RSS FeedArchive for the ‘Exchange Ideas’ Category

Memo to Agencies: Change is Good!

Exchange IdeasMegan Pagliuca is Senior Director of Professional Services of Yahoo!'s Right Media.

Data-driven buying should be an integral component of every agency’s media plan, but using a technology platform as a central media trading arm is only the first step in designing a data-driven strategy. It is important to take a holistic approach and leverage all of the components of a technology platform, such as real-time analytics, buying, and market feedback.  There are three core areas where innovation is essential for any agency to be successful: the development of new skill sets, the evolution of existing processes and the evolution of organizational silos.

Skill sets: Media traders don’t exist, they must be developed

Some agencies can be slow to adopt new technology for various reasons; one being they fear technology will replace people. On the contrary, people are critical to control the subtler pieces that technology simply cannot grasp and to deconstruct technology when new situations arise. Before digital advertising, relationships and big creative ideas made the advertising world go ‘round.  But technology in no way replaces the human connection. To the contrary, technology enables the evolution and innovation of ideas, but the key element to success of the technology platform is inextricably linked to the media trader.

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Transparency And The Necessity For An Independent Rating Authority of Digital Media

By Kent Wakeford, co-Founder and EVP of AdSafe Media.

Exchange Ideas"Transparency." It's a word often heard in the discussion about Ad Exchanges.

Advertisers want more of it. "Can't I just get a site list?" they ask. But while buyers are asking for "transparency," those operating (and contributing inventory to exchange platforms) know that the very existence of the Ad Exchange business model depends on the choice to have opacity since many publishers want to avoid channel conflict issues with their in-house sales teams or being seen as "dumping distressed inventory."

So what's to be done to solve the logjam created by the clash of marketers' demands for greater transparency and the inherent requirements for a certain degree of opacity on the part of the Exchanges? It's obviously a problem which must be solved if the Exchange model is to enjoy further growth. Despite high levels of consumer engagement with the medium, only 5% of all brand dollars are today spent online. And according to a recent eConsultancy study, 65% of marketers say that the biggest gating factor preventing increased digital spending relates to the threat of their ads appearing adjacent to "unsuitable" content.

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Balancing Act For Ad Exchanges: Staying Open While Closing the Door on Harmful Content And Behavior

By Bennie Smith, VP Exchange Operations/Platform Policy at Yahoo!

Exchange IdeasOnline advertising in the age of media fragmentation does not have to be like a box of chocolates. Both advertisers and publishers should know exactly what they are going to get with every ad impression.

Ad exchanges have played a crucial role in making this possible – by running transparent, fair, and open platforms that have enabled targeted and efficient media buying in the highly-fragmented and ever-expanding media universe. However, the benefits of seamless transactions in an open ecosystem can quickly be eroded (along with your brand equity), if appropriate controls are not put into place.

Threats to the online advertising ecosystem include harmful ad and Web site content, spyware, traffic quality and the emerging and rapidly evolving threat of malvertising (the delivery of malicious code or software via Internet advertisements). These threats have the potential to cause significant harm to all the primary stakeholders in the online advertising ecosystem. Advertisers face the risk of brand erosion and publishers can face user attrition, loss of revenue and public relations risks. Ultimately, consumers are exposed to harmful content and privacy and security risks.

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