The world of commerce is changing at high speed. Accelerated by shifting consumer habits during the pandemic, a nuclear explosion has sparked for the digital commerce landscape.
As habits changed, a rapid uptake of commerce solutions emerged. Faced with not being able to leave home, consumers increasingly adopted eCommerce to facilitate their shopping needs and more and more brands started to turn to and tap into this valuable channel. The once distinct worlds of brick and mortar and online merged allowing consumers to seamlessly change environments and shop with ease.
There is now a vast frictionlessness in the way people can buy things, with new technology removing the obstacles of exploring goods, buying and enquiring about them, without having to be in a physical store.
Social commerce is a rapid expansion of this already booming eCommerce landscape. Where the content and products now travel with the consumer, the social aspect, in this environment, has the ability to manifest conversations around the product and the transaction, in a fun and engaging way. And all in one place.
To further explore commerce, the rise of social commerce, and the opportunities it presents for brands, we’ve partnered with TikTok along with GroupM and Shopify to discuss commerce in more detail and to look at where this growing trend is headed.
In a series of short videos, produced by TikTok, you can hear from key stakeholders including:
Keen to learn more?
If you want to dive into commerce deeper, why not join IAB Europe and TikTok 15:00 CET on 28th September for an exclusive Industry Insider webinar as thought leaders from across the industry will join a panel to discuss their thoughts on the past, present, and future of commerce, and the opportunities this presents for marketers.
Find out more and register here to secure your free space.
According to the recently released AdEx 2021 study, the European digital ad market is now programmatic first with 57% of all non-social display spend now being transacted programmatically.
Programmatic is and continues to be a big deal. But to really understand the status of programmatic adoption across Europe on both the buy and the sell side of the digital advertising industry, we need your help.
IAB Europe is inviting all stakeholders, from advertisers and agencies to ad tech and publishers, to answer the 2022 Programmatic Survey! Take part here.
Now in its eight year, this survey aims to illustrate the current adoption of and attitudes towards programmatic advertising. The results will help inform the IAB Europe Programmatic Trading Committee that provide guidance on developing a programmatic advertising strategy for publishers, agencies, and advertisers.
The deadline to complete the survey is Friday 5th August and it takes just 10 minutes to complete. Plus your response will be treated in the strictest confidence and all respondents will be sent a copy of the 2022 report with full results.
Help us uncover how programmatic advertising attitudes, adoption, and strategies are evolving. Take the survey today!
Check out last year’s report to see what the findings provide so much value and insight.
As part of IAB Europe’s key focus on topics of corporate responsibility in the digital advertising industry, The Programmatic Trading Committee has set up a mini-series to discuss diversity and inclusion in 2022, with the latest blog post diving into the theme of marketing in digital advertising. In this blog, our contributors explore D&I in media planning and buying, talk about what companies can do to embrace more diversity in marketing campaigns, and assess what can be done to make media more inclusive and culturally relevant.
A Q&A with:
Amina Begum, Solutions Consulting Director Xandr
Michael Shmarak, Senior Director of Communications, Verve Group
Clare Ritchie, Global Head of Programmatic, Mediacom
Alanna Tyminsk, Strategic Alliances Director, EMEA, IAS
Q1. In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges when you think about diversity and inclusion in marketing?
Amina - “A recent report from Media for All, showed that there is still a perception gap around diversity and inclusion in marketing and I think this is a constant challenge. According to the report ‘those who are not directly impacted by it are more positive across the board on outcomes and progress on diversity, equity and inclusion than those from minoritised backgrounds.
Part of the issue is that when there is an event that brings diversity and minoritised groups to focus, there is a quick reaction of support both from consumers and brands. However, the follow-through and action plan tend to be a lot slower and this lack of action creates a perception gap.
Thinking that we as a marketing industry are doing ‘enough’ is idle, we as an industry should do more to understand why this gap exists and ensure we have an action plan to address the outcomes.”
Michael - “The biggest challenge is making sure marketers look beyond D&I as "corporate social responsibility." It is as intertwined with the fabric of an organisation as anything that appears in financial statements. Ultimately, having the right and best people matters more than ever. At Verve Group, we have colleagues from more than 30 countries across the globe, so it is imperative that we practice what we preach. Marketers need to move beyond “checking off a box" and prove to their stakeholders that having diverse populations and ideas matter in a global economy.”
Clare - “The biggest challenges we face are authentication & intelligence. Diversity & Inclusion are more than buzzwords. Inclusive marketing for diverse audiences should come from diverse marketers with the aim of speaking to everyone and avoiding stereotyping. It is not just the change of a strapline or representative, but cultural awareness and appreciation which extends through planning, creative, and media placement. Messages should be tested and honed within the audience that they are trying to reach to ensure relevancy and reaction.”
Alanna - “Having a clear definition of what diversity, equity & inclusion (DE&I) actually encapsulates is really important, and there is more progress to be made. Ethnicity, race, LGBTQ+, gender equality, people with disabilities, and more, all come under this umbrella. This is the first step to ensuring diverse groups in marketing and advertising are represented and have a voice that can be championed. There have been good steps made, but there is still a way to go.”
Q2. What are the biggest opportunities available today for more diversity in marketing?
Amina “When it comes to diversity in marketing there are huge opportunities available for the advertising industry, both from an advertising and publishing perspective. For brands, this is an opportunity to reach audiences they haven’t engaged with before and a chance to build up new target markets.
From a publisher perspective, support for smaller and minority-owned publishers who have historically been overlooked because they haven’t had the budgets from advertisers before, now get the opportunity to be able to scale up their businesses.”
