C-Suite Guide to Global Programmatic Media Advertising
Established in 2014, Advant Technology Ltd has worked with some of the largest brands in the world and spent millions of dollars on advertising for its clients. Whilst we only have offices in London, Advant Technology is an international programmatic agency managing global campaigns in the UK. CEO Ben Myers observes changing consumer behaviour and the media strategies that follow it.
If you are part of the management team in an international organization and want to learn the hype around this multi-billion dollar industry, this blog post is for you. Fear not. Next time someone at the lunch table throws around phrases like private marketplaces, programmatic direct, demand-side platform or even data management platform, you’ll know exactly what they mean.
So let’s get into it.
Programmatic advertising is the process that determines when, where, and for how much to bid on online ad space. It involves automation technology that makes it possible to buy online media by using algorithms instead of a manual process by humans to determine the value of ad inventory. It does this in real-time via a global bidding landscape, which is why sometimes you’ll hear programmatic being called real-time bidding (RTB).
Most commonly, it includes formats such as video, digital display banners and native but also connected TV, digital audio and out-of-home advertising. Programmatic spending has seen colossal growth globally, no matter the market, which is no surprise given the rise in e-commerce and the ever-growing competitiveness for brands to be more cost-effective in reaching their target audience.
The Global Programmatic Industry
- A new generation of technologies has made it possible to automate key aspects of the advertising business, including buying and selling advertisements.
- The concept behind programmatic ads is that they should bring more efficiency into online media buying by eliminating human error and making it possible to place ads with pinpoint precision whilst taking thousands of buying factors into account.
- Programmatic is a more streamlined approach to media buying than traditional media buying, helping advertisers increase their return on investment, improve ad targeting and streamline their marketing efforts by using automated software.
- Advertisers must evolve their strategy and embrace programmatic media if they want to stay current in today’s marketing world.
Today, the path to purchase is non-linear; consumers are increasingly influenced by digital channels everywhere they go. Programmatic has helped standardize media buying on a global level. As a result, we have worked with many firms that have redirected their marketing budgets to programmatic media managed by the global marketing team as opposed to local marketing where traditional investment would have been in print and TV, something that would have been very difficult to do on a multi-market international level but with the advent of the global programmatic RTB ecosystem, it’s now much more straightforward.
Advantages of Programmatic Advertising
- Faster workflow due to real-time bidding & programmatic tools
- Hyper-targeted audience for a better return on investment
- Automated buying methodology
- 100% trackable
- Reduces human effort
- Transparent
- Time-to-market
- Lower cost of media buying
- More precise targeting
Challenges of Programmatic Advertising
- More complex data architecture to integrate data sources across different channels, devices and partners
- New insights from big data may create privacy concerns
- Integrating data from different sources is a challenge
- Limited inventory in some markets and getting ad placement on desired sites may be difficult
- Data-driven automation can be overwhelming
- Increased competition for media buys
- A lack of transparency on how money is being spent depending on your infrastructure and media buying approach
- Brands have a difficult time monitoring engagement metrics due to an overload of ads displayed across multiple web pages and ad networks
- While it’s easy to set up a campaign for programmatic advertising, brands struggle with optimizing their strategy post-launch
- Hiring a good talent
Now that we understand a little about what programmatic advertising is, the advantages and disadvantages, let’s look at how consumer behaviour is changing and how we need to think about reaching our target audience.
Non-Linear Path-to-Purchase & Cross-Device Campaigns
We first need to consider consumers’ non-linear journey; this is prevalent in both b2b marketing and b2c marketing. To address the fact that consumers are present across many touchpoints, we need to use programmatic advertising that reaches consumers wherever they are in the most efficient way to influence their purchase behaviour, one way to do this is by implementing cross channel campaigns.
Cross-Channel Campaign Implementation
Cross channel campaign implementation is an excellent opportunity for marketers to capitalize on the customer’s journey. This knowledge can lead to personalized cross-channel campaigns that address user needs across the buyer journey. An agency will need insights into the most popular channels used across different countries to create an effective advertising strategy.
Cross-Device Campaigns
When viewing their web content behaviour or interacting with mobile applications, users may have several devices that are continually connected to the internet, allowing marketers to collect data about user behaviour and habits.
This information is invaluable for creating a personalized experience. Users tend to do research online before purchasing an item, so knowledge of common interests leads to effective marketing strategies for products or services desired by customers.
What Should Global Brands look for in a Programmatic Agency?
Marketers may seek the help of an experienced global digital media agency to plan and conduct cross-screen, cross-device and cross-channel campaigns for maximum exposure and cost-efficiency.
An effective international programmatic media agency has experience & insights into global markets and takes the time to monitor user behaviour across different countries. This knowledge can lead to cross-device, cross-channel marketing campaigns that capitalize on the consumer’s activity at any given buyer journey stage.
For example, users who prefer using their mobile devices when engaging with content online will automatically share information within certain apps without even thinking about it. An experienced global digital media agency is aware of this phenomenon, which allows them to create relevant advertisements based on their location, habits and interests.
Brands and full-service marketing agencies should employ an experienced programmatic media planning agency team who understand the various technologies available for implementing artificial intelligence, machine learning and other disruptive technologies.
Programmatic strategy and agency services:
It is beneficial to choose a company that has worked with globally recognized brands, providing end-to-end services that span strategy and content development to campaign execution.
Whether B2B or B2C, a programmatic media agency should offer complete transparency. They should be able to explain what you can expect from the campaign. How they will specifically target your niche audience and the number of expected impressions per month/week/day, and how this may translate into an ROI.
