On May 7, at the Chiostri di San Barnaba, an event dedicated to industry professionals took place, featuring leading international partners such as LoopMe, Pixability, and TapTap, along with guests from companies and agencies including Fineco, Chateau d’Ax, ILLVA Saronno, Digitouch, and Hearts & Science
Milan, May 7 2026 – Understanding what is truly changing in advertising, distinguishing real innovation from outdated assumptions. This is the goal behind “The WAY Media Compass – Navigating the Myths of Modern Advertising,” the event created and hosted by WAY – We Accelerate You, held today at the Chiostri di San Barnaba in Milan.
Designed as a high-value exchange opportunity for media and marketing professionals, the event featured a dynamic format built around the key “myths” that still influence strategies and decision-making models in advertising. At its core was a “mythbuster” approach, challenging some of the most widespread beliefs and fostering open, direct discussion among brands, agencies, and technology partners.
An overview of the actual scenario
The event opened with two keynote sessions focused on ongoing market transformations. Fabrizio Angelini, CEO of Sensemakers (Comscore), offered insights into the evolution of the industry across AI and AdTech, exploring how artificial intelligence is reshaping behaviors and expectations, the increasingly central role of social platforms in distribution strategies, and the rise of Connected TV as a new opportunity for cross-media measurement. This was followed by Nicola Mauri, Partner of The Vortex, who analyzed the relationship between technology, media, and consumer behavior, emphasizing how the evolution of digital ecosystems requires a comprehensive rethinking of media strategies.
From YouTube to brandformance and location marketing
The core of the event consisted of three panel discussions, each addressing a key myth in contemporary advertising.
The panel “Mythbusters – Does YouTube really have little in common with TV?” tackled one of the most entrenched beliefs in the media landscape. Featuring Matt Nash, SVP EMEA at Pixability, Francesca De Mola, Global Communication Director at ILLVA Saronno, and Andrea Di Fonzo, CEO & Business Transformation Leader, the discussion focused on key questions for the industry: what truly differentiates YouTube from a CTV channel, where it sits along the spectrum between social, video platforms, and digital television, and how media strategies are evolving in a constantly changing ecosystem. In this context, Pixability presented an advanced perspective of YouTube as a media infrastructure rather than just a video channel, positioning itself among the few global partners accredited by Google with certifications in brand suitability, contextual targeting, and audience intelligence on YouTube – elements that enhance advanced planning and measurement capabilities for video campaigns across CTV and digital.
The second panel, “Brandformance: just another buzzword, or something more?”, focused on the relationship between brand and performance. Speakers included Shanti Franchina, International Sales Director at LoopMe, Enrico Girotti, Head of Strategy at Hearts & Science, and Paolo Giambertone, Head of Digital Marketing at Fineco. The discussion explored whether brand and performance remain distinct approaches or are converging into an integrated model, questioning the real meaning of “brandformance” beyond its buzzword status. In this scenario, LoopMe stands out for its approach to brand performance based on artificial intelligence and proprietary models supported by an international patent portfolio in measurement and ad optimization. This enables bridging the gap between upper and lower funnel, unifying brand awareness and performance in a sophisticated way. In this perspective, the integration of AI and data becomes a concrete synthesis of the debate, turning “brandformance” into an operational, measurable, and scalable model capable of optimizing both branding results and business performance simultaneously.
Finally, the panel “Mythbusters – Are Location Marketing and Proximity the same thing?” addressed one of the most common misunderstandings in media planning. Featuring Alvaro Mayol, Global CEO of TapTap Digital, Enrico Cavallari, CEO of Chateau d’Ax Spa, and Alessio Angiolillo, VP & CEO of Digitouch Marketing, the discussion explored the relationship between proximity and context. It examined whether simple geographic closeness is sufficient to activate effective communication and how the role of location marketing evolves when consumer decision-making context comes into play. In this context, TapTap Digital plays an active role in redefining the paradigm through a proprietary platform and a set of area-based marketing technologies, demonstrating how advanced location intelligence enables moving beyond simple geographic proximity to activate omnichannel strategies based on behavioral and transactional data. These strategies can guide consumers throughout the entire “sofa-to-store” journey in a more contextual, relevant, and measurable way.
Moderated by Barbara Bontempi (Founding Partner at WAY – We Accelerate You) and Nicola Mauri, “The WAY Media Compass” offered a fast-paced and interactive exchange, fostering direct dialogue among participants, who were encouraged to take a stance and challenge established assumptions.
“The WAY Media Compass was created to stimulate meaningful conversations at a time when the market is undergoing strong technological and cultural acceleration,” commented Carlo Poss, Founding Partner & CEO of WAY. “Our goal is to provide a space for concrete discussion, where ideas and models can be tested and where what truly works can be distinguished from what is merely a passing trend or habitual practice.”