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MANIFESTO 2015

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THE DRUM 27.MAY.15 www.thedrum.com CONTENTS03

CHAMPIONING INDUSTRY QUALITY

PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES

CONTENTS

04 Case studies We take a look at the Grand Prix and Chairman’s Award winning campaigns.

10 Winners The full list of this year’s winners and we find out what the judges had to say.

14 Nestlé The big question for the company’s head of digital: “If I leave tomorrow what could I take with me?”

16 Tyler McFluff We profile one of the star’s of this year’s programme – and our pet project.

18 Q&A Industry players voice their opinions on the key issues for programmatic.

Editing by Thomas O’Neill and Katie McQuater Design & Production by Amanda Dewar and Ross Lesley-Bayne Commercial Management by Andy Oakes and James McGowan Event Management by Katy Thomson

THE DRUM is published by Carnyx Group Limited. The publishers, authors and printers cannot accept liability for any errors or omissions. Any artwork will be accepted at owner’s risk. All rights reserved. On no account may any part of this publication be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the copyright holder and publisher, application for which should be made to the publisher. © CARNYX GROUP LIMITED 2015 ISSN 2046-0635

Welcome to The Drum Digital Trading Awards Manifesto. This is the second time we’ve run the project and it’s amazing how quickly the awards and the editorial programme around them have become an integral part of the adtech industry and also how the industry has embraced the aims of the programme.

What’s been pleasing is the huge amount of people who wanted to be involved this year. We had more than 200 entries. We managed to squeeze 500 guests into the room on the night of the awards ceremony. We had 25 fantastic judges who, importantly, were representatives from all of the key areas of the market. As an industry, the adtech vendors need to work a lot more closely with the brands, the agencies and publishers. So, our judging panel reflected that. We are already working to ensure that next year’s panel shows even more cross-sector diversity.

Speaking of diversity, I’m pretty sure we’re also the first publication to employ a hamster artist to promote a campaign about programmatic branding. You’ll have noticed our cover is graced by Tyler McFluff, one of the stars of this year’s programme. Thanks to our friends at Appnexus for helping us bring him into the public domain and you can read more about him later.

When we looked at the successful entries it became apparent that an overall theme was emerging. No longer is the adtech and media industry shouting ‘Look what we can do’. Now it’s telling us ‘Look what we can do, look how well we can do it and look what we can do for you’. This had an effect on the way the judges looked at the entries. Last year, we majored on transparency and clarity as the key areas of focus. This year, while we kept those areas as key, we really wanted to reward those who could show a high quality of work as well. The programmatic world still has a way to go to convince many brands that they should be working in this way but we hope that by championing the best of the industry we can play our part in the growth of this sector.

One way we can do that is to spread the word. To that end, I’m very excited to announce that The Drum Digital Trading Awards programme will be launched in the US later this year.

Andy Oakesmanaging director, The Drum

IN ASSOCIATION WITH:

SPONSORED BY:

Quantcast is proud to contribute towards the continued success of The Drum Digital Trading Awards. These awards stand apart, globally, by focussing solely on the programmatic space.

For years the industry was focused on why programmatic technology works, the Digital Trading Awards provide a great soapbox to move away from the ‘why’ and towards the ‘how’. These awards allow us to celebrate our successes as an industry and drive us to keep pushing the boundaries of what is possible.

The scale and quality of entries this year has been amazing. By showcasing the best of the best, we not only celebrate those specific teams’ achievements but also celebrate the industry as a whole. The Drum Digital Trading Awards are more than a chance to win awards, this event is a chance for us to come together and show off what we can do as an industry.

Amit Kotechahead of marketing EMEA, Quantcast

in association with:

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www.thedrum.com 27.MAY.15 THE DRUM04GRAND PRIX

SEARCH DOMINATIONThe two top winning entries in this year’s Digital Trading Awards, 7thingmedia’s campaign for konga.com and MoneySuperMarket’s own campaign, each had a strong focus on paid search. We find out what made them so successful.

GRAND PRIX: 7THINGSMEDIA PAID SEARCH CAMPAIGN FOR KONGA.COM

In August 2014, 7thingsmedia sought and won the exclusive digital media account of Nigerian e-tailer konga.com, the amazon.com of Africa. In an emerging market, the agency was tasked to drive an aggressive acquisition strategy to dominate the marketplace.

In 2014, Nigeria overtook South Africa to become Africa's largest economy, adding $240bn to the economy. Konga.com boasts the biggest e-commerce distribution centre in Africa and has the ambition to redefine e-commerce, setting the blueprint for future retailers and 7thingsmedia was tasked to drive this goal.

Nigeria is the fastest growing mobile market in the world, with more than 129m mobile subscribers. Despite this, konga.com was actively reducing coverage on mobile devices, missing out on a significant opportunity to drive both traffic and sales.

OBJECTIVESThe agency’s key objective was to increase qualified traffic to the website, to improve conversion and drive incremental revenue. With current keyword coverage not relevant to the product offering on konga.com, the sole purpose was to drive high levels of traffic. So, 7thingsmedia set out to replace this with expansive keyword coverage matching the products across the site, to both maintain and increase traffic while also creating a sustainable, revenue-driving strategy.

While optimising search results across the most relevant devices, a particular focus would be on mobile to capitalise on the strong mobile penetration in the client’s market. In line with the traffic-driving tactic, a cost per acquisition (CPA) target of $25 was set to work towards, with the current cost per acquisition at the time 7thingsmedia started management in excess of $100.

To drive app installs for konga.com, the agency was handed a target cost per install of $6.

STRATEGY7thingsmedia outlined a comprehensive paid search strategy to achieve the main objectives of driving incremental traffic, orders and revenue. To begin, ad copy for the existing pay per click (PPC) campaigns was revamped with a new focus on product-specific unique selling propositions, to increase the propensity to purchase.

Improving the efficiency of the account in this way supported the case for increased budget to implement innovative paid search strategies, to further utilise Google’s lesser known advertising inventory of products. This allowed 7thingsmedia and konga.com to expand into more innovative traffic-driving avenues, such as Yahoo’s new native platform and contextually targeted content within Gmail.

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SEARCH DOMINATIONThe two top winning entries in this year’s Digital Trading Awards, 7thingmedia’s campaign for konga.com and MoneySuperMarket’s own campaign, each had a strong focus on paid search. We find out what made them so successful.

GRAND PRIX: 7THINGSMEDIA PAID SEARCH CAMPAIGN FOR KONGA.COM

In August 2014, 7thingsmedia sought and won the exclusive digital media account of Nigerian e-tailer konga.com, the amazon.com of Africa. In an emerging market, the agency was tasked to drive an aggressive acquisition strategy to dominate the marketplace.

In 2014, Nigeria overtook South Africa to become Africa's largest economy, adding $240bn to the economy. Konga.com boasts the biggest e-commerce distribution centre in Africa and has the ambition to redefine e-commerce, setting the blueprint for future retailers and 7thingsmedia was tasked to drive this goal.

Nigeria is the fastest growing mobile market in the world, with more than 129m mobile subscribers. Despite this, konga.com was actively reducing coverage on mobile devices, missing out on a significant opportunity to drive both traffic and sales.

OBJECTIVESThe agency’s key objective was to increase qualified traffic to the website, to improve conversion and drive incremental revenue. With current keyword coverage not relevant to the product offering on konga.com, the sole purpose was to drive high levels of traffic. So, 7thingsmedia set out to replace this with expansive keyword coverage matching the products across the site, to both maintain and increase traffic while also creating a sustainable, revenue-driving strategy.

While optimising search results across the most relevant devices, a particular focus would be on mobile to capitalise on the strong mobile penetration in the client’s market. In line with the traffic-driving tactic, a cost per acquisition (CPA) target of $25 was set to work towards, with the current cost per acquisition at the time 7thingsmedia started management in excess of $100.

To drive app installs for konga.com, the agency was handed a target cost per install of $6.

STRATEGY7thingsmedia outlined a comprehensive paid search strategy to achieve the main objectives of driving incremental traffic, orders and revenue. To begin, ad copy for the existing pay per click (PPC) campaigns was revamped with a new focus on product-specific unique selling propositions, to increase the propensity to purchase.

Improving the efficiency of the account in this way supported the case for increased budget to implement innovative paid search strategies, to further utilise Google’s lesser known advertising inventory of products. This allowed 7thingsmedia and konga.com to expand into more innovative traffic-driving avenues, such as Yahoo’s new native platform and contextually targeted content within Gmail.


