Why Ad Networks Can Still Add Value With Their Audience And Delivery Expertise

Richard Sharp is UK MD Media and Head of Trading at ValueClick. Here he discusses the centralising of the retargeting and why ad networks can still add value with their audience and delivery expertise.
From an ad network point of view there is much that we at ValueClick Media would concur with in Doug Conely’s response to Vivaki’s extraordinary piece selling the alleged benefits of centralising retargeting.
It is tempting again to pick over the issues raised, because – as Doug points out – for each and every one there is a very robust and rational counter argument.
We’ve all seen the mechanics of the digital display market and the different players within it evolve at an incredible pace. Agency trading desks are operating like networks, but at the same time progressive ad networks with scale are in fact adding the same kind of strategic added value that agencies are supposed to.
Let’s face facts, the lines of interest have blurred and there are reasonable questions to be asked about how different interests are being represented.
As the new dynamics of the market have emerged we have perhaps become fixated on an inward-looking debate.
Beyond the digital display natives, the wider or more senior levels of the marketing community’s grasp of display trading is hazy at best. They’ll be aware perhaps of the potential return on investment that sophisticated retargeting can deliver and the value that can be achieved through expertise in tailored display campaigns that get the publisher context right, both in terms of price and delivery.
In the off-line world, brands understand that display is a complex beast, playing multiple roles from the touchy-feely stuff of brand positioning to direct response. Why should this not be so in the digital space? In the digital world, agencies treat attribution as if it were only black or white.
If agencies continue only to milk the conversion from those that have visited their clients’ sites and claim them as success, they will queer the pitch for display as a whole. Eventually the advertiser will look at the post-click and think that search can deliver everything that display can.
I would suggest we risk a diminution of the role of display in the minds of marketers, just as video, rich media and mobile integration are opening up hugely exciting possibilities for brand building online. Display is much more than just performance.
They will also be registering the fact that brand safety is still an issue if their campaigns are managed outside of the IAB’s Digital Standards Group, a code that is now audited independently by ABCe. At the time of writing, not one agency group has committed to these standards!
Senior marketers will also be aware of the European Union’s e-privacy directive and its implications. Rather like discovering the crown jewels in the attic, their consumer data which is fuelling the efficiency of their digital marketing activity, is a valuable currency in its own right. A currency with which others could in theory make a margin.
It is absolutely right to say that any operator in this marketplace who has dabbled with, or indeed relies upon, blending client data to achieve additional margins is finished without an industry and client consensus on what is permissible and beneficial to all brands.
Let’s think about the bigger picture for a minute. Digital display is maturing and will continue to improve in terms of the richness and quality of creative and the sophistication with which it is targeted. There’s a huge opportunity for continued growth as quality of formats and smart delivery develop and mobile networks become fully integrated into campaigns.
But there is also a huge risk of commoditisation; of lowest common denominator, one size fits all solutions. Clients understand that they don’t achieve true value by buying wholesale; that audience and delivery expertise adds value.
The idea that ad networks don’t have a future in this context is plain silly. Sophisticated, top tier networks have evolved from word go, and certainly in parallel with the recent arrival of ATDs. Clients see for themselves the level of expertise and delivery of value. Ad networks 2.0 are dead; long live ad networks 3.0, 4.0 etc.
Digital display will thrive on cohesion and maturity. The way forward is robust and universal standards of practice and transparency for all. Those who have something to hide, or can’t meet the agreed benchmarks, will indeed fall on the wayside or find themselves disintermediated.