In today’s digital landscape, user attention has become one of the rarest and most valuable currencies, measured in just seconds. In this brief window, advertisers make a series of micro-decisions: which content to select, when to display it, and through which channel to deliver it. The shift from static, one-way advertising campaigns to dynamic, multi-channel, data-driven campaigns delivered in real time has become an essential part of modern marketing.
The importance of this transformation was also highlighted in an analytical article by consulting company McKinsey Unlocking the next frontier of personalized marketing. In it, the authors emphasize that the success of digital campaigns increasingly depends on a brand’s ability to reach users with the right message at the right moment. Personalized and timely offers are not merely an upgrade of existing practices but are becoming a sustainable competitive advantage.

At the Weekend Media Festival in Rovinj, Aleš Popič, Head of Marketing Communications at SPAR Slovenia, and Žiga Komac, Chief Revenue Officer at iPROM, talked about the SPAR Tailormade project. The discussion focused on how advertising can transform loyalty programs into platforms for building new customer relationships and driving retailer growth. Using a concrete example, the speakers demonstrated how enriched first-party data, proprietary technological infrastructure, and artificial intelligence can redefine the relationship between retailer and customer.

At the Superbrands Club event, Miloš Suša, Head of Digital Media Specialists at iPROM, spoke about moving beyond the traditional understanding of digital advertising measurability. He emphasized that advertisers usually focus on indicators such as clicks, conversion rates, or return on ad spend, even though these reflect only a small part of user behaviour. As much as 99 percent of ad impressions do not result in a click, which makes the question of how to measure their impact on the brand essential to understanding the overall value of advertising activities.

In the digital world, where user attention is fragmented and competition is only a click away, the most important factor is no longer who advertises louder, but who understands the user better and addresses their needs effectively at the right moment. Data, especially that which companies collect directly from their customers (so-called first-party data), has become the foundation of trust and relevant communication. Particularly valuable are data gathered through loyalty programs, which are now becoming a central pillar of advertising and media strategies.

Display advertising will remain the dominant form of digital advertising in 2025. Today, its role is reinforced by first-party data, artificial intelligence and new technological capabilities. Advertisers are increasingly using enriched data, predictive analytics and AI tools to segment audiences, dynamically adapt creatives and optimise media budgets in real time. This combination allows display advertising to function as a precisely targeted, measurable and effective tactic within the modern digital media ecosystem.

In the digital age, data is no longer just a support tool – it lies at the heart of business decisions. In digital advertising in particular, success increasingly depends on the quality of data. Among all types, first-party data is a stand-out. This is the data that companies collect directly from users through their own channels, such as websites, mobile apps or emails. Because it’s obtained transparently and legally from a direct source, it is considered the most reliable insight into users’ needs, behaviours and intentions. And yet – although many companies are aware of this – steps towards the active use of first-party data often remain unmade.

Simon Cetin, founder and partner at iPROM and head of the Retoba Lab, emphasized the importance of data sovereignty in digital advertising in an article for Marketing magazin. He argued that companies without the vision to build their own data ecosystems end up paying others to access and activate their own data, which in the long run puts them in a dependent position and drives up marketing costs.

Hyper-personalization of advertising uses advanced data technologies to create advertising messages that are precisely tailored to individual users. While we’ve been discussing this concept in digital advertising circles for some time, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) takes it to a whole new level. Rather than relying on generic ads that appeal to a broad audience, hyper-personalization enables the creation of content that responds directly to users’ unique interests, behaviors and needs.

Writing for Marketing magazin, Simon Cetin, Partner at iPROM and Head of Retoba, summed up the key achievements and projects that defined 2024 and outlined the trends set to shape the future of advertising in the coming years. He highlighted the innovative use of first-party data and advanced AI solutions, poised to define new standards in personalisation and user experience.

Advances in technology and the wealth of data offer many opportunities for digital advertising, but the issue of bias in media planning remains important. Even though the advertising industry is increasingly data-driven and automated, subtle biases still occur occasionally, impacting the accuracy of audience targeting. Overcoming these challenges paves the way for more inclusive and precisely targeted advertising that resonates with diverse demographics and ensures fair and effective communication across all audience segments