THE DRUM 27.MAY.15 www.thedrum.com GRAND PRIX05

In order to improve the quality of the traffic driven, while continuing traffic growth, a comprehensive restructure of konga.com’s 12 accounts proved fundamental after a complete digital audit. 7thingsmedia’s plan identified products and brands with high breadth of stock and conversion potential, displaying build-out potential for search coverage.

To ensure dominance across the search engine results pages (Serps), 7thingsmedia re-engineered the client’s dynamic search ad (DSA) coverage, by mirroring the site structure. Instead of relying on keywords to target adverts, they allow Google to match a query with the offering on your site in real time. With 7thingsmedia’s remit including SEO, dynamic search ads were also used as a keyword discovery tool to pass learnings on to the organic search team.

Due to the magnitude of the site, budgets were being over-stretched, stifling some of the best revenue-driving campaigns. To avoid this, 7thingsmedia implemented a ‘shared budget’ strategy. Budget distribution is automated between the campaigns based on real-time demand, ensuring high traffic keywords continue

to serve ads, while low traffic keywords were not withholding budget capabilities.

An innovative approach to bid management was implemented. Bid strategy capabilities within Google were utilised to match client requirements, including protecting position over competitors or driving as many clicks within budgets as possible. 7thingsmedia trialled several strategies from outranking rules with specified competitors, maximising clicks, and setting automatic rules to boost bids based on performance.

With the standard search and display campaigns on Google driving optimised and significantly increased conversion rates, increased budget could be justified for more innovative avenues. The team began trialling expanded activity on recent developments such as Yahoo Gemini and Gmail Sponsored Promotions. Yahoo Gemini provides a platform from which native ads are served, while Gmail Sponsored Promotions serves rich media within the email platform, both of which utilised contextual targeting providing a relevant new source of traffic.

Using Google’s Gmail Sponsored Promotions (until recently a Beta-only innovation), 7thingsmedia re-engineered the existing coverage to ensure it was efficiently targeted.

The agency also optimised the Yahoo Gemini coverage which had been introduced by Konga to gain coverage on its recently developed native platform. The team identified product sets that would work well across the Yahoo network and fed back a creative plan to the client.

The account structure was then expanded to allow broad promotional coverage to be displayed to customers who had previously searched for a konga.com competitor. For product specific coverage, this was granularly targeted across the most relevant areas of the Yahoo network to capture the most qualified audience, such as game consoles across tech and sport pages on Yahoo.

The team, understanding the high mobile penetration of the market, created a mobile strategy to capitalise on this for traffic and conversions. With historical emphasis on desktop traffic, mobile traffic acquisition had been purposefully avoided with the use of negative bid adjustments on mobile devices. This was addressed, with the bid adjustments removed and closely monitored to ensure no negative impact on return on investment (ROI). Developing this strategy further, 7thingsmedia began a build out of mobile specific ad copy, with more concise messaging to ensure it displayed properly on smaller devices.

To further support konga.com’s wider business and with the knowledge that mobile penetration was strong in Nigeria, 7thingsmedia implemented a paid search strategy to encourage mobile app installs. Initially, ads were targeted to be served on recently-activated devices, therefore showing high propensity to download new apps. The team also gained coverage for konga.com’s app across existing apps in the same sector.

To support Yakata, the Nigerian equivalent of ‘Black Friday’, 7thingsmedia optimised in advance of the campaign both on and off-page SEO. For Yakata, konga.com now ranks number one, out-ranking all competitors.



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THE DRUM 27.MAY.15 www.thedrum.com CHAIRMAN’S AWARD07

CHAIRMAN’S AWARD: MONEYSUPERMARKET PAID SEARCH CAMPAIGNTaking the Chairman’s Award at the Digital Trading Awards is MoneySuperMarket for its campaign to dominate share of voice for credit cards using paid search.

Working with its customer science team, MoneySuperMarket leveraged its customer database of 21m unique customers and used that data via its tech stack to increase efficiency, moving the brand to number one in paid search share of voice for credit cards (based on Hitwise data).

Alongside the audience strategy, the brand also looked to innovate and diversify its media mix. Working closely with Yahoo, the company created a bespoke ad format (Direct Display) exclusive to MoneySuperMarket which would be visible on the Serps alongside SEO and PPC for generic credit card keywords. It also looked to drive efficiency through

diversification with native direct response (DR) placement on Yahoo’s homepage using insight it had on conversion rate by product to drive ROI, and ran campaigns with an ROI to rival search.

BACKGROUNDSince 2012 and through 2013 the brand saw a significant decline in share of voice for credit cards, through increased competition, declining search volume as well as Google’s own price comparison tool, all increasing auction intensity. There was also the introduction of Google enhanced campaigns.

The challenge the brand faced was to leverage its data asset of its 21m unique customers through its tech stacks then look to improve efficiency by using both their first-party data and third-party data made available through Google’s Demographics for Search Ads (DFSA) and Yahoo Audiences. The firm also looked to reach out to its partners to increase visibility through innovation and diversification.

The 2014 objective was to combat the rise in cost per clicks (CPCs) by increasing efficiencies in PPC through both first and third-party audience data.

Secondly, the brand wanted to grow its share of voice (SOV) to be leaders in paid search by increasing visibility through innovation and diversification to reduce reliance on traditional search. A firm can dominate PPC by simply spending more, but the brand’s challenge was to achieve domination focusing purely on efficiency and innovation and not increasing spend. The strategy focused on efficiency in three areas: through innovation; through first and third-party data; and through diversification.

A NEW SEARCH AD FORMATMoneySuperMarket worked closely with Yahoo to create a bespoke ad format which would be visible on Serps alongside SEO and PPC for generic credit card keywords. This ran for six months.

Entering into a revenue share deal with Yahoo for



Learn more at millennialmedia.com/exchange©2015 Millennial Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Millennial Media Exchange powers real-time auctions, private

marketplaces & programmatic direct deals, connecting leading brands

to premium mobile app & web publishers at scale on a global basis.

MILLENNIAL MEDIA

CHANGEEP OWER ED BY NEXAGE

TM

Find Your Audience in Mobile.One Impression at a Time.


Learn more at millennialmedia.com/exchange©2015 Millennial Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Millennial Media Exchange powers real-time auctions, private

marketplaces & programmatic direct deals, connecting leading brands

to premium mobile app & web publishers at scale on a global basis.

MIL L EN NIAL MEDIA

CHANGEEPOWERED BY NE XAG E

TM

Find Your Audience in Mobile.One Impression at a Time.


THE DRUM 27.MAY.15 www.thedrum.com CHAIRMAN’S AWARD09

this format was another way the firm countered the efficiency objective as well as increasing visibility with three ad results (SEO, PPC and Direct Display).

The implementation involved Yahoo matching search queries to a correct set of cards. Yahoo and MoneySuperMarket set up an integration allowing Yahoo to surface main stream media (MSM) ad information, including images and key messaging.

UTILISING FIRST-PARTY AND THIRD-PARTY DATAUsing first-party data from its large customer database, the brand was able to identify high and low converting audiences, allowing it to adjust PPC bids and messaging. The brand’s data found that ages 35-49 convert best, while 18-24 convert worst.

With this insight, the strategy was to plug its internal first-party data via its data management platform (BlueKai) into its PPC bidding using audience based targeting options available through Google RLSA (remarketing lists for search ads), Google DFSA and Yahoo Audiences. The second part of the strategy was to work closely with partners to find different ways of driving search visibility through innovation rather than traditional PPC and SEO.

With Google DFSA and Yahoo Audiences, the brand incorporated its customer data into its bidding strategy. Along with the first-party data via BlueKai and AdWords integration, it identified even more of its audience. For credit cards: • Google identifies the age and gender for 37 per cent of traffic • First-party data via BlueKai is able to identify an additional three per cent of previous MSM visitors• Yahoo identify 80 per cent of traffic

The three audience levers enabled the brand to identify age and demographics for around half of its generic credit cards traffic. This allowed it to weight more PPC investment towards customers more likely to be eligible for an approval while reducing investment for ages where eligibility rate is lower.

DIVERSIFICATION: NATIVE DR ON YAHOO’S HOMEPAGEMoneySuperMarket was one of few UK advertisers to run native ads across Yahoo. Based on insights on conversion rates by product, it was able to successfully run campaigns with an ROI to rival PPC.

