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Centro just attended the ANA In-House Agency Conference in March—and we learned a lot. What was our main takeaway, you ask? Agencies should not be afraid of brands bringing marketing capabilities in-house. The good news is, there are still ways that agencies can work with those brands. Review the themes and findings discussed at the conference, below.
The in-housing of marketing is not abolishing of the agency model by any means—the brands we spoke to at the conference expressed their favor of agencies. Yet, agencies are realizing that they have to change their behavior towards brands in general. They need to build a trusted relationship with the brand’s marketing team to have a strong influence in its direction, and that ultimately, will translate to more work with the brand in the future.
For deeper insights about brands and in-house agencies - Centro's director of client development, Genny Drennen, explores the topic further in MediaPost.
‘Ask the Expert’ is a blog series that breaks down the complicated tools, tech, and trends you’ve been hearing about in the trade pubs and around the office. We reach out to our in-house experts to ask the tough questions and turn them into bite-sized Q&As for your reading pleasure.
This month’s topic? Audience Extension. We brought in Centro’s VP of publisher solutions, John Hyland, to give us the breakdown.
Audience extension has long been associated with local media companies who sell off-site inventory based on demand from their local advertisers. The rep at a local media company is uniquely positioned to help their best customers with all of their digital needs – SEM, Social, and all forms of display (mobile, video, desktop, and native). Audience extension is rapidly being adopted by national websites too. National publications are adding incremental dollars to their media plans by helping advertisers buy impressions across the rest of the web to reach their audiences on any site and digital device.
Local publishers want to capture a larger share of the advertiser’s digital advertising budget. Today, nearly all local media companies have scalable operations to service the digital needs of local clients, therefore, no one else is more equipped to understand the needs of local advertisers. On the national side, it is about maximizing yield from their core, proprietary audience. Advertisers buy ads on national websites because of reach, association with media brands, and audience loyalty. If the advertiser has a larger budget than a single site can accommodate with its own inventory, the site needs to extend its audience off-site during the rest of its users’ online journey.
Media companies already place many ads on the page—user-experience is still very important. Many companies use audience extension to stay in front of audiences with frequency, or cross-platform. If a reader goes to a website twice a day for 30-minutes, there is a large amount of digital screen time that the advertiser’s message isn’t in front of the customer.
On the local side, it is the most efficient way to blanket a specific marketplace. Programmatic gives the ability to reach customers within a 30-minute drive of your storefront in real-time. The programmatic landscape empowers local publishers to bid on inventory cross-platform, regardless of device. From a national perspective, it is all about first-party data. National media companies need programmatic advertising to find them across thousands of sites, in order to scale audiences efficiently.
Local media companies have grown incremental revenue for the last 10+ years. You would be hard pressed to find a local newspaper, radio, or TV station that isn’t doing some form of audience extension from SMB rep management, to full-blown agency-style trading desks offering SEM, Social and Programmatic Display. National media companies started adopting this practice in the last three-to-four years. The ones who have adopted it have advertisers that demand more of their audience, and more ways to reach their audience.
The biggest differentiators are service, transparency, strategy, and education. Everyone has access to the same data and the same inventory (impressions). Advertisers want partners that can optimize quickly, in real-time, and who are transparent about what they are buying. For the national side, advertisers are buying the site because they love its brand safe atmosphere and audience. It’s better to work with the site, who will just add a line-item to advertisers’ current plans, and the whole strategy is executed through one point of contact, bill, and holistic strategy.
Centro offers a self-service and a managed service solution. In the self-service option, we train your buyers and sellers to sell and execute campaigns using our platform, Basis. Self-service is a differentiator—it allows for speed, control, and increased margins. For others, it isn’t efficient to build out an internal team. Therefore, they leverage Centro for the strategy and execution of the digital media buys. We power programmatic buying in the open marketplace, private marketplaces and more. Basis also ingests SEM, social and direct buying data to provide a robust agency-style trading desk and a holistic view of their campaigns via one platform.
‘Ask the Expert’ is a blog series that breaks down the complicated tools, tech, and trends you’ve been hearing about in the trade pubs and around the office. We reach out to our in-house experts to ask the tough questions and turn them into bite-sized Q&As for your reading pleasure.
This month’s topic? Digital media in 2019. We brought in Centro’s media innovations and technology team to give us their respective prediction on what will happen in the industry this year.
