Are You Being Served? We’re talking Data-Driven Programmatic Advertising with Omar Abdala, Chief Data Scientist at Lotame

Anyone who has done even rudimentary research on AdTech would know that it is a fairly complex ecosystem. In fact, the ecosystem is as complex as the process itself. We have demand – and supply-side platforms (DSP), DMPs, ad and data exchanges and networks, ad servers, media agencies and trading desks, data and analytics vendors, and of course, bot farms, click farms and other sundry undesirables. Wondering what the data-driven programmatic ecosystem looks like? Here are the key players explained in an MTA-exclusive interactive graphic.

Marketers investing in adtech are probably already asking what partners are really needed for effective programmatic execution. But for data-driven programmatic, you have to start with a DMP.

According to Omar, “All of these platforms, services, and capabilities are useful or necessary for different functions. But data management platforms (DMPs) are especially important to any enterprise that wants to maintain ownership of the data generated from their online marketing activities. DMPs are the backbone of data-driven marketing and serve as a unifying platform to collect, organize and activate your audience data from any source, online, offline or mobile.  In fact, data is increasingly becoming the cornerstone of Adtech, just as it has for inbound marketing. Any business- however big or small – will generate large amounts of first-party data on various channels: computers, mobiles (web and apps), CRM, contact centers, chatbot services, POS, social media, and even TV. This includes structured and unstructured first-party (company’s owned) data that needs to be made sense of”.

DMPs help enterprise advertisers collect all the first party data their marketing generates, build persona and segments out of them and then connect to third-party data to find more of the same (look-alike segments). DMPs store anonymous data driven by qualifying attributes, not personally identifiable information (PII). It then makes all of that available to the DSPs and AdExchanges to execute the programmatic media plan.

But first, let’s backtrack to a time before data-driven everything. Back in the day, programmatic began as a way to purchase leftover inventory often at throwaway prices. Back in the day when reach was the key metric for advertising. To make it technically possible, programmatic buying was born. “It would simply be unfeasible to run a campaign off of slices of inventory from a variety of publishers if each slice had to be purchased directly. With programmatic platforms, advertisers and publishers automated and streamlined the buying and selling of media” says Omar.

But given the nature of digital marketing, soon the focus of display shifted from just reach to ‘who was being reached and where’. Today, programmatic technology has matured to the point where ad exchanges are able to enable real-time bidding for premium inventory – something earlier left to the direct buying process.

So today, data quality and scale are both crucial to the success of data-driven programmatic. But recent moves by industry giants like P&G are also putting the focus back on 3 other elements that go along with higher data and process complexity: transparency, flexibility, and personalization.

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