The idea of pushing credit cards was to own the journey through Yahoo. A user ready to search on Yahoo would have seen the brand’s native homepage ad – if they then searched for ‘credit cards’ on Yahoo it would show a PPC, SEO and direct display ad, meaning four ads were served in two pages.

RESULTS MoneySuperMarket’s credit card campaign has increased search visibility to a level not seen before. From purely a search perspective, the brand was able to serve three ad formats to a user on Yahoo, innovating with Yahoo to get ahead of competition.

Through the use of its first and third-party data it was able to keep spend similar year on year while seeing huge efficiencies in CPCs and conversion rate.

It has increased efficiency and visibility within credit cards in a market where CPCs are increasing and search volumes are decreasing.



10THE WINNERS

The Digital Trading Awards, which recognise the best in the online ad trading sector, took place last month. Here we take a look at the big winners from the night, and find out what the judges had to say.

BEST IN SHOW

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10THE WINNERS

The Digital Trading Awards, which recognise the best in the online ad trading sector, took place last month. Here we take a look at the big winners from the night, and find out what the judges had to say.

BEST IN SHOW

www.thedrum.com 27.MAY.15 THE DRUM


THE WINNERS11 THE DRUM 27.MAY.15 www.thedrum.com

Grand PrixSponsored by AppNexusCompany: 7thingsmediaClient: Konga.comTitle: Pioneering Paid Search in Nigeria

Chairman’s AwardCompany: MoneySuperMarketClient: MoneySuperMarketTitle: Efficient Credit Card Domination Through Data & Innovation

Digital Trading Leader of the YearSponsored by Sphere Digital RecruitmentSarah Mansfield, vice president of global media for Europe and Americas, Unilever

Most Effective Media Agency Sponsored by Millennial MediaiProspect

Most Innovative PublisherSponsored by Tremor VideoFT.com

Best Ad Ops TeamSponsored by Integral Ad ScienceCollective

Best Digital Trading TeamSponsored by eXelatePeriscopix

Best Trading DeskSponsored by StrikeAdVivaKi

Best Use of CreativitySponsored by AdformCompany: Collective and iProspectClient: CamelotTitle: Happy 20th Birthday Camelot – 20 Guaranteed Millionaires

Best Video Campaign Sponsored by TubeMogulCompany: Starcom MediaVest GroupClient: Cineworld Cinemas UKTitle: Guardians of the Galaxy

Best Mobile Campaign Sponsored by LiveRailCompany: the7starsClient: Payments CouncilTitle: PAYM

Best Paid Social Campaign Company: MoneySuperMarketClient: MoneySuperMarketTitle: #EpicStrut Paid Social Support of Brand ATL Activity

Best Use of Performance Sponsored by Index Media PartnersCompany: PeriscopixClient: OVO EnergyTitle: The Surround Sound Approach




THE WINNERS13 THE DRUM 27.MAY.15 www.thedrum.com

VIEW FROM THE JUDGESSome of the judges at The Drum Digital Trading Awards share their thoughts on this year’s entries.

Tim Gentry, global revenue director, Guardian News and MediaWe had some very interesting debates and discussions around some of the more game- changing elements coming in to a range of the categories. They were the things that impressed me – people who’ve been brave and taken different approaches to solving existing problems.

Nigel Gwilliam, head of media and emerging technology, IPAWhat really stood out is the quantity of entries but also the quality. It’s proved really quite difficult to establish frontrunners and winners from a very strong field in all categories we’ve seen so far.

Alex Tait, independent consultant and chairman of the judging panelThe consensus across the judges was that the entries were a really good mix of innovation and demonstration of business results. Some of the innovation really took some of the judges by surprise, in areas that they hadn’t heard of before, which is a really good testament to the capability of the industry in the UK.

James Booth, founder, RockaboxWhat stood out during the judging process was how we were so close in our assessment of entries. The standard is phenomenal.

Graham Wylie, senior director, EMEA & APAC Marketing, AppNexus EuropeOverall I think it reflects an industry in very good health. We talk a lot about the growth of programmatic, and what I found from today’s conversation was really the how and the why of programmatic. So we all know it’s growing, but what you see with the entries is it’s growing because people are doing really clever things.

Julia Smith, founder, Digital Trading Consultancy and partner, The 614 GroupOften with awards, you get the same entries; it’s just bog standard. I think this year was the first year I’ve seen real detail. And the other thing we’ve seen before is people saying ‘this is my technology’. But this year it’s about more detail – it’s about case studies, it’s about examples, and finally seeing more evidence of how the technology is working for clients and publishers. And that’s really exciting.

Best Non-Paid Search CampaignCompany: 7thingsmediaClient: Konga.comTitle: 7thingsmedia with Konga.com

Best Paid Search CampaignCompany: 7thingsmediaClient: Konga.comTitle: Pioneering Paid Search in Nigeria

Company: MoneySuperMarketClient: MoneySuperMarketTitle: Efficient Credit Card Domination Through Data and Innovation

Best Attribution SolutionCompany: Visual IQClient: Sky ItaliaTitle: Visual IQ Marketing Attribution Solution Implementation

Best Cross Platform CampaignSponsored by Audience2MediaCompany: WywyClient: WywyTitle: Nissan Pulsar

Best Branding CampaignSponsored by QuantcastCompany: Infectious Media

Client: John LewisTitle: John Lewis Programmatically Engages Customers with Christmas Brand Advertising

Most Effective Use of DataCompany: Media iQClient: TravelodgeTitle: Transforming Travel Through Insight

Most Effective Programmatic Media Partnership Sponsored by Accordant Media Company: TubeMogulClient: LenovoTitle: TubeMogul and Lenovo Spread Holiday Cheer

Best Cross Channel Buy Company: 7thingsmediaClient: Charlotte TilburyTitle: 7thingsmedia with Charlotte Tilbury

Most Effective Digital Media BuyCompany: Infectious MediaClient: WaitroseTitle: Discovering the True Value of Display Advertising

Best Overall Technology for Programmatic TradingCompany: RockaboxTitle: Rockabox RBX



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If I have a break from my agency, what could I take wIth me?

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If I have a break from my agency, what could I take wIth me?


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Nestlé has outlined an advanced programmatic road map which will see it push for its own data management platform and programmatic technology. Its digital lead Gawain Owen tells Jessica Davies why his biggest question when it comes to working with agencies is “if I leave tomorrow what could I take with me?”

Programmatic trading has courted controversy since its inception. To date it has been the domain of agency networks, tech giants such as Google, and numerous independent tech vendors all jostling for space. Yet the majority of brands have remained unconfident of the area – held back by a lack of understanding of the technology and how it can benefit their business. Until now.

The contrast in today’s digital landscape is vast. Brands are increasingly taking ownership of programmatic trading and challenging their agencies on exactly how their budget is being used in the area. Much still needs to change for this to be the dominant model, but the very fact that brands are becoming ever more savvy in the area can only benefit the digital ecosystem as mistrust

and confusion regarding the technology – issues which have previously held back spend – begin to erode, to make way for a new order.

Nestlé is among the brands to boast an advanced approach, having spent the last 18 months embedding programmatic trading into the heart of its business, to the extent that its brand managers and its most senior management understand the tech and how it can drive efficiencies for the business. It is now eyeing the next stage in its road map – the holy grail for marketers – how to establish its own data management platform (DMP) and ultimately how to ensure it owns the technology that powers its trading.

Speaking to The Drum, Nestlé’s digital lead for the UK and Ireland, Gawain Owen, says the future for brands in the programmatic trading landscape will be ownership of the technology. However, he stresses that this future trend is not due to any mistrust in how its agencies manage its operations, but rather a pragmatism all brands must consider when it comes to establishing sustainable data strategies, such as an in-house DMP would yield.

Nestlé has a strong relationship with its major agency partners and vendors, which include Vivaki

and TubeMogul, both of which Owen stresses were “excellent” at managing its operations and which it trusts completely. However, he likens some agencies to the invasive plant species Japanese knotweed.

“When an agency owns stuff it’s hard to get rid of them. Some of these agencies are like Japanese knotweed – they do everything for you. So my question to myself is always ‘can I leave tomorrow? What can I take with me if I want to do that?’

“I think if a brand sees programmatic is their long-term future they should start to understand today that they are in a procurement business, and there are periodic agency reviews. If they were to change their agency, what could they take with them and what would they lose?