Christine Kim, director of client learning:
“Conversational Search -- 2019 will be the year we see voice search hit unprecedented levels in the marketplace. This year, according to eMarketer, more than 100 million Americans (nearly 1/3 of the population) will use a voice assistant. Additionally, nearly one-third of the 3.5 billion searches performed on Google every day are voice searches. The surge of virtual assistants such as Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple’s Siri has changed consumer behavior in their day-to-day lives. With this shift in behavior, advertisers will need to start planning for what consumers might speak -- and not just what they type -- on their devices.”
Noor Naseer, senior director of media innovations and technology:
“Advanced TV will grow aggressively. Usage of various OTT devices, TV everywhere, online subscription and streaming services have surpassed previous forecasts. Furthermore, the expectation is that adoption, usage frequency and time spent will continue to accelerate upwards. A July 2018 eMarketer survey forecasts that the U.S. population of connected TV users is expected to exceed 57% in 2019. More advertisers and marketers should expect to dedicate investments previously saved for digital display and Traditional TV campaigns into these platforms and opportunities.”
Ryan Manchee, vice president of media innovations and technology:
“Required Transparency -- from the food we eat to the clothes we wear to the media we buy, the growing desire for more transparency in sourcing, quality, and the individuals and companies involved will reach a tipping point in 2019. Accelerated by the combination of growing skepticism and the ability to quickly verify claims, buyers of all types will demand sellers to be more forthright with their supply chain. In a world of choice, transparency will become a requirement and will also become increasingly marketable. More buyers will be able to make informed decisions that align with their priorities, even if that means choosing an alternative.”
‘Ask the Expert’ is a blog series that breaks down the complicated tools, tech, and trends you’ve been hearing about in the trade pubs and around the office. We reach out to our in-house experts to ask the tough questions and turn them into bite-sized Q&As for your reading pleasure.
This month’s topic? Amazon Advertising Platform. We brought in Centro’s programmatic solutions director, Lindsey Freed, to give us the breakdown.
What is Amazon Advertising Platform?
The Amazon Advertising Platform (AAP) is self-serve software from Amazon that enables advertisers to programmatically reach Amazon’s and advertisers’ audiences via Amazon sites and apps, and across the web on sites and all devices.
How can AAP be used for campaigns?
Amazon’s ad buying customers, such as Centro for example, have access to exclusive (Amazon) first-party data to segment consumer behavior, past searches, and browsing and purchasing history. Through cross-device targeting, buyers are able to deliver relevant ads to the right consumer with targeting types including prospecting, lifestyle, in-market, contextual, look-a-like, remarketing, and demographics. Inventory is available across Amazon’s owned and operated sites, including the open exchange.
How does Centro’s technology intersect with Amazon’s ad offerings?
Centro’s team has the ability and expertise to precisely target and reach billions of online shoppers (on behalf of our customer, through AAP) as they research, consider, and purchase products at any stage of the customer journey—whether they are on Amazon digital properties or not. Campaign data on Amazon is then uploaded back to Centro’s Basis software to unite it with analytics from other parts of a brand’s campaign (that isn’t happening through Amazon). This could be anything from buying on (a) other sites directly, (b) programmatic through the DSP within Basis, as well as (c) search and social.
What are the stand-out features of AAP?
Advertisers can use Amazon search queries within AAP to retarget across the web. For Link-In campaigns, where the creative clicks through to Amazon’s site, AAP offers e-commerce ads that dynamically populate images and product ratings based on Amazon’s machine learning algorithm and a selected optimization goal (such as click-through rate, purchase rate, or detail page view rate).
What are the performance metrics that I can track with AAP?
For Link-In campaigns advertisers can see in-depth metrics like return on ad spend (ROAS), cost per purchase, add-to-cart counts, detailed page-view rate, and more. For Link-Out campaigns, the conversion-based metrics are best tracked via third party ad server, but standard measurements like CTR, CPC, and CPA can be tracked within AAP.
Ok, I’m interested – how do I work with Centro and Amazon?
Centro’s technology platform, Basis, allows users to buy ads on Amazon properties directly, or manage Centro’s internal service team to run campaigns on AAP, on the users’ behalf.
Are you interested in other Centro resources that will help you understand Amazon Advertising Platform? We’re here for you! Reach out to info@centro.net.
‘Ask the Expert’ is a blog series that breaks down the complicated tools, tech, and trends you’ve been hearing about in the trade pubs and around the office. We reach out to our in-house experts to ask the tough questions and turn them into bite-sized Q&As for your reading pleasure.
This month’s topic? Machine learning. We brought in Centro’s VP of customer success, Steve Monti, to give us the breakdown.
In terms of advertising technology, what is machine learning?
