Creative trend: We look at programmatic, the adverts that learn about you

With all the data that advertisers are harvesting nowadays, it’s no wonder programmatic advertising is continuing to dominate the digital advertising world. Since the technology already represents 79% of all UK digital display ad spend, we decided to take a look at how your creative team can benefit from programmatic ads.

By Conal Siddall March 20, 2018

First, a refresher on what programmatic advertising (or simply ‘programmatic’) is. Programmatic is essentially the use of data and AI to make decisions in realtime about the content that advertisers want to deliver to a specific consumer accessing a site. This basically boils down to a mini auction while the user’s page loads to sell the ad inventory (space where adverts are placed) to the most appropriate advertiser according to the data on the ad server (the platform that stores and delivers digital ads to web browsers or mobile apps).

Thanks to the cross-platform functionality and user profiling of programmatic, marketing campaigns are quickly becoming more dynamic and personalised to the individual user. Through powerful coding, one programmatic campaign can reach consumers on their phones in the morning, computers in the day, and tablets in the evening.

How is programmatic being used?

One of the best features of programmatic is its ability to utilise first, second and third party data to create an in-depth profile of an audience that’s so specific, it can recommend a pet for you. By combining technology and data, it’s easier for your brand to reach its desired audience; take a look at how Netflix utilised programmatic to advertise its hit series Narcos to different audiences across America, Brazil and Colombia.

The charity Missing People managed to use programmatic to take advantage of the advertising space donated to them every year to save the lives of missing children. By moving to digital and using programmatic to make targeted, location-based appeals, Missing People were able to rise from a 50% response rate, to a 70% response rate on missing child adverts.

O2 created repurposed ads using programmatic following a TV campaign. They used data about the user to personalise more than 1000 versions of the advert which referenced information about the user’s phone and offered upgrades at the nearest store. This resulted in a 128% increase in click-through over generic video advertising. The success of the adverts and the results show how a simple but personalised campaign can be far more effective and efficient than traditional advertising.

Are there any downsides?

Like all the best things in life, there are difficulties – programmatic has a steep learning curve and comes riddled with industry specific jargon, which has created a stumbling block for potential marketers. Couple this with the extra costs incurred compared to traditional digital ad spend (expensive engineers and traders, data management platforms, research and development and more,) and you can see why marketing teams frequently outsource programmatic advertising.

Programmatic also made news for the wrong reasons last year after brands found their adverts appearing next to extremist content, leading to companies reviewing their policies and controls. UK trade body ISBA launched a Programmatic Guide in association with Infectious Media, the international programmatic agency, to help promote greater awareness and understanding of programmatic advertising.

So how can you use programmatic ads to enhance your campaigns?

Programmatic is continuing to grow and by 2019 the total spend is expected to increase to £4.25bn, double that of 2015, meaning now is the time to consider programmatic. Experimenting early means teams who are getting experience with programmatic will have a significant advantage over competitors in the future.

Currently, the most common trend for buying programmatic in the UK is through media agencies, who use a demand side platform (DSP) to run the programmatic activity. Some companies are also beginning to use a hybrid approach, mixing agency and in-house marketing, which can cut these costs down and give a team vital experience using programmatic. We’re finding that more than 90% of companies opt for the agency approach, however this will probably go down this year as more people gain the skills required to implement programmatic.

One thing to remember is that in the rush to implement programmatic advertising, the user experience has often been put aside, leading to adverts not being optimised and becoming obsolete. Brands are being challenged to make content adaptable and ensure they optimise their ads as they receive the feedback. This is why we’re likely to see development in the campaign metrics used to measure the success of a campaign, and hence greater sophistication in the personalisation of adverts, but the technology isn’t quite there yet. As you can see from the examples above, using simple ads with creative flair is often the best way to use programmatic cost-effectively at this stage.

What do we think?

Our Senior Graphic Designer, Xenia, says, “programmatic challenges us as creatives to think how we can make our adverts personalised and how that personalisation will be received by the user. As a relatively new technology, there are still issues to iron out, but we’re seeing that marketers are creating new ways to use the tools programmatic offers and are seeing great results from it.”

“Programmatic allows greater control over your data and gives you the chance to analyse the data tracked from all your ads so you don’t have to rely on the different analytics tools websites use,” says Craig Mansworth, our eCommerce Manager. “This means you have the data you need in realtime, so your marketing can more accurate and more efficient than ever before.”

Programmatic gives you the tools to present one campaign message across separate ads on different platforms at appropriate times of the day, and all personalised for the individual – so you can see why we’re excited to see programmatic develop. “The potential is huge,” Craig says. “You are using machines and AI to purchase adverts in real time. Breaking down the walls in channel/device and pursuing true omnichannel advertising should be the goal and programmatic helps this.”

Tips for prospective programmatic users

·       Budget well so you can measure ROI.

·       Be personal.

·       Mix simplicity with powerful creative.

·       Quality not quantity.

·       Look at what competitors are doing.

·       Use data to optimise your ads.

·       Do your research!

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