Watch it here.

Watch it here.

Watch it here.

Watch it here.

Watch it here.

Contrary to the common belief that there is no culture of speech on the internet, once again, the research of IAB Poland proves that this is not the case. Crossing the borders of culture on the net is still a marginal occurrence. Unfortunately, because of universal accessibility, the internet has the worst image among all means of communication in this context. Since the phenomenon of insulting on the net remains inconsequential, it is obvious that the best form of prevention is constant education of internet users. It is worth noting that indeed, thanks to the appropriate education, the perception of online anonymity has changed. The percentage of web surfers convinced that the internet allows anonymity has decreased by half over the last five years, reaching 26%. Since the definite majority of internet users already acknowledge that the web is a public space, they certainly care more about the culture of their own expressions online. IAB Poland's newest report gives hope that in the future, we will no longer discuss the internet culture of insult, but rather the culture of speech.

Browse or download the report below.

Brussels, 17 May 2017 –  IAB Europe’s annual conference, Interact, kicks off in Amsterdam next Tuesday 23^rd May, focusing on the “new rules of engagement” between marketers and consumers.  The new rules reflect users’ increasing ability to engage with digital content and services – including advertising – on their own terms (or not at all).  Marketers ignore these rules at their peril.

Over two days, Interact will bring together 300+ C-level executives from 30 countries and 3 continents to focus on creativity, building a commercially viable digital ecosystem, and navigating a future marked by disruption.

There will be keynotes from  such as Havas Media Group’s Dominique Delport, AOL’s Digital Prophet David Shing, Facebook’s Nicola Mendelsohn, Nigel Morris of DentsuAegis, Gian Fulgoni of comScore, Google’s Matt Brittin, and Jeffrey Cole of the Annenberg School for Communications at USC. Publishers at the cutting edge of the digital revolution will feature, including Schibsted, RTL, The Guardian and de Persgroep.  Advertisers on the programme include household names such as Philips and Orange.

“It is an exhilarating time to be part of this industry,” said Townsend Feehan, CEO. “On the business side, there is advertiser pressure for swift, transformational change on accountability and transparency, and as if that were not enough, the EU’s new ePrivacy law is a tsunami threatening to wash us all off the map. But every challenge also constitutes an opportunity. In Amsterdam, we will hear from a sterling cast of industry leaders about how they view the opportunities, and harness the experience and energy of colleagues from across the ecosystem to define a path forward together that will be worthy of where we have come from.”

“We very much look forward to welcoming industry stakeholders from across Europe to Interact to optimise solutions that both consumers and advertisers will find valuable,” said Chairman of the Board Constantine Kamaras.

About IAB Europe

IAB Europe is the leading European-level industry association for the online advertising ecosystem. Its mission is to promote the development of this innovative sector by shaping the regulatory environment, investing in research and education, and developing and facilitating the uptake of business standards. Together with its members – companies and national trade associations – IAB Europe represents over 5,500 organisations. The online advertising Industry is estimated to account for over a million jobs in Europe and contribute over EUR 100 billion to European GDP, and acts as an incubator of high-end data analytics and other digital skills that can then be deployed in the wider economy.

About Interact

Interact is the premiere gathering of Europe’s digital advertising industry, where leaders advertisers, industry experts, agencies and media owners come together to celebrate the achievements of the industry, analyse emerging business and technology trends, and reflect together on the challenges for the coming year and how best to address them.

Find out more and check out the impressive line-up of speakers here: www.interactcongress.eu

Sublime Skinz appoints former OpenX EMEA Managing Director, Andrew Buckman, as increased demand for high impact non-intrusive advertising signals a period of rapid European expansion. 

London, UK, 15 May 2017: Sublime Skinz, a leading global provider of skin-based advertising, today announced the appointment of Andrew Buckman to the position of EMEA Managing Director. The appointment comes at a time of rapid business growth, encompassing the launch of multiple ad formats and several new publisher partnerships.

