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Independent advertising agency redefines their digital media business from planning to payment by automating laborious tasks through Basis and its robust API-level integration with FreeWheel.
Basis Technologies and FreeWheel have partnered to build a complex API-level integration to connect front-to-end digital campaign management. Data from media buying doesn’t translate easily to finance systems, making monthly and quarterly reconciliation a major pain point for agencies. Through the API-level integration, Basis systematically transfers campaign data to FreeWheel to drive billing and reconciliation actions within Strata.
Before Basis, Davis Elen Advertising was not including digital campaign data within Strata; instead, they would build plans via Excel, enter plans into their ad server, and then input data into their accounting system. This approach led to a lot of manual effort to maintain accurate and up-to-date spreadsheets and created additional risk associated with human error through data collection and entry.
With the integration between Basis and FreeWheel, Davis Elen Advertising was able to make Strata their holistic source of truth across all media activity. Now, instead of cobbling together an assortment of manual reports to understand how budgets are being allocated, their team can generate a single report to ensure all media buying activity is accurately accounted for.
The integration also streamlines the tracking of IDs that are generated from Strata. This allows the IDs to flow across systems. This allows the Davis Elen Advertising team to create an efficient tracking thread—inclusive of both digital and traditional activation—across campaigns, enabling clear visibility into spend allocations without additional time or manual effort.
Additionally, solving for this problem provided the Davis Elen Advertising team with improved granularity, and allows for reports to be pulled holistically to understand spend allocations across the agency, brands and campaigns, saving time and effort and limiting potential risks associated with human error.
2 hours: average time savings in billing reconciliation by Basis Users. (Source: Basis User Study conducted by Directions Research, 2022)
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"Basis has helped streamline multiple processes such as our digital media planning, execution, reporting, and client billing—saving our entire team countless hours. The Basis platform is always improving and evolving and has become our central hub for all things digital media."
- Drew Olkowski, Media Director, Planning & Data Analytics, Davis Elen Advertising
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For more information regarding Basis' integration with Strata, contact your Customer Success Manager.
Rounding the corner into adulthood, pursuing a college education in record numbers, and bursting onto the marketplace with an estimated annual spending power of $143 billion—Gen Z is ready for its moment.
These young citizens of the world (defined as being born between 1997 and 2012) have quickly become potent influencers on the consumer landscape. Gen Z is the first true digitally native generation with a sixth sense for brand insincerity and a passion for action over words. They are coming of age at a time of relentless technological innovation where round-the-clock internet access, on-demand information, streaming entertainment, and instantaneous communication are basic aspects of their everyday lives.
As they mature into entry-level employees and intelligent, demanding consumers, it is imperative for brands to understand what drives and motivates them. What channels are they on most? How do they approach spending? And what devices are they using? Here, we take a look at Gen Z’s technology and media use and how they are predicted to evolve over the coming years.
More so than any other generation, Gen Z grew up with digital technology in their hands, so smart devices are naturally integrated into their day-to-day routines—they are their gateways to online content.
Quick Marketing Tips for Digital Advertisers:
With legalization spreading and major federal reforms on the horizon, consumer perceptions toward cannabis are evolving, and Gen Z is helping lead the charge.
Having lived through both the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic, Zoomers harbor great financial anxiety that makes them more cautious and risk averse. They are skeptical of traditional financial institutions, prefer managing their money with digital and mobile tools, and seek investments that align with their values and goals.
Quick Marketing Tips for Financial Services Advertisers:
Gen Z is a major consumer of all types of internet-based streaming media, with audio making up a growing piece of the pie.
Quick Marketing Tips for Audio Advertisers:
Gen Z spends an enormous amount of time on social media platforms, utilizing them for everything from making connections and consuming media, to playing games and sharing their own content.
Quick Marketing Tips for Social Media Advertisers:
Gen Z is built differently than older generations, having been the first group of consumers to grow up wholly immersed in digital technology. They see the digital ecosystem as a seamless spectrum of experiences that all bleed into another for purposes of entertainment, commerce, and communication. Brands marketing to this group have their work cut out for them, but with Gen Z’s spending power and influence, it is essential that advertisers embrace the tools and strategies they’ll need to connect with this generation.
