBE.
• 🤝 Want to talk marketing analytics? REQUEST A DEMO.
• 🔗 Stay in the loop and follow Slingwave on LINKEDIN.
• 💬 CONTACT PAUL

🎙️ Smarter marketing starts here →slingwave.com

In this episode of The Incremental Marketer, Paul Boruta kicks off a new monthly series exploring the biggest trends and shifts shaping modern marketing.

Today’s topic: the Amazon advertising opportunity most marketers are still missing.

Amazon has quietly become the third-largest digital ad platform in the world, yet many marketers still treat it like a retail shelf instead of a full-funnel media channel. Paul breaks down why Amazon may be one of the most underestimated opportunities in today’s media mix, what makes its data and targeting different from Google and Meta, and how marketers should think about measurement, incrementality, and experimentation on the platform.

If you're building a modern media strategy, this is a channel you can’t ignore.

CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction to the Incremental Marketer Podcast
01:10 Amazon: The Underestimated Ad Platform
01:45 Understanding Amazon's Advertising Ecosystem
04:13 The Importance of Purchase Intent
06:31 Challenges in Amazon Marketing
08:52 Measurement Confusion and Old Mental Models
11:11 The Measurement Opportunity with SlingWave
14:02 Experimentation and Causal Impact Studies
16:21 Leveraging AI for Marketing Insights
18:38 Final Thoughts on Amazon as a Media Ecosystem

CONTACT PAUL
linkedin.com/in/boruta/
slingwave.com

🔥 ABOUT THE CHANNEL
Join Slingwave Founder & CEO Paul Boruta as he sits down with top marketing leaders to uncover the strategies, experiments, and data-driven moves that actually drive growth. No fluff. No vanity metrics. Just real, actionable insights to help you optimize, scale, and win.

If you geek out on analytics, love testing what really works, and want to stay ahead of the latest marketing trends, this show is for you.

👉 Ways to connect & explore:

• 🎥 Prefer video? Watch full episodes on YOUTUBE.
• 🤝 Want to talk marketing analytics? REQUEST A DEMO.
• 🔗 Stay in the loop and follow Slingwave on LINKEDIN.
• 💬 CONTACT PAUL

🎙️ Smarter marketing starts here →slingwave.com