Andrew joins the company from OpenX, where he was responsible for accelerating adoption of the advertising platform throughout the EMEA region. Prior to this, Andrew’s extensive experience in the ad tech industry has included high-profile roles at Tradedoubler, where he advanced the scale, profitability, and reputation of the company, and Yahoo!, where he took the lead on multiple sizeable European projects.

Sublime Skinz continues to expand its EMEA team to meet growing demand in the region, and has recently launched four new ad formats designed to meet different advertiser needs. These include VideoSkinz Reminder, Swapping Skinz, Travelling Skinz, and M-Skinz HTML5. In addition the company has partnered with a number of new premium publishers across the EMEA region, including Newsquest, Netmums, and Perform Group in the UK, WebAds in Spain, and TripleDoubleU in Germany.

“At a time of significant growth across EMEA, Sublime Skinz needed a managing director with in-depth knowledge of the digital advertising ecosystem as well as the ability to form strategic partnerships and promote adoption of new technologies,” explained Marc Rouanet, President, Sublime Skinz Inc. “We have been in conversation with Andrew for a long time, and – with his vast industry experience –he fits the bill perfectly.  We are delighted to welcome him to the team.”

“Sublime Skinz takes a fresh approach to digital communication; delivering formats that pique audience attention without intruding on the user experience,” said Andrew Buckman, EMEA Managing Director at Sublime Skinz. “I’m excited to be joining the company and immersing myself in this innovative ethos, and I look forward to consolidating Sublime Skinz’s current successes as well as driving future developments across EMEA.”

About Sublime Skinz

Sublime Skinz is a leading ad tech company specialising in the distribution and optimisation of skin-based advertising. It is the first platform of its kind to provide skin-based advertising on multi devices, working with advertisers, publishers, media agencies, trading desks to drive efficient campaigns at scale.

Sublime Skinz provides actionable statistics and transparent insights in real time, allowing brands to capitalise on the most impactful format with the greatest coverage across multiple websites. Sublime Skinz works with a clear objective to maximse revenues and optimise return on ad investments.

Founded in 2012, the Paris-based company has developed an international reach with offices in London, San Francisco and New York, and boasts an impressive network integrated with more than 3,500 websites worldwide. Sublime Skinz was honoured as the ‘audience favourite’ winner of the Launch: Silicon Valley World Cup Tech in 2014, and in 2016 was awarded Ernst & Young’s ‘Born Global’ prize and Business France’s ‘International Trophy of Digital Business.’

For more information, please visit www.sublimeskinz.com.

Press Contact

GingerMay PR
Kay Seago, Senior Account Executive
kay.seago@gingermaypr.com
Tel: +44 (0)203 642 1124

We’re not even halfway through the year but already 2017 has been one of the most turbulent years for the marketing industry. When fake news started to make daily headlines in the wake of Trump’s election campaign, brands began to worry about just what type of stories their ads were being placed next to, but it turned out, that was just the tip of the iceberg. When The Times’ investigation exposed ads from worthy brands such as Marie Claire, The Guardian and Waitrose, were running on websites potentially funding extremists, white supremacists and pornographers, advertisers, agencies and publishers began to take note.

If these had been a few isolated incidents, it’s possible that technology would have been made the scapegoat – the advertising automation sector often (and unfairly) gets a bad rap for delivering reach over context. But when it came down to it, this unsavoury content was appearing on sites that were on the top of everybody’s media plan – YouTube and Facebook – the type of inventory advertisers bought in droves precisely because it offered both large audience reach and wide familiarity, lending it an air of brand safety. In the fallout, it is agencies that have shouldered most of the blame, vilified as being careless and irresponsible with their clients’ media placements.

But the reality is that automation and agencies are poor scapegoats when even the biggest media platforms represent a risk. How can advertisers and agencies work together to protect their brands?  Whether you’re an advertiser or agency, there are some things to consider when putting measures in place to protect your brand:

1. Brands, agencies and technology partners need to work better together

Agencies can only do what they have the tools to do – they can strategise over the best sites for their client’s ad but they can’t analyse the context of a page in real-time. Moreover, in a world of increasing investment in walled gardens, agencies are often at the mercy of said walled gardens to provide the necessary tools.

