Unilever’s Sobol Switches On To AI-Driven TV Ads, Shoppable TV

MARCO ISLAND, FL — One of the world’s biggest consumer goods companies, one with a rich heritage in TV brand-building, is getting excited about the capabilities and tricks of the new, internet-powered TV. With brands like Persil and Cif, Unilever is a big media spender. In this video interview with Beet.TV at the IAB’s Annual […]

 
 

Charting The Rise Of Direct-To-Consumer Brands with LUMA’s Kawaja

LAS VEGAS—Having categorized more than 400 marketers in the direct-to-consumer space, LUMA Partners knows what has helped to make many of them successful. Trying to imitate them within the confines of traditional marketing isn’t easy, so some legacy companies are acquiring them for both their market share and contemporary culture, according to Founder & CEO […]

 
 

Blockchain ‘Will Improve Quality Of Agency Life’: Cannes Panel

CANNES — A lot of industry insiders are talking these days about how the traditional ad agency is dying. That may or may not be true, depending on your persuasion. But a 2018 intervention by new blockchain technology could at least improve the quality of agencies’ lives in the foreseeable future. That was the hope […]

 
 

New Blockchain Ad Consortium Debates An End To Ad ‘Inertia’

CANNES — Worries from ad buyers and sellers over how portions of their money get siphoned off by ad-tech platforms have prompted an “inertia” in which players have become reticent to try new tools. But a panel of industry executives convened by Beet.TV debated how blockchain technology could usher in a new era of transparency […]

 
 

Unilever’s Blockchain Goals: Clearer Ecosystem, Better Business Decisions

CANNES – Rob Master is excited about the promise of transparency, visibility and measurement for Unilever as it helps to pioneer a blockchain consortium with IBM and Mediaocean. To him, it’s all about prioritizing dollars. “The digital ecosystem is fraught I think, as we’ve all seen with a host of challenges,” says the VP of […]

 
 

Hulu’s Peter Naylor: Reputation And Brand Safety Also Means Budget Safety

PALM SPRINGS, Calif – With the demand for digital transparency and brand safety only getting stronger, Hulu is taking a “very direct” approach to making its inventory available to advertisers via programmatic transactions. “We’re writing our own rules for our own game when it comes to automation and programmatic,” says SVP of Advertising Sales Peter […]

 
 

AppNexus Sees ‘An Explosion’ Of Video, Eyes The Linear TV Space: CEO Brian O’Kelley

PALM SPRINGS, Calif – Like many adtech companies, AppNexus had long supported video. Two years ago, it decided to lean hard into the winds of change roiling the television industry by investing in its own video demand-side platform, supply-side platform and ad server. “The cool thing is it’s working,” says CEO Brian O’Kelley. That turns […]

 
 

IAB Focus On Brands An ‘Inflection Point’ For Industry: NBCUniversal’s Scott Schiller

PALM SPRINGS, Calif – The Internet Advertising Bureau’s focus on brands at the 2018 Annual Leadership Conference marks an inflection point for the organization and all of advertising and media, according to NBCUniversal’s Scott Schiller. That it’s happening now “is a perfect setting for us to really focus on how do we bring brands closer […]

 
 

Unilever’s Keith Weed On Collaborating To Improve Digital Platform Content, Using Blockchain To Vet Transactions

PALM SPRINGS, Calif – Unilever is working with social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube on a “collaborative” basis to improve their content for the good of society while building a private blockchain to tackle transparency issues surrounding its own digital advertising. “The swamp isn’t very transparent,” says Unilever Chief Marketing & Communications Officer Keith […]

 
 

Unilever Will Use Blockchain To Cleanse Digital Supply Chain: IBM iX’s Babs Rangaiah

PALM SPRINGS, Calif – Behind Unilever’s public demand for greater trust on digital platforms is an ambitious plan by the global marketer to embrace blockchain technology. Its first step is to build a private blockchain to begin cleaning up the digital media supply chain, with its preponderance of middlemen and conflicting numbers. “Blockchain was built […]

 
 

AppNexus CEO Brian O’Kelley: Only Transparency Will Provide Trust In Digital Ecosystem

PALM SPINGS, Calif  – In the interest of promoting digital advertising transparency, AppNexus has done “a complete opening” of its books over the last six months. This type of leadership role should be adopted by  every participant in the digital ecosystem for the benefit of marketers and publishers, says CEO Brian O’Kelley. “I think it’s […]

 
 

Moat’s Goodhart Appraises ‘Screen Real Estate’ For Video Measurement

HOLLYWOOD, Florida – It’s been said that the most valuable real estate is all about location. It’s no different with video advertising, but consumption habits are changing so fast that they are hard to measure. Enter the Moat Video Score, a new impression-level metric for measuring digital video exposures that focuses on length of creative, […]