Wolf&Grayson EditorialThe advertising industry is facing a wave of unprecedented challenges as digital transformation disrupts long-standing norms. Trust in content is eroding, technology is often met with resistance, and the personal relationships that once defined the buyer-seller dynamic are fading fast. Beth Mach, a seasoned advertising executive with nearly 30 years of experience and co-founder of Spacely, shares grounded, practical insights on navigating today’s complex marketplace, all while staying rooted in the human connections that drive great campaigns.
Reframing Technology as a Tool, Not a Threat
New technologies in advertising are too often seen as threats rather than tools. “In some cases, technology is seen as almost a competitor to the way things have always been done,” Beth explains. “Innovation is kind of the villain in this case.”That wariness persists, even as ad spend continues to shift heavily into digital spaces. “We’ve seen the massive rise and continued shift of advertising spend into digital places and spaces,” she notes. “That’s under the assumption that everybody still goes to those places and also still trusts the content that’s in those places.”
The real challenge, Beth says, is finding the right balance between old and new. “It’s kind of the mix of the old and the new where technology has been seen as a villain, but they know it’s a necessary evil,” she says. “So, how do you actually use it to help create sustainability and create a level of trust?”
Restoring Personal Relationships in Advertising
One of the biggest losses in the shift to digital is the personal touch that used to define the industry. “The relationships that the world of advertising has been built on in some cases are non-existent,” Beth says.She remembers a very different era in advertising. “I’ve been in the business approaching 30 years. I’ve seen it when it was fun because it didn’t feel like work. It was social and about the people,” she recalls. “The byproduct of our relationships were these really incredible campaigns that created relationships for brands with their consumers.”
But today, those dynamics have shifted. “Now it’s all dollars and cents, and the relationships between the buyer and the seller are not the same,” Beth notes. “Especially in the world of programmatic. Boop, you press a button and things happen. No humans needed.”
Three Practical Solutions for Today’s Advertising Challenges
Beth offers three straightforward but powerful strategies for navigating the industry’s current landscape:
- Be curious about technology
“Don’t be afraid of using technology to help you do things. Be curious about it. Don’t let it lead you — you still need to lead it — but be curious about how automation and technology can help you.” - Remember that people still matter
“Right now in the industry, we’re going through some seismic changes. People still matter. We still are marketing to people, buying real things, and creating relationships between brands and consumers. Having a very clear eye on what makes people move — and it’s not just demographics or household income. It’s how do people make decisions?” - Trust your intuition amid the noise
“Don’t get caught up in the hysteria. You get caught up in the hype and the volume and the loudness. Intuition is still a really important piece of human nature. If we can have a bit of that gut intuition lead us into making decisions about technology and how we handle our business and resources, the world could be a very different place.”
Beth believes in leveraging technology to handle the routine, but insists that real strategy must remain a human skill. “Letting automation take care of the more monotonous and mundane tasks that can be done with confidence and accuracy,” she suggests, while reminding us that “it still takes a human to have strategic thought and the ability to have reasoning.”
In blending the efficiency of technology with the creativity and insight only people can provide, Beth sees a path forward. It’s not about resisting change, it’s about using innovation to empower human connection. That, she believes, is how we’ll bring back what once made advertising both effective and meaningful.
Connect with Beth Mach on LinkedIn to explore more of her insights on human-first advertising.
