"Implementing a programmatic media function in-house seems like a no-brainer, but challenges abound. If you decide to make this a core function of your business, these steps will help increase ROI."

Read more from Centro's Dan Raffe in MediaPost.

At Centro, we know that keeping up with the trade pubs and latest trends can be tough and time consuming. To make that easier, we’ve compiled all the articles, reports, and other bits of awesomeness you may have missed, but should definitely read. Enjoy our latest list below!

FTC Cracking Down on Paid Celebrity Endorsements
Advertisers, not the influencers, will be the ones held accountable for making sure paid endorsements are clearly called out and labeled in all social posts.

Twitter Rolls out New Products
The social platform is working to draw in brands with a few new additions to their ad offering. The most interesting may be the “Instant Unlock” card. This allows users access to exclusive content in exchange for tweeting out branding messaging. In addition to the unlock ads, they’ve rolled out Promoted Stickers and additions to their Live Stream Video offerings.

There have been a flurry of social video updates with Pinterest’s debut of video ads, Facebook testing autoplay with audio, Instagram announcing their Events tab, and Twitter expanding their Amplify program.

Facebook Seizes Header Bidding to Challenge Google in Programmatic Ad Sales
Header bidding is the next battle between Facebook and Google, as they fight for ad dollars and employ new tactics to advance their bidding models.

Facebook’s Intro to Search Marketing
There are over 2 billion daily searches on Facebook. The company recently announced a three-step plan to improve search results for consumers, and then businesses, to ultimately drive a new advertising channel.

98 Personal Data Points that Facebook Uses to Target Ads to You
Have you ever wondered what Facebook knows about you? The Washington Post explores the variety of targeting options available through Facebook, and calls out Facebook’s efforts to be a bit more transparent in what it thinks about you and why you see the ads you see. Be sure to take some time to explore your “interests.”

WhatsApp to Start Sharing Marketing Data with Facebook
Once an anti-advertising platform, WhatsApp seems to be softening up on their “no brands allowed” stance. This isn’t surprising news since the app is now owned by Facebook. The sharing of data is a step in the direction of full-fledged advertising. It’s certainly a welcome shift for advertisers, since the messaging app boasts more than 1 billion monthly active users. Buckle up! Facebook’s share of the pie continues to grow.

The (Mobile) Video Viewability Challenge
The Media Rating Council has finally detailed what counts as a viewable video impression on mobile devices: 50% of pixels in view for two consecutive seconds. The current levels of VPAID inventory on mobile are limiting the usefulness of these characteristics, putting pressure on the industry as advertisers become concerned about whether their mobile advertising is delivering value.

Cable Industry’s ‘Ditch the Box’ Proposal Gains Ground
The ‘unlock the box’ vs. ‘ditch the box’ arguments are proof of shifting video viewership habits driving the need for industry change. It’s still not clear which proposal, if either, will become a reality.

Rethinking the Kitchen
Check out this interactive experience that examines the impact smartphones and smart kitchens have on how we purchase, how we consume, and how we cook.

The Next Big Mobile Platform is Your Car
Self-driving cars are coming sooner than you think, and have the potential to become the most expensive computer that consumers will own, so what does that mean for marketers?

We’re Living in the Matrix
In a recent report, Bank of America Merrill Lynch told (warned?) its clients there is a 20%-50% chance we're actually living inside an artificial simulation created by future civilizations. In the words of Keanu: “whoa.”

 

 

Smith & Beta recently released a report on the state of advertising talent, which details the gaps in talent development. It’s always been a dirty little secret of the digital advertising industry: Without knowledgeable humans behind the technology, the promise of innovation and efficiency is not delivered. With only 7% of agency respondents saying they think they exceed client expectations, there is clearly a huge opportunity for training and education.

Why has the industry not addressed the situation? Well, there are three factors at play:

1. The need to assign responsibility for talent development.
2. Service, support, training, and education should not be used interchangeably, and outcomes must be clearly defined.
3. It’s difficult to schedule time in busy schedules for people to learn.

Let’s talk about responsibility first. In order to be effective, education must be a joint effort between agencies and their external partners. Agencies have typically outsourced education to vendors who may have ulterior motives or a vested interest in the status quo. Agencies have started to develop programs internally, but to stay relevant and up-to-date in a fast-paced industry they need to call upon publishers, platforms, and other players. But, it requires careful vetting to separate the pitch from the knowledge.

