Brian Gleason, who became CEO of Seedtag in August 2025, is charting a course for the company as it scales its neuro-contextual advertising platform globally. In a recent Q&A, Gleason emphasized Seedtag's differentiation through its AI platform Liz, which interprets interest, emotion, and intent without relying on personal data.
Gleason noted that Seedtag's neuro-contextual AI goes beyond traditional keyword matching by analyzing text, images, video, and emotional cues. 'Liz can understand everything on a page or screen—text, images, video, even emotional cues—while always respecting user privacy,' he said. The platform processes millions of articles daily and supports ten languages, enabling advertisers to connect with audiences at moments of high impact.
A key innovation is the Liz Agent, a conversational interface that allows brands to query Liz directly about competitive positioning or contextual alignment. This agentic AI capability aims to make the platform's insights more accessible, helping clients activate campaigns with greater speed and precision.
Seedtag reported 120% year-over-year growth in North America and expanded into Australia and Canada. Gleason attributed this momentum to the strength of its technology and trust built with brands and agencies. He identified CTV as a major growth opportunity, noting that contextual advertising in streaming is still evolving. Seedtag's CTV offering, enhanced by its integration with Beachfront, uses Liz to analyze video content with natural language processing, computer vision, and sentiment analysis, recognizing over 600 objects and 300 situational contexts.
Privacy remains central to Seedtag's approach. 'By focusing on the interests, intentions, and emotions of users, rather than their personal data, we help advertisers succeed in a privacy-first world without compromising performance,' Gleason said. The company recently strengthened its partnership with Human Security to ensure authenticated, fraud-free inventory across CTV and the open web.
Seedtag's AI Intention Models distinguish between casual browsing and purchase-driven content, allowing brands to avoid low-intent impressions. Gleason cited a case where a leading automotive client in Spain achieved a Cost per Quality Visit 68% below target and a Cost per Lead 35% below goal, demonstrating how intention-based targeting improves performance.
Looking ahead, Gleason outlined strategic priorities for the next 12–18 months: scaling while advancing privacy-first advertising through neuro-contextual strategies, refining AI models, expanding adoption in key markets, and advancing CTV offerings. 'Our mission remains clear: putting our clients at the center while bringing emotion, intelligence, and integrity back to advertising,' he said.
Gleason also emphasized the importance of culture as Seedtag grows. 'You always need to remember where you came from and what made you successful. Seedtag was born in Madrid, and that will always be the heartbeat of the company,' he said. He stressed the need for consistency across markets while adapting to local needs, and for bringing in team members who understand the company's values.
With over a decade of refinement, Seedtag's AI platform has evolved from a contextual advertising tool into what Gleason calls 'the contextual operating system for advertising across all media formats.' The company's focus on emotion, intelligence, and integrity positions it to redefine digital advertising in a privacy-first era.
