Adify released a survey of media planner and agencies today that looked at the importance of ad networks in online media buys and found that “branding has become the top priority for online campaigns as compared to direct response. Read the release.
CEO Russ Fradin spoke to AdExchanger.com about the results of the survey and audience buying as it relates to vertical ad networks.
AdExchanger.com: Your survey shows that targeting niche audiences remains a popular driver in using vertical ad networks (VANs). Are clients asking to buy audience more efficiently from vertical ad networks these days?
Vertical Ad Networks bring insight and expertise regarding the interests of their vertical’s audience as well as appropriate, quality, vertical-appropriate content. As consultative, premium sellers, Network Builders, using Adify’s Network Builder platform, overlay third party data sources easily if desired for the campaign.
That said, advertisers recognize that the right person in the right place at the right time is the winning combination. The data overlay helps specify the right person while the vertical ad network contributes to that identification as well as delivering the place and time.
AdExchanger.com: Can you see a day when vertical ad networks become vertical audience networks and begin corralling audience through exchanges, aggregators (yield optimizers) and networks to meet the scale requirements of a client’s particular audience? Or, is that a step too far for the VAN?
ComScore, Dynamic Logic and more have shown that consumers respond to compelling creative delivered at the right time and in the right place. There is no technology comparable to human expertise at identifying quality content and design. Exchanges and aggregators will play a significant role in reach and reinforcement of the message, but vertical ad networks create opportunities for branding, engagement and long term relationships between brands and their best prospects.
AdExchanger.com: If creative is “50 to 75 percent responsible for campaign success or failure” as you say in the release, how does or should a VAN help make creative more effective?
RF: The builders of vertical ad networks are subject matter experts who bet their brands, reputations and businesses on their understanding of their vertical and selection of quality, on-target publishers. Because of their relationship with the publishers and their insights into their markets, they can and do advise advertisers on how to speak with and engage targeted consumers. In this advisory role, Network Builders can “stack the deck” in selecting, tuning and delivering the most compelling creative to the most receptive audience.
By John Ebbert