Next, let’s define service, support, training, and education. Service is an overarching term for all the people and resources available to an agency. Support generally means maintenance of the platform and technical assistance. Training applies to the specifics of working with the partner, conceptual topics, and industry context. Education is bringing the knowledge together to create context and holistic understanding. Setting goals and measuring results for each is vital to understanding the impact.

Making time to learn and absorb the complex subjects is a challenge. Encouraging and rewarding behavior is key, but people need to understand the benefits and rewards of learning. It will help them become more efficient at their jobs, and it will make the work more interesting and innovative.

Centro prides itself on partnering with agencies for best-in-class service. Centro DSP in particular is focused on demystifying programmatic advertising and lowering the barriers to entry. We’ve developed three learning tracks to give you a comprehensive understanding of the industry, the platform, and how to make the most of it.

Don’t underestimate service when considering a platform. Even the best tools are ineffective without smart people operating them.

"The holiday shopping season is always right around the corner. Here are five tactics to best map out your digital-marketing strategy."

Read more from Centro's April Weeks in Entrepreneur.

It’s important to deliver a relevant and accurate message to your target audience no matter their native language. If you’re trying to engage Spanish speakers and Hispanic audiences at scale, Centro DSP offers many targeting options across desktop, tablet, and mobile.

Context

The content consumers are browsing is a powerful indicator of their interests and characteristics. If people are reading articles or using an app in Spanish, it’s likely they speak the language. To apply contextual targeting at the site level, Centro DSP has established partnerships with leading Spanish private marketplaces and supports custom Spanish site and app lists. Creating a separate tactic for page-level contextual targeting can increase reach on related content.

Audience

Third-party data providers aggregate many signals beyond context and allow you to target an audience more broadly as they browse outside Spanish content. Centro DSP has a wide range of segments available for demographic, behavioral, in-market, and Spanish speakers. Make sure to look at reporting regularly to discover additional sites or apps that are performing well.

Browser and Geography

Some consumers choose to set their browser language preferences. Consider testing a campaign targeting people who have selected the Spanish setting. Geo-targeting ZIP codes or metropolitan areas with large Spanish-speaking populations is another opportunity if context and audience are not delivering.

Extra Credit

If you apply all these settings to a single campaign, the targeting will be far too narrow. Remember to test each one discretely, monitor performance, and apply the insights for optimization. Programmatic advertising with a demand side platform takes the guess work out of marketing and lets you make data-driven decisions.

Wondering if you’re ready to be a self-service DSP user, or if you need a vendor to help guide the way? We’ve designed this questionnaire to help you figure it all out. Yes, we’ve set it up to resemble those surveys in women’s magazines we all ‘hate’. Because, let’s be honest, we say we hate them, but we still take them. Just last week I took a quiz that told me what Disney princess I was. (I’m Jasmine, for the record.)

You know the drill: Answer the questions, tally up what letter you get most frequently and find your results at the bottom. Obviously, this is only 5 questions, and there are plenty of things to consider when getting started with a DSP – but these are the basics.

So, without further ado, here are 5 questions to begin with:

Are you digital ready?

A. Digital is core to our business. We understand the importance of having a mobile app and mobile-optimized website, and we’re running display, mobile, and video advertising.
B. We’re new to the world of digital. Right now, we’re only running paid search, and we’d like to learn how to implement best practices.
C. We’re stuck in the dark ages.

How much programmatic training and education will your team need?

A. We have a staff of programmatic advertising experts with knowledge of the digital industry and time to manage campaigns.
B. We have a thin staff with less time on their hands, and even less expertise in using a DSP. We would really benefit from interface trainings and educational content.
C. We don’t even know what DSPs are. Let’s start there?

What is your budget and how much are you willing to invest in programmatic?

A. We already invest in digital talent, so we don’t see the need to spend more for an SLA. We also want control over and transparency about where our digital dollars are going.
B. We know we need the help, so we’re willing to invest the money to get it.
C. We can barely afford rent.

How much control do you want over your campaigns?

A. We’d like to set up our own campaigns, control what sites they’ll run on and what platforms, and once it’s live, we’d like to make minor adjustments and implement optimizations.
B. We’d prefer to take advantage of in-house experts to provide us with best practices, and to set up, manage and optimize our campaigns.
C. Jesus take the wheel.

What are the business goals and how will you measure success?
A. No matter the campaign objective, we have clearly-defined goals and measurable KPIs, and are always looking to optimize.
B. We do not have clear objectives, and need assistance translating goals into KPIs.
C. We’d just like to stay in business.

