In the everchanging landscape of programmatic, it can be tough to keep tabs on what’s going on in the space. Programmatic I/O is a gathering of over 1,000 attendees from all walks of programmatic – technology providers, media companies, publishers, brands and agencies. When trying to process and repackage all of my thoughts from the two days of sessions, three recurring themes started to emerge.
- We can’t ignore Amazon.
According to eMarketer, Amazon surpassed Microsoft and Verizon in 2018 to reach the spot of third-highest ad seller in the United States. The only two organizations above it? Facebook and Google. If you aren’t already aware of the power of advertising on Amazon, now is the time to familiarize yourself, as it’s a way for brands to connect directly with shoppers.
- The way we leverage data is changing, and we need to be ready.
Something that has been on the minds of many marketers is that third-party data is no longer enough. It’s common knowledge that GDPR changed the way we had to think about data abroad, but with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) on the horizon it’s time to start taking action on our domestic campaigns as well. First-party data (your own data that is collected via digital assets and your website) should be captured and activated whenever possible, especially in the wake of these new regulations. Second-party data (another company’s first-party data that you purchased directly from the company instead of an exchange) is an emerging way to ensure you are activating data you have more control over. Second-party data provides similar benefits to first-party data in that it has more transparency and higher quality. As we move further into the new age of data and regulations, it is important to start thinking of ways to capture our own data as well as work with partners that are capturing theirs.
- We need to be better about harnessing our ability to match programmatic to creative.
Matching our media-buying programmatic capabilities to creative starts with reuniting the two teams. Part of the process is framing this new opportunity as a chance to elevate creativity instead of limiting it. We know a lot about our audiences, but we aren’t necessarily matching our creative to those audiences and the data points we know. With the ability to utilize dynamic creative optimization, dynamic ad insertion, addressable TV, personalized video and sequential storytelling, we need to do a better job of connecting our messages and our audiences. Through automation technology in the space, this is possible for us today.