Over the past 10 years, programmatic in-housing has often been positioned as a magic remedy to aging business models that struggle with massive complexity and a lack of transparency. The growing importance of first-party data, real-time personalization capabilities, uncovering hidden opportunities for optimization, and greater clarity around fees are just some of the reasons why brands pursue this proactive, hands-on approach to media buying.
Yet, for all the hype around the movement and all the promises it offers, there are also numerous tales of marketing organizations that had to put the whole in-housing process on ice because they found it was too lengthy, too expensive, too complicated, and/or too political to pull off.
In the latest episode of our AdTech Unfiltered podcast series, founder of UpLevel Digital Media Consulting and Presidential Innovation Fellow, Raashee Gupta Erry, breaks down some of the considerations brands must make when weighing up whether to bring programmatic media buying in-house.
Here are seven of Raashee’s most keen insights:
(Answers have been edited for clarity.)
"I feel like there is this behavior of in-housing functioning as a trend. It has its ups and downs. It was really popular five to seven years ago when RTB and all these different ways of programmatic buying came into the picture. Then the pandemic hit, and I think a lot of excitement died down because people were just trying to survive—businesses were trying to stay afloat. There's also a lot of behavior change happening from the consumer adoption standpoint.
“It's a mixed bag today because there are so many future-forward changes that the market is going through, with data privacy being a very big component of that. There have been some major headwinds from both the technology side as well as the regulation side.”
“You have to operationalize your in-housing efforts to suit the landscape that you're in. And it's not just media buying. It's not just bringing people in-house, cleaning tools in-house, or bringing a transactional channel in-house. It has to be looked upon from an entire spectrum of how data is intersecting your organization—how data is flowing and outflowing.
“I've heard that some brands who had totally converted to in-house programmatic are now taking a step back. Other folks are starting to take baby steps towards it. Some people are mature. I just feel with data privacy, it becomes even more important to first understand how the data sits in your organization, how the channels are connected (or not connected), and who your players and partners are. That's when you want to take another look at it.”
“It starts with the problem/solution discovery. You have to go down to the brass tacks—to the bare minimum. You need to ask fundamental questions: ‘What are your challenges? Why are you thinking of in-housing? Why do you think it will work for you? What are some of the other solutions that you've considered?’ It’s important to do a feasibility check on all of these, because a lot of times clients might be looking at in-housing as a shiny object, or they might be looking at in-housing as a way to cut costs.
“We ask those hard questions and have a sit-down moment. We conduct an analysis on their existing state and then really understand what they’re trying to change and what the problem is. Sometimes, the answer is in-housing. Sometimes, it might be a hybrid solution. Sometimes, it might be chopping it up in small chunks and doing one part at a time. It really varies.”
“In-housing, in general, is an expensive venture in many ways. It takes time. It takes energy. It's costly. It’s disruptive to the normal organizational flow if a company has been working with agencies for a long time and then, suddenly, they want to stop that and bring things in-house. It does create a ripple effect, and it does slow down the operations—or at least make them different or disrupt them.
“We really have to be thinking about things like: ‘What's their aptitude? What's their tolerance level? What does the marketing lifecycle in their organization look like? What are their key moments, and what are their downtimes and when is the right time to do it?’ So, it really is a lot of questions at a very early stage.”
“Different organizations will be at different stages and on different scales of in-housing. Depending on where they are in the process, and what scale of in-housing they want to do, the stakeholder participation varies.
“When I did in-housing as a brand marketer, we wanted to bring this tech stack of DSP and DMPs in-house and still have our agencies operationalize it. At that point in my conversations around the table, I was talking with IT, I was talking with CRM folks, and I was talking with finance, legal, and product, because all these folks had either a direct or an indirect influence on the programs that we were going to run through the programmatic pipes. It was really important for us to bring them on board—to understand what their needs are. What are the security limitations, for example, from an IT standpoint? What are the data challenges from a CRM standpoint? HR also comes into play here, because in-housing requires you to staff up a team. A lot of conversations need to be had.”
“This, again, starts with early staged conversations in the discovery phase. ‘Why is this idea appealing to you? What are you trying to change by bringing things in-house? Do you have a fundamental problem in that you have a matrix organization and hence you need to operate a certain way? Or is it a need for speed? Or is it that you are sitting on a lot of personal data that you don't want to be sharing outside, and data privacy and security is an important component to your operations?’
“It’s important to ask those questions to then come to an understanding of what's the right balance between in-housing and outsourcing. It could be that you outsource components that are a little more standalone, as opposed to channels that are super intertwined with each other. Or you're outsourcing the operations, but you are owning the relationships, the contracts, the data, and the tech stack, and you are enabling your agency partners to be the operators of your systems. Or are you going all-in and having everything in-house, contracting in-house, having your tech relationships in-house, and hiring internally?