Michael - “Marketers should do a better job of listening to those who don't typically sit in their comfort zone to learn more about how their decisions impact others, especially in advertising. Here at Verve Group, we often find that the best ideas come when "worlds collide," literally and figuratively speaking, because we are listening to vantage points of others. Imagine the possibilities if we listened more than we spoke!”
Clare - “Consumers, especially younger generations expect more from marketing than ever before. They look for brands who are supporting important issues and showing diversity. The engagement and opportunity for resonant marketing to be shared within the right audience groups allows these messages to travel beyond the confines of paid media, bringing incremental value to any communication.
Thinking specifically about programmatic, we are in the age of addressability. We have the option to engage with our audience with relevance not previously attainable.
One size does not fit all, one message is not relevant to all. Using the technology available to us, and bringing together more precise and intelligent data about a brand's audience, should allow for a more equitable conversation.”
Alanna - “Have a diverse voice from the very beginning to drive inclusivity from within the business.
That means especially involving individuals from all groups with different backgrounds to the conversations and projects to ensure everyone is heard and represented.
Businesses should create these opportunities for everyone. There are already positive steps that are being taken within the industry. Clients and agencies are forming working teams within the business that are focussed on DE&I and starting to build out policies that support diversity on marketing plans.”
Q3. How do you think we can advance D&I in the media planning and buying process?
Amina “To put D, E&I at the forefront, it should be engrained in every part of the process. For example, if as a company you’ve historically never had diverse media plans before you should take the approach of equity. Meaning, this is something you’ve neglected so you are going to take actionable measures to put extra focus on this topic until it naturally becomes embedded in everything you do.”
Michael - “The industry needs to think about what "diversity" really means in this day and age, and to make it a part of one's strategy. There is so much opportunity to fuse diversity into operations and strategies, and in doing so, create great media plans. For example, I find it counterintuitive when I hear LGBTQ+ content is being blocked from ad plans because it is perceived as "different content." The LGBTQ+ community is vibrant, with people, ideas, and thinking that can influence brands. We often talk about walled gardens in our business, but we also need to break down some of these walls to achieve more.”
Clare - “We have a responsibility to hire with diversity, creating fluid talent pools across organisations, who are reflective of the market being reached. Creating approaches founded in insight-driven planning, allowing room for variation, feedback and change will advance thinking. Coupling this with clearly measurable outcomes will create accountability in advancing D&I throughout the media planning & buying process.”
Alanna - “First of all, education on effective tools that are already available in the market. They can really support media planning and buying when it comes to DE&I. The heavy reliance on existing tools, such as keyword lists, means that there is not only blocking of good content but also underprotection against unfavorable content for clients.
Technology vendors such as IAS need to also collaborate with clients to help them deliver against goals around DE&I in this process. We have worked with the Brand Safety team at GroupM to deliver a solution using our avoidance technology to help ensure that their clients do not appear against any negative content that is perceived as discriminatory.”
Q4. How can brands build more diversity and inclusion into their marketing plans?
Amina “Brands need to look internally at the make-up of their organisations – consumers can see through those that exhibit authenticity and those that are jumping on the latest bandwagon.
Companies need to ask the right questions, for example, are their staff diverse and representative of the local population? What about those in leadership positions? It is important that their employees feel empowered to put their voices forward and do not feel forced to change themselves in order to fit in and feel included. For brands to build more diversity and inclusion, they need to start by making sure their organisation is able to offer the right perspective in this area.”
Michael - “My father once said that we human beings have two ears and one mouth, and we need to remember that proportion. Brands would be wise to listen to my Dad’s advice–they should become active listeners to what diversity and inclusion mean to their customers as opposed to what THEY think D&I means to them. It also means that leadership teams need to become more deeply acclimated with the channels and networks where audiences reside and recognise the power that these channels hold in the marketplace.”
Clare - “We all need to take the time to really know our audience and understand how and where they are receptive. Listen to the data available, be that sales, focus groups, feedback, or social media, and create tailored approaches to speak to the complexities of real people that are a key representation of our brands. Accepting that what works today may not work tomorrow or next time and that we are in a fluid environment will aid success.”
Alanna - “Brands need to be conscious about where the advertising is being placed at the start of the media planning process. We advise to look at forming partnerships with publishers of under represented groups, as well as a diverse group of publishers during the planning process.”
Q5. What more can be done by the industry to make media more inclusive and culturally relevant?
Amina “Media has shifted and content creation has changed. It is now a lot easier to become a content creator as all you need is a camera phone. This means content creation has been opened up to a much more diverse pool of creators and brands should be taking note of this. By choosing to support a varied selection of creators and small businesses they can make their offering more inclusive and culturally relevant.
Formats are also evolving and some work better than others with diverse audiences. Brands should continue to experiment with formats to truly understand which platforms speak to broader audiences and invest in those spaces. Consumers will choose a platform that speaks to who they are, what represents them and they will take their spending power along with them.”
Michael - “I recall reading an article in CAMPAIGN that highlighted this issue to a tee–I highly recommend reviewing it, as it opened my eyes to where opportunities lie for all of us marketers. In it, the author cited a disconnect between the right/best data that is collected about audiences for specific campaigns. The author cited the methods that many marketers define audiences as inefficient because of racial, gender, and ethnic bias. If a media plan can be shaped with diversity and inclusion as a goal, some of those biases come off the table.”
Clare - “Ultimately we need to ensure that diversity and inclusion are given appropriate focus and space, through all stages of creative and media planning and buying. It's not a retrospective fit or a last-minute buying tweak. Audience and the approach to engage meaningfully should be in every conversation, but to enable this, we need to properly fund the time, thought and creativity needed.”
