Programmatic advertising…. what’s all the hype about?

When I started working in the digital marketing business 14 years ago, I was so excited about the prospect of reporting back to the agencies and brands I serviced with stats on the response to their banners. Excitedly I’d convey the figures around the numbers of newsletters sent out, opening rates and impressions. It was revolutionary!

Our biggest challenge at the time was educating our clients that this was the future of advertising and that they needed to embrace digital as a marketing channel. Ironically, I find myself in a similar position again today, with the advent of programmatic advertising in SA.

So, what is all this hype around programmatic about?

Programmatic advertising provides advertisers with the ability to target audiences with a new level of precision across a wider range of contexts and devices than ever before. It takes full advantage of the advancements in data-driven advertising to yield more engaged audiences, less wasted media, and better marketing to seek out new audiences and convert them effectively.

Sounds easy, right?

Well yes and no. On the positive side, programmatic managed services are able to handle this whole process, taking care of the ‘nitty gritty’ details which marketers and traditional advertisers might not be equipped for. On the downside, there are many factors to consider in ensuring programmatic is implemented effectively, many of which require departments to work towards these common goals, which can be tedious at times.

However, the major benefit of programmatic advertising for businesses and agencies is when it comes to tools like “moment scoring” and big data artificial intelligence. These tools allow you to accumulate data on your customers across time, and to engage with them at various ‘moments’ or platforms which might be most effective at the time of consideration in the sales funnel. In so doing, this allows brands to optimize media spend by engaging with consumers at key times, re-targeting messaging and serving ads across a multitude of programmatic channels such as display, video, mobile, and social media simultaneously.

Let’s talk about moment scoring and big data AI:

Consumers aren’t static — as people, our interests and behaviors constantly change and evolve. So, shouldn’t the messaging we see change and evolve as well? Shouldn’t the message match the moment we’re in?

This is what makes programmatic advertising and moment scoring so exciting. Using this advanced technology to market your brand to potential customers in the moment, you soon realize that simply offering media to key consumers is not enough. Moment Scoring technology learns the critical and often hard-to-recognize predictors of what makes one ad more effective than another at a particular moment based on a marketer’s goal.

Tip of the iceberg:

Programmatic is evolving quickly, with exciting advances in artificial intelligence and big data science which are being implemented as we speak. The reality is that programmatic advertising, when utilized correctly, is showing itself to be one of the most effective marketing strategies, with more and more budget going towards this practice. Whilst this might still be a new word in SA, it is very much a developed practice internationally, and we are quickly following suit. The quicker you test the waters, the more likely you are to get ahead of competitors and be able to adapt with new technologies as they arrive.

This all sounds great, but the reality is there is a much deeper understanding of what programmatic is all about as Matt Wilke, Head of Programmatic Media at Neo@Ogilvy, points out in his article earlier this year: SA Programmatic is Heading Somewhere. The importance of educating brands and agencies on these points is vital for programmatic to be used to its full potential.

How to get started?

Implementing a programmatic service agency such as Adjoin (Private Market Place) or Maxaxion will ensure that your brand is informed of all the technology and tools available, how to adapt your messaging at various moments and how to serve ads effectively across channels and platforms to ensure optimal business outcomes. Not only will this drive sales and drive brand value, it also offers a more personalized, and relevant, customer experience across channels.

For more information on programmatic advertising solutions visit www.adjoin.media or www.maxaxion.co.za or email riaan@maxaxion.co.za

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