I’m Michael Krigsman, an industry analyst and the host of CxOTalk.
And today, we’re talking about B2B programmatic advertising with two world experts: Anudit
Vikram, Senior Vice President of Audience Solutions at Dun & Bradstreet and Mike Zaneis,
who is the CEO of the Trustworthy Accountability Group.
When we talk about B2B programmatic advertising, what do we mean?
Programmatic advertising is all about advertising using machines (using technology) and using
what we have now to be more efficient than how we were running advertising in the past.
So, the olden days of many, many people running advertising using IOs, creating media plans,
has kind of given way to machines making us a little bit more faster, cheaper in some
ways, and running advertising using algorithms and bidding on media — deciding the actual
price automatically, and essentially just scaling out advertising way more than we could
have in the past.
So, programmatic advertising gives marketers a way of connecting the dots between their
marketing spend and the ROI they get back.
Absolutely!
I mean, technology, you know, the best thing about technology?
It allows you to measure just about everything that you were doing.
And so, one of the bigger benefits of programmatic — outside of the fact that it gives us this
immense scale in letting advertisers, brand marketers, reach exactly who they want and
when — is also the ability to connect back to what was working for them.
You know, where was money actually being rightly spent?
Mike, the Trustworthy Accountability Group is focused on key challenges that marketers
must address as they’re engaging in this type of program.
So, tell us about that.
So, we’ve gone away from sort of one-to-one relationships that used to exist.
And now, it’s one-to-many.
Marketers have, perhaps, hundreds or even thousands of partners that touch their ads
before they actually are displayed on a website or device.
So, the challenge is to have transparency around who your partners are to make sure
that they’re legitimate actors; to make sure your ads are on appropriate content;
and then, of course, to make sure that real humans are seeing your ads and not non-human,
fraudulent traffic.
So, there’s a need to rebuild that chain of trust.
There really is.
It’s about transparency.
That’s the foundation of trust.
And so, the idea of having common standards, and a high level of conduct that you can hold
your partners to, is what’s vitally important these days in the space.
Yep!
If you look at the LUMAscape (you know, one of the most popular diagrams in our space),
you can see the hundreds and thousands of actors that play here.
And I think what programmatic does for us is: it allows each of those actors to provide
value into the supply chain.
And so, you know, having companies like TAG be there and put in processes in place, which
allow us to then have that visibility into the actual supply chain — into the advertising
technology supply chain — if you will, becomes even more important for us today.
So, Mike, it’s data and trust that come together; that create the right kind of result
with programmatic advertising for marketers.
That's exactly right.
I mean, it's a wonderful marriage when we can make it happen.
There's been a bit of a disconnect over the past few years as the industry has really
grown and matured into the programmatic space.
But, I think, because of datasets like what D&B provides to the industry, because of programs
like TAG, and others like the Media Rating Council accreditation, we're bringing those
two variables back together into this wonderful harmony, which is going to really provide
value and brand safety to marketers.
So, what is your collective wisdom, so to speak, having done this for a long time that
you can offer to marketers?
Well, when we think about data, I think about it in three major pockets, if you will.
First, the fact that we have access to data means that we can be so much better at identifying
and targeting the people that we want to reach.
Second, the fact that we have data means that we are going to be so much better at measuring
what our marketing campaign is actually doing for us.
And finally, being able to take that data — that measured information — that we
have, and then run analysis against it; run models against it.
So, you use the data for targeting, you use data for measurement, and then you use the
data for analysis that feeds right back into targeting and makes everything become so much
more efficient in the long run.
And Mike, you’re going to get the last word.
What is your advice to marketers on ensuring that that chain of trust remains intact?
The key for marketers, these days, is to take personal responsibility.
It's all about brand safety, and that begins with you, and you have to own it and use it
appropriately.
It can give you power and a wonderful ROI.
Mike Zaneis, CEO of the Trustworthy Accountability Group and Anudit Vikram, CEO of Audience Solutions,
Dun & Bradstreet.
Thank you so much for taking the time today!