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Category: data driven decisioning

• The other meaning of “ROI”
  09/07/2010 | Categories: ad optimization, data driven decisioning, digital media, display advertising, DSP, Mobile, mobile advertising

  Every advertiser seeks better “ROI” (return on investment).  Since we launched the first version of our platform — less than a year ago! – it’s been gratifying to see many big brands and agencies embrace our solution to drive better ROI from online display.

  But  “ROI” has another meaning, and it’s equally important:  “Rate Of Innovation”.  This kind of ROI is measured by how quickly a company can innovate in response to a new opportunity or problem.  And as digital transforms the media and advertising landscape, it’s increasingly apparent that the winners will be determined by Rate of Innovation.

  So today, we’re thrilled to announce the launch of the industry’s first Mobile demand side platform (DSP).  This is a sort of homecoming for many at DataXu, who came to us from Enpocket, a trail- blazing mobile marketing company with a reputation for innovation and high customer satisfaction.

  Indeed, the DataXu “tribe” — employees, customers, partners, investors and friends – is formed by a shared belief in rapid and relentless innovation, in rejecting “good enough”, in solving hard problems for customers, in the power of technology to improve business, and more importantly, our lives.

  As a repeat winner in the business of growing digital media companies, I’m often asked “how do you tell the winners from the losers”?  it’s actually pretty simple: look to a company’s rate of innovation.  In times of disruption and change, “snapshots” are not meaningful; you need to see the “motion picture”.  So if you’re a brand or agency evaluating ad tech partners, dig into both kinds of ROI!  And stay tuned for a steady stream of innovations from DataXu …

  
  
• Search and Display: Has Convergence Arrived?
  08/23/2010 | Categories: advertising, data, data driven decisioning, demand side platform, display advertising, DSP, online advertising, search advertising, trends

  

  By Mike Baker, President & CEO, Dataxu

  For years, many have viewed paid search advertising as the most simple and measurable form of online advertising. But with the growth of display ad exchanges and demand side platforms to manage the buying, display advertising has “gotten back in the efficiency game,” relying more squarely on data and bottom funnel metrics, and less on clicks and views.

  Building on the data-driven approach championed by search engine marketers, demand side platforms are now enabling display advertisers to replace much of the guess work of traditional media plans with bidding algorithms built on the learnings from a campaign as it runs. Borrowing even more literally from search, advertisers are now starting to use consumer search data to retarget display advertising.

  So, are search engine marketing and exchange traded display advertising ready for their convergence moment? Will search agencies successfully cross over into data-driven display practices? I recently spoke with Dax Hamman, VP display media at iCrossing, a Hearst-owned global digital marketing agency, to discuss these and other questions.

  Mike Baker: Search advertising, by its nature, is highly measurable. In your role as a display advertising evangelist in an agency with its roots in SEM, how do you educate clients about the value of display campaigns and their unique metrics?

  Dax Hamman: iCrossing has pioneered an approach to display that is particularly effective in ROI situations, focusing on talking to the individual expressing intent rather than simply shouting at the crowd. This approach is much more familiar to a search marketer and therefore is understood more by our client base than premium CPM buying and home page takeovers.

  Often, the hardest leap a search marketer must take is how to measure the campaign. SEM is very click based and an action is easily tied to a result. Display conversely relies more on post-impression data, a continuing hot topic amongst marketers in general. At iCrossing, we advise clients to run quantifiable studies to benchmark the post-impression results and determine what should be accounted for. This is often enough to alleviate any concerns.

  MB: Expertise in search engine marketing and display advertising has traditionally resided in separate domains – for both agencies and their clients. What will it take to successfully bridge that divide?

  DH: Agencies often structure themselves to suit the needs of a client, and while clients continue to typically manage SEM and display out of separate budgets with distinct goals, agencies will provide two teams of specialists. At iCrossing, we have merged SEM and display into one single media practice and have been cross-training individuals in order to find the synergies that may exist. This “new” world of exchange buying makes display planners think more quantifiably and bid-based like a search marketer and so the two camps are more aligned. Sometimes questions arise such as “who should manage a performance campaign that uses real time bidding” as you need both types of expertise working together. Quite simply, we can provide the framework for both parties to learn the other’s trade, and then the more experience each person gains, the quicker the synergies will come.

  MB: What can search advertisers learn from display advertising, and vice versa?

  DH: Like any form of marketing, display and search do not sit in silos, therefore the learnings from one channel should inform the other. There are some specific cases though where the learnings are more direct. iCrossing has been testing search retargeting, with Yahoo for instance. We also have been buying the data directly, of which there are now several including Magnetic, Chango and Simpli.fi. The success of these campaigns is in part based on selecting the right keywords, of which the SEM campaign is the richest source of learning.

  We also see cases where a SEM campaign can be improved by understanding why certain contextual buys in display are effective and what messaging works best. For instance, the iCrossing display team will often provide the creative units for a banner campaign on the Google Content Network for the SEM team to run.

  MB: Cross-channel, multi-format convergence is the “holy grail” of digital advertising. How close are we? What role will the big three (Google, Yahoo, MSN) search engines play in making this vision a reality? This may be controversial, but do you view them as partners, competitors, or both?

  DH: As an industry, we move closer and closer to convergence every day, and the benefits are being felt by brands already. The big 3 are certainly a factor in this, but we see them as more partner than competitor, educating search marketers about techniques such as display retargeting, and making it easy to buy it and place it. With the typical size and complexity of our clients, we do not see any of the engines being a sole provider to any of them. For smaller brands and smaller agencies I think the threat is greater – the reality is there are very few needs that a marketer at a small company cannot fulfill with Google.

