Learning To Love, And Solve, Ad Land’s ‘Measurement Crisis’

So many media, so many metrics. The job of a marketer has become fragmented indeed. No sooner has one new metric been cooked up, it seems another sprouts up, making measurement like whack-a-mole for many executives. Should the industry embrace the chaos, or shoot for a single, all-encompassing success metric? “We’ve been in the midst of […]

 
 

Keep Measurement Simple: OMD’s Winkler

It’s a world in which more data can be measured than ever before – and marketers are on the cusp of being able to thread them all together. But, just because they can’t quite yet, they shouldn’t be hard on themselves. That was the view of panelists convened at an industry discussion. “There are too many areas that […]

 
 

Creativity Must Meet Math In Tomorrow’s Ads: Vonage’s Szumowski

These days, marketers have copious data at their fingertips and can target and sequence advertising with mathematical precision. But where’s the fun in that? “Sometimes, you’ve just got to wing it; sometimes, it’s about gut,” says Vonage media VP Kathryn Szumowski. She believes programmatic advertising technology can enable more, not less, creative advertising. “We want to […]

 
 

The End Of The Advertising Era Is Upon Us: BoA’s Paskalis

Lou Paskalis sees a world, not too far from now, in which advertising as an industry is over. Media evolution is coming to necessitate a shift in the way brands reach consumers, from old broadcast to as era in which they must work hard using content to engage. “We’re at the end of the advertising era […]

 
 

To Side-Step Ad Blocking, Get Out Of Advertising, Brand Execs

If you believe some of the recent analysis and forecasts for the effect of ad blocking on the business, you would be forgiven for pulling over the duvet and going back to bed. But how are some of the biggest brands reading the apparent threat? With a mixture of trepidation and confidence, according to a recent […]

 
 

Should Brands Make Content People Would Pay For?

Yes; these days, brands are enthusiastically creating “content”, the material publishers used to call editorial, in a bid to blend in and influence consumers. But what is the real place of “content” in a marketer strategy? And are they prepared to to the next step – to create content that’s so good people would pay for it? […]

 
 

How GroupM Establishes Trust With Private Marketplaces

When it came on to the scene, so-called “programmatic” advertising was all about real-time bidding in open online marketplaces. That meant advertisers often didn’t know where they were buying ads – a far cry from the old days of manual display sales. Over time, the industry has evolved to ringfence sections of the web in to […]

 
 

Is It Time Ad Land Refocused From Data To Creative?

Data, data everywhere. The modern marketer has copious data sources at her fingertips to plan, buy and assess online advertising. Amid the conversion of Mad Men in to Maths Men, it feels like “data” is the only game in town. But are we beginning to witness a counter-revolution, a return to the roots of Madison […]

 
 

Ad Blocking Now Mainstream But Needs Nuance: Ghostery’s Tillman

One of the leading companies powering content blocking software admits it was wrong to let users of one mobile ad blocking application block all mobile ads – but the fact so many users did is indicative of the state mobile advertisers have put themselves in. Ghostery makes a browser add-on that helps users see and control which companies can track […]

 
 

Mindshare’s Bitterman’s Search for “Automating Intelligence”

The very notion of an advertising campaign is changing from longterm planning to realtime delivery and media optimization. Mindshare has been one of  the media agencies in the forefront of the transformation.  While the agency employs a number of tools including programmatic, the aim now is around “automating intelligence,” explain Jordan Bitterman, Chief Strategy Officer of […]

 
 

Ads Must Work To Earn Back Users’ Respect: BoA’s Paskalis

Consumers have more content available than ever – but they are also swimming in a sea of ads. With so many opportunities available, it has become tempting for marketers to deploy unavoidable ad tactics. But so much pushy-pushy has ended up being counterproductive, says one major-brand ad exec. Instances of ad blocking are, perhaps, testament to that. […]

 
 

To Fend Off Fraud Robots, Buy Ads Direct: NYT’s Zimbalist

The sky is falling in ad land thanks to a combination of threats including non-human traffic, the practice in which nefarious publisher sites game ad views to reap revenue. But don’t paint all publishers with the same brush, says New York Times ad products SVP Michael Zimbalist. He notes a recent Association of National Advertising study that found […]

 
 

Ad Blocking Is Symptom Of Customer Abuse

According to PageFair’s latest report, ad blocking grew by 41% globally in the last 12 months and there are now 198 million active adblock users around the world. That fact is worrying advertisers. But what’s the reason? Over-zealous publishers who litter their pages with ads that clutter users’ experience, say a couple of executives who […]

 
 

true[X] Doesn’t Serve Fox Alone, explains COO David Levy

It may have been bought by 21st Century Fox a year ago, but video ad tech platform true[X] is taking pains to say that doesn’t mean it serves just one studio master. “true[X] is still an independent organization – we still service ABC, CBS, Viacom,” says true[X] COO and C0founder David Levy, in this video interview with Beet.TV. The company’s […]

 
 

Clean Up Mobile To Beat Ad Blockers: GroupM’s Montgomery

It’s no wonder so many people are blocking ads if the mobile content experience is so iffy, right? With increasingly-rich mobile ads trying hard to get more screen time as consumers browse the web or apps, would it help to just… ease off a bit? “Ad blocking has been around for years and years now – but […]

 
 

Publishers, Hack Your Way To Better Ads: OMD’s Winkler

In a media world fast moving to a fragmented array of multi-screen consumption, advertisers are racing to measure holistic consumption – and the effect of multi-screen ads. But are they asking the right questions? OMD chief digital and innovation officer Ben Winkler doesn’t think so, and he’s got a better idea. Winkler says the history of online […]