“If they were two years into programmatic and they did an agency review and the agency said ‘you’re taking nothing with you, we own all of it’ – that business would either have to stay with them or start again. So, I would urge every brand to ask the agency – and it’s not because we don’t trust them – but just ask ‘if I leave tomorrow – what do I take?’.”

Agencies will always be necessary partners for brands according to Owen, but all businesses need to evolve, and a future in which brand-owned DMPs are more commonplace will also force tech vendors to adapt accordingly. Having historically largely dealt with clients and publishers through the agencies, they will need to question whether they have the required support systems and teams to work directly with brands.

“Everyone needs to change. Agencies need to change their ways of working. Network agencies are key to our business. We work with VivaKi and they do an amazing job for us – whether it is buying traditional or digital media – but they all need to look at how they are structured. They are very good at buying TV, but they don’t own the TV company, so when you put that into programmatic, they have fantastic teams, but the future is about owning the technology. There will come a time when clients will own the technology.”

He describes programmatic technology as an “enabler” using the analogy that his wife, who is a BA flight attendant, is in effect an enabler in the same way. “Her staff concessions mean I travel cheap, but at times it doesn’t always work out. Each brand has their own challenge, but the biggest problem is that there are brands that don’t think they’re a sales organisation.

“Direct response is sales, everyone out there whether it is Reckitt Benckiser or our Dulce Gusto – it’s all sales – if they don’t sell product they sell the business plan. So a brand manager needs to understand that they have got to drive their growth. Whether we like it or not – technology is bringing data to the table. At times we like the data, at other times we might challenge the data,” he adds.

Gawain Owen is digital lead at Kit Kat maker Nestlé



www.thedrum.com 27.MAY.15 THE DRUM16TYLER MCFLUFF

The Drum teamed up with AppNexus to launch the artist Tyler McFluff and show how to build your brand programmatically. We find out more about the hamster who’s going where no hamster has gone before.

A PET PROJECT

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www.thedrum.com 27.MAY.15 THE DRUM16TYLER MCFLUFF

The Drum teamed up with AppNexus to launch the artist Tyler McFluff and show how to build your brand programmatically. We find out more about the hamster who’s going where no hamster has gone before.

A PET PROJECT


THE DRUM 27.MAY.15 www.thedrum.com TYLER MCFLUFF17

The Drum teamed up with AppNexus to launch hamster artist Tyler McFluff to demonstrate how to build a brand programmatically.

We had a simple brief. Tyler creates art by walking though paint and follows in a long tradition of animal artists, from bears to monkeys. Tyler is available to work with marketers on bespoke projects in addition to offering off-the-shelf works of art for use in ad campaigns or loyalty marketing. Tyler’s work can be used within any form of marketing campaign, from outdoor to digital.

The main audience are marketers and agency executives. Client-side marketers are also important, particularly chief marketing officers, marketing directors, heads of digital, and digital marketing directors.

However, as a side line,Tyler McFluff also offers art for the consumer market, so it was also important to raise awareness of him among the general public.

To launch the Tyler brand, AppNexus enlisted the help of one of its partners, Media iQ, to run it using AppNexus’s programmatic technology.

Programmatic advertising is still often seen as the sole preserve of direct response campaigns, despite the likes of Mondelez and Kellogg’s publicly committing to it.

The Tyler McFluff campaign saw The Drum dig into how a branding campaign could be executed effectively using programmatic technology.

“Programmatic can seem a bit opaque and, let’s face it, a bit dull if you don’t get excited about data and targeting. What we set out to do by working with The Drum to launch Tyler McFluff, as an artist and as a brand, was to show that automation is only one part of the picture,” says Graham Wylie, the EMEA & APAC senior director of marketing at AppNexus.

As a new brand, traditional digital marketing techniques weren’t appropriate. It was felt search marketing wasn’t suitable as people generally weren’t searching for hamster art. In a social world, where people have pre-intent before searching, there just wasn’t that much discussion around hamster art or the works of Tyler McFluff.

Tyler didn’t have a huge budget. Something new such as hamster art will generate buzz on social media but programmatic was the key to scaling this interest. As Wylie points out, programmatic lets a brand magnify its activity on social media and push it out to its exact audience at a time when they’re ready to buy – in this case, without wasting budget on people that aren’t interested in the frontier of modern animal art.

“To build the brand we had to go out to where people were using programmatic technology to

power display advertising that was as accountable as search and as flexible

as social,” adds Alexander Rincon Delgado, EMEA trader director, Media iQ. To find the right audience, the team used

first-party data from both The Drum and Tyler’s own site, tylermcfluff.com, to segment users,

targeting a media audience that have shown an interest in art.

The campaign used real time data around TV and social media to understand and accurately target the audience. Programmatic let the Tyler team react to what was happening in the world in real time. For Tyler, it meant serving ads for his artwork when people were watching TV programmes about art, for instance.

Summing up the campaign, Wylie tells us: “Programmatic can change the way you tell your story; engage a niche audience to build a young brand more quickly and not suck the joy out of life in the process. Technology is a fundamental part of marketing and advertising now, so we need to find ways to demystify it and excite people by its potential. Tyler may be one of the first to build his brand programmatically, but he will not be the last.”

The Tyler McFluff campaign was documented by The Drum’s video production arm The Drum Studios and the film is available to view now on thedrum.com.



www.thedrum.com 27.MAY.15 THE DRUM18Q&A

The programmatic industry is constantly evolving. We ask industry insiders how its changing and what agencies and brands need to look for on this shifting landscape.

What are the main challenges facing the industry at the moment?

James Brown, UK managing director, Rubicon ProjectThe primary challenge facing the industry is one of demystification. There’s still an awful

lot of confusion out there about who operates in this space, what they do and how they do it. Educating the marketplace is the key to helping brands participate in the automated advertising space.

For our part, at the end of last year we launched Rubicon Project University, a series of events aimed at dispelling some of the myths and confusion our customers encounter on a daily basis.

If the industry is to hit the kind of growth figures being forecast, we all need to be better educated around the operational improvements and cost efficiencies that programmatic is capable of delivering. We should always remember that automated advertising emerged at a time when ad networks were dominant. In fact, in many cases it has supplanted the network model as a more transparent, efficient and beneficial model for buyers

and sellers alike. Just as then, trust and confidence are key: we need to ensure that the marketplaces that we all trade in are as “well-lit” as possible for clients.

Martin Stockfleth Larsen, chief marketing officer, AdformThe main issues at the moment for advertisers are ones of quality and visibility.

What quality can I expect when I buy inventory using programmatic? To date, the need to drive revenue via programmatic placements has often led to quantity over quality in terms of supply and this situation is starting to be redressed as the marketplace matures.

Big brands are beginning to invest much more heavily in programmatic and they have some challenges when it comes to putting the right metrics in place. Up until now, direct response campaigns have dominated programmatic buying, with revenue-based conversions that are relatively easy to track and measure. Arguably, programmatic isn’t built for brand campaigns yet, making measuring the effectiveness of brand campaigns a bit trickier. However, an increase in brand spend via programmatic and increasing demand is putting pressure (and creating opportunities) on tech providers and publishers to provide the right sort of programmatic solutions for brands moving forward.

Niall Hogan, UK managing director, Integral Ad ScienceThe main challenges are it’s too complicated and with too much choice. Take verification

as an example: there are over 15 different companies

offering viewability tools and benchmarks and 10 companies claiming to tackle ad fraud. Add in brand safety and you have a very complex mix, when all advertisers are really concerned with is overall quality.

Paul Gubbins, head of programmatic, EMEA, Millennial MediaThe evolution of mobile programmatic in particular over the past 12 months has been

a significant development for the digital trading industry, but if we are to continue a positive trajectory there are three specific areas of focus we need to address.

The first is education, on both the buy and sell sides. There are still some that find themselves confused by the ecosystem and what it offers, so both sides of the ecosystem need to look at how the benefits of mobile programmatic – in tracking, data, and inventory quality/transparency – are effectively communicated.

Secondly the issue of cross-screen, namely what does it actually mean and how is it being deployed? Programmatic allows advertisers to run always-on, real-time campaigns efficiently, that’s a given. However, a joined-up cross-screen advertising strategy should shift the focus beyond clicks and impressions to better understand consumers across multiple screens.

Finally, and one of the key areas for mobile programmatic in 2015, we have mobile private marketplaces (PMPs). Here we need to ensure that brands understand the benefit in mobile, ensuring that Deal ID is being adopted and bidders upgrade to Open RTB 2.2 and 2.3 quick enough to offer deals and native to their licensed partners.