Despite taking the heat for the recent YouTube furore, the truth is YouTube simply has not historically provided the granularity of controls necessary for advertisers to eliminate this type of risky content. Shying away from programmatic technology is not a solution – human media plans are equally susceptible, as the YouTube case demonstrates. Brands, agencies and technology partners need to develop a closer relationship so that everyone understands the potential risks and has the technology to manage them in a systematic way. If the brand and the agency have direct access to the technology, they can work together with the technology provider to optimise audiences, define appropriate context for placements and improve measurement.

2. Verify before you buy

It’s clear advertising automation providers must put protective measures in place, but these must go beyond just measurement. Moreover, overly broad tactics like whitelisting aren’t effective at separating safe content from dangers, especially on properties with diverse content such social networks and news sites. While not 100% fool proof, page-level crawlers and predictive algorithms are a more effective and efficient way to help advertisers, agencies, and their tech partners evaluate web pages and apps before they buy. As a general principle, content should be guilty until proven innocent, which means it must be evaluated as brand safe before letting an ad run on it

3. Less blame, more sensible risk management

Digital is only gaining share of consumer media time and brands that want to achieve both reach and relevancy know that pulling ads from digital is not a long-term solution. Sure, many believe, as P&G’s chief brand officer Marc Pritchard said, even a couple of thousand impressions served up next to inappropriate content is “a couple thousand too many”. But how many advertisers are willing to abandon critical digital touchpoints to eliminate those couple thousand impressions, a classic case of cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face?

Rather than blame automation, publishers, or agencies for the risks that come from a fast moving, fragmented media environment, advertisers should be looking to strike the right balance between mitigating risks and getting their message to consumers. This means accepting a small degree of risk and aggressively managing the trade-offs between risk and reward.

To be clear, advertisers, agencies, publishers, and tech companies can (and should) be doing more to keep brands safe. As an industry, we have a shared obligation to put the right checks and balances in place to stop that from happening to advertisers – and technology, when used correctly, is the most robust way of ascertaining whether a potential placement is housed within a suitably brand safe environment.

The original article (in Polish) is available here.

You can browse or download the IAB Poland / PwC Digital Ad Spend 2016 below.

ABC grants comScore the first certification for Online Video Ad Viewability in validated Campaign Essentials™

LONDON, UK, 5th July, 2017 – comScore today announced that it is the first company to be granted certification by ABC to JICWEBS Principles for video viewability measurement in validated Campaign Essentials™ (vCE®). This certification expands on the solution’s existing ABC-accredited offerings for vCE Viewability for Display and vCE Content Verification, continuing its status as a certified solution for the digital ad market in the UK.

vCE video viewability measures the opportunity to be seen, including the removal of sophisticated invalid traffic (IVT), for video advertising impressions. Video viewability is part of comScore’s holistic ad and audience delivery validation solution vCE, which provides an unduplicated accounting of impressions delivered on display, video and mobile devices across a variety of key dimensions including target audience (demographics), viewability, general and sophisticated IVT, brand safety, geography and engagement.

“We are delighted to issue the first ABC video viewability certificate to comScore, demonstrating that its vCE video viewability measurement solution has met JICWEBS industry agreed standards,” said Simon Redlich, Chief Executive at ABC. “The latest IAB UK research shows that video is the fastest growing advertising format. By extending our Viewability programme to include video testing, ABC is delivering the media industry’s stamp of trust in this important area.”

Based on JICWEBS industry-agreed Viewability Principles, ABC video viewability certification provides the industry with transparency and greater confidence to better compare viewability capabilities, ensuring agencies and advertisers can make informed purchasing decisions. comScore was one of the first companies to receive Content Verification certification in 2012 and was also granted certification for their continued commitment to delivering desktop display viewability measurement in vCE earlier this year.