Alanna - “Policy can only succeed if culture drives it. What does this mean exactly? Everybody has the responsibility to play their role when it comes to diversity & inclusion - so does Ad Tech. Over the past years, we developed tools that can support our mutual goal for more inclusivity and deliver effective campaigns. So Tech providers have a responsibility to educate brands on how more sophisticated technologies can be used to achieve goals.
We want to make sure that we balance much-needed Brand Safety with a sensitive diversity level by consciously managing brand suitability and safety alongside inclusion.”
Report details all factors contributing to 30.5% annual growth
All 28 markets recorded double-digit growth
Brussels, Belgium, 28 June 2022 – IAB Europe, the leading European-level industry association for the digital advertising and marketing ecosystem, today released its full 2021 AdEx Benchmark Report following the release of the study highlights in May. The report is the definitive guide to advertising expenditure in Europe covering 28 markets. It details the formats and channels that contributed to digital advertising’s annual growth of 30.5 percent in 2021, culminating in a total market value of €92bn.
Commenting on the positive market growth in 2021, Townsend Feehan, CEO, IAB Europe said:
“The past two years have been challenging for many and it is encouraging to be able to report such positive growth for our industry. This is a testament to the people, products and services that help steer and grow the digital advertising industry, even in the most exceptional circumstances.”
Every market in the study experienced double-digit growth
All 28 markets covered in the study have recorded double-digit growth. Seven markets grew above the average growth rate of 30.5%, with a mix of countries from Western and Central & Eastern Europe.
The market recorded the highest growth rate since 2008
IAB Europe forecast a growth rate of 28.6% for 2021. The markets surged and exceeded expectations to achieve a growth rate of 30.5%, which is the highest growth recorded in the study since 2008. This equated to a total of €21.5bn added to the digital advertising market in 2021.
Still headroom for growth
When looking at digital ad spend per head, some key markets still lag behind the European average of €115; Spain for example at €92 and Poland at €38.
Video continued strong growth in 2021
Video was a key driver of growth both in and out of social spend. It grew by 46.2% and now accounts for 41% of all display ad spend. Video also now exceeds half of total display spend in three markets; Ukraine, UK and Italy.
Digital Audio recorded the strongest percentage growth
In 2021 digital audio grew by 50.7%, higher than all other formats. The audio market continues to grow rapidly, from a low base, reaching €700m in 2021, or 3% of display spend.
Programmatic now commands 57% of display ad spend
Programmatic, excluding social, accounts for more than half of display ad spend driven by a move to private market places and adoption in CEE markets.
Dr. Daniel Knapp, Chief Economist, IAB Europe, who compiled and presented the study commented:
“All parts of digital advertising benefited from the 2021 bonanza, but most notably those formats and approaches that enable small and medium sized businesses, e-commerce related advertising, video-based storytelling and formats that provide access to new consumer behaviour at scale, such as audio and gaming.
Although market growth in 2021 was tightly clustered in the mid-20ies for most countries, European digital ad markets are heterogeneous with a wide range of ad spend per capita allocations even in markets of similar economic power. This signals significant headroom for growth remains available.”
View and Download the Full Report Here
Notes
AdEx Benchmark is the definitive guide to advertising expenditure in Europe.
The data has been compiled by IAB Europe based on information provided by the national IAB offices around Europe. The report includes market size and value information for 2021 for the following markets: Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, UK and the Ukraine. The data represents the calendar year 2019 January- December. This is the sixteenth AdEx Benchmark study which began in the calendar year 2006. Display includes PC-based and mobile banners, rich media and video formats.
The report provides a comprehensive perspective of digital advertising spend across Europe which is essential in benchmarking market development trends, the increasingly pan-regional nature of digital advertising investments and the role of Europe’s digital economy in a global context, attracting global start-up funding and European policy formulation.
For more information, please contact:
Lauren Wakefield, IAB Europe (wakefield@iabeurope.eu / +44 7828 514 193)
Marie-Clare Puffett, IAB Europe (puffett@iabeurope.eu / +44 7973 836 917)
16 June 2022, Brussels, Belgium - IAB Europe today declared its formal endorsement of the strengthened Code of Practice (CoP) on Disinformation, as part of its participation in the launch event held in Brussels.
The CoP was revised to take account of the European Commission’s Guidance on Strengthening the Code of Practice on Disinformation released in May 2021. IAB Europe was an active participant in the revision process, alongside other stakeholders including corporate players from online advertising and platforms sectors as well as fact-checking organisations, civil society representatives and other parties providing solutions to fight disinformation.
IAB Europe was one of the signatories of the original CoP in 2018, widely recognised as the first-ever policy tool addressing the challenge of disinformation. In its role as a trade association signatory, IAB Europe has been evangelising the Code within the industry and encouraging continued collaboration on it across the digital ecosystem.
“Online disinformation is a scourge and a major challenge to contemporary society,” said Townsend Feehan, IAB Europe CEO. “The drafting process of the strengthened Code has brought together a diverse group of stakeholders, including direct participation of advertising industry players and their experts. Their involvement allowed for in-depth discussions and commitments to address brand safety aspects that are particularly important for ensuring brands’ confidence in a safe and trusted digital ecosystem. We are looking forward to seeing through the commitments of the CoP, to help defund the dissemination of disinformation and support industry innovations that contribute to diminishing its incidence.”
IAB Europe will continue to help educate the industry on the importance of the CoP and of its commitments that aim to contribute to a digital space that continues to provide accurate information and views, on terms that are accessible and affordable for all citizens. IAB Europe will also work with other signatories to ensure a strong monitoring framework in order to assess the implementation and impact of the CoP, reporting on its contribution accordingly.
