Insider Interviews with E.B. Moss

A couple of years ago, I recorded an episode with Marketing Architects’ tech and marketing leads in a hotel room at CES. Three people. One bed. Good content… questionable ergonomics. Fast forward to now: better audio setups, better posture, and an even clearer picture of why Marketing Architects has built such a strong reputation as an all-inclusive agency—one that genuinely challenges how TV has always been planned, bought, and measured. Aaron Lange, now CTO, helped build Marketing Architects from the ground up to operate differently. Instead of carving up responsibilities across multiple vendors, they do it all—analytics, creative, media buying, and measurement—inside one connected system. “All inclusive for us means we do everything for our brands—from analytics and creative to media buying and attribution measurement.” — Aaron Lange The goal isn’t control for control’s sake; it’s accountability, speed, and performance you can actually learn from. That philosophy led directly to Annika, their proprietary AI-powered buying platform. Aaron described Annika not as software, but almost as a living system: “She’s making decisions every 15 minutes based on traffic spikes, orders, or anything else that we want to feed her.” Annika – from Marketing Architects That feedback loop—test, learn, optimize, repeat—is core to how they invest media dollars today. Nikki Erkkila, VP of Media Partnerships, brings that technology into the real world, working closely with broadcasters, streamers, and platform partners. What stood out to me is how grounded her perspective is (perhaps due to her 20-years of yoga practice after work!), especially in an era obsessed with automation. Despite all the tech, she reminded me that “partnerships and relationships are really the baseline of it.” Nikki described today’s media environment this way: “TV is just TV now. We’re really breaking down those silos from ‘we’re just watching broadcast, or we’re just watching cable, or we’re just watching streaming’ when you’re watching television now.” — Nikki Erkkila That perspective drives how Marketing Architects plans TV advertising, too: across streaming, national, local, linear—it’s one ecosystem. Audiences don’t think in silos, so media plans shouldn’t either, or compete for budget. We also talk about how AI is changing creative development, especially by speeding things up. Testing happens faster, creative can be adjusted more easily, and messaging can be more localized without losing the emotional storytelling that makes TV effective in the first place. I liked that Marketing Architects’ creative team calls itself “creative engineers,” because it signals that they know when AI helps, and when human judgment matters more. Seems Nikki and Aaron do too. Our sports talk is timely too (beyond Aaron explaining his passion for volleyball.) With the Super Bowl and Olympics upon us, live sports are a huge reminder of why TV still matters—big moments, shared viewing, real attention. But how people watch those moments now is fragmented, fluid, and often platform-agnostic. So, one of the big takeaways here is that planning has to reflect that reality, instead of forcing audiences into outdated buckets. If you’re an advertiser, an agency leader, or anyone trying to make TV work harder, this episode offers practical ideas on how to think about TV as one ecosystem, how to let performance guide decisions without stripping out emotion, and how to build systems that can adapt as viewing habits shift. Key Moments: 00:02:09 – Why Marketing Architects was built to challenge how TV was “always done” 00:02:33 – What “all-inclusive agency” really means 00:04:03 – Nikki introduces Annika and real-time media decisioning 00:05:40 – Aaron on why Annika updates every 15 minutes 00:06:21 – Aaron’s entrepreneurial background and tech mindset 00:08:19 – Why relationships still matter in modern media partnerships 00:09:19 – “TV is TV now”: breaking down linear vs. streaming silos 00:11:38 – How AI is being used across every business unit 00:14:12 – Creative Engineers and faster creative testing 00:15:26 – The performance-first budgeting model explained 00:21:37 – Live sports, new platforms, and shifting viewer behavior 00:25:20 – Emerging inventory and new opportunities for advertisers 00:26:46 – Why TV fundamentals still work—and why that matters Connect with: Aaron Lange Nikki Erkkila Connect with E.B. Moss and Insider Interviews: With Media & Marketing Experts            LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mossappeal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/insiderinterviews Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InsiderInterviewsPodcast/ Threads: https://www.threads.net/@insiderinterviews Substack: Moss Hysteria Please follow Insider Interviews, share with another smart business leader, and leave a comment on @Apple or @Spotify… or a tip in my jar!: https://buymeacoffee.com/mossappeal!  THANK YOU for listening!