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MediaMath’s 7 EMEA Trends for Programmatic Players in 2015

January 16, 2015 — by MediaMath

“We want to get 80%-85% of predictions right, not 100%. Or else we calibrated our estimates in the wrong way,” said Nate Silver, the American statistician famous for calling the 2008 US election win correctly (and overseer of the superb data story and visualisation site www.fivethirtyeight.com).

Making forecasts at this time of the year is both expected and makes the future-gazer a hostage to fortune. But, it only seems appropriate that we cast an eye over what 2015 is likely to hold for the programmatic landscape. If we hit 85% accuracy then we know we’ll at least meet with Nate’s approval.

With the combined help and insight of MediaMath Managing Director, EMEA, Dave Reed and Commercial Director Romain Gauthier, we have identified seven key trends that clients and agencies should have on their radar.

Here we go:

1.Cooperation and consolidation are on the cards in 2015 as the ‘ad tech’ universe matures. Expect acquisitions and mergers to accelerate and specific solution providers to be bought by larger marketing operating systems. MediaMath made acquisitions in 2014 including that of Upcast Social and will be looking at other strategic investments.

2.Data is the key to unlocking the benefits of programmatic trading and 2015 will see far better use of first and second party data. Companies will realise just how much high quality data they are sitting on and find better ways of integrating it into their strategy. Part of the trend will be an increase in the selling of first party data between brands. As brands reach a saturation point in marketing to their core consumer “they will need to find other audiences already engaging with, or expressing an interest in similar products,” says Dave Reed.

3.Retail will lead the pack as the vertical dedicated to accelerating testing and adoption of programmatic. Tesco has already bought a display advertising company with programmatic expertise while France’s largest retailer, Carrefour, is building a technology stack to improve data integration and activation. The travel industry won’t be far behind in pursuit of better segmentation and targeting via automated trading.

4.It will be vital to keep one step ahead of the consumer path to purchase and the crumbling cookie trail. With consumers moving seamlessly across devices and between offline and online, engaging the customer down the path to purchase will be paramount. Brands will need to develop a credible tracking solution. Allied to the cross-device journey is the challenge of attribution. Expect more sophisticated attribution models to emerge as forward-thinking companies move beyond last-click.

5.Social media networks, including Facebook and Twitter, will continue to expand their advertising capabilities and this trend will further blur the lines between earned and paid media. Driving social recommendation will be become a high priority for brands but they will demand greater agility in responsive strategies and ask for more robust metrics for campaign tracking from their technology partners.

6.There will be an increasing movement of ad spend budget from television to online video, and an accompanying increase in experimentation of programmatic trading in this arena. Romain Gauthier points out that connected TV ownership is widespread in France and 6.95m households are expected to switch over from pay-TV by 2016.

7.The debate over the definition of ad visibility should reach a conclusion. The IABs of 26 European territories are trying to reach agreement and a major prompt to action should be the fact Conde Nast and Group M have already devised a stricter visibility measurement model.

Technology Uncategorized

How Programmatic Boosts Performance Marketing in Spain

January 14, 2015 — by MediaMath — 2

MediaMath’s clients in Spain are on a learning curve to discover more about how programmatic trading can help their business and where the opportunities lie. Lorea Amezua, Manager of Platform Solutions, EMEA & LATAM for MediaMath explains how performance marketing specialists in Spain are finding its digital toolkit useful.

Performance marketing agencies in Spain are well placed to observe the larger trends in budget allocation and digital media buying. These agencies are increasingly intrigued by programmatic’s possibilities, especially as programmatic ad spend steadily grows in the region; its share in 2013 was 15% of total digital spend and that number is on track to 31% of total ad spend by 2017, according to the IAB and eMarketer respectively.

As expected with any relatively young technology, marketers are adopting a mix of strategies and there are client anxieties in the Spanish market that need to be addressed to increase investment. Jose Luis Valdivielso, chief operating officer for Affiperf Iberia and Latam, says that these focus on transparency and effectiveness. Valdivielso explains that many advertisers still want to know beforehand where banner ads will be displayed and the challenge is to explain how programmatic is helping the shift from a site-centric marketing approach to a far more effective user-centric model (i.e. serving the ad to the potential customer when it is most relevant to them and via the right channel).
The performance marketing agencies say they can see how using programmatic is increasing efficiency and taking a lot of the risk out of the agency-buying part of the equation.