As technology has advanced exponentially over time, businesses have had to keep up with the “new normal” by enacting new strategies and recruiting more tech-savvy talent.
This is really where a programmatic agency comes in. The ability to manage quickly changing digital content/technology with the help of an agency comes with a cost but has great potential for long-term benefits.
Misconceptions about Programmatic Advertising?
Although the industry is getting more sophisticated, there are still a number of prevalent misconceptions that senior management teams should be aware of.
One common misconception is that programmatic media will replace all other forms of media buying and planning, which it won’t. Programmatic can assist advertisers with effective targeting, personalization and reporting throughout their campaigns, rather than seeing it purely as an alternative channel to TV or newspaper ads.
Programmatic is not a “one size fits all.” With this medium, it’s important to remember that every client/brand/ industry is different and therefore requires unique solutions.
Programmatic is more than just placing an ad on a webpage: it’s about having access to one of the largest pools of data in history so advertisers can deliver on their branding and business strategy goals.
While some brands still believe that programmatic advertising is reserved for digital-first businesses, this misconception will likely fade as global companies continue to invest in this medium.
Digital Advertising Reporting Deep Dive
Reporting gives management stakeholders the insights to understand your media investment. Good reporting is the backbone of a robust programmatic campaign.
- Set up reports for each market [you will see big differences by country, if you are running a US campaign, consider viewing reports by state]
- Set up real-time dashboards [summary of all campaign activity/key performance indicators (KPIs)]
- Centralized reporting [to have one view of all activity]
- Summarise key metrics in a dashboard so you can easily see them, e.g. impressions, clicks etc., [useful for ad tech managers]
- Use charts and graphs [to visualize data over time, spot trends via visual aids]
- Use dashboards that are colourful and not too bright [to ease viewing the data]; we like to use colours that are consistent with our clients brand guidelines
- Use metrics that match your goals for campaigns such as sales, website traffic etc. [do not rely solely on clicks or ad spend if you want sales or conversions]
- Look at why campaigns are succeeding/failing and determine the root cause so you can resolve issues. [when optimizing campaign activity, it’s essential to review and learn from past performance to improve future results.]
- Keep in mind that humans are attracted to colour and visual elements. [in our experience, we find yellow & green to be most appealing for ad tech managers, but test your own brand colours and designs against the ones you think work best]
Is International Programmatic Advertising Safe?
The beauty of programmatic advertising is your brand can quickly appear across millions of sites and rack up billions of branded impressions across the globe; however, this does come with risk. Therefore, it is crucial to ensure your team is taking steps to ensure a clean campaign that will not tarnish your brand image, avoiding your ads appearing next to inappropriate or illegal content.
Buying programmatically can mean that you are buying large inventory groups via third-party ad exchanges rather than directly from a trusted publisher. This means that there needs to be a level of trust between buyers and sellers to resolve any problems amicably. There are safety nets in place to help ensure your ads appear on appropriate websites, but they are not infallible. Consider using private, trusted deals if you are a highly sensitive brand.
Look for agencies that provide transparency around inventory sources and where they stand on keeping brands safe from harmful content.
Transparency will help you better understand what inventory your ads will appear against.
Can you buy premium inventory through programmatic technology?
Yes.
Premium inventory is defined as exclusive, guaranteed ad space sold at a premium (i.e., above the market rate) through direct deals.
What is the best programmatic advertising platform?
Your media agency should help choose a platform to deliver you the best digital marketing results.
Let’s take a look at some of the leaders:
AdForm offers a suite of products, including display, video, social and native advertising. Some of the formats you can find in Adform are: banner ads (text/image), interstitials, rich media ads (native ad networks, video).
Teads offers an array of formats for advertisers, including video (mostly out-stream), native and CTV (Connected TV). You can access their inventory through a private marketplace or run programmatic campaigns directly.
AppNexus describes itself as an ” open platform for programmatic buying “. It provides access to inventory across more than 600 ad exchanges and boasts access reaching 700M unique visitors a month.
Google DV360 is a DSP in the Google Marketing Platform that is built upon DoubleClick Bid Manager. It offers a range of formats, including in-app native, mobile web rich media, display ads using DoubleClick Studio templates, and YouTube masthead ads.
MediaMath is a DSP that allows you to buy programmatic ads and an extensive range of inventory and formats, including in-stream video, interstitials, display advertising, banners and so on.
Demandbase aims at B2B companies and offers to target by company name, industry and job title for marketing professionals.
TradeDesk offers access to inventory across a wide range of ad exchanges and supply-side platforms. It provides a range of formats, including standard banners, mobile ads, video ads, social media and Instagram. It uses data points and machine learning across the programmatic ecosystem to target audiences cost-effectively. The Tradedesk only works with media agencies.
Matomy is a global performance-based marketing company that operates as an ad exchange for publishers and a DSP for advertisers. It offers a wide range of formats across display, video and mobile. Matomy is close to an ad network.
Criteo is an advanced retargeting platform that claims to access over 700 million consumers worldwide. It offers a range of ad formats, including native ads, social media, banners, and product listing ads (PLAs).
Wrap-Up
As part of the management team, ask hard questions. The investments made by your team and their agencies will impact your bottom line.
If you found this information helpful, please let us know. We can provide a customized strategy for your brand that is tailored to the way your customers think and behave. Our team of experts are ready and waiting to work with you. We develop effective international programmatic media strategies to generate sales by using the power of human behaviour at each stage in the buyer journey funnel from the first impression through to conversion.
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