REAL-TIME FLUX

DTA_MANIFESTO_MAY27_Q&A.indd 18 18/05/2015 15:28

www.thedrum.com 27.MAY.15 THE DRUM18Q&A

The programmatic industry is constantly evolving. We ask industry insiders how its changing and what agencies and brands need to look for on this shifting landscape.

What are the main challenges facing the industry at the moment?

James Brown, UK managing director, Rubicon ProjectThe primary challenge facing the industry is one of demystification. There’s still an awful

lot of confusion out there about who operates in this space, what they do and how they do it. Educating the marketplace is the key to helping brands participate in the automated advertising space.

For our part, at the end of last year we launched Rubicon Project University, a series of events aimed at dispelling some of the myths and confusion our customers encounter on a daily basis.

If the industry is to hit the kind of growth figures being forecast, we all need to be better educated around the operational improvements and cost efficiencies that programmatic is capable of delivering. We should always remember that automated advertising emerged at a time when ad networks were dominant. In fact, in many cases it has supplanted the network model as a more transparent, efficient and beneficial model for buyers

and sellers alike. Just as then, trust and confidence are key: we need to ensure that the marketplaces that we all trade in are as “well-lit” as possible for clients.

Martin Stockfleth Larsen, chief marketing officer, AdformThe main issues at the moment for advertisers are ones of quality and visibility.

What quality can I expect when I buy inventory using programmatic? To date, the need to drive revenue via programmatic placements has often led to quantity over quality in terms of supply and this situation is starting to be redressed as the marketplace matures.

Big brands are beginning to invest much more heavily in programmatic and they have some challenges when it comes to putting the right metrics in place. Up until now, direct response campaigns have dominated programmatic buying, with revenue-based conversions that are relatively easy to track and measure. Arguably, programmatic isn’t built for brand campaigns yet, making measuring the effectiveness of brand campaigns a bit trickier. However, an increase in brand spend via programmatic and increasing demand is putting pressure (and creating opportunities) on tech providers and publishers to provide the right sort of programmatic solutions for brands moving forward.

Niall Hogan, UK managing director, Integral Ad ScienceThe main challenges are it’s too complicated and with too much choice. Take verification

as an example: there are over 15 different companies

offering viewability tools and benchmarks and 10 companies claiming to tackle ad fraud. Add in brand safety and you have a very complex mix, when all advertisers are really concerned with is overall quality.

Paul Gubbins, head of programmatic, EMEA, Millennial MediaThe evolution of mobile programmatic in particular over the past 12 months has been

a significant development for the digital trading industry, but if we are to continue a positive trajectory there are three specific areas of focus we need to address.

The first is education, on both the buy and sell sides. There are still some that find themselves confused by the ecosystem and what it offers, so both sides of the ecosystem need to look at how the benefits of mobile programmatic – in tracking, data, and inventory quality/transparency – are effectively communicated.

Secondly the issue of cross-screen, namely what does it actually mean and how is it being deployed? Programmatic allows advertisers to run always-on, real-time campaigns efficiently, that’s a given. However, a joined-up cross-screen advertising strategy should shift the focus beyond clicks and impressions to better understand consumers across multiple screens.

Finally, and one of the key areas for mobile programmatic in 2015, we have mobile private marketplaces (PMPs). Here we need to ensure that brands understand the benefit in mobile, ensuring that Deal ID is being adopted and bidders upgrade to Open RTB 2.2 and 2.3 quick enough to offer deals and native to their licensed partners.

REAL-TIME FLUX


THE DRUM 27.MAY.15 www.thedrum.com Q&A19

Nick Reid, UK managing director, TubeMogulOver the last three years, programmatic has marched steadily into the minds and

workflows of agencies and brands in the UK. As with any emerging technology, programmatic has had to surmount challenges during its evolution.

As we've moved into 2015, the rise of major ad technology firms and their efforts to lock advertisers into a single tech stack has become the hottest topic of conversation. While these companies spin a good story about ease and efficiency when everything happens under one company's proverbial roof, the reality is that inherent conflicts of interest and vendor lock-in make these dubious choices for advertisers.

Cameran Harman, head of demand sales, EMEA, LiveRailMobile usage is continuing to skyrocket but ad spend has not yet caught

up. We're in the midst of a period that will be looked back upon as a turning point for media consumption and consequently, advertising technology. Being able to accurately measure return on ad spend and target across devices is key for both publishers and advertisers to find success in today's fragmented market – and to ensure ad spend catches up to where people are spending the most time. We're seeing a shift from focusing on impressions to a focus on people, as their time with digital media is now spread across multiple devices.

Amit Kotecha, head of marketing, Quantcast EMEAAs advertisers start to get to grips with programmatic trading, their focus is

shifting. Now that programmatic is more of a mainstay in the digital space and as the technology develops, advertisers are asking more questions. For example, viewability; advertisers want to know if their users are seeing their ads, this metric has led to more brand budgets flowing through programmatic which is positive.

That same notion extends to brand safety. This can only come from giving advertisers more insight about who is seeing their ads and where they are seeing them. This is creating huge challenges for vendors and agencies as the industry scales and more ad impressions are bought and sold every day.

One of the key ways in which to solve these challenges is education. The more the industry understands the technology and the nuances the easier it will be for the challenges to become opportunities. We are all still in the discovery stage, the more curious we are the more we will find out.

What more could the industry do to help brands adopt programmatic?

Graham Wylie, senior director, EMEA and APAC, marketing, AppNexus Last year, we conducted research in collaboration with IAB Europe & WARC,

which clearly showed a lack of understanding of programmatic among brand owners. The adtech

industry has not done a great job of embracing marketers, and those that do talk directly to them are typically focused on selling product rather than building sustainable programmatic understanding and informed strategy. Even within the adtech industry, there is still a focus on the automation aspect of programmatic, which misses the real opportunity it offers to engage consumers online at critical moments by going beyond what search and social can deliver. We are working on a second wave of research and expect that levels of understanding will have increased significantly over the last year, but there is still as strong need for better education across the industry. It’s also important that our industry actively listens, understands and addresses advertiser and publisher concerns around programmatic.

Gavin Stirrat, chief operating officer, StrikeAdEducation, education, education. Again from a mobile perspective, it’s important

that there is a greater awareness of what’s possible on mobile, throughout the planning process.

There are also trust concerns on mobile that need addressed. These can be related to placement, fraud, viewability etc. Some of the concerns are very justified, and some exist more because they are a problem on desktop. A number of trusted technologies on desktop unfortunately do not yet work in an app environment (which is where the bulk of the inventory sits), and so there is further work required on behalf of the industry to provide the assurances that brands are used to.



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Sue Hunt, managing director EMEA, Tremor VideoBrands are still reticent to embrace a new model of trading, particularly when it’s

technically complex. This is compounded by many platforms/vendors having a vested interest in promoting this complexity, a low barrier to entry in the tech space, and the layering on of abbreviations and buzzwords. Some also paint an alarming picture of the lack of trust and transparency, thereby creating an exaggerated fear of fraud. However, the upcoming anti-fraud guidelines from The Joint Industry Committee for Web Standards in the UK and Ireland should help, complementing the initiatives they’ve rolled out on brand safety.

The key things brands can do to alleviate programmatic concerns is select a partner, not just a point-solution vendor, and provide a clear list of objectives and expectations this partner needs to meet.

James Brown, UK managing director, Rubicon ProjectIn its first years, automated advertising was more concentrated around auctions, and

direct response campaigns, we are now seeing a greater focus on orders, both guaranteed and non-guaranteed, increasingly also bringing branding campaigns to this channel. In the UK over the last twelve months, we’ve seen more and more activity around high impact units, IAB Rising Stars, as well as skins being transacted programmatically. Another development is the inclusion of native ad units in the latest iteration of the Real-Time Bidding protocol, which we were heavily involved with.

The more we can make these types of high impact formats available through programmatic, as well as educating buyers around how our platforms can be used to efficiently buy and effectively measure campaigns across a variety of media, the more they will adopt it.

Cameran Harman, head of demand sales, EMEA, LiveRailThe industry has finally been able to dispel the myth that programmatic is just for

remnant. If we continue to promote best practices between media owners and advertisers, demonstrating that value for brands can also equate to significant investment and further adoption.

There are usually stages to adoption: first, discovery, where they gain an understanding of how ad buying can deliver great results and access to premium inventory through trial and analysis; then, investment, where they explore how to scale activity while maintaining quality.

