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"I wanted to build something the right way," founder and CEO Shawn Riegsecker said at a keynote address when talking about Centro's origins. "I firmly believe that we're moving in the world to a place where focusing on the happiness, health, well-being, and fulfillment of your employees is the number one determinant of success."
Programmatic advertising has changed, and Centro’s RTB Zeitgeist must do so as well. When we started this series a couple of years ago, we highlighted the trends that were driving real-time bidding (RTB). At the onset of this series, programmatic ad buying was relatively simple, in the sense that the majority of ad spend and transactions were happening via RTB in open exchanges.
Being well-versed in RTB meant you had a good handle on what was happening in programmatic advertising. However, the world has changed and other ways to buy in programmatic have emerged – private exchanges, private marketplaces, programmatic direct, automated guaranteed.
Furthermore, other aspects such as data management, data exchanges, video, mobile, viewability and more have to be taken into account. As my colleague Ratko Vidakovic recently said, ‘programmatic’ and ‘RTB’ are not interchangeable terms.
To address the expansion of the landscape, we are going to encompass more topic areas in our newly named Programmatic Zeitgeist to cover the full breadth of our space. Now, on with the show.
Alex Kantrowitz (formerly) of Advertising Age brings clarity to the ‘murky’ world of programmatic ad buying. After reading this piece, you probably wouldn’t think it’s as complicated as it sounds. Yes, the buyers profiled from Varick Media Management (MDC’s agency trading desk) are fairly young for the workplace. Some are fresh out of school and deal with multiple software platforms (8!!! Really? Is that 8 logins?), billions of inventory and millions of dollars in ad spend.. The clear message is that millions (and maybe even billions) of ad inventory being bought in milliseconds is where advertising is going, even though there are challenges to be worked out. The good news is that digital advertising still an even playing field for companies competing in it and there is plenty of upside for people working in it – except for the author of the piece, who wasn’t allowed to touch the software. That’s logical, considering one click can start a cascade of ad spending up to millions of dollars. Is that scary or cool?
When you run a video ad, do you assume people automatically listen? Although video ad opportunities are a fast growing segment in programmatic ad buying on desktop and mobile, it’s safe to assume that not everyone is an attentive listener. Mike Shields of The Wall Street Journal explores the changes in thinking of marketers who run video ads on the web. Many creative teams are thinking more about the motion and visuals of video and less about voice-overs. But can marketers communicate without sound? What if they don’t have a recognizable celebrity to utilize? The next challenge in video (other than viewability) is getting people to pay attention. I hope we’re not heading down the road of listenable ad metrics.
That's it for this week's Programmatic Zeitgeist. Be sure to join us next time!
Learn more about Programmatic Advertising with Centro.
When the terms "programmatic" and "private marketplace" burst onto the scene a few years ago, publishers had two choices: fear it, or embrace it.
Many publishers initially saw programmatic as a threat to their direct sales teams, and are only now just starting to realize how having a programmatic strategy can benefit them. Others, like Business Insider, chose to embrace programmatic and are now experiencing tremendous success with private marketplaces.
Our strategy since day one has been simple: go-to-market with both direct and indirect revenue streams. We've done this by leveraging our direct sales team to help drive demand for private marketplaces as part of our overall strategy.
And it's worked. With more than 200 private marketplaces currently in place, we've seen a strong ROI from our indirect efforts. The benefits of private marketplaces are endless, but here are the top five that have had the biggest impact on Business Insider's success:
Elimination of “Remnant” Inventory
We can offer customized inventory packages to our advertisers based on their needs and how they relate to our readers. The inventory within private marketplaces is valuable because it's providing advertisers with custom audiences at-scale.
Yield Optimization
Using private marketplaces, we’re able to optimize yield across both direct and indirect channels, since the prices in PMPs are higher than those on the open exchange.
More Limitation
We are able to invite a select number of partners to participate in PMPs, which allows us to build partnerships that often work in conjunction with direct buys.
Access to New Advertisers (And Audiences)
We have a lot of data about our readers, and private marketplaces give us the opportunity to expose our audience to a wider range of advertisers. This is mutually beneficial for advertisers, as they can access specific audience segments by leveraging our first-party data.
Access to New Budgets
Advertisers often have separate budgets for their direct and programmatic initiatives. By using PMPs, however, Business Insider has access to a wider variety of these budgets that are — in many cases — not a part of direct-buy budgets.
