The keywords associated with programmatic in its current application are right message to right person at the right time for the right price. For an industry where ‘price’ matters, a lot about programmatic advertising has been confined to its role in efficiency. It would however appear that programmatic is poised to move beyond pricing to encompass creative and brand. In its seventh Annual Digital and Media report for 2015, Millward Brown, explores how to optimize native advertising, paid micro-video and location-based marketing for the new age marketer.
The report draws the challenges and opportunities of the next 12 months for marketers. Authored by Millward Brown experts from around the world, the 2015 report identifies the need for marketers to empower programmatic media buying systems to do more than simply access cheaper and more targeted impressions.
There is a need for marketers to build creative that can be customized and seamlessly delivered by media buying algorithms. Millward Brown says brands that achieve this will be able to create a new form of dynamic and relevant storytelling.
At the same time, marketers will need to ensure that the advantages that come from programmatic targeting are not delivered at the expense of other key campaign objectives such as communicating brand messages and building long-term desire.
“To date, the debate around programmatic media has been firmly centered on the ‘how’ of operations and behavioral metrics such as cost per click. In 2015, we expect marketers to be equally focused on the benefits programmatic may be able to bring to building meaningful brands and the opportunities to leverage it more creatively,” said Duncan Southgate, Global Brand Director for Digital at Millward Brown.
The other highlights of the report include some significant changes in the media landscape and how marketers can ‘get media right’.
Some points to consider are:
• As native advertising becomes an established medium, advertisers should partner with best-in-class publishers who strike the right balance between advertising and editorial.
• New and exciting paid marketing opportunities will emerge on micro-video platforms, but only brands who know, learn and love those platforms will succeed.
• Location-based marketing opportunities will become powerful when brands focus on consumers’ interests rather than on their own.
“Native, micro-video and location-based marketing are disparate technologies, but they are connected by marketers’ desire to deliver more relevant communication. A key challenge for marketers in 2015 will be balancing identification of the perfect marketing moment with a need to generate cost-effective scale and reach,” Mr Southgate added.