As brands become more savvy about programmatic, what does this mean for agencies and vendors?

Martin Stockfleth Larsen, chief marketing officer, AdformSome people think that programmatic will ultimately make agencies obsolete but I

don’t agree; they’ll just need to adapt and evolve. It’s true that more and more advertisers and big brands are starting to establish contract relationships with technology vendors, due to issues of data ownership and their need to combine advertising data with other data sources they’ve collected in-house. There’s also the issue of transparency for advertisers. For example, if an advertiser wants to change their agency they can do so easily and without data security complications, as they have all the data in-house. This will obviously

put pressure on agencies to adjust their price points and be way more transparent about the data they’re gather on clients’ behalf. As a result, I think we’ll see more agencies start to reposition themselves as strategic consultants to help maintain their margins and their value to their client base. They’ll be working more closely with clients, helping them to combine their various data sets and analyse them for insights to optimise the effectiveness of future marketing spend.

Graham Wylie, senior director, EMEA and APAC, marketing, AppNexus The WFA whitepaper highlighted the need for brands to have a differentiated

programmatic strategy and prompted many budget holders to look more closely at programmatic operations.

Interestingly, agencies have responded positively, as for many their long-term value to the client lies in the strategic use of media.

While the whitepaper was initially perceived by some as a call for brands to bring operations in house and use technology to take direct control of programmatic, the subsequent debate has shown the less powerful tools designed for marketers to use themselves are creating a new form of commoditised strategy, in which brands use the same tools and the same data to reach the same audience, which can mean getting the same results.

Agencies with access to more powerful tools, a deep bench of talent, strong media relations and the experience to bring it all together, offer additional value.

“SOME THINK IT WILL MAKE AGENCIES OBSOLETE, I DON’T AGREE, THEY JUST NEED TO ADAPT AND EVOLVE.”



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The risk is that while brands have become more savvy, programmatic is still developing fast and there is a lot to learn. There are times when brands create an unlevel playing field between the agency relationship they understand, but don't always trust, and the new programmatic offerings from companies they trust or are excited by, but don't yet fully understand. For example, brands have moved money out of agencies because of arbitrage concerns, but moved this spend to a retargeter that operates on a cost per acquisition (CPA) and gives no visibility of the underlying media cost. Sometimes a little knowledge is a dangerous thing – so the focus on education remains vitally important.

Niall Hogan, UK managing director, Integral Ad ScienceAgencies and vendors need to stay one step ahead of brand needs in order to stay

relevant. Vendors should have the technology tools ready, ensure that all works programmatically as more and more budgets flow into this new trading system. Agencies should ensure they are up to speed on new programmatic partnerships and developments taking place so they are best placed to advise their clients.

Paul Gubbins, head of programmatic, EMEA, Millennial MediaThe rise of programmatic in digital is similar to that of mobile. Just a few years ago,

every agency had a Head of Mobile who evangelised the inclusion of mobile in media plans. Now, mobile accounts for 23 per cent of all digital ad spend, and many of those heads of mobile find themselves in all-encompassing digital management roles as all staff are expected to have a working knowledge of where mobile fits in their clients’ strategies. Programmatic is following a similar path, and soon we’ll see staff right across the agency spectrum having to improve knowledge of the discipline to ensure that they can meet the expectations of their programmatic savvy clients.

From a vendor perspective, as more brands upskill, expectations will inevitably increase. Regardless of an improved knowledge base, leading vendors will ensure they do not allow the complexities to run wild. Instead they must ensure they are making programmatic experiences simple for clients, while providing robust technology and data that can deliver relevant and engaging ad experiences to global audiences, at scale.

Gavin Stirrat, chief operating officer, StrikeAdTo an extent, there will be some additional pressure on agencies to ensure they are

keeping up to date with developments in the market. This has always been the case but it’s never quite been as technical as before, and as agencies build their programmatic teams, there is a big challenge to find the resource and expertise. For vendors, they will need to

decide which group they want to work with – agencies or direct – it will become increasingly difficult to do both.

Nick Reid, UK managing director, TubeMogulBrands are definitely taking more of an interest in how money gets spent, driven by

a desire to own their data and have transparency into where ad budgets are going. Software helps them do that, and agencies and their trading desks are rapidly evolving to add value in new ways. In the future, brands might make the technology decisions, but in many cases agencies are the experts logging into the software every day, constantly adjusting strategy based on data.

Sue Hunt, managing director EMEA, Tremor VideoAgencies and vendors will always bring scale to the industry, offering efficient

international reach, technical expertise and commercial economies of scale. Some brands have the structure and resource to do programmatic in-house successfully, but not many. Ultimately, success is dependent on all parties engaging and learning, working in partnership with their customers to develop their offering.

James Brown, UK managing director, Rubicon ProjectThe more we demystify programmatic for clients, the more brands will choose to

operate within it and that benefits everyone: agencies, technology partners and publishers alike.

As brands become more familiar with the space and better understand the roles and responsibilities of the different players, they also become much smarter in their ability to differentiate between different products. For example they may question which agency is the right one for themin this space, which DSP do they utilise or which platform is that inventory being bought on?

There are some examples of larger brands taking their trading desk in-house – such as P&G and Betfair – but I believe agencies are still in a very strong position to lead the way. The reason is that, for the majority of clients, gathering the necessary specialist skills, expertise and assets required for an in-house team are only going to become harder and more expensive to secure.

Cameran Harman, head of demand sales, EMEA, LiveRailWe are seeing a shift in how decisions are being made at an agency level. Rather than

programmatic operating in a silo, it is becoming a critical part of the buying and more importantly, planning mix. This means agencies and publishers are looking to work with technology platforms that bring them closer to their target audience. For example, a lot of the work LiveRail does is around helping major publishers' sales teams better service advertisers through more advanced buying opportunities that deliver engagement at scale.

What were the main industry trends/changes you experienced last year?

Martin Stockfleth Larsen, chief marketing officer, AdformThe explosion in mobile devices has been a key trend for years now and it shows no

sign of stopping any time soon, with smart watches and

“SOMETIMES A LITTLE KNOWLEDGE IS A DANGEROUS THING – SO THE FOCUS ON EDUCATION REMAINS VITAL.”



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the Internet of Things on the horizon. Advertisers will need to think about all these different devices as they start to move into the consumer mainstream. Right now, though, the market is finally moving beyond just talking about doing something with data to actually doing something with data.

Graham Wylie, senior director, EMEA & APAC, marketing, AppNexus In 2014, the ad tech power games began. An array of mergers and acquisitions has

brought about greater consolidation and development to the ad tech industry – a trend, which is set to develop even further in 2015. As brands, publishers and agencies realise the full potential of real-time advertising, the ad tech landscape will be reshaped by seismic shifts and, as a result, a more simplified ecosystem with full-stack ad tech solutions.

However, there is a risk that some of these complete solutions will become walled gardens for dominant media owners, offering at first glance a level of simplicity but with devastating constraints on the use of data and access to media that only become apparent later.

Niall Hogan, UK managing director, Integral Ad Science

Fraud in advertising moved from a behind closed doors conversation to being

discussed at every turn. It has become a major topic that every brand and agency wants to tackle head on.

Ed Steer, managing director, Sphere Digital RecruitmentLast year, as well as the rise and rise of programmatic we saw a big increase in the

growth of mobile. There was a real land grab for in-app inventory, particularly video.

From a skill set point of view, it was all about data-driven marketing across all business sectors. We handled an increasing number of posts such as ‘biddable media manager’ or ‘social media biddable managers’, both as in-house roles and within agencies. Likewise skills in yield optimisation, analytics and data were increasingly sought after, as number crunchers continued to move to the centre of digital marketing.

From a staffing point of view, the pace at which the industry is going and the type of skill sets and people that businesses want to hire, will continue to present a challenge. Programmatic as an industry is growing at a speed that is vastly outstripping the supply of people with relevant skills. Having a strategy to attract, train and retain the very best people will be key to a business success. For those with the right mix of skills and experience, however, the future looks very bright indeed.

Gavin Stirrat, chief operating officer, StrikeAd2014 was the year when demand for self-serve mobile programmatic properly

materialised in the big agencies. This is an early sign of the space starting to properly mature – something that happened on desktop quite a few years ago.