Want to learn more about how to approach advertising to younger audiences? Check out our blog post, Gen Z and the Future of Digital Advertising to get more tips and critical insights into what does (and does not!) make this generation tick. And if you’re looking for channel- or vertical-specific guidance, dive into our collection of in-depth guides that explore a range of subjects, including cannabis, audio, connected TV, video, and more.
Welcome to Scout! Each week, our team tracks down the best digital marketing articles, POVs, and reports—so that you don't have to. Here’s what to read from the week of 5/5/22 - 5/12/22 to stay ahead of the curve:
Well, that was qwickster...err, quick: just a few weeks after revealing plans to finally introduce ads on the platform, Netflix reportedly told employees that a lower-priced, ad-supported subscription tier could debut as soon as Q4 of this year. Quite the gift for video advertisers this holiday season!
Apple is reportedly considering a major restructuring of its services division to focus more heavily on advertising. But with this development coming less than a year after Apple’s industry-rattling App Tracking Transparency framework in iOS, we'll likely hear plenty of skepticism (and, perhaps, lobbying) from the folks over at Meta and Alphabet...
Marketers are exploring alternative strategies and homing in on first-party data sources as they seek to target consumers sans third-party cookies. The sources that marketers find most valuable, according to eMarketer? Customer purchase history and social media profiles.
Consumers have come to expect personalization from businesses of all sizes—and that’s a tall order for advertisers in today’s complex media landscape. Fortunately, there is one existing solution that affords media buyers the time and agility they need to get personalization right: automation.
Hey, would you mind turning down your podcast for a second? Just wanted to let you know that advertising on the medium is projected to explode in the next two years—rising from around $2 billion in 2022 to a remarkable $4 billion by 2024. Sounds pretty good, right?
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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 rise of the private marketplace (PMP)!
Voice-activated speakers, smart watches, connected TVs, tablets, and cell phones: With more devices than ever with which to reach consumers, why do they feel harder than ever to track?
According to a 2020 survey, the average American has access to more than 10 connected devices in their household. As our device ownership grows, advertisers are tasked with understanding consumer journeys across platforms, channels, and devices that don’t exactly speak to each other.
How do they do it? Enter cross-device targeting.
Cross-device targeting refers to the process of targeting one user across their multiple devices. You may be familiar with cross-device targeting if you've ever done sequential creative messaging, layered third-party audiences onto CTV inventory, or wanted to expand the reach of a hyperlocal campaign.
There are two main methods to tap into when it comes to cross-device tracking: deterministic and probabilistic data.
Deterministic data relies on a one-to-one match between devices through login data. Any company that requires a consumer to log in can create a deterministic data set—because no matter what device a user logs in with, their login information remains the same. While deterministic data is highly accurate, its scale is limited, as it relies on one data point to match consumers to devices.
Probabilistic data, on the other hand, is based on a variety of data points such as device type, operating system, browsing history, and IP address. Data companies use advanced audience models to see if they can confidently predict a group of devices—or device graph—that belongs to the same user. Probabilistic data isn’t limited in terms of scale, making it most advertisers’ first choice when it comes to cross-device targeting.
There are countless benefits to reaching a consumer at the various devices they interact with throughout their days, but here are the big three:
When advertisers elect to use cross-device targeting, they get access to more touchpoints (and more impressions) with highly qualified users. For example, let’s say you’re working on an e-commerce strategy and know that if a potential customer lands on your website they are fifty percent more likely to convert. With cross-device, you can re-engage with customers via multiple devices, ensuring that your brand is top of mind and increasing the probability that they'll convert.
The ever-increasing complexity of our industry makes it quite difficult to track a potential customer from the first ad to the last ad they're served. Walled gardens, a lack of cookie data, and the surge in screen ownership all make it difficult for marketers to answer questions like:
When advertisers tap into cross-device tracking, they can use device graphs to better understand a consumer’s action path. Understanding that customer journey is priceless information for marketers because it leads to smarter planning and optimizations.