European Digital Advertising Market Grew by 30.5% to achieve €92bn
Turkey Achieved 99.7% Market Growth
Audio Grew By 50.2% Across All Markets
Brussels, Belgium, 25th May, 2022 - IAB Europe, the leading European-level industry association for the digital advertising and marketing ecosystem, announced at its flagship conference Interact 2022 today that digital advertising grew 30.5% in 2021 to €92bn. This exponential growth shows that the digital advertising market has truly bounced back from the challenges and impact of COVID-19.
2021 Digital Advertising Investment
Now in its sixteenth year, The AdEx Benchmark study is the definitive guide to advertising expenditure in Europe, covering 28 markets. In 2021, all markets experienced double-digit year-on-year growth. Turkey was the most dynamic market posting an exceptional growth of 99.7%. In 2021, no markets experienced a decline in digital advertising.
Audio and Video Post Strongest Growth
The study shows that audio saw the largest growth in 2021 at 51.3%. Whilst the audio market still remains small, it represents positive growth. Video also grew by an impressive 46.2% to €18.5bn. Meanwhile display grew by 34.5% to €45.6, with search experiencing a 29.9% increase to €39.5bn.
The AdEx Benchmark Study highlights can be downloaded here.
The full AdEx Benchmark 2021 Report, which will provide full commentary and data across all 28 markets, will be published in June 2022.
Across the month of April, IAB Europe kick-started key topics of corporate responsibility in the digital advertising industry. A lack of understanding and accountability on key issues such as the environmental and economic impacts of digital advertising and the need for more diversity and inclusion across our ecosystem is more apparent today than ever before.
Our series discussed and debated what’s happening in our industry currently, why it’s important that we take action now and what needs to be done to take responsibility and ensure a great future for digital advertising.
To continue the conversation, we caught up with some of the members of IAB Europe’s Programmatic Trading Committee, to discuss diversity and inclusion under the theme of recruitment and the workplace in digital advertising. We explore what some of the biggest challenges and opportunities are, talk about what companies can do to embrace more diversity in the workplace and assess what we can all do to ensure more diverse talent is included in the digital advertising ecosystem.
A Q&A with:
Gosia Adamczyk, Head of HR, Verve Group
Michael Olaye, Senior Business Development Manager, Integral Ad Science (IAS)
Kris Smith, VP, Global People Experience, DEI & Belonging, DoubleVerify
Q1. In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges when you think about diversity and inclusion in the workplace?
Gosia - “There are several challenges I can think of in terms of diversity and inclusion in the workplace. First, managers and team members often don’t realise that they are being non-inclusive – they use non-inclusive language due to old habits, they make hiring decisions based on unconscious bias, and they tend to be closer and promote team members that are like themselves. The more educational initiatives we introduce in the organization, the more inclusive the workplace will become.
Another major challenge is the fact we’re sometimes simply missing the diverse talent in the market. This is a more complex issue, and we should think about the solution by investing in education and supporting junior talent.”
Michael - “Diversity by its very definition cannot just be one event or activity. Across the industry, there is an ever-increasing commitment to champion DE&I as a movement.
However, there is still much more to be done. As the WFA pointed out in their recent DEI guide, much is being done to improve the representation of women, but the industry should be doing more in promoting much broader inclusion. The challenge lies in harnessing environments and workplaces that are intrinsically inclusive - where people from all walks of life feel safe and the opportunity to have a voice. This represents an opportunity because a diverse work team achieves a better result than one in which the same point of view is present. It’s not just about gender, race, age, or ethnicity - it’s about all of them and more. DEI efforts are always a work in progress, and there's much more to be done to truly reflect our multicultural society as a whole.”
Kris - “There are numerous challenges, many of which create significant roadblocks to progress. Often we hear how companies are evaluating sourcing strategies to attract talent from different backgrounds and bridge representation gaps in their organisations, but - we hear less about how they will retain this talent and set them up to thrive. In many cases, these same organisations continue to operate with programs, policies, and processes that leave room for bias, discrimination, and exclusivity. They are not set for success in furthering diversity and inclusion in the workplace because their company culture and environment are not designed for this talent to thrive in. Progress can be made, but it will take focus and commitment to drive foundational change. Organisations need a plan for supporting this talent after they get them in the door.”
Q2. What are the biggest opportunities available today for more diversity in the workplace?
Gosia - “I believe creating educational programs for juniors or people that want to switch their career paths especially targeted to reach a diverse audience is something that will not only benefit us in a few years, but also support society. We should focus not only on solving our hiring problems and positioning ourselves as an inclusive organisation, but on solving a global issue and ensuring we’re building a better future for future generations.”
Kris - “Create an environment where people who are not in the majority will also thrive. Our success in improving representation gaps relies on both our ability to recruit AND retain talent from underrepresented groups. Sustainable progress starts with ensuring inclusive and equitable policies, processes, and programs. We also need to invest in developing managers at all levels to ensure they have the skills and tools to be inclusive leaders. This is one of our biggest opportunities - create environments designed to embrace and foster diversity starting with those who manage others.”
Q3. What do you think companies should do to embrace more diversity & inclusion in the workplace, to ensure it is the new normal and not just a box tick exercise?
Gosia - “First of all, top management needs to understand the benefits of having diverse talent in the organisation. Diverse personalities, opinions, and backgrounds help us to notice a different angle and give us an opportunity to have healthy discussions and develop ourselves.
When management notices the true advantages, the urge to hire diverse talent and build an inclusive workplace will be authentic. With this authenticity as a foundation, we can work on educating different layers of the company and adjusting our people processes to match the need.
If top management doesn’t see the benefits and the real need for hiring and retaining diverse talent, the D&I initiatives will not be as effective as they could be.”