Three key benefits have emerged:

• Programmatic modelling allows agencies to use statistical prediction to assess the potential of each user, when it would be best to serve ads to the prospective customer and when the agency can achieve the best price for an ad. The latter is particularly useful for Zanox, as it still works with a traditional performance model, where the advertiser is only obliged to pay once results have been delivered.

• Programmatic and real-time bidding (RTB) have also opened up the market, identifying new audiences for advertisers to target, which affiliates may have not previously engaged with through the standard networks. Valbuena says that “this gives the advertiser more choice and more opportunities to get their products in front of the right audience.”

• The technology allows fast testing of different strategies, for instance assessing how a broad branding-based strategy works against one that has a tighter audience segmentation to reach the target or to identify the target audience. It also helps bring back users to the site who have shown interest in a product via retargeting.

Spain is not as mature as more developed markets in programmatic advertising – which means there is plenty of opportunity for both agencies and their clients to gain a competitive edge with swift adoption of the right technology provider. Cristina Valbuena, head of advertising sales of Zanox Spain explains why Spain’s market poises agencies for success: “The introduction of programmatic and RTB means we have increased our efficiency and can more effectively identify our audience and convert them into customers. This has taken away the element of risk, allowing us to build on our success, rather than spend our time trying to find the right tactics.”

Data Media Social Media Technology Uncategorized

Hot Topics for 2015: From Outside the Walls of MediaMath

January 13, 2015 — by MediaMath

A new year awards us a fresh start and an opportunity to make some predictions for what we think will influence decisions in the year to come. In the digital space, which moves at breakneck speed, discussion around what trends we think will dominate the coming months not only sheds light on what is driving marketer demand, but what we actually want to happen, sooner rather than later. As such, we connected with best of breed email, attribution, and native partners that are a part of MediaMath’s OPEN Partner Marketplace, which enables marketers to access relevant information about the companies integrated with MediaMath. We also heard from Upcast Social, a MediaMath company. Here is what they had to say:

Dave Hendricks, President, LiveIntent

“The biggest shift will be more widespread use of first-party data for increased customer reach and frequency. Smart use of ‘people-based’ marketing technology will go a long way towards alleviating concerns about viewability and quality. Snapchat will successfully monetize. Mobile ad spend will quadruple as marketers with first-party data find ways to connect on the go. Programmatic Direct will become big business as brands bring the power of their data and combine it with SSP technology to increase page yields while still maintaining human relationships between publishers and the brands who want to reach their audiences.”

Nicole Loiacono, Marketing Events Manager, Visual IQ

“To truly engage with consumers, brands need to deliver highly relevant, personalized messages to each potential customer. In 2015, the ability to leverage first-party data stored in a brand’s customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise data warehouse (EDW) systems will become essential for building customized audience targeting strategies. By using this data in combination with advanced attribution, marketers can gain a much richer understanding of the “right” audiences to target, what products or services are most relevant to them, when they are most likely to buy, and the optimal combination of marketing tactics needed to convert them.”

Mike Goldberg, Senior Director of Marketing, TripleLift

“2015 will finally be the year of mobile, thanks to native advertising and programmatic media buying. Despite the explosive growth of consumers using mobile devices over the past few years, mobile advertising never really found its stride. Banner ads intended for desktops weren’t always suitable on screens almost 1/8 the size. Sure, we had higher CTRs, but this was mostly due to accidental clicks in attempts to close out of them. Enter native advertising. Delivered in-feed and integrated with content, these ads will be adopted by mobile marketers as a way to reach consumers without disrupting the user experience. And with more of this inventory being available programmatically, it will be easier to execute.”

