Read how Evans Cycles harnessed Turn’s data insights & programmatic technology to hone in on new audiences, improve ad performance and drive sales.
Get the slides here.
In 2015, programmatic advertising was at the centre of discussions and events across the advertising industry. From Advertising Week in London and Interact in Berlin to the Festival of Creativity in Cannes, it has never been far from the headlines. With 2016 underway and a comprehensive schedule of outputs planned, we asked some of our Programmatic Trading Committee members to reflect on the challenges and achievements of 2015 and what we can expect from the year ahead. This blog is part of a Programmatic Future Trends series.
This blog includes contributions from Nick Reid, Managing Director UK at TubeMogul, Nigel Gilbert, VP Strategic Development EMEA at AppNexus, Amit Kotecha, Head of Marketing EMEA at Quantcast, and Paul Coffey, Director, Customer Solutions and Innovation, Platforms at EMEA Google.
"Just as more and more inventory becomes available programmatically, there will be an increase in demand for talent to keep up with the sector's rapid growth. We anticipate that there will be a skills shortage for a long time to come as brands and agencies grapple with ever-changing needs and internal shifts. For example, now that we have programmatic TV coming on-line, who will take ownership: The existing TV buying team or the digital team? Each year (if not day) brings new, exciting technology innovations that will, in turn, need more specialised staff and training. 2016 will be no different in terms of requiring access to top talent. It is also up to the providers of the technologies to ensure that their customers have the skill sets in place to use the tech to its full potential. We offer TubeMogul Academy training to our customers to get them 'fingers-on-keys' familiar with the platform and will always provide research and education as new elements come to the fore."
"In June 2015, Circle Research, in association with AppNexus, WARC DDMAlliance, IAB Singapore, and IAB Australia with support from multiple IAB bodies across Europe, conducted an online survey of more than 1,200 professionals involved in advertising across three continents. Among the findings were that most agencies believe that "knowledge of targeted digital advertising will be a more useful skill to have than creativity itself”. However, the same study showed that nearly half of the ecosystem (44%) understands very little or nothing about how programmatic works. This is particularly acute among advertisers (63%), agencies (48%), and publishers (47%). Clearly the talent in the global advertising industry will only be enhanced with better education about the inner workings of programmatic, and in 2015 major agencies started to make big investments in rigorous training for their teams. Of course, there's clearly more education to be done around the industry, and the reality is we are all in a highly competitive hiring market for the right talent."
"We’ve definitely noticed a rapid adoption of programmatic skills, having trained over 2,000 people globally last year through our IAB-approved Real Time Advertising academy. We’re also starting to see agencies lose the word “digital” from job titles, and digital departments disbanded. It’s good to see this move forward in our industry, because across the board more than 12m people and 1m businesses feel they are lacking in digital skills. The ad industry is being quick to amend this disparity because of an increased expectation that digital will pervade everything we do for clients and, though programmatic is slightly behind this, we’re not far off seeing a knowledge of programmatic trading becoming commonplace. Agencies and their employees are attuned to the fact that if they automate the optimisation of advertising campaigns they will deliver greater efficiency and effectiveness, as well as free up space to think more strategically and creatively for clients, which is what gives them a competitive edge."
"Realistically, it’s likely to be sometime before the problem is solved completely. We’re seeing the demand for programmatic skills increasing, but technology is evolving faster than upskilling can happen. With that in mind, it’s important to seek people possessing transferable skills than to train people from scratch. The challenge is how to leverage existing talent, for example finding those who are already competent in running programmatic search campaigns and then applying their abilities to programmatic display. Again, it comes down to the three building blocks of speed, collaboration and data.
"We don’t think that the shortage will really ease in 2016. A lot of advertisers are trying to build up in-house technology and knowledge and are looking for people with the right skillsets, but companies are not so willing to educate or train the people because this costs time and money and there is a risk associated with them leaving for other career options."
Library of Programmatic case studies buy-side webinar
Wednesday 16th March 15.00 CET / 14.00 GMT
Following on from the launch of our programmatic library which to illustrates good practice and aims to increase understanding, IAB Europe is hosting a buy-side webinar, the second in a two-part series. The webinar will feature insights from a brand advertiser as well as drawing on some of the case studies within the library.
The webinar will feature speakers from L’Oreal, ZenithOptimedia, Adform, AppNexus and Rocket Fuel.
Visit the programmatic library here
After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
Watch the recordings of our Library of Programmatic sell-side, Road to Programmatic Buy-Side Considerations, Road to Programmatic Operational Considerations, and European Online Advertising Spend webinars.
