Havas Group is claiming a “significant breakthrough” in the murky media world of transparency, by releasing a “programmatic solution” that gives clients complete visibility and control over their campaigns.
Named the Client Trading Solution (CTS), the client facing offering acts as a “fully transparent control tower” displaying all programmatic trading, allowing clients to track and monitor their programmatic buying in one place.
It follows the launch of Virginia Hyland's Programmatic Media, which has also pledged to guarantee the best rates in market as well as full verification of the inventory from third-party auditor Integral Ad Science.
Global managing director Havas Group Dominique Delport says complete visibility spans across costs, investments, outcomes and ROI, across trading desks, DSPs, inventory, providers and marketplaces.
“When you consider that 75% of marketers say they are concerned by the level of transparency in programmatic, Client Trading Solution is a significant breakthrough,” Delport says.
“For the first time we have an offer that gives clients full visibility and control. Any advertiser using it can see exactly what’s behind all programmatic solutions, with complete transparency allowing us to work hand-in-hand with our clients to build the best strategies for their business.”
Havas, which employs 20,000 people in more than 100 countries, says the platform has already been used successfully by Telefonica.
Head of digital at Telefonica Spain, Cesar Alonso, says: “CTS provides us the control and transparency that we need in the programmatic environment. It is very useful having the visibility in real time on the strategies and the optimisation process implemented in each campaign.”
Clients want both power and control
With visibility, fraud control, brand safety and trading practices a top concern for marketers Havas is hoping the move will see them stand out from the current media crowd by offering visibility of digital workflow. The oversight is at every stage of the campaign – programmatic media planning, partner negotiation, ad-serving, campaign set-up, monitoring, optimisation and reporting – within, it says, a fully independent, technology agnostic ecosystem that is open to all partners.
The product was developed by data scientists at MFG labs and helps brands and organisations leverage artificial intelligence to reinvent their business. It was acquired by Havas Group in 2013.
Product manager at MFG Labs Raphael Mirat says: “It really shines when clients want both power and control, as it gives them unprecedented flexibility to allocate budget across DSPs and trading desks, without sacrificing anything on supervision and reporting.
“For the first time, clients have all their trading operations and related data in a single platform, secure and efficient, built on a dedicated infrastructure.”
Media Agencies Council chairman Jon Chase, says the complexity of the digital ecosystem continues to drive a range of challenges and opportunities for advertisers and their agencies.
“Identifying new ways to improve media efficiency and effectiveness remains crucial, but increasingly market transparency is equally key. We believe innovative technical solutions like Havas Group's CTS programmatic platform are essential to keep moving the industry in the right direction,” Chase says.
The likes of Google's DoubleClick Bid Manager (DBM) is part of this initiative, with DBM's director of strategic partnerships EMEA, James van Thiel , adding: “With the integration of DBM into Havas’ Client Trading Solution, it is now much easier for us to collaborate together with both agencies and clients. This innovative solution delivers a more efficient and transparent way for the industry to focus on results.”
In December Virginia Hyland launched an independent agency that specialises in transparent programmatic media buying and planning. See: Hyland launches '100% transparent' programmatic media agency
Check out our AdNews Transparency series, which originally appeared in AdNews in print, here.
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