As the industry continues to charge ahead and programmatic selling becomes more widespread, publishers and advertisers alike can’t afford to be left behind. Using private marketplaces has been an important way for us to continue educating, adapting, and helping to set standards in an ever-evolving
Michelle Denhart is a sales development director at Business Insider.
Learn more about Programmatic Advertising with Centro.
Private marketplaces (PMPs) are a hot topic among publishers and advertisers alike. First appearing in conversations and industry trade articles around 2011, PMP adoption ramped up a bit slower than the typical lightning speed of the digital space. However, the tremendous 1,236% growth that eMarketer reported for 2014, indicates that the tides have turned. This substantial increase, which has continued into 2015, is symptomatic of the many ways in which PMPs can drive more value for your overall business.
More Appeal
The general attraction of programmatic advertising has already been recognized by advertisers, like Procter & Gamble, McDonald’s, and Sprint, as indicated by the complete shift of budget to RTB. However, within the RTB space the demand for more “premium programmatic” inventory via PMPs has grown considerably over the last few years. Advertisers are looking for those publishers that are ahead of the programmatic advertising curve, and not only offering PMPs but finding ways to use them to tackle challenging hurdles in the programmatic advertising space. Advertisers are drawn to publishers offering deals for premium page placements, unique content sections, brand safe content, highly viewable ad units, as well as those that are able to utilize their own first-party data. Furthermore, with these appealing deals, advertisers are willing to pay CPMs that warrant access to this inventory.
More Demand
An undeniable fact about the programmatic advertising space is that it garners demand beyond your direct sales force. However, there is still a misguided mindset that only the low quality, perhaps “remnant,” inventory should be sold via RTB and anything else should be sold direct as a way to increase yield. Understandably, the logic behind this mindset is to preserve the scarcity and exclusivity of the inventory and to not devalue its worth in an open marketplace. However, as advertisers continue to get wiser in buying inventory programmatically, they are also getting more fastidious. They are more apt to avoid poor quality inventory altogether and focus efforts towards better inventory. Private marketplaces are a great way to access better quality inventory from an advertiser perspective – a demand that exists outside direct, guaranteed buying, and one that might only be available via a private marketplace buy.
More Control
For many, part of the fear of programmatic advertising is both the unknown, as well as a perceived lack of control – fears also shared by many advertisers. However, one of the more obvious benefits of offering private marketplaces is the increased control you gain in the process of monetizing your inventory programmatically. Being that PMPs consist of a mutually agreed upon set of buying parameters between buyers and sellers, including elements like floor rates, flight dates, content, which advertisers are allowed access, etc., the reigns are in the publisher’s hands to control much of the process. With this increased control comes the ability to appropriately manage how you allocate inventory between various demand streams (direct, programmatic direct, PMPs, open marketplaces), how you price out your inventory, who you allow to purchase your inventory programmatically, and ultimately how best to optimize your yield.
More Insight
Because private marketplaces offer more control, naturally they offer more insight. If approached strategically, useful insights can be uncovered from successful and not-so-successful private marketplaces. This includes insight into the advertisers who are purchasing your inventory programmatically, the type of inventory advertisers are purchasing, and the rates that advertisers will pay for high quality inventory. All of these facets can help shape your strategy in deciding what you need more of, less of, what you need to change, what advertisers really like about your inventory, and how you can get more for what you have to offer.
More Efficiency
Efficiency is probably one of the most common benefits associated with the programmatic space, however, even with all of its acclaim, it’s still a grossly under-rated benefit. Efficiency is often associated with minimizing workflow pain points to create cost efficiencies. After the initial set up of a PMP and the occasional troubleshoot, PMPs are a way to allow approved buyers to manage their own campaigns, while buying your inventory. This frees up time among sales and operations to fully focus on those campaigns that require more attention and to focus efforts on more strategic opportunities.
All in all there are a lot of interrelated ways in which PMPs can do more for your inventory monetization strategy and overall business. Publishers should feel empowered by the new opportunities that PMPs afford them and excited to venture into this space. Learn more about the programmatic advertising opportunity with Centro, here.
Centro’s New $30 Million Funding Round Helps Support Growth in More U.S. Locations;
New Offices Needed to Accommodate for More Than 120 Additional Employees in 2015
Chicago – June 10, 2015 – Centro (centro.net), a provider of enterprise-class software for digital advertising, today announced office expansions that encompass 110,000 square feet in Chicago, New York City and Dallas. By the latter half of 2015, Centro will move its headquarters to the Chicago landmark building Sullivan Center and its New York City office to the historic Roosevelt Building. Additional development is underway in Dallas, Texas, as well.