“Video is an integral piece of advertising budgets today, and it’s essential that advertisers and their agencies better understand their video ad performance and whether that ad had the opportunity to be seen,” said Martin Bromfield, comScore, VP Advertising EMEA, “We are pleased to receive the first vCE video viewability certification from ABC, as it underscores our commitment to delivering a solution that aligns not just with our clients’ needs but with the rigorous standards set forth by industry bodies.”

View comScore’s Third Party Accreditation, Certification and Review page to learn more about these accreditations: https://www.comscore.com/About-comScore/Third-Party-Review.

To view comScore’s ABC certificate for vCE video viewability, please visit: https://www.abc.org.uk/Certificates/48877701.pdf

Learn more about comScore validated Campaign Essentials™ (vCE®) or contact comScore today.

About comScore
comScore is a leading cross-platform measurement company that measures audiences, brands and consumer behavior everywhere. comScore completed its merger with Rentrak Corporation in January 2016, to create the new model for a dynamic, cross-platform world. Built on precision and innovation, our data footprint combines proprietary digital, TV and movie intelligence with vast demographic details to quantify consumers’ multiscreen behavior at massive scale. This approach helps media companies monetize their complete audiences and allows marketers to reach these audiences more effectively. With more than 3,200 clients and global footprint in more than 75 countries, comScore is delivering the future of measurement. Shares of comScore stock are currently traded on the OTC Market (OTC:SCOR). For more information on comScore, please visit comscore.com.

About ABC
ABC delivers a stamp of trust for the media industry. We are owned and developed jointly by media owners, advertisers and agencies to set industry-agreed standards for media brand measurement across print, digital and events.

ABC is also a trusted verification provider. We audit media brand measurement data and the adoption of good practice and processes to industry-agreed standards. Established in 1931, ABC was the first UK Joint Industry Currency (JIC) and is a founder member of the International Federation of ABCs.

For more information please visit www.abc.org.uk

For press enquiries, please contact Native Consultancy: Richard Edwards and Sophie Kennedy on 01442 200971 or abcpressoffice@nativethinking.co.uk

About JICWEBS 
JICWEBS is the UK's Joint Industry Committee for Web Standards and is made up of the following trade bodies: Association of Online Publishers (AOP), Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) UK, News Media Association, ISBA – the voice of British advertisers – and the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA).

For more information, please visit www.jicwebs.org

IAB Europe is delighted to announce the shortlist of finalists for The MIXX Awards Europe 2017. Winners of the thirteen categories will be announced at IAB Europe’s Interact conference in Amsterdam on 23rd May.

The MIXX Awards Europe are an opportunity to gain industry recognition for your digital marketing campaigns and the contribution they have made to the development of the digital advertising industry. Winning entries will be showcased to educate the marketplace about what works and why in digital marketing, as well as inspire the industry by highlighting new ideas and future trends.

Anna Lubowska, Chairman MEC CEE, Russia & CIS and Chairman of the Jury said,

“The MIXX Awards Europe are a great showcase of the latest digital campaign creativity and innovation which is key to the development of the industry. Chairing the Jury and reviewing so many award winning campaigns has been an insightful and challenging process.”

The 2017 shortlisted entries are (in no particular order):