Machine learning is a type of artificial intelligence (AI) where a computer system learns from data. In advertising technology, this is often used to improve the performance of ad serving systems, mostly in programmatic advertising, to show ads to individuals in order to achieve a result. The result could be a click or a variety of other types of actions that the advertiser wants. Different elements of machine learning can be present in many common systems used within the advertising tech space, such as demand-side platforms, ad exchanges, ad servers, and more.
How does it work within ad-buying systems?
Software with machine learning can optimize the performance of campaigns by gathering data to learn how key performance indicators (KPIs) were achieved in the past. The system then learns what element combinations are needed in a campaign to have the highest likelihood to generate the same result or KPI. The system will then structure a campaign to match those parameters to obtain the impressions that can lead to those same KPIs. Elements could include targeting data, device or location of a user, ad unit size, the content of the page, and more. Machine learning can build a model that will continue to hone as a campaign is running.
Is it related to algorithmic optimization?
Somewhat, of course! Machine learning uses algorithms, but not all algorithms lead to machine learning. Algorithms have the ability to make finite, black, and white decisions. Machine learning implies a logic of learning from those decisions over time.
Is machine learning strictly for optimizing to generate clicks?
Machine learning technology builds a model. In an ad-buying system, a model is made up of a mix of targeting combinations that calculate the probability of a result occurring. A click is a highly desired result, but a marketer can, theoretically, program their system to model towards other types of results as well.
Ok, I’m interested -- what does Centro offer in terms of machine learning within its platform?
Inside Centro’s platform, Basis, users can optimize campaigns with algorithmic optimization or machine learning. These features can also be turned ‘off’ or ‘on.’ When ‘on,’ the system continually learns based on more than 30 targeting parameters and will set bids based on the probability of success.
Learn more about the programmatic advertising opportunity with Centro, here.
Ask a Centro Expert is a blog series from Centro where we break down the complicated tools, tech, and trends you’ve been hearing about in the trade pubs and around the office. We reach out to our in-house experts to ask the tough questions and turn them into bite-sized, palatable Q&As for your reading pleasure. This month’s topic: blockchain. We talked to Ben Bring, Centro’s VP of client services, for the break down.
What is blockchain?
A blockchain is a digital, undisputable ledger that chronologically records transactions in near real time.
Large amounts of information that can be recorded securely. Not one entity can destroy it or artificially manipulate it.
How could it be used for digital media?
Blockchain has the potential to impact how media professionals do business and deliver results. The biggest fundamental point is that it has the ability to provide transparency and accuracy to a chaotic digital framework. It could solve for decades-old processes involved with matching contracts with delivery. And it could be applied to issues such as ad verification, fraud mitigation and data quality.
How could a blockchain affect media contracts?
In a typical contract between an ad buyer and an ad seller, the buyer only pays for what it contracted. Having an indisputable record could remove our industry’s reliance on having multiple parties reporting and then working through discrepancies to come to an amendable billable unit or value. The industry would work off Smart Contracts where all parties have the ability to see what actual digital events took place and then cross reference the contract. There would be no doubt as to what was requested for purchase (audiences, impression counts, clicks, etc.) and what was delivered. Media buyers would be protected from waste and potential fraudulent activity by their partners. No single party has the ability to tamper with these digital records, contractual or otherwise. The math is there for everyone to see. No conversation is necessary.
When squaring away contracts, do we pay by bitcoin or any other cryptocurrencies?
All of the reconciliation opportunities in blockchain require some level of tokenization similar to Bitcoin or Etherium. There needs to be an agreed upon value of media and new currency with which to buy it. The challenge is that digital media is bought in a very fragmented way.
I’m not bought in yet. What else can blockchain do for me?
Another major challenge that the blockchain may be able to help solve is payments. It takes between 90 and 120 days for publishers to receive payment for their inventory. A blockchain and tokens could act as an escrow of sorts for pre-payment so that when the media is run, the token are immediately transferred and converted to cash. This also relates to transparency because blockchains could show what entities receive a portion of the payments.
What if I’m an advertiser and I don’t care about payments to publishers?
Advertisers could also benefit from higher quality data. Data continuity and quality are two issues that plague our industry. Both facets are affected by numerous obstacles such as 3rd party mediation, lack of direct connections and data loss. Blockchain has the potential to help solve for all of these moving pieces. Because the ledger is distributed, connections can be more direct, not only removing mediation ad fees but also decreasing data loss.
Ok, I’m interested. Can my campaigns be recorded in blockchain now?