Centro is accelerating office development with the aid of a recent Series B financing round of $30 million. With more than 2,500 customers, Centro’s growth is driven by the demand for its digital advertising software platform. Centro’s technology has established it as the partner of choice for automating guaranteed media-buying. Recently, it launched a cross-channel programmatic ad buying platform with capabilities for precise mobile targeting. With 600 team members and an additional 120 new hires by the end of 2015 (see all opportunities here: www2.centro.net/careers), Centro is one of the most prolific independent companies in advertising technology.
“Building a great physical environment for our employees is a crucial factor in our search for new space because we believe in creating and maintaining a happy, creative, imaginative and hard-working atmosphere,” said Shawn Riegsecker, CEO of Centro. “These expansions cement Centro as a technology and advertising mainstay in some of the largest business centers in North America. This is a testament to the impact we have in an increasingly digital marketplace.”
Centro will continue to expand by adding more employees in areas such as software engineering, design, sales, and account management. The company has been cited by media outlets as one of the best places to work in Chicago and New York. Nationally, it ranks as the eighth best workplace among medium-sized businesses and the number one overall workplace in the advertising industry.
About Centro
Centro (centro.net) is creating a platform to make digital advertising easier. Its enterprise-class software centralizes, organizes and automates all digital media campaigns across all channels, accessing both guaranteed and biddable inventory, to achieve any objective. Our holistic approach gives marketers a single system of record to fulfill their research, planning, buying, optimization, reporting and reconciliation needs. Since 2001, Centro has successfully planned and executed nearly 200,000 campaigns across all digital display platforms and ad format types. Headquartered in Chicago with 32 offices in North America, Centro has received numerous accolades for its commitment to employees and workplace culture, including #1 on Crain’s Best Places to Work in Chicago in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014, #1 on Advertising Age’s Best Place to Work in Media & Advertising in 2014, #8 on Fortune’s Best Medium-Size Workplace in 2014, #6 on Crain’s Best Place to Work in New York in 2014, and a 4.6 rating (out of 5) on Glassdoor.com – one of the highest rated in media and tech.
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Contact:
Anthony Loredo
646-462-4888
"It’s clear that the real work in selling digital video is just beginning."
The age of programmatic advertising has arrived. First fueling real-time bidding on advertising exchanges, programmatic is now driving the growth of multi-channel advertising across mobile devices, social media platforms and desktop display. It’s opened up exciting new opportunities for marketers to target precisely, spend wisely and operate more efficiently. But you need to be smart about how you navigate this new landscape – and knowing what not to do is a great way to start. Let’s take a look at six of the most common mistakes we’ve seen from programmatic newbies.
Mistake #1: Not working with a DSP
Core to any modern programmatic strategy is finding the right demand-side platform (DSP) to work with. The technology can empower you to bid, buy, and place digital advertising across multiple exchanges, in a variety of formats, and on multiple channels (video, mobile, display), all via one platform. In the same way that search engines use keywords, a DSP uses behavioral and demographic data to help you target ads to specific audiences. Using this level of data and insight gains you access to your consumers in the right context at the right moment. What’s more, DSPs allow you to optimize your campaign tactics in real-time, which means you only buy what works. This technology is not for the marketer who wants a “set it and forget it” strategy. It’s for those that want to take control of their digital advertising to maximize results and drive real business outcomes.
Mistake #2: Failing to optimize your campaign
With great power comes great responsibility – especially in the programmatic era. Automation does not mean automatic, so you should expect to continually evaluate and optimize your campaigns to maximize performance. Algorithms can only do so much, as digital advertising campaigns require human eyes and attention to meet and exceed expectations. You’ll need to consider channel, audience, creative, price, clicks, conversions, viewability and a host of other metrics in order to move towards a successful business outcome. You’ll have to be constantly evaluating and optimizing your campaigns in order for them to reach their full potential. Think about it as the control and transparency you’ve always wanted.
Mistake #3: Not having clearly defined KPIs
Without clearly defined KPIs – which should be a mandatory part of any initial needs assessment – it’s hard, if not impossible, to make intelligent decisions when it comes to devising the right mix of tactics for your campaign. You need to be measuring everything you can possibly measure but don’t confuse a data point like CTR with a KPI. This is especially true in programmatic buying environments since these are rich with reporting data. Lastly, without meaningful metrics, any campaign manager or programmatic buyer will be flying blind when it comes to how they optimize campaigns because they won’t have any guidance. For example: “increase brand awareness” is not a clearly defined KPI, nor is “drive more sales.” Those are objectives and business outcomes. Rather you need to be looking for the metrics that point towards and influence outcomes like driving more sales.