Category: Display Advertising

artworx GmBH - Share a Coffee

Pure New Media - Allianz Yolda

Lamba dijital agency - Her işte bi' Falım var

Mindshare Turkey & Maxus Turkey  - Typo Domains By Nescafé

Mindshare Turkey - Last Chance

Category: Mobile Advertising

These Days - The Disposable CamerApp

Pure New Media - Keep Your Eyes On The Road While You Are Driving

Mindshare Turkey  - Knorr Pide Queue

Mindshare Turkey - Spark Brilliance

Mindshare Turkey  - Season Opening – Activation via Swarm

Category: Video Advertising 

Vizeum Global - BBC Earth - More Than TV

Futatsu Industries - HELP – The Lawyer

These Days - FLOOR 99.9

DDB Brussels - EPICGRAM

V8 Interactive - Stella Artois Give Beautifully

Mindshare Turkey - Spark Brilliance

Category: Social Media

DEC BBDO - CANARY'S FOG TAGGERS

These Days - Coins of Hope

These Days - Put a price on your precious

These Days - The Disposable CamerApp

DDB Brussels - STARDUST FOR BOWIE

DDB Brussels - EPICGRAM

Turkcell - Pure New Media  - Letters to Gallipoli

Category: Search Advertising

iProspect / Dentsu Aegis Network - A digital recruitment solution

Clixous - DenizBank Personal Loan Campaign

Hype - Winter is Coming

Hype - We Know What You Want

Category: Native Advertising

Neodigital - Music Is Under This Cap

Ekstra Bladet - Race The Money

Arena Media Spain - UFC 2

Carat - Maximizing shared media potential via content partnership: Sprite Teen Onedio Case

Category: Branded Content

4 WISE MONKEYS - #CUTTYPAIZEI URBAN ADVENTURES CAMPAIGN

These Days - SOUND OF TOMORROW

DDB Brussels - STARDUST FOR BOWIE

DDB Brussels - EPICGRAM

Rabarba - Biscolata 'Perfect Lover Carlos’

McCann Istanbul - WakeApp Light

Mindshare Turkey - Spark Brilliance

Category: Responsive Display Advertising

MediaCom Turkey - EnerjiSA – Turkey’s First Energy Saving Online Campaign

MediaCom Turkey - Warner Bros. – Resident Evil: The Final Chapter

Category: Virtual and Augmented Reality

Framestore - Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

KADEI - Storytelling in Augmented Reality

MELT - Play Invaders

Category: Campaign Effectiveness  

First Content Studio - IAM12

MediaCom Agentur für Media-Beratung GmbH - Sea Hero Quest

DDB Brussels - STARDUST FOR BOWIE

Arena Media Spain - Domino’s Gaming

Pure New Media - Allianz Yolda

Turkcell  - Pure New Media - Letters to Gallipoli

Category: Programmatic Advertising

Bluerank Sp. z o.o. - Data-driven car selling campaign! Success story of personalization campaign for Mitsubishi.

MediaCom Turkey - Volkswagen & BeIN Digiturk – Turkey’s First TV Remarketing Campaign

MediaCom Turkey - Vestel Air Conditioner – Cooling Banner

Mindshare Turkey - Knorr Programmatic OOH

Mindshare Turkey - Last Chance

Category: Integrated Advertising

4 WISE MONKEYS - #CUTTYPAIZEI URBAN ADVENTURES CAMPAIGN

These Days - Coins of Hope

Senor - Say it out loud

Turkcell  - Pure New Media - Letters to Gallipoli

Mindshare Turkey - Spark Brilliance

Category: Effective Use of Data 

MediaCom - die Kommunikationsagentur GmbH - OEBB Geo Localised Ads

OMD Programmatic - The strength of a data driven marketing strategy

Bluerank Sp. z o.o. - Data-driven car selling campaign! Success story of personalization campaign for Mitsubishi.

Digitouch Dijital Pazarlama ve Medya A.S. - Love at Every Sight

MediaCom Turkey  - Volkswagen & BeIN Digiturk – Turkey’s First TV Remarketing Campaign

Mindshare Turkey & Maxus Turkey - Typo Domains By Nescafé

The Jury is Chaired by Anna Lubowska, Chairman MEC CEE, Russia & CIS who is joined by George Zalokostas, Media Manager, Unilever, Peter Drake, Executive Creative Director at DigitasLBi, Vladimir Arandjelovic, Chairman of the Board, IAB Serbia and Managing Director ConnectAd, Ian Haworth, Executive Creative Director, Wunderman UK.

More information about the jury members can be found online here.
Alison Fennah, Executive Business Advisor, IAB Europe said:

“The MIXX Awards Europe highlight the latest and greatest in Digital Campaign innovation and enable marketers to better understand how to use digital media to engage with current and potential consumers. We are pleased to have seen a wide variety of entries this year from companies large and small.”