One of the most powerful tools digital advertisers have is the ability to serve the right ad, in the right place, at the right time. Advertisers can take advantage of a device graph to control how their brand story is being told and customize their messaging depending on what part of the funnel a user is in.
Here are some common scenarios where cross-device targeting often makes sense:
Of course, each strategy is unique, and there are plenty of ways to get creative with cross-device targeting. In other words, now that we've covered the basic science of this marketing tool—the art is up to you!
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Want a deeper dive into how marketers can track consumers across devices? Check out Basis Technologies’ Data Essentials certification.
Welcome to Scout! Each week, our team tracks down the best digital marketing articles, POVs, and reports—so that you don't have to. Here’s what to read from the week of 4/28/22 - 5/5/22 to stay ahead of the curve:
In response to the leaked Supreme Court opinion that would strike down Roe v. Wade, which affords constitutional protection for abortion rights in the United States, some brands have chosen to speak out. Here’s a roundup of how companies like Yelp, OKCupid, and Ben & Jerry’s have responded to the controversy.
The social platform of the moment is helping advertisers tap into the targeting tactic of the moment. TikTok has launched a new tool that enables brands to advertise alongside its most engaging (and contextually relevant) videos—and early results show it can boost brand favorability and lift purchase intent.
Speaking of which…we get it: contextual has been around for a while, and a lot of people are (quite understandably!) uninterested in hearing more about it. But in the context of the forthcoming cookie-pocalypse, contextual is a surprisingly great solution for today’s digital advertiser. Here’s why.
The long-term trend of declining undergraduate enrollment appears to have been accelerated by COVID-19—and in response, colleges and universities are reevaluating their business and marketing models. Here’s how they’re pivoting to adjust to the “new normal.”
While traditional advertising formats like linear TV, radio, and newspaper have historically been on the decline, new data shows marketers predicting that traditional ad spend will increase in the years ahead thanks to benefits like breaking through digital clutter, tapping into consumer trust, and avoiding third-party cookies.
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With more and more big companies putting big money on the line, the race to build and monetize the metaverse has begun.
Of course, not everything this new, still-developing medium has to offer will be relevant for every brand. But, for those who are looking to explore and make a move into existing metaverse platforms, here are eight steps you can take to develop and shape your brand’s presence in these nascent spaces.
Start following metaverse-related news to educate yourself about what exactly this new frontier represents and how it’s unfolding. Stay abreast of any updates around the technologies and commercial infrastructure that are fundamental to the medium’s operability, including: augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), hardware peripherals, conversational AI, blockchain, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Break down the key branding objectives you’d be pursuing by taking this step into the metaverse. Explore the potential value of consumers perceiving your brand as a first adopter in an emerging sector—or, conversely, the risks and potential backlash involved in such a move.
Like other digital channels in your arsenal, the metaverse requires a comprehensive strategy with clear KPIs and an ROI model that justifies investment. Map out your various customer journeys and key touchpoints, then conceptualize how a virtual ecosystem could enhance those interactions.
Consider how much time your target audience/customers are spending in metaverse spaces and determine your speed of adoption proportionately. Today, the metaverse is a predominantly Gen Z-oriented, male-dominated, tech forward market. If your brand is geared toward any of those demographics, you may benefit from moving into the metaverse more quickly. If not, you may be better off taking things slow and monitoring the space as it develops.
Sign up for multiple metaverse platforms: The Sandbox, Cryptovoxels, Decentraland, Somnium Space, Roblox, Fortnite. Explore everything. Try everything. Take note of other brand activations and examine how you might be able to launch more refined versions of what already exists.
If you’re not already exploring augmented reality and the possibilities it offers, now is a great time to do so. Think of any experiments with AR as a steppingstone to creating a wider array of metaverse content. Find appropriate applications for your business and iterate on them until you have something that feels true to your brand.