Michael - “Companies have a significant role to play to ensure inclusivity is at the heart of workplace environments, both in the office and in virtual environments:
Kris - “This is a great question. I think this is about shifting perspective, setting expectations, and equipping all levels of leadership, including the executive team. If the goal is for D&I to be a core component of the workplace, it should be embedded as a part of your business strategy. It should be a clear expectation that every department, function, and person in the organisation fosters an inclusive environment. Leaders should be provided with the tools to lead inclusively and the understanding they are expected to do so. There should be a clear and visible connection to company values as well as business goals. Overall, this is about demonstrating diversity and inclusion is not separate initiative but a core part of the organisation’s culture and identity.”
Q4. What steps are you or your company taking to bring on more diverse talent in digital and programmatic advertising? Have you seen any examples of companies that are doing this well?
Gosia - “The game-changer for us was when we decided to start recruiting globally and support relocation of the talent from different parts of the world. It helped us to naturally become more diverse as a team. We’re building intercultural awareness by speaking about differences in the communication styles, showing people diverse cultures, celebrating global holidays, and ensuring we’re being inclusive in our language and behaviors.
Speaking about the recruiting process, we work on our job descriptions to ensure we use inclusive language. We also include different team members in the process to ensure we’re showing a candidate an opportunity to talk to a diverse team and get answers to potential questions about being an inclusive organisation, and get a fair evaluation of the candidate.
Speaking about the future, we’re planning to start intense educational programs too. We want to conduct training on how to handle unconscious bias during the interview process, and we want an intercultural communication workshop to be a part of our standard onboarding process, to name a few initiatives we’re currently working on.”
Michael - “We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, colour, nationality, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, religion, disability or age. We strongly encourage women, people of colour, members of the LGBTQIA community, people with disabilities, and veterans to apply.
Inclusion unlocks the potential for innovation and helps everyone. At IAS we celebrate the beautiful tapestry of cultures, backgrounds, and rich traditions that comprise us all. While there are differences and similarities to acknowledge and celebrate, we must also find time to educate ourselves and demonstrate our commitment through our core value of #oneteam.
We achieve this through our recruitment teams and Inclusion and Diversity Council - which upholds this company value by championing our inclusion and diversity strategies, ensuring progress towards our goals.
Great initiatives from other companies include the GroupM Media Inclusion Initiative, pledging that at least 2% of its total annual media budgets will be invested in diverse media companies and creators.
Also The Women in Programmatic network that provides opportunities and support for women in the programmatic and advertising technology industry, pushing to eradicate the gender pay gap.
Brixton Finishing School is such a great initiative. They are on a mission to create an inclusive ‘talent’ blueprint for our homogenous industry. Their free 10-week programme for 18-25s students from underprivileged and diverse backgrounds delivers a premium learning experience through a mixture of lessons and real-world advertising experience.”
Q5. What Diversity & Inclusion initiatives has your company implemented that have worked well and resonated with you?
Gosia - “We’ve started speaking more about the language. Often, we don’t realise that language is a powerful tool – it shapes reality and can make people feel excluded even without having wrong intentions.
We are now talking about inclusive communication. We are careful about designing messages and we raise awareness across the team.”
Micheal - “Diversity & Inclusion initiatives should be seen as a journey - whilst there are great initiatives taking place, there is constantly still more work to do, both in the workplace and in wider society.
We have a variety of ERGs operating across the globe, encouraging and providing a nurturing environment for employees to share their experiences and introduce others to their cultures. These include IAS Women, BIND (Black Integral Network Domain), IAS PRIDE (LGBTQIA+), ASIAS (Asian Society IAS), IAS Working Parents, VIVA (Verificación integrando y vinculando los Américas), and STAR (Introverts - Social, Thinking, Anxious, Restrained). The ERGs champion and celebrate IAS talent from individuals through education, connection, and community support. The belief of each ERG is to provide IAS employees with the confidence to be their authentic self. Members of these groups can expect to develop connections by networking with other like-minded individuals at IAS on similar missions, promoting well-being through wellness activities, and accessing educational and professional development opportunities.
For example, our ERG hosted Asian Heritage and Women’s History Month to celebrate diversity through profiling of teams, cultural events or workshops. Recently, teams at IAS helped deliver #IamRemarkable (#IAR) workshops empowering underrepresented groups to celebrate their achievements in the workplace and beyond.
IAS took part in the Per Scholas’ training, working with aspiring technologists to improve their communication skills, learn about key technical content, and better understand varied corporate cultures. Through the interactions, candidates were able to learn more about a corporate environment and gain valuable practice speaking with a working professional.”
Kris - “The first two cohorts of our DEI council focused on introducing inclusive programming to celebrate and educate on awareness months and initiatives, they created an inclusive language toolkit, and laid the groundwork for our employee resource groups, starting with the launch of our first one, which was Women@DV. We recently enhanced several policies after an inclusive policy review, including expanding parental leave globally.”
Q6. What is the one thing you think we can all be doing now to ensure more diverse and inclusive talent is represented in digital and programmatic advertising?
Gosia - “I think we should team up and make educational programs available for diverse talent in order to allow them to enter digital and programmatic advertising. We should think about the future and work together, not under one company’s name only, but holistically as an industry.”
Michael - “Firstly, companies must look internally to assess what more needs to be done. This can be achieved through surveys and employee engagement analysis exercises that truly understand the makeup of companies.
Brussels, 13 May 2022 – IAB Europe today announced that it is withdrawing its request for suspension of the execution of the decision issued by the Litigation Chamber of the Belgian Data Protection Authority (“APD”) on IAB Europe and the Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF). The request for suspension had been submitted as part of the appeal to the Belgian Market Court lodged on 4th March.
The withdrawal coincides with a confirmation by the APD that it will not take a decision on validation of the action plan submitted by IAB Europe until 1st September at the earliest, date by which the Market Court is expected to have issued a ruling on the appeal. The plan, which IAB Europe was required to produce as part of the APD decision, captures how it proposes to deliver on the various orders contained in the decision. The plan is currently being evaluated by the APD, and IAB Europe will have six months to implement it from the date of validation.