Mistake #4: Not bringing the programmatic expertise “in-house”
We know what you might be thinking – “I don’t know anything about programmatic and neither does anyone on my team!” Put those concerns aside, because when it comes to programmatic, you don’t have to go at it alone. As DSP adoption grows (see mistake #1), and marketers recognize the need to optimize for results (see mistake #2), more and more businesses know they need to groom a generation of programmatic experts. Most DSPs boast “white glove” service offering you everything from a fully managed relationship all the way to self-reliance – and everything in-between. Leverage these flexible offerings to put your business on the path to self-sufficiency. Learn the ins and outs of building, managing, optimizing, and reporting on campaigns, while working with a team of experts to elevate your brand and build your own in-house programmatic team.
Mistake #5: Not having a plan to collect and leverage your first-party data
If programmatic is a fire, data is what fuels it. Your business almost certainly has first-party data just waiting to be tapped. This covers everything from web behavior to basic demographic information and even purchase patterns. Every day your business collects known and unknown visitor data through online and offline interactions with your brand. Having a plan to use this data to expand your knowledge of your audience is what will power your programmatic strategy. So before you jump on the programmatic bandwagon make sure you know what you’re collecting, where it’s stored, and how it can be activated to grow your business.
Mistake #6: Ignoring the multi-channel opportunity – desktop is no longer the only game in town
After data, there is nothing more important to a programmatic plan than your targeting tactics. The best thing about working with a DSP for your programmatic advertising is that you can now target across channels – display, mobile, social and video – that can be tailored and timed for your audience. One of the unique advantages with mobile is that it allows for extremely precise location targeting, while video offers that same precise, impression-level targeting, but with high-impact creative. Therefore, if you stick with just display, you are limiting yourself – and your business. Look into other channels and test what performs and what doesn’t. And be sure to always reserve room in your media plans for testing new channels and tactics – you never know where the next opportunity lies unless you test.
Sweat is dripping down your face. You’re in a panic because your boss just asked you to research programmatic media buying technology and you have no idea where to start. You decide to ask Google. The first thing that pops up in your search is Demand-Side Platform (DSP). And then you think to yourself – I’ve heard this term before, but what is a DSP and will it actually help us navigate programmatic advertising?
Well, the good news is at Centro, we understand what it means to jump into programmatic and how leveraging a DSP can help. So let’s start by briefly discussing what a DSP is and what it can do for your business. A DSP is software that empowers advertisers to bid, buy, and place digital advertising across multiple exchanges, in a variety of formats, and on multiple channels (video, mobile, display). In the same way that search engines use keywords, a DSP uses behavioral and demographic data to help you target ads to specific audiences. Using this level of data and insight gains you access to your consumers in the right context at the right moment. What’s more, DSPs allow you optimize your campaign tactics in real-time, which means you only buy what works. If you’re going digital, and you want the efficiency and scale of programmatic; buying impressions on mobile, desktop or video, then a DSP is what you need.
So now that we’ve nailed down the basics, let’s dive a little deeper into the details. Below are a few questions your boss is probably going to ask when you report back to him – and we’ve got the answers so that you’re one step ahead.
What’s the reach potential with a DSP? Will it help us grow our audience?
Adopting DSP technology is the most effective way to get your message in front of the people who matter – the amount of inventory is tremendous and the reach is virtually unparalleled when compared to traditional advertising methods. Many DSPs focus on this as a major selling point. The number of websites selling biddable inventory is practically immeasurable, and most DSPs have relationships with the biggest and highest quality exchanges. DSPs, like Centro DSP, offer access to a pool of potentially 40 billion+ impressions per day. As a result, DSP technology allows you to precisely target your audiences across mobile, video, social, and display, so you can run efficient cross-channel advertising campaigns of every scale. This level of automation offers greater reach than any manual process ever could.
If we’re not experts in programmatic, how much help are we going to get? Will we have to work alone?
Today, some DSPs boast “white glove” service offering you everything from a fully managed relationship all the way to self-reliance – and everything in-between. For example, Centro DSP puts you on the path toward self-service by offering as little or as much customized training and support as needed. You’ll learn the ins and outs of building, managing, optimizing, and reporting on campaigns through your own branded interface, while working with a team of Centro experts to elevate your brand and build your own in-house programmatic team.
