There has been a rise in the number of brands wanting independent auditing of programmatic advertising. Wayne Blodwell, CEO, The Programmatic Advisory looks at how closely examining the technology, processes, people helps brands to make better use of automated ad buying.
Programmatic digital display ad spend continues to grow rapidly. From £1.99 billion ($2.69 billion) in 2015, programmatic ad spend is estimated to reach £4.52 billion ($6.10 billion) by 2019, according to eMarketer’s UK Programmatic Advertising Forecast for 2016-2019.
Digital marketers fell in love with programmatic advertising for many reasons. The ability to target niche audience segments through technology-powered data integration provides multiple opportunities to personalise ads and increase engagement. Setting predefined bid rules and being able to change the rules in real-time enables marketers to optimise budgets at micro levels and react quickly to changes in performance. Granular measurement capabilities provide unrivalled insights into return on investment (ROI) and afford a high level of accountability.
The programmatic industry grew rapidly (arguably too rapidly), and when I look back on 2017 I remember it as the year in which the programmatic industry endured unparalleled levels of scrutiny. As a result, 2018 will be the year in which we see palpable change as brands seek to understand where their programmatic advertising falls short.
You don’t know what you don’t know
Whist predictive modelling is widely used in digital media planning, there is no such thing as a crystal ball that allows marketers to see what the future brings. However, by closely examining the technology, processes, people and digital media strategy, it is possible for brands to understand what today holds.
Economic pressures, decreasing consumer loyalty, brand safety and fraud concerns, and the availability of digital advertising measurement tools means that today’s CMOs are more accountable than ever before. To answer questions such as “What incremental value is being driven from technology?”, “How can we reduce CPL?” and “Do I have the right skills in my marketing team?” requires specialist knowledge and experience and an independent point of view which means that brands cannot audit their own programmatic strategy.
Media agencies are keen to offer media and technology reviews for their clients; however, brands are waking up to the idea that agencies will present a rose-tinted view of the state of play in order to preserve the businesses.
In order to receive un-biased, actionable insights into programmatic advertising effectiveness and efficiency, brands are turning to independent, specialist programmatic auditors to closely examine their technology set-up, processes, skills and strategy.
One size does not fit all
Today, there is no one-size-fits-all programmatic advertising strategy, therefore, it is important that the audit focuses on the brand’s individual challenges and business goals.
There are five pillars that hold up any good digital marketing campaign: Data; Technology; Talent; Measurement and Commercial Agreements. These pillars must be addressed in unison – if not there will be missed opportunities, for example, a brand could have the best technology, data, measurement and commercial agreements possible, but without the right talent performance will be suboptimal.
On the technology side, a single brand will typically use the following directly:
Demand side platform(s) (DSP), a data management platform (DMP), an adserver, a customer relationship management (CRM) platform, dynamic creative optimisation (DCO) tools, analytics & measurement vendors, attribution modelling vendors, tag management solutions, data visualisation tools, brand safety and ad verification partners. There are also technologies that are used indirectly by advertisers such as: supply side platform(s) (SSP), ad exchanges and publisher adservers.
The diagram below illustrates the types of technology that are commonly used in brands’ technology stacks and how data flows throughout the stack. In this example, there are 14 discrete sources of data that are powering media-buying decision making between the advertiser and the publisher end points.
Source: IAB
It’s extremely complicated to understand how each of those pieces of technology talks to each other and, furthermore, to ensure the correct data is shared between them in an efficient way that results in tangible business growth. It’s also hard to source an independent view within the stack as every vendor will have a vested interest in the role they play. This is why brands are turning to independent consultancies to audit programmatic.
What should you expect from a programmatic audit?
Once the decision has been made to undertake a programmatic audit, it’s important to ask potential suppliers how they conduct an audit.
In order to provide the best advice, auditors need to get to know the business the auditors need to be hands on, in their clients’ offices and meet with all relevant stakeholders, (marketing, IT, procurement etc.). Before committing to a supplier brands need to ask the auditors to explain what they do, how they operate, what they deliver at the end of the audit and most importantly – a breakdown of costs.
There should be little preparation needed on the advertisers part, but there does need to be a grasp of what challenges exist, current programmatic strategy entails and what the ultimate business goals.
During the audit phase auditors will observe how the technology in place is being used, where the integrations are, what is being tracked and where and when data exchanges take place, e.g. DMP to DSP.
In terms of deliverables, brands should receive a detailed, actionable development plan. This should cover:
- Comprehensive explanations of missing tracking opportunities
- Training/hiring needs based on the business goals and technology in use
- Benchmarking against industry standards and recommendations for improvements
- Missing pieces of technology, value benefit of adding these platforms, vendor recommendations and cost-benefit analysis
- Recommended changes to internal processes
- Recommended changes to commercial agreements with third party suppliers
- Analysis of data flow, missed integration opportunities, unnecessary data integrations that are not driving value
The goal of the audit is to enable the advertisers to understand where they are at in terms of capabilities in comparison to the rest of the market which is hard to gauge from the inside.
How can a programmatic audit drive long-term value?
Advertisers can fall into a trap of thinking a programmatic audit is a quick-fix and thus judge it as a cost – but a good audit is anything but a quick fix
The Programmatic Advisory worked with a major travel brand and identified 93 technical requirements to optimise their programmatic investments! These requirements were prioritised and translated into short- medium- and long-term action plans that drove immediate return and long-term benefits.
Quick wins can include: Fixing broken tags or setting up tags where they are missing; reducing investment in under-performing channels, adjusting attribution modelling to include all channels and reflect your business goals.
Medium-term actions might be negotiating added value from technology suppliers, adding new technology to your current stack, removing unnecessary and legacy technology. One gaming company we worked with were able to realise $30K in added value from existing technology suppliers.
Long-term strategic changes include reorganising internal and external talent pools to drive more effective collaboration, introducing new planning processes to allow for optimal budget allocation or an overhaul of the creative process to become more agile and dynamic with messaging.
When should I do a programmatic audit?
Advertisers typically fall into one of three scenarios:
- Programmatic advertising is currently outsourced to a media agency, but there is a desire to do this in-house and build a team to do so
- Programmatic is currently outsourced and there is no desire to in-house, but the advertiser wants to take control of tech and data ownership and commercial agreements and/or understand exactly what value the partner is providing
- Programmatic is already being run in-house and there is a desire to understand where there is room for improvement
Regardless of which category a brand falls into a programmatic audit will result in time savings, cost-efficiencies, and improved performance – if you choose the right partner.
By Wayne Blodwell
CEO