The I-COM Global Summit is the world's leading Marketing Data & Measurement Strategy event, where the who's who from Smart Data Marketing gather from around the world to Learn, Network, Trade and Lead. It's a unique opportunity to see the big picture, as we holistically address topics across countries, sciences and stakeholder groups.
Supported by our Patronage Associations, the 7th edition of the I-COM Global Summit will be held on April 18-21st, 2016 in Seville, Spain. The Summit theme is “Making Data Human”.
I-COM will provide special discounts on ticket price to IAB Europe Members.
In addition, I-COM will provide extra 10% discount to IAB Europe members based in Central and Eastern Europe. If you want to benefit from the extra discount, Click HERE.
Kindly ask them to mention IAB Europe CEE in the comment option.
Learn more about the event HERE.
Register NOW!
2015 has been a turning point for Digital Education at IAB Europe. We’re on a mission to help grow the Digital Advertising industry at European level, and Education and Training is a big part of that. Among other initiatives, in 2015 we started the groundwork needed to have the hard work and efforts of European IABs in the field of Education be better and more widely recognized. In 2016 we will continue and expand this work, and to this aim, we’re putting together a blog series summarising the initiatives developed by our National members.
Total number of students and professionals enrolled in just 11 National IAB-developed and run courses expected to exceed 1.5k for 2015 and 2016
ROMANIA
Already in the later stages of the IAB Europe Endorsement Programme, IAB Romania is operating in a relatively small market, but has high ambitions in the field of Digital Education. With only one course delivered in 2015 (graduated by 13 specialists) and with big plans for 2016, IAB Romania hired a very experienced project manager to lift the Education Programme off the ground in 2016. The IAB Academy launched recently as an ample education initiative divided into two tracks: an introductory package aimed at those looking to broaden their understanding of all things digital, and a deep-dive track targeted at professionals. The former is comprised of six courses, while the latter encompasses four more. IAB Romania aims to have close to 100 students and professionals graduate its IAB Academy in 2016, a realistic goal in light of the quality the programme offers.
IAB Romania’s IAB Academy will also be featured as part of our monthly Education in the spotlight series which promotes the courses enrolled in the IAB Europe Endorsement Programme.
14 out of 15 courses delivered by National IABs in 2015 were offered at discounted prices to IAB members
SWITZERLAND
At the heart of a strong Education Programme with great results and over 500 graduates until 2015 is IAB Switzerland’s IAB Academy. Comprised of six basic modules and the same number of advanced courses, this initiative upholds the highest standards in education through an array of tools ensuring top-notch quality. From the detailed feedback forms distributed at the end of each course, to the expertise of the trainers delivering said courses, IAB CH’s IAB Academy sets the bar very high in terms of National IAB-run training programmes. Delivered in German and developed in association with IAB CH’s own members this is one of the most successful training programmes in Europe. The IAB CH IAB Academy is also enrolled in the IAB Europe Endorsement Programme.
Our Education in the spotlight series will feature a more in-depth article on the IAB CH IAB Academy in an upcoming article.
The most inexpensive course in 2015 was the free course offered by IAB Turkey to SMEs
TURKEY
Another strong Education Programme belongs to IAB Turkey, which is also considering enrolling one or more of its courses in the Endorsement Programme offered by IAB Europe. Their efforts in 2015 were exemplary, IAB TR boasting close to 150 students and professionals attending its courses last year, and more are expected to take advantage of the comprehensive courses in 2016. The IAB TR course curricula range from a Digital Marketing Communication Certificate Program, the Cornetto Unichallenge+ (University students digital boot camp), all the way to the highly successful re-KOBİ, a Digital 101 Online Education Programme targeted at SMEs. The latter alone accounts for 61 students enrolling in IAB TR-developed programmes last year. In 2016, IAB TR has already started strong in the field of education with a bespoke digital sales training course delivered to a local digital video network, a course attended by over 60 professionals.
The IAB Europe Endorsement Programme is offered free of charge to all its National members T3 and up, and to its T1 corporate members
HUNGARY
Sharing the same corner of Europe with IAB Romania, IAB Hungary has developed a tremendously impressive Digital Mastercourse (Digitális Mesterkurzus), a four-day cornucopia of information providing its students with an overview of the digital marketing environment. With 30 students attending 32 lectures in 2015, and a new session boasting 30 lecturers scheduled for Q3 2016, this training programme is truly an initiative worthy of being emulated in any market. The E-mail Marketing Academy Basic track, which recorded 22 students in Q4 2015, and was expanded to include an Advanced track scheduled to be launched in Q2 2016 is another successful IAB HU-led initiative in the field of education.
