The Perils & Possibilities of Programmatic Buying

In a discussion during Advertising Week, The Perils & Possibilities of Programmatic Buying: Essential Factors to Consider brands such as Netflix and Kellog talked about their experience and insights as they dive into the world of automated buying. 

AdAge wrote an article on the event:

Why Netflix and Kellog Took Programmatic In House: http://adage.com/article/advertising-week-2014/netflix-kellogg-programmatic-house/295253/?utm_source=digital_email&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=adage&ttl=1412869072

My notes from the panel had a bit of a different emphasis.

• “Investment follows performance”. We are in the very early days of programmatic and these guys will throw a little money at anything once. They will pull the plug quickly if it doesn’t work and pump more money into it if it does work.
• “Element of art & common sense.” They both admitted that you can’t measure everything. Especially Kellog who is an offline brand and can’t directly tie grocery store sales to digital campaigns.
• Finally, private deals done programmatically give advertisers access to inventory & audiences without requiring them to commit to spending. They repeated that “investment follows performance”. It is my feeling that all of this is very one sided in the advertiser’s favor.

I have more to say about private deals and where programmatic stands right now but I will save that for other blog posts. 

High Impact Starts the Conversation, Banners Seal the Deal

We live in a polarized world. Discussions about high impact, premium and native advertising always seem to be at odds with conventional display. This approach is wrong. I am guilty of it. We are all guilty of it.

The truth of the matter is that the banner ad is celebrating 20 years of existence since it does serve a purpose. Used correctly within a plan, Click throughs lead to conversions and sales. They drive traffic into stores. 

So why all the hating on banners? Why don't they get the love they deserve? Because they are a useful part of a plan. Not an entire plan. 

Engaging with consumers starts with telling a story. Telling a story through text content, or showing an image the depicts a lifestyle, or showing consumers what you represent with video, or drawing an audience in with interactivity. Banners do a terrible job at this. 

Telling is not Selling

Once you have the audience's attention, once you have communicated your value proposition, once a brand has projected the lifestyle they represent, you have to close the deal. You have to remind the consumer that you are there. You have to follow them and pester them and remind them that you exist until the transaction is complete. This is the value of banners since the audience doesn't need to hear the story again and if they want to they can probably find it on their own. 

This blog post sounds like I am a big proponent of banners. I am not. However this blog post is my admission that banners do have their place and purpose. They have a purpose after the story has been told. They have a purpose after the value has been communicated. 

CheckM8 works with publishers, agencies and brands to create rich environments and ad formats that attract the audience's attention and then provide the canvas for visual and interactive story telling. We provide the vehicle for advertisers to connect with their customers so that they can follow up with banners and seal the deal at another time and place.

Otherwise, banners are useless.