“With the APD having confirmed it will not start the clock running on the 6-month implementation period, the operative part of the contested decision, until we expect to have the ruling on the merits, it just makes sense to withdraw the request and focus on the next steps of the appeal”, explained Townsend Feehan, IAB Europe CEO. “Should the decision on the merits of the case not be rendered by the Market Court in this timeframe, for example if it wishes to refer questions to the European Court of Justice, IAB Europe will be able to ask the Market Court for provisional measures at such a time.”
An updated FAQ on the case may be consulted on IAB Europe’s website here.
For more information, please contact Lauren Wakefield, IAB Europe’s Marketing & Industry Programmes Director (wakefield@iabeurope.eu).
In this week's member-guest post we hear from Tanya Field, Co-Founder, and CPO of Novatiq, as she analyses McKinsey's recent report on post third-party cookie strategies and provides key recommendations on how to go beyond owned intelligence in order to succeed in a post third-party cookie world.
McKinsey’s recent report into the post third-party cookie advertising ecosystem recommends three strategies for brands to take: 1) leverage owned touchpoints to generate first-party data, 2) partner with second-party data vendors for additional insights, and 3) leverage contextual strategies.
While this is welcome insight from a company outside the core adtech ecosystem, the recommendations do little to move the debate on. Moreover, while the steps outlined by the consultant will have a significant positive impact on brands’ marketing efforts, they still fail to meet the core requirement that will follow the loss of third-party cookies: verifying audiences at scale across the anonymous web.
Our view is that McKinsey’s analysis provides only part of the answer. First-party data will undoubtedly take on added importance for brands and publishers alike, and there is of course a convincing argument to be made for augmenting this data with that of second-party organisations. McKinsey is suggesting an approach where universal IDs are leveraged as first-party cookies to activate and enrich consented information across marketing channels, adtech providers, and publishers.
However, while universal IDs will clearly play a role in the emerging programmatic ecosystem, they cannot be the only solution. This is because universal IDs are not capable of providing a joined-up view of web users across the anonymous web, nor are they able to recognise users across devices.
Going further than McKinsey, we would therefore also recommend the use of an interoperable pseudonymous verification ID. This ID would enable advertisers and publishers to leverage telco intelligence to verify users behind the telco firewall.
The benefits of using telco intelligence are clear: telcos have full visibility of subscribers across devices and are trusted by consumers, which will be important for managing consent. Moreover, using the pseudonymous verification ID removes the need to transact personally identifiable information, making this a privacy-first design.
McKinsey rightly notes the importance of data partners to solving the post third-party cookie challenge. To reach users on both the authenticated and anonymous web, telcos must be one of these partners, and interoperable pseudonymous verification IDs a core enabler of programmatic transactions.
Our proposed approach will mean that advertisers can retain all the current benefits of verified audiences at scale and will therefore not need to rely on contextual to fill the gap (the third of McKinsey’s strategies). While there’s a role for contextual advertising, it does not currently have what it takes to reach the right audiences every time.
McKinsey has provided useful, objective insights for advertisers and there is much of value in its analysis. However, first-party data is only the beginning of a solution, not the solution itself. By combining brands’ owned data with that of publishers and verifying it with the help of telcos, advertisers can build complete, 360-degree profiles of their customers that are as rich, if not richer, than anything available today through third-party cookies.
For more information on the ID ecosystem, and strategies for responding to the withdrawal of third-party cookies, read IAB Europe’s updated Guide to the Post Third-Party Cookie Era. Here you can learn more about interoperable pseudonymous verification IDs and how they will interact with universal IDs and other solutions to help create the privacy-first programmatic ecosystem of tomorrow.
25 April 2022, Brussels, Belgium - IAB Europe welcomes the Council and European Parliament on the political agreement reached on the Digital Services Act (DSA) proposal on 23 April. The agreement marks an important further milestone in increasing user and business confidence online.
In particular, we commend the EU institutions’ adherence to much of the Commission’s original vision, and the relative lack of overlap with existing EU law, most notably the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), in the final text.
“Despite having a number of provisions that relate to use of consumer data, DSA will have a separate enforcement regime from the EU’s privacy and data protection legislation”, noted Greg Mroczkowski, IAB Europe Public Policy Director. “Broad restrictions on the use of data for advertising that were discussed during the legislative process looked like creating a risk of rules governing the same data processing being subject to different, competing enforcement regimes, with the risk of confusion for both users and business. While it would appear that the final text mostly avoids this, the regulatory landscape will nonetheless be a very complex one. IAB Europe will remain invested in constructive dialogue with policymakers and regulators with a view to improving legal certainty”.
IAB Europe looks forward to working with the European Commission and other stakeholders on implementation of the new advertising transparency requirements.
IAB Europe’s Annual Flagship Event Interact is back and ready to welcome you from 25th - 26th May 2022 in Madrid and you have just one week left to get your tickets at an exceptional early bird rate.
Don’t miss out, secure your space today!
Interact is a must-attend event for the digital advertising and marketing industry. For more than a decade, leading European advertisers, industry experts, agencies & media owners have met, got inspired & shared best practices in different capital cities across Europe and we are very excited to welcome you all to Madrid.
In partnership with IAB Spain, we will be hosting two days of keynote speeches, panel discussions, and networking opportunities for you to join.
With a central theme of ‘Driving the Next Digital Decade,’ we will cover a full range of key topics on the agenda as we look to address and drive the digital advertising ecosystem forward. From the attention economy, CTV, and retail media, through to premium publisher’s advertising models, sustainability, the latest policy and regulatory developments, and more, we will dive deep into the next era of digital advertising.