Colin Kim, Product Marketing Manager, Upcast Social

“With MediaMath’s offering for native Facebook advertising via Upcast and FBX via T1, marketers are already set to take full advantage of paid social’s continuing growth this year. In 2015, we expect that the boundary between the two will become blurred, with native social inventory becoming more programmatic. Social advertising will be able to incorporate more consumer signals, purchase intention and behaviour, to generate real-time, efficient exposure of brand messages. Additionally, 2015 will determine if Facebook can successfully overcome YouTube’s dominance in online video. As Facebook continues to push beyond the ‘social’ label and extend its reach across the web, marketers will have even greater capability to target real people across the web and multiple devices.”

Learn more about MediaMath Retail here.

Events Uncategorized

Get Ready for the Year Ahead – MediaMath’s 2015 Marketing Calendar

January 12, 2015 — by MediaMath

With the winter holidays over, it’s time to get back into the swing of things and hit the ground running in 2015. To help you do that, MediaMath has created a marketing calendar that highlights the larger commercial holidays that marketers can put spend against, and there are plenty to choose from. The calendar also includes tips to boost (and connect) offline to online marketing efforts.

From SuperBowl to Valentine’s Day to March Madness and more — don’t miss out on marketing opportunities around these high touch commercial holidays to drive increased ROI from offline and online efforts.

Reference the MediaMath calendar for planning marketing initiatives and check out our digital strategy tips to help you get the most bang for your buck. Save it on your desktop, print it, cherish it. But most importantly, use it. The calendar also includes a chance to win ice cream. Yes, ice cream.

Technology Uncategorized

A New Year, A New You, and New Digital Marketing Too

January 9, 2015 — by MediaMath — 3

With 2015 already underway it’s the perfect time for retail marketers to reflect on the digital marketing advancements made in 2014 and to prepare themselves for what 2015 has to offer.

If 2014 had to be remembered for one thing, it might be the crescendo of interest around beacons (and location-based marketing), rather then their actual implementation in the shopping experience. This interest is part of the bigger marketing push to connect the physical with the virtual, and the on-line to the off-line. It also reflects the constantly evolving ways that consumers discover, research and shop for products, and the subsequent retail marketing response to those behaviors.

The ongoing transformation of digital shopping means that retailers need to effectively communicate to their varied audiences in a bespoke way, and at scale; retail marketers need to become all things to all people. Retailers shouldn’t neglect those digitally savvy Baby Boomers nor can they choose to ignore the insatiable appetite of some 80 millions Millennials.

So, what are retailers doing in 2015 to meet, and exceed, these diverse consumer expectations?

For starters, retailers will continue to stay on top of trends in omni-channel. As we’ve noted in past posts, Walmart, Target and Macy’s are all well ahead of the curve here. They’ve put their customers’ needs and expectations at the forefront and built strategies to meet and exceed them. That’s why these companies remained on top in 2014 – they’ve worked to create a consistent experience whether the customer is in their store or accessing the brand from their phone.

Along with that, the activation of customer data will continue to be the key to marketing success. Each of the demographic audiences referenced above exhibits very specific behavior – all of which can be activated programmatically. It’s incumbent upon retailers to analyze this data and understand how and why each of these audiences shops. What is their path to purchase? What is their mission? Why do they choose your store and your products? Are they loyal to your store and your brand, or are they simply shopping for the lowest price? Do they love you because you’re local, or have they only ever shopped online?

Building seamless and relevant experiences, from first interaction through purchase and beyond, for each customer is the goal – and that’s regardless of how each customer accesses the store. The connection between retailer and shopper should feel as genuine on a mobile device as it does in the store.

As shoppers evolve and become increasingly reliant on their digital devices for shopping, one thing will remain constant: they will tell retailers what they want, and they will expect retailers to listen. This year, half of all online purchases on Black Friday were made on a mobile device. Retailers that didn’t optimize for mobile shopping in 2014 will focus on incorporating the channel into their omni-channel strategy for the year ahead.

For more information on MediaMath Retail, visit the landing page.

Events Technology Uncategorized

CES and the Rise of the Internet of Things

January 8, 2015 — by MediaMath

Now in its 48^th year, the Consumer Electronics Show, or “CES,” kicked off earlier this week in Las Vegas, Nevada. The international trade show brings the most important brands, technology companies, and industry players together under one roof to showcase the latest consumer facing technological innovations.

