Although the major internet ad players – e.g., Pandora, Spotify, Last.fm – all swear by their direct sales, Xaxis, WPP’s audience buying unit, is looking to leverage audio ads as a way to get more brand campaign ad dollars within its programmatic system. “The appeal [of internet radio audio ads] is that we want to […]
As a WPP Group agency, MediaCom works closely with the holding company’s Xaxis trading desk to execute data-driven media strategies. In such relationships between agencies and trading desks, it can be hard for a client to know where the desk stops and the operating agency begins. That creates a tricky problem, since first party data […]
Programmatic media arrived in force this year, and brought with it a few surprises. (Facebook Exchange anyone?) To get a sense of what might be waiting in 2013, we’ve reached out to a number of industry all-stars to answer a single question: “What will happen next year in marketing and advertising that hasn’t happened before?” […]
Top dogs from the four dominant agency trading desks took the stage at the BB King Blues Club this morning. They hit on a bunch of topics new and old, including “education” fatigue, incursions made by DSPs, and making audience trading part of the “fabric” of all agencies. We’ll present this one lick-by-lick in honor […]
Agency trading desks are understandably eager to ramp up with the Facebook Exchange, which promises to broaden the reach and frequency of their programmatic buying efforts. But right after the FBX launch they weren’t equally able to use it — which has led to some hand wringing. WPP’s Xaxis had a direct seat, while Publicis’s Vivaki […]
Facebook today removes the “beta” label from its fledgling real-time-bidding ad exchange (official blog post), and has given its 15 platform partners permission to crow about their early results. And crow they have… Here are two big takeaways from the wave of FBX data coming out this morning: (1) Facebook Exchange dramatically increases the amount […]
Facebook’s nascent real-time bidding marketplace is steadily ramping up. The Facebook Exchange continues to add new RTB partners and may be close to publishing a list of approved Facebook Exchange vendors to its Preferred Marketing Developers directory. The list of approved Exchange RTB partners now includes 14 firms, up from 9 in late June – […]
GroupM has promoted North America CEO Rob Norman to run its digital kit and kaboodle on a global level. Among his objectives is closer management of dealings between GroupM’s thousands of digital specialists and the spangled array of ad technology partners. The WPP-owned media agency network has never had a Chief Digital Officer before. Speaking […]
As AKQA’s media team stares into the maw of WPP and its Xaxis audience buying unit, what does it see there? Scott Symonds, Managing Director of AKQA Media, is certainly aware of Xaxis’s reputation as the most controlling of the holding company trading desks – an entity that has been known to force its solution […]
Brian Lesser is CEO of Xaxis, a digital partner of GroupM agencies, and WPP Group company. To learn more, visit the new company website here. Lesser, previously GM of WPP’s Media Innovation Group, discussed Xaxis and its implications. AdExchanger.com: What is Xaxis? And how will it differentiate itself within the marketplace? BL: Xaxis is a […]
