Event Recap — Dear Marketer: Help Me Help You
We hosted our first conference, Dear Marketer: Help Me Help You, this past Thursday, April 25th. A big shout out to our presenting sponsor, Premion, as well as our supporting sponsors Meredith, Inscape, and Beachfront Media.
It was a day of lively discussion around how convergent television and audience-based buying are evolving, the role blockchains and cryptography can play in propelling our industry forward, and the next steps we need to take to bring these new technologies — and the positive impact they promise — from staging to production.
The day kicked off with a panel that discussed the mission of Project OAR, an initiative led by Vizio to bring global standards to addressable TV. “We think the only way to scale is flexibility,” said Jodie McAfee, SVP Sales and Marketing at Inscape and driving force of Project OAR. “We’re going to build the foundation, and then we’re going to give it away… We’re not building a single vessel and asking everyone to get in that vessel. We’re building a paddle, and we’re handing the paddle to the members.”
Next, The Wall Street Journal Digital Advertising Reporter, Patience Haggin, moderated an insightful panel featuring Yale Cohen, EVP Digital Investment at Publicis Media, Jonathan Sumber, Vice President at Hearst Television, Alysia Borsa, CMO and Chief Data Officer at Meredith, and Wallace Kittridge, Marketing Manager at Bob Mills Furniture. The panel had a great conversation around how blockchains and cryptography can benefit brands, agencies, and publishers alike. Alysia Borsa expressed her enthusiasm around the new opportunities that blockchain tech can enable for data privacy, portability and verification as it moves across a supply chain. The panel also considered how cryptography could help with upcoming privacy legislation compliance, such as CCPA. “[CCPA] really reinforces AdLedger’s initiatives around cryptography and how data can be shared,” Wallace said. “With cryptography, I don’t lose my ability to deliver an experience to a consumer who is actually interested in my product.”
Tim Ringel, Global CEO of Reprise, hosted a discussion with prominent investors in the ad tech space including Spencer Potts, Managing Partner at Maximalist Ventures, Brandon Berger, Managing Partner at Beckett Layne Ventures, and Sergio Fernandez de Cordova, Co-Founder at the UN’s Blockchain Commission for Sustainable Development. The conversation centered around their views on blockchains and cryptography and the impact it will have on the advertising industry. Sergio Fernandez de Cordova had a positive outlook. He stated, “Blockchains not only provide tremendous opportunity, but also excellent investment potential given the technology’s ability to transform industries.”
The next panel was moderated by Mike Shields of TV[R]EV and featured senior executives in the OTT space — Jim Wilson, President at Premion, Adam Helfgott, CEO at MadHive, Frank Sinton, President at Beachfront Media, and Jonathan Steuer, Chief Research Officer at Omnicom Media Group. The conversation focused on the progress that OTT advertising has made, as well as the challenges that must be overcome. “Trust and transparency are table stakes and we’re driving business outcomes for advertisers,” said Jim Wilson. Adam Helfgott explained how cryptography is enabling new ways of data sharing. “Cryptography is the great equalizer,” he said. “It can break down the walls where you can create a protocol that allows two major publishers to communicate so that a buyer can index across all of them in the same standardized ways.”
AdLedger Executive Director, Christiana Cacciapuoti, wrapped up the day along with Gabe Greenberg, CEO of GABBCON, by recapping the opportunities that blockchains and cryptography present to improve our space, as well as the work that AdLedger is doing to drive these opportunities forward. “I think our mission, in a nutshell, is collaboration,” Christiana said. “Now that we have blockchains and cryptography, we have the technical tools to solve nearly all of the problems we have as an industry — fraud, data leakage, privacy compliance, and a lot more. But to move the needle in an industry as large, mature, and fragmented as advertising, we need the key players sitting at the same table and collaborating. That’s why AdLedger was born.”
Thanks to all who joined us and we hope to see you at our next one! Anyone interested in developing and vetting the technical standards and solutions for blockchains and cryptography in media is welcome to apply for membership at AdLedger.org.