Think community first. People don’t just sit in the metaverse and absorb webpages. They want to be immersed in interactive, fun, two-way experiences—they want to be active participants in a virtual world. Consider some of the following tactics:
Deploy small with low-budget initiatives—the space is still emerging and there are no safe bets yet. There are also no tried-and-true best practices for metaverse marketing, so there is room to be unique and experimental in your approach. Consider finding a suitable partner already in the metaverse and joining forces through value-add content (products, services, games).
Right now, an array of companies and agencies—including Gucci, Nike, Walmart, Gap, Atari, Hulu, Adidas, Vans, Accenture, McCann, Merkle, and Mediahub— are entering the metaverse through different means. That doesn’t mean you’re late to the party, though. You’re actually right on time.
So, whether you choose to enter the metaverse now, later, or not at all, these eight steps are a great way to start building a metaverse strategy and getting your virtual adventure started.
Want to learn more about the future of marketing and paid advertising in the metaverse? Check out our webinar, Prepare for Advertising 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. Check out the following links to stay ahead of the curve:
1. Say Hello to the Workday Consumer [:04]
According to a new report from Microsoft, the shift to working from home has created a new buyer persona. The “workday consumer” researches and purchases products and services during the workday—and challenges marketers to figure out how to target audiences both in and out of work mode.
2. What’s the Perfect Length and Placement for a Podcast Ad? [:04]
As brands continue to invest heavily in audio ads, they’re bumping up against questions that marketers have asked about other channels for years: What’s the ideal ad length? Where’s the best place in an episode for an ad? Marketing Brew asked 15 podcast industry experts for their best practices.
3. E.U. Takes Aim at Social Media’s Harms With Landmark New Law [:07]
This week, the European Union reached a deal on the Digital Services Act—a landmark piece of legislation that will force Facebook, YouTube and other internet services to combat misinformation, disclose how their services amplify divisive content, and stop targeting online ads based on a person’s ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation. The cost of failing to do so: billions of dollars in potential fines.
4. Connected TV: Best Practices for Planning, Targeting, and Measuring [:05]
Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus, Paramount Plus, Peacock, and more—if CTV inventory fragmentation is frustrating for consumers, it’s doubly so for marketers. In this piece, Jane Frye breaks down how to work around channel-specific challenges to effectively plan, target, and measure CTV campaigns.
5. What Social Media Advertising Tells Us About Inflation [:02]
With Snap Inc. and YouTube reporting lower-than-expected Q1 earnings, some industry insiders are pointing to supply chain issues and inflation as potential culprits. In response, advertisers are shifting more of their marketing dollars toward building brand loyalty and developing customer relationships.
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Check the Basis blog next Thursday for another edition of Scout!
Welcome to Scout! Each week, our team tracks down the best digital marketing articles, POVs, and reports—so that you don't have to. Check out the following links to stay ahead of the curve:
1. Everything You Need to Know About Zero-Party Data [:04]
Every time you think you've got the hang of this industry, another new term comes along and makes its way into the ad tech buzzword bingo bonanza. The latest is “zero-party data,” and it may be a boon for publishers.
2. Netflix is Finally Ready to Sell Ads [:03]
Netflix is planning to incorporate ads into a lower-tier subscription service, the streaming giant confirmed on Tuesday. Advertisers should get excited about the potential vast new inventory, and price-sensitive consumers can look forward to a lower-cost option.
3. France Clamps Down on 'Zero Carbon' Advertising to Avoid Greenwashing [:02]
France has tamped down on greenwashing by passing a new truth in advertising law. Starting in 2023, it will be illegal for advertisers to promote products in France as “carbon neutral” without being able to prove it.
4. What is Responsible Advertising? [:02]
Mis- and dis-information, deepfakes, and fake news—the past several years have been marked by a proliferation of phrases that identify different varieties of untrustworthy online content. Learn how brands can (and should!) weave responsible advertising into their campaigns to avoid funding toxic content.
