Embracing change in the ad tech universe
I recently attended ATS London, two days of sessions surrounding some of the biggest topics in the industry today. For me it was a great couple of days but really validated what I have been thinking recently; the Ad Tech industry is currently being pulled in so many different directions that it hasn’t faced before.
1. Addressability
We all know that Google plans (and does seem serious this time) to deprecate the cookie and the entire industry has been working on what comes next. I often get asked ‘Which horse is going to win the race’ (and weirdly in those exact words) and our position is that we will work with all methodologies post-deprecation. I really don’t see one identifier to rule them all, therefore we have to take a portfolio approach when it comes to addressability.
But the question I don’t get asked is ‘What identity solution is actually best for the user’.
Now there are a lot of rabbit holes in which to tumble here, for one, what do we mean by ‘best’? Is it to do with user privacy or user experience? And don’t get me started on what a ‘user’ is (another topic that was hotly debated at ATS). For the purposes of this blog and everyone’s time, I will stick to the assumption that ‘Best’ = Privacy Centric. Balancing user privacy and addressability is an extremely difficult challenge to face and one that, in my opinion, still hasn’t been fully nailed. After all, isn’t the reason why Google is phasing out cookies to protect user privacy? The Trade Desk and ID5 (alongside some others) recently announced a partnership to combine their graph’s which is great for addressability but is it too close to home for privacy advocates?
2. Carbon Reduction
Since the dawn of the ad tech industry we have been focused on driving efficiency for buyers and publishers, finding ways to target users in more granular ways and if indeed this really is ‘the year of the mobile.’
But now there has been a realisation that the work we are doing has a meaningful impact on the planet around us. My entire career has been dealing with ‘users’ or an ‘addressable audience’ but now there is a new factor, a human factor. We must grasp the notion that the campaigns we run have a carbon output at every link in the supply chain. From creative creation all the way through to delivering an ad on a publisher’s website. The more advertisers and their agencies adopt this way of thinking, the more scrutiny the industry comes under. And so they should – if a brand has worked hard to achieve B Corp status, they cannot spend huge on activities that pollute the planet.
However, there is a fundamental challenge we need to face before we even get to the reduction (which is supposed to be the hard bit right?!).
That challenge is that there is no universal way to calculate carbon output for all elements in the ad tech ecosystem and no current framework to adhere to. The current carbon calculators that exist today are based on averaged or assumptive data – I don’t blame them for this, the industry is so complex that what else are they to do?
However, as the momentum continues, more companies will be open to releasing data and these calculators will become more precise. But in the near term, the challenge ad tech companies are facing at all levels in the ecosystem is making the right decisions based on data that is not accurate. In my opinion, there is a desperate need for a third party to step in and own this space as further fragmentation will not yield the results we need.
“We must grasp the notion that the campaigns we run have a carbon output at every link in the supply chain.
From creative creation all the way through to delivering an ad on a publisher’s website.”
3. Artificial intelligence (AI)
What blog in 2023 would be complete without mentioning AI. And this blog will be no different. Maybe you are bullish on AI, see it as an over-hyped phase (web 3 anyone?) or you may be worried The Terminator is coming for you. Either way, the truth is that it isn’t going away.
AI has so many uses for our industry, including making us all better at our jobs (and yes I said ‘better’ and not ‘replaced by’). Microsoft talked about using AI as a ‘co-pilot’ earlier this year when talking about integrating it into the office 365 suite and that is exactly how I see it. However, your AI co-pilot can’t fly the plane alone, a human element is still required, meaning businesses still need industry-specific expertise to make it a success. That being said, AI gives organisations an incredibly powerful toolkit that they either didn’t possess or couldn’t afford previously. From operational efficiencies to data analysis, AI can help in any number of ways. I know this has been said many times before but any organisation that isn’t seriously exploring and building in this area is going to get left behind. If you can’t do it yourself, find a partner to help you.
In Summary
Did I mention that while tackling all of the above, we still have to ensure we keep our client’s and our shareholders happy. We still have to keep delivering our clients campaigns and hitting their KPIs. We still need to continue to deliver results for our shareholders. The ad tech businesses of today are being pulled in so many different directions and there are so many difficult balls to juggle, but hey, I guess that’s what keeps those employed in the industry coming back for more.
It’s a challenging time to be in ad tech, but a bloody interesting one.