A big thank you to all of our sponsors for helping to make this happen!
Get your Earlybird tickets here.
Latest Speakers Announced:
Alongside our Chief Economist, Daniel Knapp, and our Chairman Emeritus, Constantine Kamaras we have a fantastic line-up of speakers confirmed.
Check out our current list of speakers below:
For more information on tickets, and to join us in Madrid, follow the link here. And be sure to be quick, as our early bird tickets are available until next Friday 29th April.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Earlier this month, IAB Europe released its latest comprehensively updated ‘Guide to the Post-Third-Party Cookie Era’.
The Guide has been developed by experts from IAB Europe’s Programmatic Trading Committee and Post Third-Party Cookie Task Force. It provides the latest insights into the many alternative solutions that are being developed to replace third-party cookies when they are depleted in 2023, including context, identity, the use of telco data, and the Google Topics initiative, and expands into new challenge areas including measurement and attribution.
So, what is included in the latest guide and what do you need to know about the post third-party cookie world today?
We caught up with some of the members of IAB Europe’s Programmatic Trading Committee who contributed to the guide to share their thoughts and expertise.
Q&A with:
Tanya Field, Co-Founder & CPO, Novatiq
Piper Heitzler, Head of Growth, EMEA, Amobee
Alex Berger, Senior Marketing Director, Buy-Side Products, Adform
Q1. Since the last updated version of the guide was released in February 2021, what changes have you seen, and what have been the biggest developments?
Piper - “Well, I’ll start with the obvious. On June 24th, 2021, the advertising and ad tech industries let out a sigh (of relief?) when Google announced a two-year delay in phasing out the third-party cookie phaseout. That shift in time frame has allowed the P3PC guide to evolve into a comprehensive mini textbook of the identity market, rather than being a short-term assessment of what marketers should do immediately. There’s been a ton of growth from existing and new players, which means marketers now have a buffet rather than a tasting menu to choose from; all of which are detailed in the guide.”
Alex - “When the guide was first written, there was a big open question pending over what the solution that replaced third-party cookies would be. That began to take shape in 2021, and now this year the industry has a series of functional and proven solutions which are well on their path to implementation. The focus and educational piece about how first-party IDs are perhaps the single biggest solution is a significant addition. There’s also great added clarity around key definitions surrounding things like different types of identity.”
Tanya - “Over the past year, the depreciation of cookies and Mobile Advertising IDs has gathered pace, and the first major impacts of this shift have been registered. One of the more significant news items in this respect include Google’s announcement that it will extend its Privacy Sandbox to its Android Advertising IDs. This is a significant blow to publishers, who are still reeling from Apple’s decision to make its Identifier for Advertisers opt-in. The latter’s move has already had significant consequences, causing a combined £315 million drop in market value for companies like Meta Platforms, Snap, Twitter, and Pinterest, which rely heavily on mobile advertising revenues. In this climate, IAB Europe’s Guide is more relevant than ever.”
Q2. What is your take on what the industry has developed over the last 12 months? Are we any closer to having solutions in place the end of 2023?
Piper - “In short, it’s been a year of extremes. On one end, the industry has developed even more proprietary platform experiences for investment teams – which is fragmenting the media buying experience to a nearly equal degree that consumers’ experience content across screens and platforms – but on the other, there’s been incredible collaboration between advertisers, data providers, DSPs, SSPs, and publishers to drive scale for cookieless ID solutions, which will ultimately allow the open internet to continue.
It’s safe to say that the media plans of tomorrow will require marketers to balance a world of walled gardens with independent ad tech stacks in order to drive combined performance and reach. And in general, having spent much time consulting agencies and brands over the past year(s), I am confident they are learning how to rebalance that pendulum swing more gracefully this time around.
Alex - “Absolutely. We’re now at a point where the leading tech providers have real, functional solutions live. There’s still a lot of functionality to be fleshed out, and key gaps to close/regulatory questions to navigate, etc. – but we’ve gone from the bleeding edge focusing on proof of concept, to a subset of industry leaders now being live with eg first-party ID solutions and fully operational while supporting scaled ad buys. At this point, there are also some fairly significant benefits for advertisers who choose to start embracing these solutions. Every advertiser should be asking their agency and adtech partners how to turn things on immediately, start testing, and come off the sidelines. There’s a temptation to sit and wait it out, but the time for that was 2021.”
Tanya - “As the depreciation of cookies gathers pace, the industry is responding with a range of options.
One of the biggest changes has been from Google, which has abandoned its Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC) proposal in favour of Topics for ad tracking, which determines’ web users interests from their short-term browsing history.
We have also seen new players enter the market with authenticated ID solutions, and probabilistic IDs that use AI to stitch together signals from the bid stream. However, neither offers a silver bullet to the industry’s dilemma. Authenticated IDs do not address users on the anonymous web and so will be unable to deliver audiences at scale, while probabilistic IDs will become increasingly inaccurate as signals disappear from the bid stream.
There are a range of options on the table. The full picture is still emerging, and we have yet to hear plans from major players like Apple. What is clear is that the industry still requires a solution that delivers scale. This could be either an alternative ID solution that covers both the authenticated and anonymous web, or a platform that enables interoperability between a range of IDs.”
Q3. ID solutions continue to come to the fore, how can stakeholders best identify and select partners?
Piper - This may seem like a very tactical answer, and keep in mind that I come from a technical Solutions Engineering background, but a humble matrix. The Post Third-Party Cookie Guide provides a breadth of description about ID solutions, much of which may be out of scope for someone’s current day-to-day job, but given the monumental shift that the deprecation of third-party cookies brings, it’s ever more critical to simplify what the past, present and future look like for a brand’s marketing strategy.
