Channel Planning Is Dead. Digitas' Liane Nadeau on the Fluid Funnel Era. | AdExchanger

Digitas CMO Leanne Ngo explains why channel planning is over, what the fluid funnel means for brands, and how AI enables real-time cross-channel optimization. Channel planning made sense when consumers moved through media in predictable, siloed ways. They watched TV, listened to radio, searched on desktop. Budgets followed behavior. But consumer behavior has changed faster than the planning frameworks designed to capture it — and Digitas Chief Media Officer Leanne Ngo is making the case that the channel planning model has finally run out of road. At Cannes Lions 2026, AdExchanger Editorial Director Sarah Sluis sat down with Ngo to define the fluid funnel, explain why programmatic is not a channel, and map out what AI-enabled real-time planning actually looks like for brands and agencies navigating this new environment.

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