News You Can Use: November 9, 2017

Every week, the digital marketing industry changes. To stay updated in a volatile industry, we’re here to give you the fast facts. We also have some insights of our own about what all this means for the industry, and how your brand can take advantage of each development.

Twitter Is Going Programmatic [AdExchanger]

• One of Twitter’s top priorities is to introduce a new way to buy ad space — this is where programmatic comes in!
• Its implementation of programmatic buying and real-time bidding is in alpha testing stage, so no real impact can be assessed now. Despite this, COO Anthony Noto stated that programmatic is “a real opportunity worth investing in.”

Our take: Twitter is an interesting new development in programmatic buying. After a few lackluster quarterly performances, the social media site is looking to find a new source of revenue. Twitter’s interest in real-time bidding as a means of boosting Q4 revenue is yet another sign that programmatic delivers results. We see this being a lucrative investment and predict a positive ROI for Twitter’s Q4.

T-Mobile Hits a Homerun with Omnichannel Campaign [AdExchanger]

• T-Mobile successfully used omnichannel advertising for their campaign, #HR4HR (home-run for home-run), a hurricane relief campaign to aid those suffering the repercussions of Harvey and Irma.
• They promoted #HR4HR via paid digital, social, MLB.com, broadcast TV and the CEO’s own social channels. The campaign raised over 1.6 million dollars.
• Most of T-Mobile’s ad budget went to programmatic, but this doesn’t mean “static banner” advertisements. The inventory they purchased were “large placement” ads through PMP’s (private marketplaces).

Our take: In a multi-device era, engaging your audience successfully means reaching them on every medium and tailoring your message to the design, layout, and functionality of that medium. Users today are consuming every kind of advertisement on Smart TV, tablets, mobile phones, and laptops. If you want a higher impact campaign, omnichannel advertising is the best way to drive brand awareness with more impressions.

Mobile App Marketers in Europe See Ad Fraud as a Problem [eMarketer]

• Ad fraud is the second biggest concern to European mobile app marketers.
• According to a survey done by InMobi, only 44% of Mobile app marketers understand the implications ad fraud has on their campaigns.
• A study conducted this year by Adloox and The&Partnership found that ad fraud will cost advertisers approximately 16.4 billion dollars globally.
• The solution to combat ad fraud? Vetting publishers.

Our take: The prevalence of ad fraud makes many marketers balk at programmatic solutions. But fraudulent clicks and bot impressions are endemic to online marketing, not programmatic media buying. Regardless, the industry has swiftly responded to the problem with companies like Ads.txt, who sell authorized inventory to stamp out counterfeits. What will be helpful for agencies or brands moving forward is to establish direct relationships with publishers to verify the authenticity of their inventory.

Brands Can Now Have a Facebook Messenger Plug-in for Their Website [Adweek]

• Messenger is now integrated into brand’s websites and chats bots.
• Businesses can retarget consumers through sponsored messages.
• Advertisers can reach users on Messenger via Facebook’s advertising services’ targeting options.
• Users can opt out of receiving sponsored messages or control who they want to receive them from.

Our take: Facebook ad services might have 6 million active users, but Messenger has 1 billion. The messaging app will be a big player in increasing revenue for Facebook’s advertising division because it can communicate with consumers instead of at them. This news also comes after Facebook announced that they will sell ad space on Messenger through their advertising services. Selling ad inventory on Messenger means the app could sell ad inventory via programmatic in the coming year(s).