New advances in technology are contributing to the rise of digital video, according to AOL's new State of the Industry Video research. When it comes to new formats in digital video, the study reveals over half (55%) of buyers and sellers in the UK believe immersive formats such as 360-video will provide one of the best revenue streams over the next twelve months.

However, these formats are still in the early days of adoption, with only 20% of consumers in the UK watching virtual reality video once a week or more (vs 28% globally). 68% of Brits say they never watch VR (vs 58% globally).

Following AOL's State of the Industry Mobile Video Report, the latest study conducted by research agency InsightsNow surveyed 1,600 buyers and sellers, and 1,300 consumers from across seven markets, including the UK to uncover the role of digital video in advertising and media consumption today.

Emerging formats to create new revenue streams 

Over half of buyers in the UK (55%) think that emerging formats such as virtual reality and Out-stream will drive revenue in the next twelve months (vs 50% globally). Now a growing phenomenon, 62% of advertisers in the UK believe there is room for VR in the digital video marketplace, compared to 64% globally.

Although immersive formats are yet to fully take off with consumers, live formats are becoming mainstream, particularly on social media platforms drawing in a wide range of audiences for short bursts of time as a result. 42% of consumers surveyed in the UK now watch live content at least once a week (vs 55% globally). 68% of buyers in the UK are looking to create better user experiences when developing new video formats (vs 79% globally), in comparison to 62% of sellers in the UK (vs 58% globally).

Traditional formats are still lucrative

Two-fifths (40%) of buyers and sellers in the UK expect the amount of video inventory to rise by a quarter within the next twelve months (vs 46% globally). Commercially, 71% of buyers and sellers plan to invest in pre-roll, suggesting linear video ads are a lucrative area for revenue.

Digital video now a part of everyday behaviour

Video has now become a fundamental part of daily online behaviour in the UK, with 71% of consumers now watching digital video on any device every day, and just over half of consumers in the UK (54%) claiming they watch more digital videos today compared to just one year ago (vs 66% globally).

With video now a huge part of everyday life, over half (57%) of advertisers in the UK believe that video is the future of advertising (vs 65% globally), while almost half (49%) of publishers are saying budgets are shifting from television and other formats including broadcast and display to fund digital video (vs 54% globally).

Advertisers will experience a surge in video spend

Programmatic video spend is expected to rise, with 79% of buyers saying they expect their spend on programmatic to increase in the next 12 months. Globally, the study found that 41% of video budgets are being allocated to programmatic video buys. In the UK, 48% of digital video revenue for advertisers is now sold programmatically compared to manual direct buys.

Keeping consumers engaged

The length of a video is key for consumers as attention spans continue to get shorter and shorter - 64% of Brits watch videos that are under one minute long, and on a global scale, on average three-fifths (60%) of consumers share similar viewing habits.

As micro-videos are more frequently consumed, the report shows a depreciation in engagement as videos get longer. 72% of UK consumers watch videos under 5 minutes long (vs 81% globally) whereas 60% commit to videos lasting over 10 minutes in length – compared to 69% globally.

Growth in video comes with challenges

Creating a seamless consumer experience is a challenge that advertisers and publishers continue to face, as just over one third (34%) of consumers in the UK (and globally) say they will stop watching a video that has been interrupted twice due to buffering.

Load times continue to be a hindrance – 40% of buyers and sellers in the UK think this will act as a catalyst to spending less on mobile video advertising next year (vs 34% globally).

What does this mean for advertisers and publishers?

We're entering a new era of digital video for publishers and advertisers. The State of the Industry Video Report shows how important digital video has become, with almost all consumers in the UK (97%) expecting to watch either similar amounts or more online video within the next six months.

When it comes to new formats, consumer appetite is still in its infancy. Advertisers and publishers have an opportunity to flex their creative muscle and tailor content to serve their audiences' needs and interests.

The future is firmly in digital video, and advertisers and publishers must be prepared to invest in emerging formats to enhance the consumer experience. With new technologies such as immersive video on the rise, AOL is committed to investing in video-led content, platforms and formats so brands people love can continue to be built.

Download AOL's State of the Industry Video Research Report here.

