Big reveals, buzzwords and a bold tech presence; Advertising Week New York 2014 was buzzing with digital dialogue and new ideas. Programmatic advertising emerged as a hot topic that was woven into countless sessions as advertising executives try to figure out how it will fit in as a permanent part of their marketing landscape.
Programmatic media buying is not a new topic, however the attention it commands was clearly reflected as Ad Week dedicated an entire day to the subject where sessions were standing-room-only.
Experts speaking on the “Programmatic Sophistication: Riding the Next Wave” panel addressed some of the fears around programmatic replacing traditional media buying by pointing out the benefits of embracing automation. Removing some of the more tedious elements of executing digital campaigns gives staff the opportunity to focus on analysis and creative, while also reducing error and allowing customization at a mass scale.
On the WIRED CMOs panel, speakers discussed the unique challenges facing CMOs today. The importance of marketing is increasing and CMOs are expected to prove their worth and ROI within the business more than ever before. The ability to measure the impact of campaigns in a more focused, data-driven way is becoming essential. Working with the right programmatic partner CMOs can gain valuable consumer insights while driving sales they can clearly track and use these learnings to create content tailored to their customers’ habits across devices.
Native advertising, the act of inserting brand-sponsored content seamlessly into websites and social platforms stirred-up audience interest. According to BIA/Kelsey, native ad spending on social media alone will grow from $3.1 billion this year to $5 billion in 2017. During the session “When Native Meets Programmatic” panelists described Native as evolving in the same way television advertising evolved from ads that were fit for radio to content tailored to the medium.
TV is a relatively new frontier in programmatic. During the “Programmatic TV, Advertising’s Next Great Frontier” session, panelists declared that programmatic will account for up to 5% of TV buying in 2015, up from 1% today. As marketers explore the most effective ways to invest their ad dollars, video and TV seem to be merging into one concept simply due to the behavior of the modern consumer, who moves across devices consistently and effortlessly.
This year Ad Week set the stage for a few big announcements such as Facebook’s rewrite of Atlas Advertising Suite, which it acquired from Microsoft last year and NBC Universal’s launch of their experimental private exchange NBCx.
During “United Brands Stand, Divided They Fall,” our CEO at The Exchange Lab, James Aitken, officially announced our new technology Proteus, an innovative trading platform that plugs into the largest demand side platforms giving brands a complete view of the market. Proteus analyzes trading patterns to select the best options for each campaign, creating competition in the marketplace to deliver; better performance, reach, ROI and brand exposure at a global level.
Magna Global released their programmatic forecast, which states that almost half of global media buying is already automated and predicts that number will grow to 67% ($53 billion USD) by 2018.
Programmatic will surely remain a hot topic at Advertising Week 2015, only next year organizers will need to book a larger venue to accommodate the demand.