5. As TikTok Takes Over From Facebook, ‘Non-Perfect’ Advertising is Here [:03]
In this op-ed, George Sharpe argues that as TikTok comes closer to surpassing Facebook’s viewership, viewers will come to prefer “non-perfect video” over produced, polished media. The era of the Instagram filter is coming to an end, and advertisers would do well to consider the cultural shift towards TikTok-style, "real-life" video.
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Check the Basis blog next Thursday for another edition of Scout!
This is the seventh in an 11-part series of blog posts that focus on Basis Technologies’ corporate guiding principles, and how those values show up in the workplace and in the lives of our people.
People tend to underestimate their own power. In a world of almost eight billion people, it’s easy to feel like your individual actions are ineffectual. However, as I move through the world, I'm often reminded that small actions can add up to big impacts over time.
For example: Kindness is contagious. When we help others, others are more likely to pay those kindnesses forward. When large groups of people commit to helping each other, that common goal enacted by many people has a lasting impact.
At Basis Technologies, "Believe Impact is Possible" is one of our core principles. It describes the phenomenon that when we work hard, stay focused, and act in service to others, anything is possible. To better understand what the principle looks like in practice, I asked a few colleagues—Brittany Ryan (Sr Dir, Business Development), Mindy Zhang (Content Marketing Associate), and Robert Kurtz (Group VP, Paid Search)—a few questions about what making an impact means to them.
Brittany Ryan: To me, making an impact means creating positive change. That change could be something big like developing a revenue stream, or something as small like helping a teammate.
Mindy Zhang: Making an impact means doing what I can to change things for the better, whether it’s making work processes more efficient for my coworkers, or simply being there for my communities as a resource.
Robert Kurtz: Making an impact at Basis means we meet the needs of those in our organization as well as the community. Making an impact means we lead. We accept and encourage. Making an impact doesn’t stop with our client’s business but extends to the welfare and culture of our employees and beyond.
BR: I work to understand gaps and unmet needs within the industry and then work with teams at Basis to create solutions for those gaps. Ideally, those solutions improve user experience within Basis and create raving fan service.
MZ: I hope to be someone that other POCs can look up to as they build their careers in this industry. I want to grow into a level-headed, ethical, and innovative leader: I know from experience that embodying those traits makes an impact!
RK: Specifically in marketing and advertising, I make an impact by being a teacher. I have a passion for teaching and educating planners to grow their knowledge base. Through a mix of empathy and self-education I can help to push forward the best plans for not only my direct clients, but my entire team’s client roster.
BR: I’m continuously learning from my team. When I first started at Basis, my coworkers taught me how to navigate cross-functional teams. Learning this early on created a lasting impact—I still apply those skills on a daily basis.
MZ: I’ve definitely been impacted in so many amazing ways with the individuals I work with. I’ve been taught so many things in relation to my job as well as to my professional development. Through those experiences, I’ve also learned more about how to make positive impacts on them as well. I note what impact my colleagues have on me and try to pass the torch to others who could use that type of impact as well.
RK: I’ve been impacted by each one of my direct reports—as well as by numerous other coworkers during my time at Basis. Through their stories of struggle, triumph, and entrepreneurship, I find new ways to improve my own personal and professional life. Through our DEI efforts and education, I have become more self-aware of my own biases, and it’s helped me to be better leader—one who knows that he'll never stop learning and focusing on self-improvement.
BR: Outside of the workplace I try to create an impact through simple daily actions. It could be helping a family member with a task, providing a recommendation to a friend, etc. By focusing on the little things, I’m able to create a bigger and more consistent impact in my daily life.
MZ: I strive to make an impact outside of work through the simple things, like being a good listener and letting people around me know that I'm a reliable and dependable force in their lives.
RK: Outside of the workplace I focus on family and community. I strive to be the best dad and husband that I can be. I can’t wait to coach my daughter and work on homework with her. I volunteer at my church as well as in the community through programs like the First Tee, which is a youth development organization introducing the game of golf and its inherent values to young people. Most of the kids in the program are from lower income, minority families. My goal through the First Tee is to combine golf with life skills such as inner strength, self-confidence and resilience.
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Learn more about Basis Technologies’ core principles and workplace culture here.