Mostly As: You’re self-service
Mostly Bs: You’re managed
Mostly Cs: Can I suggest our educational webinar series? Or maybe the Disney princess quiz?

Learn more about Programmatic Advertising with Centro.

"Younger demographics and technological advances are inspiring more innovative social media tactics. Apps can no longer make a good run solely from messaging purposes; they now need to incorporate new features to stay relevant and elevate their brands."

Read more from Centro's Aubry Parks-Fried on MarketingProfs.

A major U.S. home furnishing retailer with stores worldwide has made the leap from print to digital to social media advertising in just a few short years. This well-known American brand relied on a small in-house team to do all of its advertising. With marketing limited to mostly print campaigns and catalogs, the company was late to the digital age, even during a period of continued revenue growth and global expansion. That changed when Centro was engaged to usher the company into the new era.

Read more in our case study.

Last week, we answered questions surrounding DSPs. Because that was geared toward advertisers and agencies, we’re turning our attention this week to publishers. It doesn’t matter if you’re a traditional media publisher with roots in print or a publisher with digital as your core business. The benefit to using a DSP is the same: audience extension.

So, let’s dive in. And stop me if you get lost.

I’m already lost. What’s audience extension?
Audience extension is used by publishers to capture a greater share of digital ad budgets by accessing additional inventory and audiences.

Audience extension allows publishers to retarget their users on sites outside of their own. This makes it possible for publishers to increase the volume of their inventory and the value of their first-party audience data.

But keep in mind: It’s more than just site retargeting. Utilizing a DSP for audience extension allows publishers to expand both their digital inventory and their digital offerings. In other words, audience extension turns publishers into a one-stop-shop for their advertisers’ digital needs.

An example might help.
Let’s pretend you’re an online sports publication and your visitor is a female in her mid-20s. She’s reading about Alex Rodriguez’s retirement from baseball while she cries into her morning coffee, but when she’s done, her digital activity will extend beyond your website to other devices, platforms, channels and interests.

She might head to her favorite blogger for ideas on how to decorate her apartment, or perhaps she visits REI’s site to buy backpacking gear for an upcoming trip to New Zealand.  Maybe last night she ordered too much pizza online, and now she’s Googling local gyms she can join. It’s also possible she spent all morning at work researching what audience extension is so she can write a blog about it, and takes a break to like all of Britney Spears’ posts on Instagram.

The point is: Your website attracts a unique set of visitors with their own range of hobbies, behaviors, brand affinities and lifestyle preferences. Advertisers are buying your inventory directly because they want to connect with that unique audience. As a publisher, you can offer access to these users on your site and continue targeting them after they leave your page.

This sounds a lot like retargeting. You said audience extension is more than that, but I’m not seeing how.
Think about it like this: You’re the same popular sports website. And Joe’s Sports Shack loves advertising on your website. He can’t get enough, and he keeps coming back for more. Every quarter that he spends on your site directly, he sees an in-store traffic uptick. And now Joe wants to spend more money with you. He needs your help geo-targeting a nearby little league tournament with mobile ads. And Joe, busy guy that he is, also recently put together a TV spot and he’s wondering if you can help him run a video campaign. With DSP technology, you’ll never have to say no to Joe.

Well, I see the benefit for programmatic advertisers in this scenario. What’s in it for me?
Audience extension allows you to follow your readers after they leave the page, which turns your website traffic into audience segment data. You’re now selling audiences to advertisers – instead of physical ad units – which allows you to monetize your readership, web traffic and increase inventory capacity.

Ok, but how does all of this this work from a technical standpoint?
Audience extension uses HTTP cookies, a string of text sent from a web server to a user’s browser. Cookies store a unique identifier, and may contain information like the users’ browsing activity and what ads were recently seen. To facilitate this, it’s as simple as publishers placing code into the backend of their website. Once the cookies and ad tags are there, the ads follow the audience as they browse the web.

One more question: Can’t I achieve audience extension with just an ad exchange or DMP?
You might already be monetizing your website, or collecting first-party audience data. You might even be utilizing ad exchanges or DMPs to offer retargeting to your advertisers. That’s great – you’re doing some good work.

But guess what? You’re still leaving money on the table.

Remember Joe? Using a DSP, you will have scalable inventory and audience targeting across any device, anywhere, any time.

For more information on DSP technology or on Basis DSP, visit our website. You can also check out our 3-part video series on using a DSP as a publisher.

Learn more about Programmatic Advertising with Centro.