“One area where agencies provide a lot of value is shared learnings—they're always doing a lot of different things, and they’re constantly on top of changes. So how important is that education? How important is that outside thinking? How important is that outside-out-of-the-box creativity for your business?”
“This area is only going to get more complex, and it ties directly into media because we are seeing a lot of headwinds in terms of technology changes with cookieless solutions out there—all the browser changes and the mobile changes as well as a lot of regulation changes.
“It really is important, because data is at the center of all the media that we do in the digital world. It's important for the brands to at least understand what the privacy world looks like, the different roles that people play, GDPR and CCPA, data transfer requirements, and the data sharing and selling restrictions. Who is doing what on your behalf is very important, so even if you do in-housing, or outsourcing, you need to be aware of this and ask tough questions of all your partners and all your teams internally so that you can have a truthful, trustworthy relationship with your customers. Because once a data breach happens, customers are not thinking, ‘This is the middle party that lost my data.’ It's going to be, ‘XYZ brand lost my data!’”
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To learn more about the state of programmatic in-housing today and the important role of data in the process, check out Raashee and Noor’s full conversation here.
Wondering which programmatic buying approach is right for your brand? Our Programmatic Readiness Quiz can help! In just three minutes, you’ll discover whether outsourcing, hybrid, or in-house programmatic ad buying is the best path for achieving your team's goals.
The metaverse: an idea so powerful that it's signaled a tectonic shift in digital advertising, even though it doesn't fully exist yet. This new medium will change how we consume content, how we interact with each other, and how we relate to brands. While there are some marketing opportunities currently available for early adopters, paid advertisements are expected to become available in the coming years.
So, how can brands prepare for paid advertising in the metaverse? Join Meta’s Jenna Doherty to learn how to get started with augmented reality (AR) ads, how AR can elevate your campaign strategy, and why it's an important stepping stone on the path to future fully immersive ad opportunities in the metaverse.
Welcome to Scout! Each week, our team tracks down the best digital marketing articles, POVs, and reports...so that you don't have to. Call it a weekly attempt to earn our "merit badge" in the marketing and advertising community. Check out the following links to stay ahead of the curve:
1. You’re Still Being Tracked on the Internet, Just in a Different Way [:06]
Privacy changes pushed by Apple and Google have made first-party data all the more important. But one side effect of this shift is that it tilts the playing field towards large digital ecosystems like Google, TikTok, Amazon, and Pinterest, who can easily gather information on their millions of users.
2. Why an In-Built TV Camera is at the Heart of Sky's Next Big Pitch to Advertisers and Viewers [:04]
Meet Sky Glass: a TV with a built-in 4K camera. Developed by UK and European media giant Sky, this new streaming tool could transform fitness, gaming, and video calls, while serving highly targeted ads. But in the age of consumer privacy, will people want to buy a TV that watches them?
Hype and elitism are defining the early stages of web3, but what comes next? Brian Solis writes that, “Like every iteration of the web, the promise of web3 lies in what we decide we’re going to do differently together moving forward.”
4. Inequity in the Metaverse—How Brands can Prioritize Multicultural Marketing in Virtual Worlds [:06]
To combat elitism, some web3 projects are designing for multiculturalism and diversity in the metaverse and beyond. Nowhere, a browser-based 3D meetup platform, is accessible for everyone—with or without a crypto wallet or NFT.
5. Why The Future Of Multicultural Marketing Is About Making Social Impact [:04]
The multicultural marketing of the future will champion brands that start doing something rather than just marketing something. As Sergio Alcocer writes in this op-ed, “To invest in improving the quality of life of minority communities in the U.S. is to invest in the future of the country.”
6. SXSW Reflections: Brands Can’t Afford Inauthenticity [:03]
Consumers notice when brands try to ride trend waves with minimal thoughtfulness, especially those focused on social issues like diversity. At this year’s SXSW, numerous speakers emphasized how brands must cultivate authenticity to gain memorability and loyalty in the marketplace—or suffer the consequences.
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Check the Basis blog next Thursday for another edition of Scout!
After a two-year hiatus, SXSW finally resumed their 10-day interactive, in-person film and music event this year. While attendance was less than in years past, many of us were back in droves for the festival, brand activations, and conference sessions. The Advertising and Branding Experience track hit on a few key themes repeatedly, including AI, the metaverse, and (of course) NFTs.