Sue Hunt, managing director EMEA, Tremor VideoThe shape of funding and ownership across many ad-tech businesses – some were

expected but many were a surprise.We saw a series of high-profile acquisitions (LiveRail

into Facebook, BrightRoll and Flurry into Yahoo!), IPOs

(Rubicon, TubeMogul) and immense rounds of VC funding (MediaMath, AppNexus), as well as the old guard continuing to play. Fates continue to rise and fall, but the level of interest, innovation and money that continue to flood into the space means new players continue to enter and succeed, and long anticipated consolidation is still some distance away.

What do you think will be the main themes of 2016?

Amit Kotecha, head of marketing, Quantcast EMEAI think transparency and attribution has improved a huge amount. Over the past

year the increase in knowledge passed back to the advertiser has been palpable. Advertisers now possess vast amounts of data, from demographic profiles of their customers to where and when they saw their ads and on what device. By applying to advertising they are really starting to understand their customer's path to conversion. This is essential as this information can help them strategically across their marketing plan.

They are hungry for that knowledge and actively search for partners to provide this – vendors have no choice but to follow suit – take Facebook's cross-device reporting for example, it is a great example of how understanding your audience can help your strategic media buying and helped Facebook keep people investing in mobile inventory – a sign of things to come.

Graham Wylie, senior director, EMEA and APAC, marketing, AppNexus In the broadest sense, we will continue to see digital as the main battleground for

winning consumers’ attention – over half of ad spend is now digital. Display ad spend is now growing faster than search, and this will help the industry reach a greater level of maturity. Marketers will focus on the power of programmatic to reach consumers in the right place and

“LAST YEAR THERE WAS A REAL LAND GRAB FOR IN-APP INVENTORY, PARTICULARLY VIDEO.”





at the right time, rather than as a means to reduce costs. While in 2014 the industry was trying to understand what programmatic was, in 2015 we are looking at how to use it best. I expect that 2016 will be the year of programmatic, when we will finally be able to just celebrate the success brands have achieved through the technology. In 2017, we'll probably stop talking about ‘programmatic’. It will simply be presumed that we’re talking about programmatic solutions when referring to the digital advertising landscape.

Niall Hogan, UK managing director, Integral Ad ScienceThe UK will follow the US and start to trade on viewability. Discrepancies have been

a big issue but you will see these concerns diminish as vendors' technology starts to align, and individual vendors have a built-in discrepancy resolution feature added to their stack.

Paul Gubbins, head of programmatic, EMEA, Millennial MediaNative will be a game changer in the mobile space, no question about it. It is still very

much in its early stages, and there is some way to go before we see 'scale' in this 'bespoke' format – yes, I know, the irony.

On a serious point, DSPs need to update their UIs for new creative requirements, reconfiguring bidders to Open RTB 2.3 (as mentioned before), and publishers need to adopt new SDKs, so there is lots to be done before native starts to move the needle. However, we know from today’s demand, the buy side wants it.

Data activation will become increasingly important, in particular how advertisers can best unlock the vast troves of first-party data they have and activate this within their programmatic strategy. At present, this often

sits in CRM systems used to power customer retention, but is rarely deployed to increase the ROI of prospecting campaigns. In 2016, we’ll see advertisers using data to power smarter programmatic buying practices.

Gavin Stirrat, chief operating officer, StrikeAdIn 2016, it’s likely the majority of buys will include cross device post impression

attribution meaning performance advertising on mobile will have moved past being solely around app installs and onto bigger ticket conversions. This was a step that really accelerated spend on desktop, and one that is critical on mobile. The establishment of accepted metrics related to the impact of advertising on visitation and real-world conversions will really start to drive growth and truly establish mobile’s place at the heart of media plans.

Nick Reid, UK managing director, TubeMogulIn 2016, programmatic TV will be the dominant topic for our industry as real

pounds begin flowing through this channel.TV continues to be the most important branding

medium in both the UK and US — the largest screen in the house that rightly commands the lion’s share of ad budgets – but the methods for buying TV haven’t fundamentally changed in decades. Despite recent breakthroughs, the majority of TV ad buying is still largely untouched by automation.

In 2014, we launched TubeMogul PTV in the US, the first self-serve software solution that enables automated, data-driven buying of TV advertising. We’ve celebrated a few major milestones since then. Mondelez International and DigitasLBi recently used PTV to buy TV spots programmatically on the Super Bowl and Academy Awards, respectively. Of course, the UK market is much

different, and over the past year we have been laying the groundwork for programmatic TV. 4oD recently announced their programmatic offering, and we were listed among the company’s first demand-side partners.

James Brown, UK managing director, Rubicon ProjectThe move to Automated Guaranteed is something that we’re very excited about

here. It’s less about programmatic in the traditional sense and more about automation and usability. We see it as the next frontier in the digital planning and buying ecosystem. As a former ad buyer myself, I know that in many cases it is still a hugely inefficient process that’s stayed largely the same for decades.

Later this year, we’re launching a new proposition that will let advertisers plan and buy campaigns within the one platform, automating many of the most time-consuming tasks. This means ad planners and buyers are freed up to analyse the impact of their campaigns and optimise them on a real-time basis. For publishers, the benefits around efficiency are just as important, particularly around areas like trafficking and optimisation. We now have a solution that operates at all levels of the inventory pyramid for buyers and sellers alike.

Cameran Harman, head of demand sales, EMEA, LiveRailBrands are becoming more savvy around what constitutes quality when it comes

to the execution of video advertising and are more confident about what it can do for their business.

The next phase will involve increased sophistication and improvements in the evaluation of activity that runs across any connected screen. It will also become crucial to have a clear, deep understanding of how real people interact with brands across devices. With so much market complexity in Europe, we will see innovations that deliver a route to scalable investment. This is great news for major markets as well as accelerating success for media owners and brands globally.

Amit Kotecha, head of marketing, Quantcast EMEAIt is really hard to say as the industry is moving so fast. We see a significant

shift every six to nine months. Obviously viewability will continue to be a big topic. As clients begin to understand the limitations and opportunities of measuring viewability we will begin to see a shift to new trading models built around viewability.

Over the last two years we have seen a lot of consolidation, what interests me most is the movement around attribution. This is by far advertising’s biggest challenge but also biggest opportunity. We have the means to measure all touchpoints and there are a lot of smart technologies to analyse this data. We need to work together to find the true value of each touchpoint and start to move towards more relevant advertising.

“NATIVE WILL BE A GAME CHANGER IN THE MOBILE SPACE NO QUESTION ABOUT IT.”



Campaign Management/ Optimisation

Ad Operations

Account Management

Technical Account Management

Agency Sales

BusinessDevelopment

Client Direct Sales

Insight and Analytics

Performance

Marketing Communication

Product Marketing

Digital Designers

Web Managers

Product Managers

Project Managers

Online Copywriters

Media Operations Digital Sales Marketing Content & Creative

@SphereDigRec spherelondon.co.ukt: 0203 728 2973

Developers

Publisher Sales

WINNER 2014‘Best Client Service’

Congratulationsto this year’s winners

Working with the leading publishers, brands,tech providers and agencies.

We’re the digital recruitment all - rounders.


Campaign Management/ Optimisation

Ad Operations

Account Management

Technical Account Management

Agency Sales

BusinessDevelopment

Client Direct Sales

Insight and Analytics

Performance

Marketing Communication

Product Marketing

Digital Designers

Web Managers

Product Managers

Project Managers

Online Copywriters

Media Operations Digital Sales Marketing Content & Creative

@SphereDigRec spherelondon.co.ukt: 0203 728 2973

Developers

Publisher Sales

WINNER 2014‘Best Client Service’

Congratulationsto this year’s winners

Working with the leading publishers, brands,tech providers and agencies.

We’re the digital recruitment all - rounders.


THE DRUM 27.MAY.15 www.thedrum.com INDUSTRY INSIGHTS29

SPHERE DIGITAL RECRUITMENT

If anything was clear from the DTA’s at the end of April it was that the industry is in great health and that businesses within this space continue to grow and revolutionise the way that media is traded. And as businesses evolve, pioneer and adapt to the ever changing environment it seems only logical that those who “win the biggest” will be the ones who can hire and retain the best talent.

Having worked with many rapidly expanding businesses within ad tech over the last 10 years, as well as the leading agency networks and brands directly, it is clear to see that there are some hard and fast rules when it comes to securing the best talent. Especially in what can be a competitive candidate market place.

Whether you are 1 person or 20 people there are some steps that you can take to make sure that you secure the best person for the job, in the least amount of time, meeting the fewest number of suitable candidates.

