All of marketing has already become digital in some way, says new Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada president Chris Williams. The challenge now is figuring out what to do with all that data
While digital has become an essential part of most marketing playbooks the past few years, IAB Canada president Chris Williams says we’re in the midst of an even more profound change. All marketing is becoming digital in some way or another. As this seismic shift happens and the infrastructure of marketing operations becomes digital, there are radical changes happening in how things are bought and sold. Williams references one of his favourite quotes, from science fiction writer William Gibson: “The future’s already here—it’s just not evenly distributed.”
No stranger to the IAB community, Williams led the not-for-profit association’s agency council for four years and has served on the group’s board for more than 10 years. Most of his 20-plus years of agency experience have been spent in digital, and he was most recently managing director and senior vice-president at Media Contacts Canada, a data-focused marketing solutions firm owned by Havas Media.
Williams spoke with Marketing soon after he stepped into his new role in June, replacing long-time president Paula Gignac. He shared his vision for the not-for-profit association, as well as predications around data and measurement.
How has the abundance of data changed the buying process?
We’ve seen a change from the way things are being bought to focus heavily on data. Real-time data, deeper kinds of data, behavioural data, search data, intent data… When you have so much data, it becomes chaos. It comes out of development: people have an idea, they’re not waiting around for a standard [for handling the data] to develop first. They just jump in and develop their own future by creating their own vision. That’s good, but it leads to this chaos: What am I buying? Is it different things based on different data sets? As the market matures, it’s time to create standards that go across a number of different publishers.
How is IAB Canada advancing on that front?
We look at IAB as a global organization. One of the exciting things that we see coming out of the States is the 3Ms—“Making Measurement Make Sense”—initiative. If we look at how that can come into and affect the Canadian market, it’s quite interesting… 3Ms starts with looking at the metrics, which can then [lead to] defining currencies. We’ve been buying on impression or placements for many years. The question put to us is: “How come we can’t buy on GRPs? We’ve bought by this on television, how come you guys can’t do it?” We have this history based on impressions. We haven’t typically had the technology in the past to break out definitions of GRPs, but this is the year that comScore’s come out with “Validated Campaign Essentials.”
Which opportunities for agencies, advertisers and publishers are you most excited about?
I think in the next three years, there’s going to be a lot of emphasis on the comparability of media. At a very basic level, if I’m running a 30-second video ad on television and a 30-second video ad online and it’s the same piece of creative targeted to the same audience… it’s got to be comparable in terms of “What’s my reach, frequency, price?” All of those questions have to be addressed by the industry. Publishers have to offer it, agencies have to know how to buy it and measure it, and marketers have to know what they’re buying in the end. And of course the creative has to fit for all of those different platforms.
What other major issues will impact GRPs over the next couple of years?
There are big questions to be asked on both sides. For instance, if we’re going to develop a GRP in online video, which we’re heading towards, how is that being measured? Are those impressions above or below the fold? How long have they been viewed for? Is it based on opportunity to see or on the viewed impression? Is it 50% viewed, 100% viewed? Some publishers offer buying a viewed video: you know somebody’s seen the video from start to finish. How do you compare that against a television GRP?
From our perspective, we need to go back and ask the TV guys, “Have you thought about this? How do you know that somebody saw your ad? Because we have it on our side, so you’ve got to have it on your side.” The point being there is a difference and a gap. If one’s going to be a gold standard, then the other will be a silver standard and that might not make some people too happy.
For more with Williams, check out our video Q&A.
This article appears in the Aug. 13 issue of Marketing.
