CANNES – Shoppable television may still be in its early stages, but KERV Interactive is betting that automation and creative AI will accelerate its adoption across the advertising ecosystem.
“We’re in the third inning of shoppable TV, but it’s coming,” Jay Wolff, CRO at ecommerce video platform KERV Interactive, told Beet.TV’s Andy Plesser at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. “We’re trying to do the same thing across the ecosystem and not be relegated to one publisher. We want to be currency for shoppability.”
KERV’s approach centers on what Wolff calls “creative AI” — distinct from generative AI—that transforms static assets into interactive experiences without the manual work traditionally required.
Force multiplying creative
KERV doesn’t create ads; it enhances them. “We say we ‘KERV it,’” Wolff said. “We’re not building creative. There’s existing creative assets. We apply technology to the creative assets and make them work harder for our partners.”
This “force multiplier” approach uses automation to make ads interactive at the object level. “We make a static asset interactive without all the work that goes into building interactive ads,” he said. “So we lean on automation, which I think is where the world is going.”
The distinction between creative AI and generative AI is crucial to KERV’s value proposition. Rather than generating new content, the platform enriches existing creative assets to drive performance improvements.
Publisher partnerships drive adoption
KERV’s partnerships span major media companies, each with different growth priorities. With Disney, KERV powers interactive ads and helps monetize through interactivity while supporting their Gateway Shop shoppable product. For Warner Bros. Discovery, KERV powers both contextual and shoppable offerings.
“Every publisher has a different growth area, a different area of working with their brands, and we help power those,” Wolff noted.
The company also works with major holding companies like Omnicom and Dentsu, as well as brands including Walmart and Audi. “We’re seeing tremendous lift when it comes to performance by using technology versus building creative and building interactive ads manually,” he said.
The village approach
Creating successful shoppable TV experiences requires collaboration across the ecosystem. “It really takes a village to come together,” Wolff said. “You take the ad server, the content owner and technology, and you have to bring it all together.”
Wayfair’s work with Warner Bros. Discovery using KERV technology exemplifies this collaborative approach, building what Wolff described as “a great custom case study across shoppable television and dynamic ad insertion and moments.”
But challenges remain, particularly around consumer experience. “There’s a long way to go based on the consumer experience,” he acknowledged. “So we’re just trying to figure out the best consumer experience plus the best technology.”
Amazon’s influence
Amazon’s moves in shoppable advertising cast a long shadow over the space. “You’re seeing all the work that Amazon is doing, how they’re kind of bringing all their data and all their solutions together to create shoppable environments,” Wolff observed.
Rather than competing directly, KERV aims to enable shoppability across the broader ecosystem, positioning itself as infrastructure for publishers and brands outside Amazon’s walls.
Despite being early innings, Wolff sees continued momentum. “We’re seeing more adoption in that environment,” Wolff said. “But it takes a village. And it’s going to continue to take a village to build shoppable TV.”
Watch the full interview on Beet.TV.