Have a great briefJust as you receive 10 CV’s and only want to see the top 5 candidates (based on the CV) candidates may receive 10 job briefs and only interview for the best 5 jobs (based on the job specs). Make sure your brief sells the job, the business and the importance of the role – avoid merely listing the responsibilities.

Additional sales collateral, including case studies and success stories from your existing team, are a great help too.

Start with the end in mindHiring somebody in a time efficient way takes planning. Set clear timeframes to conclude first, second, third interviews. Communicate these time frames to your recruiters and the candidates you are interviewing. Candidates like to know where they stand and if you clearly communicate your interview process it helps make a candidate feel engaged in, and important to your business from the start of the hiring process. And this means when you offer them a job, they are more likely to say yes.

Do what you say you are going to doMost hiring managers are busy and, although important, recruitment is something that is easy to put to the bottom of your list of priorities. It is not always as urgent as the “crisis management” that you deal with on a day to day basis.

Drastically changing an interview process or

the timeframes that you have communicated to a candidate can take the momentum out of the process.

You can go from being a candidate’s favourite choice to second or third favourite choice very quickly. When processes change or fluctuate we often see clients miss out on their top choice candidate. Even when businesses do get to the point where they make an offer to the candidate. This is frustrating for everybody involved and is totally within your control and easily avoidable.

Engage your candidatesIt may be the fifth interview that you have done this week yet it is the first time that this candidate has met with you.

Be interested and engage in them. You stand the best chance of seeing if they are right for your business by doing so. And if they are what you want you will have increased their interest in your business. If you do not like a candidate and you learn this quickly you can always politely draw the interview to a short end.

What are the best ways to hire ‘tough to find talent’ in a competitive market?

Tel: 020 3728 2973Email: [email protected]: spherelondon.co.ukTwitter: @SphereDigRec

Be prepared to sellIf you manage a candidate well throughout a process you can avoid a “bidding war” (which we always strongly discourage).

Introducing candidates to the key people in your business, spending time with candidates, having informal meetings (coffees etc), being interested in them and showing them why you are the right business for them, all make it easier for you to secure your top targets.

And one more thing…Build relationships with your recruiters, make them feel valued and help them learn about your business. Recruiters who feel important to clients will work harder to understand you and they will work harder for you.

It is up to a recruiter to develop such relationships and repay your trust, yet you must give the right ones the chance to.

For any other information on hiring trends and the very best ways to secure the very best people for your business, do feel free to get in touch with us below.

Ed SteerCo-Founder and Managing DirectorSphere Digital Recruitment

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IndustryInsights-SP.indd 29 18/05/2015 15:39

www.thedrum.com 27.MAY.15 THE DRUM30INDUSTRY INSIGHTS

QUANTCAST

The above quotation comes from Jef I. Richards, a professor at Michigan State University (MSU). Richards hits the nail on the head with regards to why online advertising is forcing a change in how we advertise. We have come a long way from the creative houses from the 60’s. Online advertising is not just one man in a room making creative decisions based on gut feel, advertisers have data, lots of data, it is time to use it to inform strategy and create great ads. Ads that are relevant every single time.

Revolution in the advertising industryThe traditional model can be terribly wasteful and offers no guarantees on who gets to see the ad. If a brand shows an advert on TV then there is a good chance that if it isn’t relevant or entertaining to that individual it will not be watched – and the advertiser will never even know.

Digital advertising is presenting brands with another option, namely that of buying single ads based on the person who will see them. Real time bidding has revolutionised the way that advertisers can buy ads because the advertisers can now see and track an

action prompted by someone seeing the ad.The data used by advertising technology means

brands can make calculated decisions on where to find an audience at a time when they will be most receptive to the message. There is no point in creating a brilliant, relevant ad if you cannot find the right audience.

The ingredients of great advertisingTraditionally ad tech partners enter the fray late in the process, serving the ad and nothing more. The issue here is that the granularity of data allows for incredibly accurate targeting of niche segments of the population yet commonly few creative options are supplied. For instance, all mums are not the same – some might have twins or children at very different ages yet they will all be shown the same ad. By feeding in the data early on in the planning, advertisers can identify those different groups within each campaign and consequently multiply the relevance of not just their online advertising but across their entire marketing mix.

Let’s consider an example; a large advertiser can use different providers for their advertising needs – a creative agency for ad creative (display ads, billboards, print, TV etc.) and media agency to distribute my

Ad tech should drive creativity not just execution

Amit KotechaHead of Marketing EMEAQuantcast

Tel: +44 (0) 203 322 7863Email: [email protected]: www.quantcast.comTwitter: @amitkotecha / @quantcast

campaign(s). To deliver media online, advertisers can end up working with a number of providers spread across mobile, both web and app, social, search and display (to name a few), targeting different parts of the purchase funnel. These providers are tasked to serve the ads usually with a specific goal. The entire process is complex, unconnected and increasingly fragmented.

Instead of creating a feedback loop we have created a one-way ad production system whereby I entrust the creative agency to build ads based on human hypothesis and a finite amount of information and then use advertising technology providers as ad servers. What can we do to change this? By bringing ad tech providers in earlier in the planning process, advertisers can use data to inform creative decisions and begin to make calculated and more informed decisions about my campaign. There is now a real-time feedback loop from online activity to influence not just online ads but the entire media plan - resulting in increased relevancy.

The online revolution represents a massive challenge for the advertising industry, things have to change. Don’t focus on execution and sacrifice creativity - use your execution to inform your creativity.

IndustryInsights-SP.indd 30 18/05/2015 15:40

www.thedrum.com 27.MAY.15 THE DRUM30INDUSTRY INSIGHTS

QUANTCAST

The above quotation comes from Jef I. Richards, a professor at Michigan State University (MSU). Richards hits the nail on the head with regards to why online advertising is forcing a change in how we advertise. We have come a long way from the creative houses from the 60’s. Online advertising is not just one man in a room making creative decisions based on gut feel, advertisers have data, lots of data, it is time to use it to inform strategy and create great ads. Ads that are relevant every single time.

Revolution in the advertising industryThe traditional model can be terribly wasteful and offers no guarantees on who gets to see the ad. If a brand shows an advert on TV then there is a good chance that if it isn’t relevant or entertaining to that individual it will not be watched – and the advertiser will never even know.

Digital advertising is presenting brands with another option, namely that of buying single ads based on the person who will see them. Real time bidding has revolutionised the way that advertisers can buy ads because the advertisers can now see and track an

action prompted by someone seeing the ad.The data used by advertising technology means

brands can make calculated decisions on where to find an audience at a time when they will be most receptive to the message. There is no point in creating a brilliant, relevant ad if you cannot find the right audience.

The ingredients of great advertisingTraditionally ad tech partners enter the fray late in the process, serving the ad and nothing more. The issue here is that the granularity of data allows for incredibly accurate targeting of niche segments of the population yet commonly few creative options are supplied. For instance, all mums are not the same – some might have twins or children at very different ages yet they will all be shown the same ad. By feeding in the data early on in the planning, advertisers can identify those different groups within each campaign and consequently multiply the relevance of not just their online advertising but across their entire marketing mix.

Let’s consider an example; a large advertiser can use different providers for their advertising needs – a creative agency for ad creative (display ads, billboards, print, TV etc.) and media agency to distribute my

Ad tech should drive creativity not just execution

Amit KotechaHead of Marketing EMEAQuantcast

Tel: +44 (0) 203 322 7863Email: [email protected]: www.quantcast.comTwitter: @amitkotecha / @quantcast

campaign(s). To deliver media online, advertisers can end up working with a number of providers spread across mobile, both web and app, social, search and display (to name a few), targeting different parts of the purchase funnel. These providers are tasked to serve the ads usually with a specific goal. The entire process is complex, unconnected and increasingly fragmented.

Instead of creating a feedback loop we have created a one-way ad production system whereby I entrust the creative agency to build ads based on human hypothesis and a finite amount of information and then use advertising technology providers as ad servers. What can we do to change this? By bringing ad tech providers in earlier in the planning process, advertisers can use data to inform creative decisions and begin to make calculated and more informed decisions about my campaign. There is now a real-time feedback loop from online activity to influence not just online ads but the entire media plan - resulting in increased relevancy.

The online revolution represents a massive challenge for the advertising industry, things have to change. Don’t focus on execution and sacrifice creativity - use your execution to inform your creativity.

IndustryInsights-SP.indd 30 18/05/2015 15:40 FullSinglePage.indd 1 19/05/2015 10:02

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