Not just yet. As with every new applications to technology, implementing a blockchain for campaigns is cost-prohibitive currently. And its capacity for processing data may not be enough in a programmatic buying environment, where DSPs are transacting in the millions every minute of the day. The possibilities are worth noting because it takes planning, vision and collective thinking to bring to market commercially viable solutions. Even if I believe the media industry is not ready for mass adoption of blockchains, I am cautiously optimistic about how our professionals could utilize it. It’s important to keep an open mind and continue following the advances made and how they can impact your business.
The key will be adoption. Ad tech players are going to have an impactful role in creating applications for the technology that every company could use.
Are you interested in other Centro resources that will help you understand blockchain? Reach out to info@centro.net.
In June, we kick off another summer of our internship program. As we get ready to welcome our new “Centerns,” let’s take a look at what our 2017 Centerns have been up to! We talked to a few of them that were hired full-time following their internships.
Matan Horenstein, Digital Media Associate in New York
Matan was a Centern on the Media Services team in the New York office last summer. He was hired on full-time as a Digital Media Associate. Centro’s Giving Tree program was a big reason he knew he wanted to be hired full-time. The New York interns organized a fundraiser for a program that gives school supplies to children in the city, and Matan had an amazing experience working on it. Matan is passionate about the intern program, and advises this year’s Centerns to reach out to people on and off their team—schedule 1:1s, ask questions, and learn from others. The door is open and it’s up to you to take advantage!
Maggie Nemoy, Strategic Insights Associate in Chicago
Maggie interned on the Strategic Insights team in Chicago, learning research tools and putting together research decks. After her internship, she joined the same team full-time. During her internship she learned the “Centro Way,” and it has stuck with her. Everyone at Centro is so friendly and outgoing, they changed her way of communicating and helped her relax. Maggie recommends that Centerns get to know departments outside their own and learn about what everyone at Centro does.
Caroline Nugent, Analytical Operations Associate in Chicago
Caroline joined the Analytical Operations team in Chicago as a Centern last summer. During her internship she learned to use software tools like Datorama, LiveRamp, and DoubleVerify, all of which she uses now in her full-time position. She loved the “snack and learns” where Centerns learned about different departments throughout the company. Plus, the trainings gave her a chance to get to know other interns. Caroline encourages future Centerns to get out there and mingle, don’t be intimidated because everyone here is nice. Soak it all in!
Kelsey Brockett, Digital Media Associate in Dallas
Kelsey interned in Dallas and joined Centro full-time as a Digital Media Associate. As a Centern, she learned all about media strategy and client communication, knowledge she now uses every day. Joining the company as an intern allowed her to find her place in the office and gain confidence to ask lots of questions. Kelsey wants incoming Centerns to know that they shouldn’t be afraid to make mistakes (everyone does!). She also encourages everyone to meet their coworkers, as she has loved getting to know others and their experiences.
This year, we are hiring 17 interns across the U.S. and Canada. For more information on more career opportunities at Centro, visit: https://centro.net/careers.
As Centrons, we have a multitude of reasons to be proud of ourselves and our company – from our constant community-improving endeavors, to the awards we win for being one of the best places to work in the U.S. Our culture plays an enormous factor in everything that we do, and there is definitely a difference when our employees are no longer surrounded by fellow Centrons. Don’t take my word for it; just ask some of our Boomerangs! Nell McGann, one of our customer success managers, earned a great opportunity which led to her leaving Centro - only to realize at heart she remained a Centron. And that led her way back to the Centro family. Nell opened up to us about her thoughts and decision making processes:
Q: What did you find attractive about your new opportunity that made you want to leave Centro and pursue this opening?
Nell: “I was looking to pursue my passion for health and came across this startup in the health and software space. Its mission is to bring more data to physicians to help with treatment options for cancer patients, which was very interesting to me.”
Q: What were your expectations when starting your new opportunity? Were your expectations met?
N: “I expected to be working in a software system and training hospitals and educational institutions on how to best use the platform. I also was going to be managing partnerships with hospitals and educational institutions. Unfortunately, my expectations were not met. I spent my days working in Google sheets and managing cancer patient’s tissue from receipt of lab all the way through processing. The role was very in the weeds and I had little contact with the hospitals and educational institutions that I was told I would be managing.”
Q: What did you miss about Centro after you left?
N: “The culture and people. There is nothing that compares to Centro and the way employees are treated here. I did not expect to have the same culture at my new job, but I didn’t realize how much the culture of a company could affect every aspect of my life. I missed the opportunities I was presented and the trust and respect I received from my team and everyone at Centro. I did not realize how much support I had here until I left. At Centro I have so many people rooting for me and wanting me to do well. Centro trusts me with big accounts and creating new processes. No matter what mistakes were made along the way, I always have people to go to if I need help or advice. This is invaluable and not something you can get everywhere.”