  DSPs like DataXu will be at the center of the convergence as more and more media comes together. I do not see just display or even display and search together being bought through such a platform, but potentially all media, including offline.

  (This article also ran on ClickZ on 8/23: http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/1728864/search-display-has-convergence-arrived)

  
  
• DataXu’s VP Sales to Speak on ‘Evolution of Display’ at FRWD Event in Minneapolis
  08/04/2010 | Categories: advertising, data, data driven decisioning, digital advertising, display advertising, events, trends

  DataXu’s VP of Sales and Go- to-Market strategy Steven Golus will speak at the FRWD event: “Pushing Boundaries: Exploring the Evolving World of Display Media”, on August 11 in Minneapolis.  The event will consist of an afternoon of discussions with industry leading Publishers, Demand Side Platforms, Data Aggregators, Verification and Survey tools providers.

  Steven will speak on the first panel of the day at 1:30 p.m. CT on the topic of “Leveraging Data in Display Targeting.” Joined by Brad King from BlueKai and Frost Prioleau of Simpli.fi, Steven will be discussing the integration of 3rd party and 1st party data into online display campaigns.

  

  Pushing Boundaries: Exploring the Evolving World of Display Media
  When: Wednesday Aug. 11, 2010

  Time: Registration- 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM CT
  Program- 1:00 PM- 5:00 PM CT
  Happy Hour- 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM CT

  Where: Fine Line Music Cafe: http://www.finelinemusic.com/directions.html

  Cost: FREE

  To learn more and register for this free event, see: http://www.frwdco.com/events/

  
  
• Agencies Grapple with Ad Technology and its Place in a Services Business
  06/25/2010 | Categories: advertising, data, data driven decisioning, demand side platform, digital media, DSP, innovation, media buying, media efficiency

  There’s been a wave of innovation in online advertising over the past year; new ad technology made just for ad buyers (DSPs) are quickly gaining traction as a way to improve media effectiveness and realize operational efficiencies.  DSP’s give agencies a powerful new tool, but the emergence of “buy side technology” is forcing them to grapple with a tricky new issue: how best to build a new technology core into an old services business model.

  Some agencies have decided that forming strategic partnerships with external technology providers is the way to go.  Others believe that the best strategy is to try to develop the technology themselves.  While it’s too early to conclude the winning approach, this is an issue that smart clients will monitor as the digital era marches on because it will affect not only agency performance, but also the basic economic structure of the agency-client relationship.

  In-house ad tech
  The in-house technology approach is probably best embodied by WPP, with its 2007 acquisition of ad network and technology firm 24/7 Real Media.  Since the acquisition, WPP has done a nice job of using these assets to grow an internal innovation engine known as MIG (Media Innovation Group).  In a recent interview, MIG’s Brian Lesser explained some of the reasons for their continued investment in proprietary ad technology:

  • More holistic media strategy – can alleviate issues that result from a fragmented media buying approach and result in a more efficient media spend.
  • Data-driven marketing – integration of client data throughout the agency’s decision-making process informs the marketing strategy and results in more valuable insights to guide the clients’ campaigns.
  • Less data exposure – with in-house ad technology, proprietary data is pushed solely through an agency’s platform and is thus able to be leveraged exclusively by the agency.

  Third party ad tech
  Alternatively, Publicis and Omnicom have weighed in as favoring partnerships with external ad technology providers.  Curt Hecht of Publicis’ Vivaki business unit recently discussed with AdExchanger their partnership with Internet giant Google, which includes use of Google’s new “house DSP” Invite Media (acquired by Google last month).  And  Omnicom’s Randall Weisenburger explained to ClickZ that they have opted against building an in-house DSP because of the vast benefits technology partners can provide to clients:

  • Greater access to innovation – when agencies partner with outside technology vendors, they can innovate more quickly and better align with client needs.
  • Focus on core competence – agency resources can be focused on larger strategic considerations that are core to the agency.
  • Less risk of agency bias in media buying decisions – advertisers can be confident that an agency’s recommended technology strategy will not be influenced by an in-house proprietary service.

  Ultimately, these different approaches are still very new and only time will tell what truly makes the most sense for the agency and for its clients.  But just as advertisers want to know about an agency’s creative approach, it’s now best practice to dig into their technology roadmap.

  - Mike Baker, CEO, DataXu

  (**This piece was also posted on the MarketShare blog at Forbes.com: http://bit.ly/d0hEX3)

  
  
• DataXu Named Partner in Rubicon Project’s Beta RTB Program
  04/14/2010 | Categories: ad inventory, data driven decisioning, real-time bidding, RTB, visibility, Web publishers

  Today, the Rubicon Project announced its launch of “Permission Control 2.0”, a new technology infrastructure that gives premium Web publishers complete visibility and control over their ad inventory and demand partners.  In tandem with these new controls, the Company is also launching its beta real-time bidding (RTB) program and DataXu is pleased to be a Rubicon RTB demand partner.

  The launch of Rubicon’s beta RTB program reinforces the market’s embrace of RTB by both buyers and sellers as a more efficient way of doing business. The range of buying models represented by the partners in the program also validates RTB’s significance. We at DataXu are looking forward to extending our partnerships as we continue to connect our customers to the widest reach and highest frequency media possible through our advanced, data-driven decisioning approach.