Home AdExchanger Talks Podcast: How To Build A Brand In Programmatic

Podcast: How To Build A Brand In Programmatic

SHARE:

AdExchanger Talks is a podcast focused on data-driven marketing. Subscribe here. This episode of AdExchanger Talks is supported by Tealium.

Programmatic may have cut its teeth as a direct response medium, but advertisers are also starting to embrace it for upper-funnel campaigns. However, if branding is your goal, the rules of engagement are different.

This week on AdExchanger Talks, we hear from Sarah Warner, digital investment lead for programmatic and video at GroupM. Warner will present on this very topic at PROGRAMMATIC IO New York, taking place October 15–16.

“There is the opportunity to make the internet a very powerful branding mechanism,” Warner says in this episode. “[But] it’s our collective responsibility to make sure we don’t push it too far. And by that, I mean: Are we overserving with the wrong creative on the wrong device with the wrong formats that are obtrusive?”

To avoid missing the mark, brands should deploy a range of tactics, such as enforcing frequency caps by consolidating buys with a smaller number of buying platforms. They should also embrace technology and software to automate what they previously had done through contracts.

The most sophisticated brands in programmatic have already adopted an audience-first approach.

“It’s a matter of finding people that look like your best customers to bring them into the funnel,” Warner says. “There are still a lot of marketers tied to age and gender because it’s a currency of linear, but we’ve seen clients try to change the conversation and change the currency … to focus on a strategic audience.”

Must Read

How Encryption Keys Could Resolve The TID Furor

Rather than sharing universal TIDs that any DSP or curator can access, Raptive says publishers should instead share encrypted TIDs with an encryption key provided only to trusted demand-side partners.

Clear Channel Brings Mid-Flight Measurement To Its OOH Network

Clear Channel will provide advertisers weekly, mid-flight reports on outcomes driven by its inventory in order to bring OOH measurement closer to the speed of digital.

FTC Commissioner Mark Meador speaking at the NAD's annual conference in Washington, DC on Sept. 16, 2025. (Photo: Brian O'Doherty)

FTC Commissioner Mark Meador: ‘No Human Society Can Long Survive Without Consumer Trust’

Keeping American kids safe in what FTC Commissioner Mark Meador calls “an increasingly complex and fast-paced technological environment” is a top priority for the agency.

Privacy! Commerce! Connected TV! Read all about it. Subscribe to AdExchanger Newsletters
Comic: "Deal ID, please."

Amazon Expands Its Programmatic Integration With SiriusXM

On Tuesday, Amazon DSP announced an expanded integration with satellite radio company SiriusXM.

Rembrand merges with Spaceback

Omar Tawakol Is Merging His AI Startup Rembrand With Spaceback

Rembrand announced that it’s merging with creative automation startup Spaceback to build a unified AI-powered platform for “content-based” CTV, digital video and display.

A comic depicting people in suits setting money on fire as a reference to incrementality: as in, don't set your money on fire!

Retail Media Is Starting To Come To Grips With The Fact That We All Know Nothing

Retail media is entering what might be called its Socratic phase. The closer we to get to understanding an ad campaign’s real impact and business results, the clearer it is that we have no idea how this thing works.