and so on. Oddly enough, it is only in recent years that the world of marketing and advertising has begun to take on the idea and use of automation.
A key part of this automation is the execution piece, or programmatic advertising, which is the use of software to buy or sell digital ads. Real-time bidding is the primary process used to trade on an ad-impression-by-ad-impression basis and is similar to financial markets.
In extreme circumstances, the tech has been weaponised against society by companies such as Cambridge Analytica in collaboration with Facebook, or, more recently, in Texas by bounty hunters who have sent aggregated location data to law enforcement offices to report people who have visited abortion clinics.
As a result, brands and media agencies have concluded that the best way to take their next step forward is to first take some smaller steps backwards. This has typically involved moving away from the troublesome programmatic exchanges and working towards more integrated relationships with their preferred publishing partners. Their goal is to take the trading efficiencies of the programmatic buying platforms and utilise them in a more direct, curated and transparent manner.
The big advantage to publishers that have launched these solutions is the end-to-end control and transparency they and their trading partners can now benefit from. At a simple level, it leads to more working media delivering stronger results and growth for all involved. These solutions automate not just the programmatic execution piece but also the planning, finance and reporting elements of all digital campaigns.