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ARTICLE

Digital Marketing Insights from Integral Ad Science

September 30, 2015 — by MediaMath    

MediaMath is committed to creating an open ecosystem for digital marketers which allows them to customize their marketing stacks and drive outcomes against their unique business goals. Our consumers are marketers and advertisers, so in an effort to educate them about the most impactful trends, help them navigate the landscape, and share the unique perspectives of our partners, we’ve asked the heads of marketing from partner companies to share their thoughts on their particular pocket of the industry. Avi Goldwerger, VP of Marketing at Integral Ad Science, speaks about what it’s like to be a marketer in the ever-evolving ad tech space and the importance of tying data to the business goals of brands.

In the digital ad tech space, we have the opportunity to work with marketers across all verticals. How do you think that being a head of Marketing in this industry differs from being a marketing leader in another vertical?

It takes more to keep up with the changes in the digital space than in any other vertical. It’s not enough to keep up with your own company’s business and that of your direct competitors; the overall dynamics of the industry has a direct impact on everyone. If you’re on vacation for a week and don’t read the industry news, you could miss something important that drastically changes the conversation. Things happen that quickly in our industry.

What do you find is the most exciting aspect of working in the ad tech space?

The most exciting thing about working in ad tech is seeing the dynamics and progress. With every technology improvement there are usually “side effects” that need addressing. An obvious example is the challenge of programmatic buying – while allowing advertisers to easily scale to millions and billions of impressions, and allowing smaller publishers to monetize their inventory, advertisers give up control over the audience and the quality of the media. Companies like ours are working to solve these hiccups along the way. The same is true for the introduction of new channels, measurement etc.

It is also incredibly exciting to work with brilliant minds to identify evolving needs, dream of new improvements, and be a part of the process from vision to launch.

What are some of the challenges you face as a marketing executive in this industry?

Being mindful of too much “tech speak.” We have scientists, engineers, and real academics at Integral who imagine, create, and perfect our solutions. But the ability to communicate the methods behind what seems like Chinese at times, both internally and externally, in a digestible, compelling way can be challenging. And even with clear communications, we have to also be sure it includes our differentiators clearly.

Another challenge that we’ve made great strides in overcoming this year is changing how clients feel about ad tech. We’re not just another fee or another box that needs to be checked. We help client reach business goals. Advertising can go on without ad tech. But the potential and promise of advertising is seriously undercut without ad tech.

How would you like to see the martech/ad tech space evolve?

The ad tech space is complicated and there’s always a need for education. Often times “creative marketing” takes advantage of the industry’s lack-of-knowledge, and misleading information is packaged in a way that covers weaknesses, or worse, positions them as strengths. I’d like to see the space evolve into a more knowledgeable client base that is able to make smart decisions based on facts. We are seeing progress there; our clients are asking smarter questions; I’d like to see more of that.

Explain some ways it’s increasingly important for every head marketer to be versed in digital.

Digital is here to stay – you can’t avoid it. As it becomes more complex, it becomes harder and harder to confidently delegate major brand decisions to the right people. A CMO who is well versed in digital is better adept to earn the trust of colleagues and stakeholders. We’ve all read about tense relationships between the CIO and the CMO – it’s an indication that CMOs have not quite “caught up” on digital. That will change over time.

What are some of the ways that you would like to see marketers use data and analytics to maximize their campaigns?
We’d like to see it connect it to real business goals. At Integral, we understand that at the end of the day, marketers aren’t just looking for a high viewability rate or low fraud. They’re trying to push a product, a service, a branding goal. When we think about our solutions, we strive to connect those dots. It’s not just about a number or a metric; it’s about impact.

As the technology in our industry continues to mature, what are some of your ideal scenarios for the evolution?

We already have great minds working in the industry; we need to be able to continue to attract the right people so we can continue to innovate. The ideal and most rewarding scenario for me would come from the client side, for them to be open-minded and willing to accept change. It’s not enough for us to innovate and launch new products; we need our partners, our clients, to be willing to admit that not everything that we are used to doing and have done for years is still applicable today. It’s not easy to admit, but it’s necessary in order to embrace the new and improved methods. We are seeing the industry having a hard time giving up the CPMs, CTR, and flawed attribution methods. We have more efficient ways of doing things now.

Integral Ad Science is quickly becoming a global company. What challenges do you face as you scale for new international markets?

The same opportunities that are happening in digital advertising here are happening around the world. For many of our clients who are looking to reach new customers globally, it’s important for us to be there with the same quality solutions they can find here at home.

Integral has a global vision, and we’ve aligned with partners that share that vision. In addition to building solutions that support and address local languages, market maturity, and regulations, communicating their value to new regions while remaining true to our brand can get tricky. We’ve been cautious not to enter new markets until we’re ready, and have seen tremendous success with that strategy.