Read part 2 here.
Brussels, 19 February 2016 – IAB Europe today expressed its serious concern following the announcement that mobile operator Three is to impose network-level ad blocking in the UK and Italy followed by a rapid roll-out of the technology in its other European operations.
The ad-funded Internet provides consumers with a rich universe of informational, educational, scientific, entertainment and business services at little or no cost at the point of consumption. Ad blocking threatens the Internet as we know it and penalises vulnerable consumers and small companies who depend on ad-funded online services, as well as undermining media diversity and independence in Europe. Moreover, imposition of ad blocking at the network level is at variance with the principle of net neutrality and a clear interference in freedom of commerce.
The digital advertising industry believes that choice at the individual user level is the way forward and is deeply invested in addressing user experience issues such as latency. The IAB’s L.E.A.N. ads programme is testimony to that commitment.
In 2015, programmatic advertising was at the centre of discussions and events across the advertising industry. From Advertising Week in London and Interact in Berlin to the Festival of Creativity in Cannes, it has never been far from the headlines. With 2016 underway and a comprehensive schedule of outputs planned, we asked some of our Programmatic Trading Committee members to reflect on the challenges and achievements of 2015 and what we can expect from the year ahead. This blog is part of a Programmatic Future Trends series.
This blog includes contributions from Amit Kotecha, Head of Marketing EMEA at Quantcast, Anthony Rhind, Chief Strategy Officer at Adform, Andy McNab, UK Managing Director at Rocket Fuel, Paul Coffey, Director, Customer Solutions and Innovation, Platforms at EMEA Google, and Nick Reid, Managing Director UK at TubeMogul.
"The data and technology is already there to buy ads across devices, however the key to doing so effectively is in measuring success in the right way. By measuring the entire customer journey with an attribution tool, and taking into account all brand interactions on everything from mobile to webpage visits, search, social, video and so on, marketers can really start to shed light on the messages, campaigns and tactics that are working for them, regardless of which device or channel. Further to this, by leveraging the first site visit within measurement tools, marketers are also benefiting from the ability to split the funnel, and gaining insight into what works for upper funnel prospecting activity vs. lower funnel retargeting. The key here is still in the measurement. Measuring prospecting success against a last touch (click/view) isn’t a fair metric if, for example its purpose is to drive engagement, not sales. By measuring in this way, marketers are now able to correctly credit vendors and allocate budget, as well as learn from upper-funnel activity and apply those insights further down the funnel."
"2016 will be a year of innovation and regression. Device proliferation, heavily biased to mobile OS, means cross-device consumer experience planning is now critical. Effectiveness relies on anonymised identity solutions that work across devices persistently, combined with a media ecosystem that enables “universal unique iDs" to inform media and creative optimisation. Device graphs will become more pervasive and accurate in 2016. Unfortunately, the largest media and (potential) data providers are limiting effectiveness by establishing walled gardens. Data Management Platform (DMP) solutions that combine desktop and mobile data will be critical, linking iDs deterministically and probabilistically. As divergent stakeholders question data and algorithm bias, the independence of adtech will be an increasingly critical issue."
"Technology providers like Rocket Fuel are now able to have a more complete picture of a users’ digital touch points and a large amount of data to make informed decisions than if making decisions based on a single-device profile, up to 200% more data on average.Technology is providing a cross channel solution that doesn't just unify profiles across a person’s devices but actively scores every moment to influence a customer on each device to maximise the ROI on marketing to that user, we are seeing 30% better ROI from cross device."
"Robust, effective cross-device targeting and measurement means smarter advertising and a better experience for the consumer. It’s fundamentally an attribution challenge, but an attribution model only truly succeeds when it can be applied at scale. Programmatic provides this, enabling an accurate view of a user's path to conversion.
At Goole, we continue to be very thoughtful about how we develop these tools in a way that prioritises consumer privacy. We measure mobile behaviour using industry-standard device identifiers that users can monitor, reset and configure to opt out from interest-based advertising. Further, we use a consumer-friendly, privacy sensitive methodology to measure cross-device conversions. And finally, we only share anonymous performance reporting with advertisers. This approach gives marketers, agencies and tech providers the tools to treat consumer data in a sensitive and respectful manner."
