Brands Deserve Better Media
A weekly column from @tomjdenford
Marketers know that understanding a brand’s programmatic maturity is key to designing its programmatic future
In this week’s column, I’m giving you lovely readers a sneak peek at a new free tool we are rolling out at ID Comms. Its called the Programmatic Maturity Scorecard and available in preview mode here. Give it a try.
You may have noticed that in recent weeks I’ve covered a lot of topics around the future of programmatic advertising. You may have enjoyed:
No Surprise, Programmatic is Still a Mess
The (Actual) Future of Programmatic
What's inside the programmatic black box?, and
Pitching in a Programmatic World
Its not you. Its me.
Loyal readers might think I’ve become somewhat obsessed with programmatic media. You might be right. It is borne out of a deep frustration though; that we can’t seem to find anything positive to say about what, in theory, should have been a revolutionizing technique for buying and selling media impressions. The promise of programmatic was so great. The delivery, underwhelming at best.
Brace yourself because it might get worse before it gets better. In the coming week, the hotly anticipated full report by the Association of National Advertisers into “transparency in the programmatic supply chain” will finally be published. The study has been two years in development and represents a major investment by advertising’s leading trade association on behalf of its members and aims to shine a light into the dark corners of algorithmic media buying.
So far this year we have had some interim reports from the ANA leading up to the full report release due next month. ANA’s Bill Duggan has stated the ultimate purpose of the study was “to make advertisers programmatic dollars work harder”, which is a noble ambition and one we support fully here at ID Comms HQ. Bravo to the ANA for using its leverage and influence to try to untangle this programmatic scramble. Key findings so far include:
- POW! Information Asymmetry: Advertisers struggle to get access to information - as a result programmatic buyers cannot accurately judge the value of inventory, leading to inefficient and unproductive media investment decision making
- WHAM! Wasteful Spending: 15% of programmatic spend is attributed to Made For Advertising (MFA) sites which are low quality and often considered to be waste and the average campaign in the study ran on a staggering 44,000 sites. MFA? More like WTF?
- KABOOM! Sustainability is a Challenge due to the carbon intensive programmatic ecosystem, the longer the supply chain, the more carbon impact. We expect this to actually become the biggest concern of marketers around their programmatic spend.
But how good ARE we today?
In parallel to the ANA’ s analysis and reporting, we’ve been working hard with many leading brands in North America and Europe looking to evolve their practices in programmatic. Our programmatic audits give those keen marketers more visibility and control over where their investments go, literally making dollars work harder.
As the digital landscape continues to evolve, the need for brands to stay ahead of the curve and adapt their strategies is growing. In today's fast-paced digital environment, the intricacies of programmatic advertising can be complex and challenging to navigate.
“Ambitious marketers typically want to understand one simple thing: How good are we at this stuff compared to others?”
Maturity leads to better ROI. Fact.
In working with major advertisers this year, the crack programmatic team at ID Comms has observed a direct correlation between the maturity of programmatic advertising activities and a reduction in media investment lost to waste and inefficiencies. To put it simply, when an advertiser (and their agency partner) showcases a highly mature programmatic operation, ID Comms has recorded a reduction in waste and an improvement in campaign effectiveness. You can SMELL those dollars working harder already...
Developing 'maturity' in programmatic can often help advertisers mitigate the challenges and risks highlighted by the ANA's analysis and our approach is fully aligned with the guidelines and recommendations made in the reports.
“Programmatic maturity is the sophistication of the approach taken by an advertiser and their media agency partner on the deployment of programmatic media investment”
Breaking this down further, maturity covers:
- Levels of transparency and ownership the advertiser possesses across programmatic media and programmatic ad tech.
- Quality of media procured and the supply chains used in the process.
- Best-practice approach to the setup and optimization of media to deliver against advertiser KPIs.
- Approach to measurement and data analysis.
Brands Deserve Better
Brands deserve better from programmatic media. The new Programmatic Maturity Scorecard is a simple way to learn in just 10 minutes more about your programmatic approaches and how they compare to best practices in the areas of: Transparency, Quality & Optimization.
Plus, you’ll get some good tips on things you can start doing right now to enhance your investments and improve performance.
When brands get the media they deserve they flourish.
When brands grow, we all win!
Tom
This post was featured in ID Comms’ weekly column, Brands Deserve Better Media. Each week, CEO Tom Denford shares insights on media and advertising and inspires us to work together to build a better future for the industry.
Sign up here to receive the weekly column and to stay in the loop with other industry and ID Comms happenings.
COMMENTS