Q: What were the driving factors for your return to Centro?
N: “I quickly realized the culture at my other company was negatively affecting me. I was constantly stressed and unhappy. I went to bed every night dreading going to work and woke up feeling the same way. I was not valued and I knew long term this would never work. I wanted to be part of a company that is forward thinking, challenging, and truly cares about their employees. Centro is all of these things. I wanted to work for a software company and not living in Google sheets every day; I wanted to be surrounded by smart, humble, and supportive people. Most importantly, I wanted a voice at the table and my voice to be heard no matter who I am talking to within the organization.”
Q: What did you learn from this experience?
N: “I realized I was really good at my job here and that I was being challenged even after 6 years of working here. I learned I have team members, directors, VP’s who value my work and enjoy working with me. I learned that Centro is home for me and the vision and mission of Centro is not something we put on our website, but something that is put into practice every single day by even the highest level employees. I learned that I still have a passion for health, but I don’t need my career to be in that industry in order to be happy and successful. I learned how to check my ego at the door, and make decisions that are right for me. Coming back to Centro is the right thing for me.”
Centro’s culture is something that is imprinted within each of us and is something to be incredibly proud of. Welcome back, Nell!
How would you determine the best demand side platform?
Demand side platforms (DSPs), digital campaign management software that provide advertisers features for buying ad placements on digital channels in real time, are plentiful in the market. Determining the best one depends on who you ask, what problem they want to solve with a DSP, and how they evaluate success. Asking an analyst – who is basing their answer off of specific criteria, reports, and data – might yield a different opinion than an actual user, such as a media buyer.
And so the better question to ask may have to be specified even further: How do you determine the best demand side platform that exceeds user needs and the needs of a digital buying team? To measure that accurately and objectively, you’d need feedback from actual users based on a criteria important to the person operating the software, like how easy it is to use the software, do they get ample support from the vendor, and what features are the best.
A trusted research tool for software, G2 Crowd is a review site for business technology. G2 Crowd continually collects, aggregates, and analyzes user reviews, where its analysis is captured in the G2 Crowd Grid Reports. The Grid is developed from a combination of robust algorithms that pull in data points from product reviews shared by validated users and data aggregated from online sources and social networks. Users ranking and reviewing DSPs are basing their criteria off a number of factors, including DSP functionality/features, ease-of-use, quality of support, and ease-of-working with the vendor. The report plays a critical role in the evaluation process of thousands of software buyers globally, who use the Grid to help them quickly select the best DSP products for their businesses and to find peers with similar experiences.
The latest Grid Report for Demand Side Platform Software was released this month, and the report ranked the top DSPs based on satisfaction and market presence.
Centro’ Basis is the Leader in Demand Side Platform Software
Based on the chart above, you’ll see the leaders category is populated with software solutions and tech companies that exceed client happiness in both market presence and satisfaction. Basis received the highest G2 Score (92) among the competition. Furthermore, 98% of Basis users rated it 4+ stars, 90% would likely recommend it, and its ‘Quality of Support’ received a 95% rating.
Also worth noting is the Net Promoter Scores (NPS), where Basis received a ‘69’ out of a range from -100 to +100. As a comparison, the average score of all the DSPs in the report is ’27.’ The concept of NPS highlights the link between profitable growth and customer loyalty. For most industries, the best indicator of customer loyalty could be measured by asking people how likely they would be to recommend a particular company to another person. A company’s NPS is the percentage of promoters minus the percentage of detractors. A high NPS indicates that a company delights its customers and will, therefore, endure.
Why does this matter? When you invest in a software solution, it’s important to know the product will be there for the long haul – with regular updates, consistent and quick support, and the stability to deliver on its promise of growing your business and driving revenue.
Impacting the Future
Without our customers using and loving Basis, we wouldn’t be able to celebrate this win. Customer success is the driving force behind our product and our continued innovation:
Read user Lisa W.’s review on G2 Crowd.
G2 Crowd’s report gives Centro an objective and honest look at where we can improve Basis, how the competition stacks up, and what users want from the digital marketplace. It benefits potential buyers by allowing them to crowdsource information and hear from industry peers on what works for them, what doesn’t, and why.
If you are in the market for a media planning, buying and analytics solution, we encourage you to read the results. Download the report and contact us at info@centro.net to get a demo of Basis, the No. 1 demand side platform!