So far, this year’s CES hasn’t disappointed. We’ve already heard from big tech brands like Samsung, with their 105-inch bendable TV, and award winning Galaxy Note Edge phablet. However, while walking the floor at CES, I was struck most by the advancements being made in connected technologies and devices. The one theme that stands out most at this year’s CES has to be the Internet of things and “smart” devices.

The Internet of Things, a term that rose to prominence in 2014, is here to stay. The sheer amount of physical devices on display at CES that are connected and “smart” is impressive. From cars (Audi), to tech gadgets, to products like tennis rackets and baby clothing, more and more items are being made smarter to serve the consumer.

This new, open, ecosystem of products is reminiscent of the digital advertising ecosystem in that when processes and technologies are “talking” to each other the end user is sure to benefit. A colleague of mine said that “the key to driving performance is to know and understand the interrelationship between the different types of programmatic products and the values of each of the functional parts to a marketer and publisher,” when talking about the open exchange. Replace “programmatic products” with “marketing solutions” and the statement holds true for brands looking to build out their marketing stack. If 2015 is going to be the year of the Internet of things, I’m confident that 2015 will also be the year that marketers master the art of identifying and building the technology stacks to power their digital marketing efforts.

For more information on MediaMath Retail, visit the landing page.

Technology Uncategorized

Maximising Multiple Touchpoint Marketing

January 7, 2015 — by MediaMath

This article was first published by EMEA Managing Director Dave Reed on Fourth Source.

The path to conversion has changed beyond all recognition. Traditionally considered a linear route, it is now a multiple touchpoint experience where 40% of online adults start an activity on one connected device and complete it on another.

The journey from awareness to conversion now includes online and offline activity including prospecting display ads, retargeting emails, sponsored search, video, and social media, in addition to the more traditional offline touchpoints such as in-store promotion. Different devices also play different roles in the path to conversion.

In retail, around a third (32%) of UK consumers make a monthly purchase on their smartphone, but this only tells half the story. Smartphones are more typically used for browsing and price comparison, with many users switching to a larger screen such as a tablet or laptop for the actual purchase.

Although marketers have responded to this increase in digital touchpoints – with total UK digital ad spend increasing 15% to £6.3 billion in 2013 – many brands are lagging far behind customers in adopting a truly cross-channel strategy. Most still approach marketing in silos, with specific technologies and acronyms for each digital channel, which can result in missed opportunities and a disrupted user experience.

So how can brands become channel-agnostic and improve the customer experience by streamlining the marketing process across all touchpoints? Here are two key steps the industry needs to consider:

Education

Education is a great starting point to help marketers understand the benefits that technology can bring in facilitating a cross-channel strategy and the industry is starting to wake up to this need. Overly complex language can act as a barrier to adoption, so simplification is critical, while an emphasis on marketing benefits rather than features of a particular technology will also create resonance and cut through with marketers.

Aligning ad tech and marketing operations

While it is important for marketers to fully understand the technology available, advertising technology must be aligned and work in conjunction with broader marketing operations. Companies need to rethink the structure of marketing departments so that marketing and digital teams no longer work independently of one another. Instead of working in silos, marketers should come together to share data, meet the challenge of the multi-channel consumer, agree on common definitions, and educate key stakeholders within their businesses.

These changes can be achieved by adopting a single platform-based approach to digital marketing, and by selecting a technology provider that can unify marketing channels and align the brand across an ever-changing variety of touchpoints. A single marketing operating system allows marketers to synchronise data management, media execution, creative management, and decisioning to optimise every consumer interaction across all channels.

It can enable marketers to set precise, brand specific goals for marketing outcomes, and enable their digital marketing strategy to respond in real time across the entire customer journey to achieve these goals.

These are exciting times for marketers, who now have an ever-increasing number of digital channels and touchpoints they can maximise to interact with customers. Embracing the technology, sharing data and working towards common goals can provide brands with the tools they need to enhance the customer experience and adopt a truly cross-channel strategy.

Data Technology Uncategorized

Parlez-Vous Programmatic?