"Programmatic technology already allows marketers to employ effective cross-device marketing strategies. In fact, TubeMogul launched its cross-screen tool in the US in late 2015 and has already seen strong pick-up by clients. In the UK, the introduction of programmatic TV options last year, plus the advent of programmatic digital OOH and radio saw the final pieces of the puzzle to allow cross-screen development and measurement. By using a single platform (such as TubeMogul), advertisers can now plan, buy and optimise across almost all advertising formats and on all screens found within the average UK household. It's not the future - it's available now."
"Cross-device shopping is the new normal. Today, nearly 40% of all global ecommerce transactions happen cross-device[1]. This represents a challenge and an opportunity for marketers, particularly when it comes to developing strategies that ensure a relevant, consistent and measurable customer experience. Continued advancements in digital programmatic advertising have seen the emergence of two options when it comes to designing an effective cross-device strategy:
For advertisers utilising both implied and exact match will provide a combination of reach and precision that will maximise spend performance. This enables the delivery of highly targeted customer communications, no matter how many devices are in play. There’s more to come too. Programmatic ecommerce will soon connect users not only across screens and devices but also across the entire online/offline journey, providing brands with more data and insight than ever before."
[1] Criteo Mobile Commerce Report, Q4 2015
Brussels, 17 February 2016 - The Interactive Advertising Bureau Europe (IAB Europe) has launched the Library of Programmatic case studies today to illustrate good practice and increase understanding. Programmatic display advertising in Europe continues strong growth, jumping 70.5% from €2.14bn in 2013 to €3.65bn in 2014,1 yet there remains a lack of understanding in the advertising industry. Hiring and training people with the right skill set was cited as a barrier to adoption by more than half of the advertisers, agencies and publishers in the IAB Europe Attitudes towards Programmatic Advertising research.2
Assessing the impact of programmatic trading on total revenue was cited as another key barrier. These barriers are consistent across markets of different programmatic development levels analysed (advanced, mid-development and new to programmatic).
The library fulfills part of IAB Europe’s objective to educate the industry on the strategic opportunity that programmatic offers and brings together buy-side and sell-side case studies from across Europe.The case studies cover a range of European markets and a variety of advertiser and publisher brands including Burberry, Condé Nast, eBay, Google, Mercedes-Benz, Nescafé, Pandora, The Telegraph and TUI.
Alison Fennah, Executive Business Advisor at IAB Europe said “This initiative is important to illustrate the impact of programmatic in strategy development. We look forward to further collaboration with our members on programmatic trading education through white papers, guides, research and thought-leadership content in 2016.”
Simon Burgess, Publisher Development Director at PubMatic said “To compete successfully in today’s media landscape, every company requires employees that have the knowledge and training to manage this technology so that it delivers successful outcomes. Scaling knowledge is a challenge and initiatives such as the programmatic library from IAB Europe play a key role in ensuring that we as an industry are educating on a global scale.”
David Nelson, VP Product EMEA at Rocket Fuel said "The IAB Europe Library of Programmatic case studies is a great initiative. There is a need for sharing best practice to elevate understanding of the strategic opportunity that programmatic offers. We find the library an important platform to share our case studies to educate buy-side stakeholders in order to help them deliver effective campaigns.”
Find out more about programmatic as a strategic opportunity in these webinars:
The Library of Programmatic case studies is an ongoing initiative and if you are an IAB Europe member or National IAB member and would like to find out about featuring your case studies then please contact puffett@iabeurope.eu.
Resources:
For over 14 years, Italian weather website iLMeteo has provided users with highly accurate forecasts, and today it attracts over 32 million visitors a month. Consumers can access iLMeteo content though the website, mobile apps and videos. The company derives revenue from advertising, so monetising its web properties for users on all devices is a key focus. DoubleClick tools have been instrumental in helping iLMeteo achieve success.
Discover it here.
Media Lab – Google’s internal media agency responsible for planning, buying and placing media to advertise Google products – leverages programmatic techniques to improve efficiencies, build better creative and increase the relevance of advertising messaging. Emily Sears, Head of Digital at the Google Media Lab in EMEA, discusses the benefits in depth.
View the case study here!
For more insights on The Myths of Programmatic, watch the video HERE.
Encompassing more than 15 apps for Android, iOS, Windows and Blackberry, Runtastic is a digital fitness community that launched five years ago in Austria. To improve user experience and product reliability, the company grasped the importance of managing all advertising from a single platform. Runtastic turned to Google products to monetise the portfolio, gain massive reach and simplify procedures to free up capacity for strategic priorities.
Discover it here.
Get the slides here.
