Natalya Pollard is country manager, Australia and New Zealand at LiveRamp.
As the industry braves the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, the adtech ecosystem continues to evolve at a rapid pace. In particular, the dissolution of third-party cookies has further contributed to the acceleration of this evolution. To keep up with demand, we as an industry must leverage customer-centric solutions to deliver frictionless experiences. Through programmatic advertising, brands are unlocking new, engaging ways to provide experiences that flow into the everyday lives of consumers.
As an industry, we are starting to recognise how programmatic advertising can be used to seamlessly integrate into mainstream conversations and even in today’s pop culture. With the public restrictions brought on by COVID-19 pandemic, home entertainment is playing a huge role in keeping us occupied. There has been a steady rise in Australian TV viewing, with a 17% increase in prime-time linear TV viewing and 34% increase in the use of Broadcaster Video on Demand (BVOD). This provides an opportune time for brands to leverage programmatic to create value-add experiences for consumers.
Targeting audiences who are constantly consuming information
While the digital landscape is ever-changing, the fundamentals of marketing remain crucial. Creating a great experience is still a key component of effective marketing campaigns. However, audiences are no longer bound to a one-size-fits-all approach and now have unprecedented selection in what they chose to consume and the platform they chose to engage on.
To cut through the noise, brands must look to build a more nuanced view and understanding of who their audience is to deliver more timely and targeted messaging. Through programmatic technology, Addressable TV is an effective tool for brands looking to genuinely connect with unique audiences in a more direct manner.
The personalisation of programmatic solutions allows marketers to engage with the viewer one-to-one and in real time. It provides marketers insights into the specific categories of their audience, with segments that range across demographics such as gender, age, social status, to location. This is valuable information for marketers when they optimise campaigns to be more personalised.
Engaging meaningfully with customers
Now more than ever, brands must deliver the right message at the right time, to the right people. During an economic downturn, brands that embrace data-driven solutions like addressability and measurement in TV can come out stronger on the other side, as they provide the insights and mechanism needed to inform messaging that strongly resonates with consumers. Customers often experience friction when bombarded with marketing messages of little relevance. A recent survey conducted by Salesforce, revealed 45% of consumers generally ignore communications from companies that are not personalised and 73% of customers have come to expect companies to understand their needs.
To eliminate this friction, many brands are now looking to leverage first-party data connections made through programmatic advertising. With addressability informed by these connections, brands can reduce spend on wasted impressions, as ads are only delivered to viewers who have been identified as the target audience. These tools enable brands to identify their audience on a personal level across multiple touchpoints.
With programmatic, brands can then develop targeted strategies, based on specific audience interests, to create demand generation. These strategies facilitate a value exchange between the brand and the customer. When brands add value to the lives of consumers, they are better positioned to create meaningful and positive engagements.
Whether that be from your TV at home, through your mobile devices on-the-go, and from the football stadium where you’re watching your favourite team play – programmatic drives positive and value-added interactions.
Facilitating data stewardship for programmatic advertising
To cultivate healthy and long-term relationships with customers, brands must focus on building a trusted ecosystem for their audience.
With consumers increasingly calling for heightened transparency around the way their data is used, there is a great opportunity for brands to step up and revolutionise these interactions using programmatic. First-party data generated through programmatic can be leveraged in a way that upholds a higher standard of transparency and visibility. While consumers are seeking further transparency, there is still demand for personalised advertising. People want brands to talk to them about relevant products, services, and information. Through first-party data, marketers can accurately target audience accurately and deliver valuable messages. When personalised campaigns are balanced with the highest standards of data ethics, brands and consumers are able to engage in mutually beneficial exchanges.
Supporting a thriving marketplace
Programmatic advertising opens a world of opportunity for local publishers, as it supports those looking to produce and push out unique and quality content. To nurture a thriving and healthy marketplace, publishers seek quality content that fulfills the needs and interests of their audience.
Through programmatic advertising, there is an opportunity to bring visibility to value-exchange between brands, the publishers, and consumers. A thriving marketplace relies on the creation of seamless experiences where brands provide publishers with high quality content that consumers will positively engage with.
At this critical time, publishers must reinforce the value exchange with consumers who are relying on trusted major news organisations to keep informed with accurate, timely information. Publishers should leverage this opportunity by driving a strong content pipeline and upholding the use of ethical data.
Many publishers have removed barriers to content such as paywalls, as a way to ensure readers have access to critical information surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. With this approach, and others, publishers are able to build trust with their readers and establish long-term loyalty.
Cutting through the noise to create seamless experiences
Using programmatic, brands can develop targeted marketing strategies to better facilitate a value exchanges that support meaningful and positive engagements. Brands must also focus on building a trusted ecosystem for their audience to nurture healthy and long-term relationships with their customers.
There is a great opportunity to bring heightened visibility to value-exchange between brands, the publishers, and consumers. Understanding this value-exchange can help brands to craft seamless experiences with programmatic advertising.
To cut through the noise, programmatic advertising helps brands connect more profoundly with their audiences. To achieve this, brands must find new ways of capturing audience attention through frictionless experiences. With programmatic, publishers can accurately identify the most relevant ads for their audience and in turn, generate higher user engagement.
Marketers’ programmatic advertising spend can be quickly improved by distributing their first-party data. This leads to better campaign segmentation, personalisation consistency across multiple platforms, and audience suppression with certain attributes, leading to increased return on ad spend.