Will a DSP help us zero-in on local targeting?
Many marketers are using DSP technology to conduct programmatic buying of local inventory often on a large scale basis. DSPs enable advertisers to target (and retarget) mobile users via device IDs. You can also access GPS information from individual mobile devices, which gives you the exact location of your consumer at any point in their day. This level of data makes it possible to leverage a host of targeting tactics including geo-fencing, contextual, hyperlocal, and more. As a result, businesses of every scale are adopting DSP technology and making local a critical component of their marketing strategies.
What does a DSP cost to implement?
Many DSPs have high barriers to entry and pricing can vary greatly from platform to platform. The cost associated with a DSP often depends on the price of the campaign, or the media budget you commit to the platform. Typically, a platform fee is included, in addition to a minimum monthly charge or annual spend. This commitment is usually required to either sign an agreement or maintain the original platform fee rates.
How will this technology make our advertising more effective and our team more efficient?
Instead of thinking in silos, and logging into multiple applications, some DSPs provide a granular, real-time view of campaign performance, as well as the ability to deep-dive optimize each one – all controllable from a single interface. Control is the key to empowerment, and visibility into your campaign data is crucial to gaining actionable insights and learnings. With this data in-hand, you’ll know what’s working and what’s not in real-time so you can make the best possible decisions for the campaign, your advertising strategy and your business.
We’re almost half way through 2015 and many people still don't recognize the difference between "programmatic advertising" and “RTB advertising." One might think that only novices make this mistake, but it’s a much bigger issue. I routinely observe people who should know better (people who have been working in ad tech for a long time) use these two terms interchangeably. This oversimplification does a disservice to our industry and ultimately the customers we all serve.
Let’s define precisely what each term means, and how they differ. First things first, programmatic, what is it? Simply put, programmatic is technology-enabled workflow automation. In digital advertising, programmatic technology is essentially one computer talking to another computer to execute the campaign trafficking operations, minimizing the risk of human error. In a programmatic scenario, a person defines the campaign parameters and the ad tags are automatically transmitted to the destination ad server. A second human isn't necessarily required, streamlining the entire operation.
In contrast, ads that are purchased directly (or without the benefit of programmatic technology) are subject to a manual process that has remained virtually unchanged for the past 20 years. One person emails another person an ad tag that needs to be placed within a campaign sitting on an ad server (among a multitude of other things). In other words, it’s person-to-person rather than computer-to-computer. Big difference.
Some channels like search advertising have been programmatic since inception, so the programmatic vernacular wasn’t necessary to specify differences in workflow or process. It's only in display, which began with manual purchasing, where there has been a need to make such a distinction. It’s important to note that along with search, other digital marketing channels, including social and email, have been always programmatic. But they have nothing to do with RTB advertising.
Real-time bidding (RTB), on the other hand, is a technology protocol or mechanism for automatically bidding, buying and selling display impressions via an auction format. It is inherently programmatic. The problem is that people now think that programmatic and RTB are synonymous, which is incorrect. Programmatic is simply a characteristic of the RTB protocol.
To understand the logic, think about fire. We know that fire is hot. Hot is a characteristic of fire. But not everything that is hot is on fire. It's the same with RTB and programmatic. RTB is programmatic, but not everything that is programmatic is RTB [1].
RTB was the "programmatic" of 2010 because it was a disruptive force in the display ad industry, enabling the first big wave of programmatic buying. As a result, many people have come to think of RTB as the only way to buy display ads programmatically, conflating the terms. But things have changed.
In display, there is now “programmatic direct”, which has nothing to do with RTB. And, per my earlier point, when we look beyond the display channel we also have search, social, and email; all of which are primarily executed in a programmatic fashion, but are not RTB [2].
So, in the future, when you use the term RTB, understand that you are referring to the RTB protocol or technology, which covers the open auction market and private marketplaces. Programmatic is a much larger concept. It encompasses RTB and “programmatic direct” within display, but also other core channels in digital marketing overall.
[1] To give an example, there is an IAB-led protocol, which is related to RTB, known as OpenDirect. Real-time bidding, as the name implies, involves an auction process, which makes guaranteeing or reserving inventory practically impossible. The OpenDirect protocol was created to bring the same level of standards to the direct (or guaranteed) side of the market. Both are undoubtedly programmatic protocols, but only one of them is actually RTB.
[2] Native is similar to display in that the workflow varies wildly based on how it’s evolved and the various definitions of “native” advertising.