IAB Europe’s recently published European Video Ad Format landscape report provides insight into what video ad formats advertisers, agencies and publishers are using and how they value them.

IAB Europe is delighted to announce the shortlist of finalists for the IAB Europe Research Awards 2017. Winners of the eight categories will be announced at IAB Europe’s Interact conference in Amsterdam on 23rd May.

The IAB Europe Research Awards are an opportunity to gain industry recognition for your research projects and the contribution they have made to the development of the digital advertising industry. Knowledge is a key part of our programme to help develop the digital advertising business across Europe and we have a wealth of work that we aim to promote and share. Winning projects will become part of the IAB Europe expanding libraries of proof points, including the Programmatic, Multi-device and Connected World and Ad Effectiveness libraries, for industry professionals to use in their strategies and daily work.

Nick Hiddleston, Research Director Worldwide, ZenithOptimedia and Chairman of the Jury said, “The IAB Europe Research Awards continue to promote the sharing of best practice across Europe and beyond which is vital for the continued development of the digital advertising industry. Winning a Research Award is a great achievement and I am pleased to see the quality of entries improving each year.”

The 2017 shortlisted entries are (in no particular order):

The Jury is Chaired by Nick Hiddleston, Research Director Worldwide at ZenithOptimedia and joined by Pierpaolo Guidi, Media Relations Agency Manager, Subito (Schibsted Media Group, Agnieszka Hoffmann, Client Manager at Millward Brown, Chechu Lasheras, Managing Director for Digital Business Development, PRISA, Tony Evans, Director of Marketing Science: EMEA, Facebook, Pawel Kolenda, Research Director at IAB Poland and Vice-Chair of the IAB Europe Research Committee.

More information about the jury members can be found online here.

Alison Fennah, Executive Business Advisor, IAB Europe said:

“This is the seventh edition of the IAB Europe Research Awards which continue to showcase research and data innovation in digital advertising research in Europe. We have seen a high calibre of entries from a wider range of companies and European markets this year.”

Xaxis EMEA President John Wittesaele has spent the best part of two decades launching and growing adtech businesses. We asked him what his top tips for programmatic success are.

1. Don’t take shortcuts with your data

Everyone is under pressure to get results now. But there is no good way to cut corners on data quality. Unless marketers understand what motivates their audience, how their customers behave online and what developing data signals really mean for their campaigns, then they can risk reaching the wrong people, in the wrong way, at the wrong time.  Misunderstanding your audience can be costly and affect any ongoing campaigns.  My advice? Listen to your data teams and give them what they need, even if it’s that most precious of commodities — time.

2. Never neglect brand safety

When programmatic advertising is done well, it can achieve media-buying efficiency, scale, and intelligent audience reach. However, if marketers see this as coming at a risk to brand safety, then these benefits fade into the background. It is our [the AdTech industry] responsibility to begin conversations about brand safety at the same time as discussing a marketer’s campaign objectives.

3. Learn to love MVT and DCO — and your creatives

Multivariate testing (MVT) and dynamic creative optimisation (DCO) are incredibly powerful tools. At Xaxis, we’ve been able to achieve fantastic results using just these two tools. Of course, it only works if you also have top-flight creatives who are used to working with dynamic content. This is really where forward-thinking creatives, able to work with tech and data teams, come into their own.

4. Recognise that the future belongs to AI

Artificial intelligence technologies currently in use, and under development, allow us to process data in quantities and at speeds that would have been unimaginable a few years ago. As we move towards programs which not only recognise trends in data and learn from their experience, but can also improve themselves, we can expect to achieve even greater efficiencies. Invest in your algorithms.

5. But invest in your people, too

Despite a rapid move towards AI technologies, obtaining the best data remains unrealised if you don’t have the analysts and data scientists capable of working with it. Only people can turn data into information. The people who combine a mathematical mind with an empathetic ability to understand the human implications of data are going to become increasingly valuable. So, treasure your teams. Help them build rewarding and intellectually satisfying careers so that they can use the full extent of their talents to help your clients.