© 2015 eMarketer Inc.
Made possible by
Creating Ads on the Fly:
New Opportunities in Programmatic
August 27, 2015
Debra Aho Williamson
Principal Analyst
© 2015 eMarketer Inc.
Agenda
Sizing the programmatic advertising business
New opportunities for creative
How the ad community is responding
Examples and best practices
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First, a definition:
“Programmatic advertising
is an automated,
technology-driven method of
buying, selling or fulfilling
ad placements.”
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In 2015, the ad spending scale will tip toward
programmatic
55% of all
US digital display
ads will be bought
programmatically,
representing
$14.88 billion in
spending
(Source: eMarketer, March 2015)
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For many
industries,
over 50% of
digital display
is already
being placed
using
programmatic
techniques
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Marketers can now do real-time
advertising at scale.
They need real-time creative at
scale as well.
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Reason No. 1: Programmatic is moving up the
purchase funnel
More brand advertisers
are using programmatic
Ad spending on
programmatic direct (the
type of programmatic
often used by brand
advertisers) is growing
rapidly
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Reason No. 2: In-depth data about audiences is
widely available
As recently as a few years ago, “we didn’t even
know who the audience was. Before we could
start to focus on creative, we needed to make sure we
knew who we were speaking to: Who was the audience?
Where are they in the purchase funnel? Where have
they been? Where are they physically? And what steps
have they taken in terms of their engagement with the
marketer?” — Douglas Kofoid, VivaKi
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Reason No. 3: The Internet of Things is here
Opportunities to
reach consumers
in the moment are
increasing.
Why show
everyone the
same creative?
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It’s time for an evolution in creative development
Programmatic creative:
“Creative that is broken down into
component parts and then reassembled
on the fly based on what’s known
about the audience or individual
to whom the ad is served.”
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Precedent:
Retargeting
Example:
The airline ad that
pops up minutes
after you shop for
a flight
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Precedent:
Dynamic
creative
optimization
Example:
Swapping out
elements of
the creative
during
retargeting
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Coming soon: Platforms and technologies that
enable marketers to …
Easily create multiple versions of ads
Assemble component parts of ads on the fly
Deliver a more personalized message to consumers
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Advertisers are coming around, but it will be a
slow process
52% of media buyers and sellers say programmatic
inhibits or has no effect on creativity (AOL Networks)
Marketers want personalization but aren’t actively using
it; just 5% of marketers are personalizing extensively
(Econsultancy/Adobe)
Creative doesn’t rank high on the investment list;
marketers are more likely to spend on social, mobile or
marketing analytics, among other things (Economist Intelligence Unit)
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Challenge:
Few agency
or marketer
execs believe
programmatic
enhances
creative
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Despite the challenges, some are starting to
think about how to break up the creative product
“Now so much more
of the creative
product is a
portfolio of assets,
where that fully created
end point has been
disassembled into all of
the components that
can be assembled in
real time.” — Jeff Dow, Starcom MediaVest
Group
“Historically, it was
creating one piece of
brilliant creative to be
fed to millions of people.
Now it’s about
turning that upside
down and saying, ‘We
need a million pieces of
brilliant creative to be
fed to each individual on
an as-needed basis.’” — Douglas Kofoid, VivaKi
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Lexus Super Bowl campaign: Personalizing video
ads for Facebook users
Customized
1,000 ads
Backgrounds
and copy were
personalized to
users’ interests
and location
Video ad images: Facebook
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Heineken Desperados: Using programmatic
techniques to unlock creativity
The brand targeted ads
based on geography, time,
consumption history and
search behavior
“Desperados has a very, very
specific consumer set and
mindset … and it’s
geographically narrow. A
regular Yahoo [ad] or a
YouTube homepage takeover
doesn’t make much sense.
Programmatic becomes
extremely powerful and can
unlock the creative.” —Ron Amram, Heineken USA
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Nike Phenomenal Shot: Engaging World Cup
soccer fans in real time
Within seconds of an
amazing shot, 3-D display
ads were created and
distributed over Google’s
properties
Fans could remix and share
versions of the shot
Results: 2 million fans
engaged and more than
500,000 remixes Source: Think With Google, June 2015
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How marketers and agencies can prepare:
Look to existing processes for guidance
Evaluate costs with the end goal in mind
Realize the need for new workflows
© 2015 eMarketer Inc.
Look to existing processes for guidance
Social media is a good precedent: Marketers have already had
to adapt workflow to the demands of always-on marketing.
“Programmatic takes it to a whole other level with personalization.”
— Luke Kintigh, Intel
Borrow from your content strategy: With so much content
available, “the chance that you’re going to have something for anybody
in your target audience is extremely high, and you’re likely to have
something that’s actually really good for that specific person.”
— Matt Cohen, OneSpot
Look to direct marketing: “In the direct-mail world, audience
segments and matrices are created to inform the creative messaging
that is distributed to different audiences.” — Paul Frampton, Havas Media
© 2015 eMarketer Inc.
Evaluate costs with the end goal in mind
Use tools to reduce development costs: “If you previously had
one ad and now you have to have 50 ads, that has potential of being 50
times more expensive. That's why we're seeing tools come about [to
help] marketers get around a large chunk of that cost.” — Jeff Hirsch, CPXi
Upfront investments can reduce costs on the back end:
“When you look at results like cost per engagement or action, or even
operational efficiencies, at the end of the day it’s going to result in more
efficiency on the other side of the plan.” — Megan Jones, Digitas
Not all the expense will come from the creative:
“Personalization and customization are not particularly expensive, but
they require certain elements which can be more costly, like access to a
DMP.” — Loren Grossman, Annalect
© 2015 eMarketer Inc.
Realize the need for new workflows
Enter the ‘creative optimizer’: “They can look at a brief and say,
‘Here are the tools you should be using and the data hooks you should
be thinking about.’” — Peter Crofut, Google
Help creatives get more digitally savvy: “They have to be able
to understand the process and think about, ‘OK, if I’m making this
animation, what are the different modular pieces that can be swapped in
and out, and how do I come up with a design that allows for that type of
flexibility?’” — Zach Glass, RED Interactive Agency
Use creative firepower for the formats, not the details:
“You do not need your creative director to make assets for programmatic
creative. You do need your creative director for oversight and
leadership.” — Loren Grossman, Annalect
Creatives are Data-DrivenToday’s modern creatives are process driven and iterative in their approach
The Madman Way- Guru based approach
- Unscientific
- Hit or miss in results
The Mathman Way- Marketing based
- Data driven
- Repeatable
Ad Campaigns Today are Conversations
The goal of virality is get
participation from consumers
Curated, NOT dictated, multi-
layered narratives
Go for quality at scale, volume
counts
Design for multiple channels-
devices-audiences
Be proactive, timely and
interesting
Tap into popular memes and
narratives by paying attention
Reduce barriers and eliminate
complex approval processes
Assume your end user is a
mobile first users - web second
Social Media Has Revolutionized Marketing
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Debra Aho Williamson
Creating Ads on the Fly:
New Opportunities in Programmatic
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