But the marketing trend that most struck me as I attended sessions throughout the week was the importance of brand authenticity. According to panelists and speakers representing US and global brands across industries, authenticity is a brand attribute that companies must be more intentional about. When brands are inauthentic in their branding initiatives or messaging, it takes no time for consumers to call out the inconsistencies. Soon after, companies suffer the social and financial consequences.
A session titled “Avoiding the Pitfalls of Brand Wokeness” covered the rising trend of brands attaching themselves to inclusivity- and diversity-oriented causes. The problem: if those external messages depicting cultural awareness don’t match with the values a brand actively espouses, the messaging can register as performative and yield negative consequences. A critical step for brands before announcing cause-focused messaging is to ensure that their internal actions align with their external proclamations.
Speaker Sydney Carlton impressed the importance of brands prioritizing inclusion and representation, sharing an Adobe study that found that 61% of those surveyed think diversity in advertising is important and 34% have boycotted a brand that didn’t represent their identity in ads.
Carlton also cited a program from Deloitte called the Heat Test, which attempted to measure the quality of representation among ads and found that the companies that scored highest experienced an average stock gain of 44%. This discovery highlights the insight that authentic representation is more valuable than the sheer presence of an underrepresented person in an ad, or similar efforts that fall into the tokenism trap.
The session emphasized that these trends are only expected to compound as Gen Z rises as the most racially and ethnically diverse generation in history.
A second session dove deep into how brands have seen success through authentic representations of their identities. Like other session themes on this topic, the conversation leaned into the current state of consumers wanting to buy from brands that reflect their own values. A panel made up of DoorDash CMO Kofi Amoo-Gottfried, NASCAR and 23XI’s Bubba Wallace, and NBA CMO Kate Jhaveri explored the creation of marketing campaigns that reflect relevant shared values, as well as how brands can consistently stand for what they believe in while also reacting to noteworthy cultural moments.
Both Amoo-Gottfried and Jhaveri emphasized having crystal-clear visions of their corporate values and detailed how those values visibly permeate their businesses every day. Each CMO broke down how their values correlate with communities and causes they seek to serve, with or without external messaging. Jhaveri noted a pledge by the NBA to commit $3 million to Black and Brown communities, while Amoo-Gottfried called out DoorDash’s partnership with Bubba Wallace following his racial justice activism surrounding George Floyd’s death in 2020. By making sizable partnership and monetary commitments to those causes, both brands exemplify what it means to authentically uphold brand values.
When brands take the time to identify their values and set up systems to uphold them, that work comes through in their messaging. These days, we're all overwhelmed with media that peddles generic diversity- and equity- themed messages, attempting to capitalize on the increased public attention on those issues. Consumers notice when brands try to ride these trend waves with minimal thoughtfulness.
A session entitled “Cut the Branding Bull” took on the challenge of showing brands how to build advertising campaigns that stand apart from the competition. With internet users endlessly scrolling, marketers are serving brand messages to compete for the attention of an overstimulated, always-on population. The session panel suggested starting with a concept that’s accessible, then turning that idea on its head via exploration and curiosity. In the process, a familiar concept becomes non-linear, memorable, and authentic. They also highlighted the importance of being open to unusual concepts in an age where people are quick to dismiss anything that isn’t eye-catching.
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Most striking from the theme of brand authenticity was the intentionality and long-term commitment that characterize authentic brands. Successful brands that are embraced for memorable marketing campaigns have already put forth significant time and resources to live and breathe the values they deem as core to their businesses.
Even now, many companies find themselves looking for a fast fix to capitalize on a cultural moment or seasonal happenings, without deep reflection. That kind of disingenuous messaging doesn’t go unnoticed—and brands suffer the consequences.
Ultimately, brands must attune their messaging to consumers' increasingly adept “authenticity meters.” When those messages ring true, brands will reap the benefits of memorability and loyalty from the audiences they seek to connect with.
Each month, Basis Technologies’ Programmatic 101 series tackles a different facet of programmatic advertising—from best practices for buyers, to competitors in the space, to trends you should know. Check out last month's post to learn about the evolution of programmatic bidding strategies!
According to eMarketer, 2020 was the first year that that the percentage of programmatic spend was higher in private marketplaces (PMPs) than in the open exchange. By the end of 2022, PMP spend will represent 17% of total programmatic digital display ad spending, compared to 13% being spent on the open exchange.
eMarketer's findings make it clear that the landscape is changing. But why are advertisers funneling more digital spend in PMPs than in the open exchange? Isn’t the benefit of programmatic supposed to be efficiency and scale, not one-to-one deals? To understand this shift, let's dig into the differences between the open exchange and PMPs.
