AI-Powered Contextual Targeting: Product Lead

As the advertising industry accelerated its shift away from cookies, buyers needed a contextual targeting solution that went beyond simple keyword matching. ShareThis had the behavioral data and publisher network to build something meaningfully better — but needed a product to bring it to market. The challenge: define an AI-powered product from scratch, validate it with buyers, and launch it commercially in a fast-moving privacy landscape.

I served as product lead for ShareThis Contextual from early concept through general availability in 2024. This included defining the AI-powered classification system with data science, architecting the two-tier product, running the beta program, owning pricing and packaging, and driving the commercial launch in partnership with GTM and engineering.

• Partnered with data science to define the LLM-based URL classification pipeline — establishing category taxonomy, confidence thresholds, and quality benchmarks for contextual signal accuracy.
• Developed the two-tier product architecture: ShareThis Contextual (LLM-powered base product) and Contextual PRO (behavioral signal layer), creating a clear upsell path for buyers.
• Built and managed the beta program with 6 agency partners, using campaign performance feedback to refine targeting accuracy, category definitions, and UI/UX before GA.
• Owned the pricing and packaging strategy in collaboration with commercial and finance, balancing accessibility of the base tier with the premium positioning of PRO.
• Coordinated the general availability launch across product, engineering, marketing, and sales — aligning on messaging, enablement, and sequencing for the August 2024 release.

ShareThis Contextual launched to general availability in 2024, positioning Predactiv as a privacy-first contextual targeting leader in the post-cookie era. The dual-tier product structure created a clear commercial model and enabled buyers to transition from behavioral to contextual targeting without sacrificing audience performance. The launch was covered in industry press and represented a significant evolution in ShareThis's product positioning from a data supplier to an AI-powered targeting platform.