January 5, 2015 — by MediaMath

Having opened our Paris office in the later half of 2014, we recently decided to put the spotlight on the French programmatic marketplace and interviewed Emmanuel Poncet of Zebestof and Soufian Aboulfaouz, from Adventure Media, (both of which are OPEN Certified Buyers) to see if we’re all speaking the same language when it comes to providing value for advertisers.

France has a thriving community of ecommerce advertisers, in a wide range of verticals (retail, FMCG, travel, banking, and telcos). A technology rich country, it’s been no stranger to the rise of ad tech.

Emmanuel Poncet, early adopter of real-time bidding and VP International Sales & Marketing of Paris-based trading desk Zebestof, which was recently acquired by CCM Benchmark Group (the first publisher group in France), says that the initial uptake of programmatic buying of display in France has been slower than in the US and the UK. This has been largely due to conservative views and reluctance to change the status quo. He saw the same situation when he started selling sponsored links in 2000 when agencies and advertisers questioned the effectiveness and he heard comments like:“We don’t believe in auction-based models. There is only text. It will not work.” But sometimes it’s not about believing, it’s about leading in the early stages.

And fast-forward 15 years, 60% of digital spend is now going to search. It’s apparent French attitudes can change.

Now there is evidence of real growth in programmatic on multiple levels. Facebook Exchange and private exchanges with LaPlaceMedia and AudienceSquare have changed the game. Online display spend in France via real-time bidding (RTB) grew to $151 million in 2013 and is expected to reach around $250 million by 2016.

Soufian Aboulfaouz, from Adventure Media cites the rise of premium marketplaces, video, and mobile SSPs as strong indicators that there is significant increase in budgets for programmatic buying.

We will see even more growth when advertisers realise the value of their first-party data for both branding and performance purposes.

In the not so distant past, media planners were unable to achieve any real depth in their audience targeting and so saw large amounts of budget wastage, says Aboulfaouz. Advertisers now realise that paying more attention to programmatic technology is far more effective in optimising and controlling their media buys, freeing them to be creative again in their marketing roles.

But for France to become a powerhouse of programmatic-fueled performance there are key challenges to address:

• Education. Advertisers in France still need to be accompanied through the complexity of programmatic buying. “Our clients need simplicity, performance, and systems that work,” says Aboulfaouz. “Our role as a vendor is to make all the power of the programmatic ecosystem available and straightforward.”

• Recognising and championing innovation. At this vital stage in the development of France’s programmatic ecosystem it’s important that innovation and agility is encouraged and not stifled – whether the ideas come from individuals, independent agencies or the bigger players. A sharing of learnings via conferences, summits and other events should be promoted.

• Performance metrics agreement. Both Poncet and Aboulfaouz agree that the French lean to ‘last-click’ attribution and this needs to change. To suggest that if a user was exposed to a brand campaign five times, the first four exposures have made no impact, or 80% of the total impressions or advertising spend was redundant is ridiculous. Poncet says he sees agencies starting to push for a change and move towards fractional attribution, safe in the knowledge they are fully supported by a robust technology platform where algorithms determine the value of an impression to the advertiser and whether it is worth bidding on.

• Transparency. French agencies and suppliers share the same challenges as mature markets in gaining client trust, says Poncet. ‘Blackbox’ models such as ad networks and retargeters are in danger of losing out to more transparent trading desks that can demonstrate where the client’s ads are shown, so client education is paramount.

• Data-driven insight. RTB in France is now outperforming any traditional media plan thanks to a combination of accurate data pools and effective proprietary formats – including rich media and full page take overs, says Poncet. This is encouraging brand advertisers to shift their budget towards RTB to optimise ROI.

The future looks promising for France’s programmatic scene. A technology-friendly country by nature, France is likely to follow similar trends as the US and the UK with big name advertisers seeing the value in programmatic. Marketers themselves are also evolving into digital natives who see the opportunities that technology offers so in tandem these developments should prove an equation for success.

Technology Uncategorized

What Does It Mean to Partner?