Our discussion hinges on two types of real-time bidding (RTB) transactions: the open exchange and PMPs.
The open exchange is a public real-time bidding auction that any buyer or seller can participate in. With access to multiple exchanges, scale is usually not an issue, and bids remain relatively low since there's so much inventory. Advertisers can layer first-, second-, and third-party data to target very specific audiences. This type of transaction is most commonly used when a brand's goal is to find their customer wherever they go on their web journey.
A PMP deal, on the other hand, is an invite-only marketplace where publishers make their premium inventory available directly to select buyers. Unlike the open exchange, the scale for PMPs can be quite limited, due to either inventory or the the low match rate of third-party audience data.
To recap, the open exchange is like general admission at a concert, while PMP deals are like VIP tickets backstage. If the main benefits of the open exchange include scale and cost-efficiency, what are the situations in which PMP deals make more sense? Read on for four examples:
Whether you sell health insurance or pet accessories, advertisers need to "fish where the fish are." PMP deals allow brands to cherry pick their site list, while still using the automation of RTB, and tapping into first-party data that isn’t reliant on cookies.
Since PMP deals can be customized based on the advertiser’s needs, they offer more control over inventory. For example, let’s say you're a cannabis brand looking to run specific high-impact units across a specific publication. You can work with the vendor directly to ensure that you only bid on ad slots that are available.
PMP deals are characterized by greater transparency and control, which means that ad fraud is less of a concern. All of these factors ensure increased brand safety.
PMP deals are often compared to the site direct buy of traditional advertising. The difference is that since this inventory can be bought programmatically and has a dynamic CPM, advertisers can side-swipe site direct minimums while maintaining an overall efficient eCPM.
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Now that we know a bit more about PMP deals, let's return to our original question: Why are advertisers spending more programmatic dollars in PMPs than in the open exchange?
In short, the shift is because PMP deals speak to programmatic's past of direct buying, its present need for transparency, and its future reliance on cookieless targeting solutions.
Hungry for more? Check out Basis’ Programmatic Advertising Essentials Certification to gain a fundamental understanding of the programmatic ecosystem and how PMP deals play a part in it.
Welcome to Scout! Each week, our team tracks down the best digital marketing articles, POVs, and reports...so that you don't have to. Call it a weekly attempt to earn our "merit badge" for the marketing and advertising community. Check out the following links to stay ahead of the curve:
1. The Brand Marketer’s Guide to Decoding the Metaverse [:04]
While still highly experimental for brands, the metaverse is on the verge of changing the marketing rule book. Is now the time for your brand to invest in the space? Here’s a helpful starting point for curious strategists.
2. Streaming Audio Climbs the Charts with Marketers, but Some Want More Certainty [:04]
Many marketers are finding success with their forays into podcasts and streaming music, but measuring results can be a challenge—and ad prices are rising. Also, the top platform for podcasts may surprise you (hint: it’s not an audio platform).
Shameless plug alert: Have you listened to AdTech Unfiltered?
3. Delays To ID Deprecation Have Advertisers Slow-Rolling Their Measurement Solutions [:03]
A new survey found that two-thirds of marketers have pressed pause on actively transitioning from third-party identifiers. With Google’s decision to delay third-party cookie deprecation in Chrome until 2023, it seems many advertisers are choosing to simply kick the can down the road and—at least in the short term—ignore the problem.
4. Q&A with IAB EVP and General Counsel Michael Hahn on the Lively Privacy Regulation Landscape [:08]
With regulators and consumers alike taking a good, hard look at privacy, the IAB has had its hands full of late. IAB EVP and General Counsel Michael Hahn details the group’s latest viewpoints in this Q&A that tackles everything from GDPR, to Google, to CCPA and more.
5. The N.C.A.A. Undervalued Women’s Basketball. Marketers Didn’t. [:05]
With NCAA Tournament games drawing big ratings and often dominating Twitter, women’s basketball players now receive the second-most endorsement money of any college athletes and attract sponsors as varied as Gatorade, Beats by Dre, NBA 2K, Coin Cloud and the Black-owned curly hair care line Uncle Funky’s Daughter.
6. Meeting the Moment with Advertising Automation [:18]
As the advertising landscape continues to fragment at breakneck speed, its extraordinary complexity is proving to be a massive obstacle for marketers (we know, we’re preaching to the choir here!). This guide explores why advertising automation is essential to the future success of the media buying marketplace.
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Check the Basis blog next Thursday for another edition of Scout!
What’s new in the realms of paid search and social media? Basis’ Senior Vice President of Paid Search and Social compiles all the latest news, trends, and resources each month for easy access.