To create the matrix: collect any and all solutions (and KPIs!) that your brand uses today. Bucket those by how you capture user data versus reach users, then outline how that practice works today, and finally what effects may change the status quo. With that information you can align solutions from the Post Third-Party Cookie guide to those sections, rank each tactic based on its potential business impact, voilà, now you have a prioritised testing framework.
Alex - “I see a huge amount of confusion, and rightly so, between different types of ID types, ID solutions, and their market coverage. It’s quite clear that there won’t be one universal ID that takes it all. Instead, we’ll see a wide range of first-party IDs across technology providers, geographies, and solutions. This was one of the reasons that Adform opted for an approach that is fully ID agnostic, builds our own platform-based solution, and focuses on integrating with a wide range of IDs. Each ID solution provides different strengths and use cases. So, the conversation to take is much more about what are the benefits of the ID, how does it fit your geographic or media blend, and how does it scale alongside other IDs in your tech stack? It’ll also be very important to cut through the hype and look at who can provide actual data and real live solutions that work in the chaotic and often challenging fragmented adtech landscape.”
Tanya - “There are a broad range of factors that stakeholders will need to consider. First, to be effective the ID needs to be dynamic and able to operate in real-time to reach people at the right moment. Second, they need to be privacy-assured, ideally with patented technology and proven applications. Third, the ID should be interoperable with others and easy to integrate with intelligence sources and the adtech ecosystem. Security is also key. Stakeholders should check that the ID can enable safe data activation at scale. Above all, it is important that consumers feel comfortable giving consent for their information to be used in the ID. Here, finding an ID that is supported by trusted third-party organisations such as telecoms operators will be crucial. These organisations will be guardians of consent and they hold the key to achieving scale.”
Q4. Measurement and attribution are key challenges that have been highlighted in the latest edition of the guide. How do you think it can be possible to deliver effective attribution in a post third-party cookie world?
Piper - “In many organisations, the path of least resistance is to evolve with a degrading framework – for example, ad server and website analytics reports that have weakened to only cookie-supported browsers – rather than overhaul a brand’s entire measurement practice. However, as the proverb goes, “the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago; the second best time is now”, well, now is the best time to re-evaluate what, why and how you measure each KPI. It is absolutely possible to develop effective measurement practices – which lead to reasoned attribution frameworks – and in the Post Third-Party Cookie Guide, marketers can evaluate the various experimental designs, panel-based strategies, publisher partnerships, and advanced analytics they can use to do so.”
Alex - “Attribution moving forward requires a bit of a mentality shift. It will take a while to be as effective as it was under third-party cookies. However, attribution and measurement aren’t in nearly as bad a shape as was initially feared and as a lot of stand-alone point solutions want folks to believe. What is required are more robust technology solutions that have strong connections. What I think we’re seeing is a lot of sub-par quality measurement and attribution in the old setup getting cleaned up/wiped out. That’s being replaced by measurement and attribution that’s a bit more technologically complex, but which delivers higher quality IDs with superior longevity. It’s also opening new opportunities. I know for our part at Adform, we are focused on making it a simple process, and we’ve really been able to bring back measurement and attribution to things like Safari and Firefox due to first-party IDs and the unique nature of our technology. So, it’s definitely a challenging period, but also exciting.”
Tanya - “In my view, it is only possible to deliver measurement and attribution at scale with a dynamic ID that can be carried through the programmatic ecosystem and into execution, while also being used as a point of reference that ties back to an obfuscated, semi-persistent ID that is held elsewhere. This approach enables brands and publishers to map back to a single user without knowing who that user is. This approach is not theoretical - it is already deployed in several markets today.”
Q5. What are your predictions for the future and how do you see solutions developing over the next 12 months?
Piper - "On a macro scale, the ad tech industry is at an inflection point of many intersecting trends, all of which are underpinned by the concept of “privacy-compliant data access at scale” and rely on either pseudonymous or PII data points. So my predictions are: retail media networks will explode in Europe, streaming services will continue to multiply in number through ad-supported models, and large companies will go on an acquisition spree to gain access to first-party data. In addition, identity-based solutions will be expected to perform cross-domain reconciliation in order to drive value for marketers and cookieless IDs that don’t support data onboarding will be deprioritised by those that do.”
Alex - We'll continue to see a filtering effect. Right now, almost everyone is understandably quite confused by a wild-west in ID solutions, potential fixes, technologies that are still barely proof of concept but “launched”, technologies that are live and rapidly evolving, and folks trying to figure out how to run a third-party cookie dependent business once they’re gone. I think we’ll see major sources of uncertainty such as the regulatory consent component resolve with solutions and more clear-cut guidance being established. I also think we’ll see more consistency in terminology and deeper understanding of which technologies use IDs, which IDs have legs, as well as how they end up getting bundled and used effectively. We’ll also continue to see scale and adoption accelerate. At Adform, we’re already seeing about 80% of top 1,000 publishers in most European markets send first-party IDs. This means the capability is there, and the volumes are ramping up. That’s great news for Advertisers as they look to buy and use platforms and technology that helps them achieve those goals without getting locked into a single ID solution, the walled gardens – which I expect will continue to fracture - or stand alone third-party engineered solutions.
Tanya - “I have three predictions for the year ahead. First, all IDs will become interoperable to deliver an all-encompassing solution for the digital advertising ecosystem. Second, there will be new entrants into the ecosystem from vertical markets as companies with large sources of first-party intelligence provide the underpinnings of new types of ID. Finally, consumer needs will be at the heart of new IDs and there will be a clear focus on direct consent and consent management. This is because nothing works without consumers and consumer confidence. Securing trust must be the starting point for the post-cookie world.”
