LONDON — The rise of super-targeted “programmatic” online ad buying may be cast as the rise of “Maths Men” over “Mad Men” – but one ad exec says marketers should refocus on using the new wealth of numbers to tell traditional creative stories.
“The language we’ve created for our industry is very difficult for most brands to comprehend … (and) assumes a minimizing role for people,” says Caspar Schlickum, EMEA MD of Group M’s data division Xaxis.
“Big data has become an end in its own right … a coding of the people we trying to market to as if they can understood by more data … dehumanizes the entire marketing process.
“I’ve never received a brief from a client saying, ‘Buy me something with RTB’. If we ask creatives within WPP what’s important in their industry, they talk about storytelling, creativity and engagement.”
Last week, WPP announced it will merge its Xaxis and 24/7 units, as AdAge reports.
This video was recorded at the Beet.TV programmatic video leadership summit sponsored by Videology, hosted by Xaxis at the London offices of GroupM.