Rival IQ: 2022 Social Media Industry Benchmark Report
This report looks at the average brand engagement rates across Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter—by vertical, and based on both organic and paid ads. To clarify: engagement metrics are calculated adding likes, comments, favorites, retweets, shares and reactions, and dividing that number by total follower count.
TikTok Isn’t the #1 US App for Shorter Videos
Contrary to popular belief, YouTube is still the top platform for watching short-form content, with 77.9% of users visiting to stream videos less than 10 minutes long, according to eMarketer. That said, in a separate report, eMarketer discussed how TikTok is looking to eat into YouTube’s dominance in capturing social video watchers across all age demographics.
TikTok Rising Trends Report: What’s Next
The second edition of this annual report includes insights into key user trends and shifts that are likely to impact brand strategy over the coming year. Within each trend, the report includes case studies showcasing how marketers are maximizing opportunities, as well as specific tips on the types of posts that are performing well within each category.
Google: Search Trends Around Big Life Moments
In this "Think with Google" video installment, Google researchers discuss how people are changing their education habits, why residential real estate is top-of-mind, and what the rise in car searches means. A key theme is that searchers are using Google to prepare for life’s biggest moments now more than ever.
Facebook Widely Viewed Content Report
This first report in a new series of data coming out of Meta talks about the most widely-viewed content in the newsfeed. One important distinction they are quick to call out: the most widely-viewed content isn’t necessarily the content that gets the most engagement.
After analyzing billions of Tweets over a two-year period, Twitter compiled a list of trends to pay attention to this year: from the Great Restoration (not to be confused with the Great Resignation), to fan-built worlds, to finance going social. Each section of the report reveals the conversations that surround these trending topics, as well as tips for understanding their significance to marketers.
eMarketer US Video Influencer Marketing Report: 2022
This report contains an analysis of the creator video landscape and offers strategic tips that marketers can use to achieve success with 2022 campaigns. Not surprisingly, eMarketer recommends that marketers take a video-first approach to creator marketing this year, and consider TikTok a good stage for new partnerships. That said, a mix of video and static assets is still advantageous.
Pinterest Predicts Official Recap: The Biggest Announcements
In their second annual global ads summit, Pinterest shared information on the latest trends and innovations coming out of the platform.
Twitter Testing In-Platform Shops
Joining in the social commerce craze, Twitter recently announced a new feature allowing merchants to pick a collection of up to 50 products to showcase to shoppers directly inside the platform. This is part of a larger effort to “better support professionals who come to Twitter to do business.”
Meta Showcases New VR Building Tools
In preparation for fulfilling their Metaverse vision, Meta has shared some additional details around their Horizon VR project and “Builder Bot.” While there are currently some limitations to the feature, the initiative speaks to how Meta plans to make the Metaverse a more inclusive, approachable space for both users and brands.
Google Debuts Vehicle Ads Format
Vehicle ads will initially be available in the US, but will expand to more countries soon. When consumers search for a vehicle type and year in Google, they’ll be served options featuring images, inventory information, and price.
Nearly a decade after its debut, programmatic in-housing is having a moment. Many brands and agencies that buy programmatic media are expressing a renewed interest in bringing those capabilities in-house. The resurgence has organizations doing a deep evaluation on what in-housing means to them and determining what they look to achieve by pursuing it.
In this episode of AdTech Unfiltered, host Noor Naseer chats with Raashee Gupta Erry, principal and founder of UpLevel Digital Media Consulting, about how an organization can determine if in-housing is right for them. They explore the many ways to interpret what in-housing can entail, discuss who needs to be involved when considering the possibility, and much more.
As the advertising landscape continues to evolve and fragment at breakneck speed, marketers have come to realize that consumers are no longer satisfied with the status quo. Brands and agencies are searching for ways to deliver compelling content and bespoke, cross-channel initiatives to attract and retain their desired audiences. Unfortunately, most organizations lack the nimble solutions they’ll need to do this effectively at scale.
To make things worse, extraordinary complexity is proving to be a massive obstacle for marketers, impeding true cross-channel success. And the problem is only intensifying...
For too long, the advertising and media industries have clung to legacy systems that no longer satisfy the needs of the modern customer experience in a complex media landscape. With more industry leaders now committed to updating those systems, now is the perfect time for media buyers to add a powerful modern solution to their digital advertising toolkit: advertising automation.
In this guide, we explore why automation is essential to the future success and the long-term growth of the media buying marketplace, and we reveal how intelligent automation systems help marketers feel more confident in their ability to contribute toward a healthy, growing business.
