Chris Roebuck Of Clicktivated On The Future Of Adtech
An Interview With Kieran Powell
Patience: The world moves very quickly, but a lot of things take time in marketing and advertising. This can be very frustrating but my advice would be to take a breath and roll with it. A few days is never a big deal in the grand scheme of things.
Advertising technology is rapidly evolving, transforming the way brands connect with consumers. From programmatic advertising to data analytics, the adtech industry is driving innovation and efficiency in marketing. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Chris Roebuck.
Chris Roebuck, CEO and Founder of Clicktivated — the first technology company that has successfully monetised video for retail and travel, as well as lifestyle brands such as Adidas and GMC. Clicktivated is an IP-protected interactive video platform that enables viewers the ability to interact with individual products/items within the video; creating a more immersive and customised video experience by connecting viewers to the products and information they want in videos within a click. As digital video becomes more prominent in our everyday lives, the need for simplicity becomes stronger. Chris is disrupting the space with his technology, creating a more seamless process for all parties involved.
Thank you so much for your time! I know that you are a very busy person. Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?
Sure! Prior to Clicktivated, I founded two other companies. One focused on geo location data for brick and mortar retailers and the other focused on web development. Both were great pre-requisites for starting Clicktivated because all 3 companies aimed to enhance the consumer experience and improve the communication between consumers and brand.
When I was starting Clicktivated around 10 years ago, video had grabbed my attention because I felt like the format had huge potential but was being underutilized. I love online video and believe it changed the marketing landscape forever, which is why I wanted to create technology that would allow storytelling to maximize its potential to connect viewers with information, education, and items as they watch. Video as a static format is very limited in terms of being able to create real engagement, commerce and actionable insights, we wanted to change that, which we have for our partners around the globe.
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Everyone makes mistakes, and entrepreneurs are no different. With so many decisions, ranging from major ones around company direction to tiny ones like how to word the intro of a newsletter, it’s tough to pick just one mistake over our 10+ years in business.
One that comes to mind from early on in the company is our response to feedback. We were eager to incorporate feedback we got from our customers because we really wanted our product to be useful to them. This obviously came from a good place, but looking back, it feels like we were adjusting the UX every time someone gave an opinion. With the benefit of hindsight, it seems silly to jump at a single person’s offhand comment, but ultimately I think it was healthy because it taught us to be more deliberate and thoughtful.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
Absolutely! The project I’m most excited about right now is the launch of our new product and analytics suite later this month. It’s been in the works for quite a while, and we’re excited to roll it out because it will give our customers easier access to the proprietary, granular insights we provide. Video is often difficult to measure, with few KPIs outside of completion rate, so being able to give our customers concrete data that points to what interests their audience most in their videos is a gamechanger for them!
Thank you for that. Let’s now shift to the central focus of our discussion. What do you believe will be the most significant technological advancements in adtech over the next five years?
I think the next five years will bring lots of automation driven by AI that makes an impact for stakeholders across the value chain. At Clicktivated, we think a great example is AI-driven object detection in shoppable video, or automated data analysis that generates actionable, human-readable insights.
How is artificial intelligence changing the landscape of advertising technology, and what potential does it hold for the future?
In the short term, I think AI is changing the landscape mainly through buzzwords :) In the long term though, I see it impacting marketing and advertising in quite a few ways. When it comes to video, we believe AI will help to create fully personalized viewing experiences, tailored to the individual based on their unique interests. From there, you can add in Clictivated’s technology to create a fully immersive and exponentially more valuable video experience.
What are the biggest challenges currently facing the adtech industry, and how can they be addressed?
I think the biggest challenge we’re facing right now is a lack of clarity on measurement and analytics. We struggle to keep track of impressions, the very currency of our industry, let alone outcomes. It was over a hundred years ago that Wannamaker coined the famous adage, “I know half my advertising is wasted, the problem is I don’t know which half,” and it’s still relevant today. Marketers are still struggling to figure out what works and what doesn’t. The good news is I think we are constantly getting closer to solving this problem, and platforms like Clicktivated that provide clarity on the path to purchase can be a big part of that solution.
How do you see the role of data privacy evolving in adtech, and what impact will it have on the industry?
At the end of the day, data is used as a proxy for outcomes. In other words, advertisers don’t really care if you have a college degree or how old you are. They are just using those data points as a proxy for whether or not you’ll buy their product. The evolution will come from direct outcome data like what Clicktivated creates that decouples that type of probabilistic behavioral data and outcomes, and instead just provides data on the inputs and outputs. Create this video, get these sales. That simple.
Can you share a case study or example of a groundbreaking adtech innovation that has had a major impact on the market?
The cool thing about Clicktivated is that our customers run the gamut from brands to publishers to technology vendors. For example, we have a super cool case study with Toyota that showed how we helped them boost engagement and drive conversions on their website. We also work with publishers to create new, more engaging ad products for their sites.
What are the “5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career In The Marketing and Advertising Industries?”
- Patience: The world moves very quickly, but a lot of things take time in marketing and advertising. This can be very frustrating but my advice would be to take a breath and roll with it. A few days is never a big deal in the grand scheme of things.
- Common Sense: This has saved me many times when making critical decisions.
- Have a great mentor or sounding board: Having someone that you are able to talk to about any challenge that you are having or ideas that you have can prove to be invaluable. I’ve been very fortunate over time to have had a great inner circle that I can turn to when challenges come up or when new ideas strike.
- Don’t follow the crowd: Lean into new technologies and don’t be afraid to create a new and different offering for your clients. Following the crowd just creates the same old, which is not valuable today and won’t help you advance. Stand out and don’t be afraid to try new things, don’t be afraid to fail and always make sure to follow your gut.
- Would you use it?: For anything that you create, present or sell, always make sure to look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself “would you use this?”. Never do anything that just maximizes a CPM or margin, that typically will create lousy results and a client who is not happy.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
The movement we are in the middle of and are focused on is to transform all digital video from a passive format to one that is limitless in its possibilities on all screens. From instant commerce to information and education, we want digital video to be better for everyone.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
You can find Clicktivated on Linkedin!
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
About The Interviewer: Kieran Powell is the EVP of Channel V Media a New York City Public Relations agency with a global network of agency partners in over 30 countries. Kieran has advised more than 150 companies in the Technology, B2B, Retail and Financial sectors. Prior to taking over business operations at Channel V Media, Kieran held roles at Merrill Lynch, PwC and Ernst & Young. Get in touch with Kieran to discuss how marketing and public relations can be leveraged to achieve concrete business goals.