December 31, 2014 — by MediaMath

This guest post is by Ron Fusco of 3Q Digital, an OPEN Gold Certified Buyer.

Today’s advertising technology landscape is constantly shifting, and where agencies once dominated the relationship with brands, that’s not always the case anymore. As mentioned in my previous post, the agency delivers strategic oversight to the execution of client campaigns. If we’re focused on the strategy, we need to be able to rely on partners like MediaMath to provide a reliable and scalable technology. Beyond the technology itself, MediaMath also provides us with updates and insight regarding the platform, so not only can we count on a solid tech foundation, we also have a team that can both ensure that the technology will run smoothly, and that we’re optimizing it for this particular use case.

Everyone, from the brand to our team to the MediaMath team, is focused on delivering results. With a common goal and a well thought-out strategy, the tactics fall into place easily.

Even with that being said, many brands are choosing to take their media buying in-house, a point of discussion that was raised by the CEO of WPP. However, for many brands the agency partnership will continue to be the right choice.

Joanna O’Connell, Director of Research at AdExchanger, notes that “the lines between the classic media agency and the new breed of service partner…continue to blur,” when writing about the evolution of the agency role, While 3Q Digital is an agency by definition, the services offered would certainly place us in the bucket of the “new breed of service partner.” The combination of skills, managed service, and technology ensures that we drive the best results for our brands with our bespoke technology stack. That’s because we ensure there’s a strong partnership between the brands, the tech companies, and us. To us, there are key differences between a relationship and a partnership.

Partners share the same goals. The brand’s success is our success.
Partners are transparent. We are all honest about our capabilities and the results we bring.
Partners openly share knowledge. The brand shares its knowledge of the customer and the market; the tech company shares its knowledge of the technology and best practices; and the agency shares its knowledge of strategy and tactics for driving success.

Technology Uncategorized

Automated Guaranteed – The Benefits for Advertisers and Publishers Alike

December 29, 2014 — by MediaMath — 2

The modes of buying inventory programmatically extend beyond the open auction format. Pioneering advertisers use a combination of buying methods to execute successful digital marketing campaigns. Earlier in the year, we shared our own definitions of the most common non-remnant buying methods: Automated Guaranteed, Premium Programmatic, and Private Marketplace deals, and in this post we’ll delve a bit deeper into how advertisers and publishers each benefit when they use these modes of buying and selling.

Benefits for Advertisers

Advertisers using a marketing operating system can secure committed buys around volume and value and seamlessly traffic these deals into a publisher’s ad server. Automated Guaranteed directly connects marketers with the web’s most premium publishers through a single platform, and enables marketers to search for inventory that they know delivers results. Through MediaMath’s Deal Discovery app, which acts as a backbone that houses programmatic planning tools for premium media buying, marketers are able to search for inventory that is not available in networks or exchanges; inventory that is typically directly sold by the publisher.

By leveraging Premium Programmatic, marketers access to audiences ahead of the open exchange. They benefit from being able to target more users, and in advance of some of their competition.

Benefits for Publishers

Advertisers aren’t the only ones that gain value from guaranteed and private marketplace deals. Through Automated Guaranteed, publishers are able to easily promote their available inventory, from the efficiency of discoverability, as well as the direct negotiation and trafficking of premium buys without the high overhead and manual work of the RFP.

Smart publishers who embrace the new ways to transact with marketers leverage frameworks like MediaMath’s Deal Discovery App to market their inventory directly to marketers without ever having to pick up the phone. Programmatic Premium also gives publishers the benefit of higher CPMs.

Furthermore, publishers are finding operational efficiencies through Automated Guaranteed and Premium Programmatic — helping ensure their premium inventory and audiences help achieve marketers’ goals without high infrastructure costs. By using the open exchange, publishers can identify advertisers that they haven’t worked with before, and are able to target their sales teams on new brands that can be migrated up funnel to a guaranteed buy.

Programmatic technology reduces the intermediaries that stand between the advertiser and the publisher and is drastically changing the digital media marketplace for the better. Real conversations between brands and publishers are coming together, and both sides are finally sitting on the same side of the table, focused on efficiency, scale and performance throughout the entire value chain.

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