#650: Maximizing your ad spend with Matt Wasserlauf, Blockboard

Summary

The Agile Brand Podcast: Episode #650 – Maximizing Your Ad Spend with Matt Wasserlauf of Blockboard

Release Date: March 14, 2025

---

Introduction

In Episode #650 of The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström®, host Greg Kihlström delves into the pressing issue of wasted advertising spend with Matt Wasserlauf, CEO of Blockboard. This episode, recorded live at ITEL Palm Springs, explores innovative solutions leveraging blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) to optimize ad expenditures and enhance marketing effectiveness.

---

The Challenge of Wasted Ad Dollars

Greg opens the discussion by highlighting a staggering statistic: "Nearly two-thirds of every ad dollar spent actually goes towards the end of inventory and up to 15% of total spend goes to fraud or made-for-advertising content" (02:08). This inefficiency poses a significant threat to marketers, especially those operating with constrained budgets.

Key Issues Highlighted:

• High Waste: $84 billion in advertising expenditure is lost to inefficiencies (03:53).
• Impact on Marketers: Marketers face reduced outcomes and diminished campaign success.
• Consumer Experience: While not the primary victims, consumers experience suboptimal and repetitive ads, particularly in streaming services.

---

Traditional Solutions and Their Limitations

Prior to Blockboard's intervention, marketers relied on verification companies like DoubleVerify, Integral Ad Science, IAS, and Moat to monitor ad spending. Matt explains, "You would pay them to look at all of your ad delivery and tell you where it was well spent and where it wasn't well spent" (04:35). However, these methods were:

• Manual and Cumbersome: Involved extensive manual processes.
• Delayed Insights: Results were often post-buy, preventing real-time adjustments.
• Ineffective Maintenance: These outdated methods failed to curb the growing waste problem.

---

Introducing Blockboard: A Revolutionary Solution

Matt Wasserlauf introduces Blockboard as a game-changer in the digital ad ecosystem. "We at Blockboard rebuilt the entire digital ad ecosystem on the blockchain and today we're combining blockchain and artificial intelligence to drive amazing outcomes for our marketers" (02:54).

Core Components of Blockboard:

• Blockchain Integration: Utilizing Ethereum's blockchain to ensure secure and transparent ad transactions.
• AI Amplification: Employing machine learning to optimize ad spend and eliminate waste.
• Smart Contracts: Digital insertion orders that automate and secure ad deliveries in real-time (09:01).

---

How Blockboard Works

Blockboard operates by securing ad calls through smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain. Matt elaborates, "We use a smart contract, which is really a digital insertion order. It's a piece of code that has the parameters of the marketer's goals and campaign. And quickly, in less than 33 milliseconds, we secure the ad call that they want and we drive and deliver their ads" (09:01).

Benefits:

• Real-Time Efficiency: Immediate processing and optimization of ad spend.
• Enhanced Security: Blockchain ensures transparency and reduces fraud.
• Outcome-Focused: Prioritizes sales and lead generation, directly impacting business growth.

---

Customer Success: Proactive Skin Care

A standout success story discussed is Proactive Skin Care, Blockboard's first customer to implement both blockchain and AI solutions. "In one month, sales went up 217%" (09:59). This dramatic increase underscores the effectiveness of Blockboard's approach.

Additional Insights:

• Sustained Growth: Proactive continues to see ongoing improvements.
• AI's Role: AI helps in removing diminishing returns, ensuring continuous optimization without the typical plateau (10:53).

---

AI Empowerment and Team Dynamics

Greg inquires about the relationship between AI and marketing teams. Matt responds, "I don't think it's a threat to humanity. ... Embrace it as a real opportunity" (11:16). AI not only optimizes ad spend but also frees up teams to focus on strategic initiatives rather than manual tasks.

Key Points:

• Enhanced Capabilities: AI handles data analysis, allowing teams to pursue innovative strategies.
• Education and Adaptation: Emphasizes the importance of training and embracing AI as a tool for growth.

---

Overcoming Industry Challenges

Despite Blockboard's advancements, Matt acknowledges the slow adoption rate within the entrenched digital ad industry. "The industry is very entrenched. ... all we can do is one at a time, finding customers like Proactive who are interested in this new technology" (13:02).

Factors Hindering Adoption:

• Resistance to Change: Established tech stacks and processes create inertia.
• Perception of AI: Some view AI as a job threat rather than an opportunity.
• Educational Barriers: A need for greater understanding and trust in new technologies.

---

Partnering with Blockboard

For marketers interested in optimizing their ad spend, Matt outlines a straightforward onboarding process:

• Initial Contact: Reach out to Blockboard for a consultation.
• Pilot Testing: Begin with a manageable budget to assess impact.
• Scaling Success: Demonstrate results before expanding usage (12:12).

This approach ensures that marketers can witness immediate benefits, as exemplified by Proactive Skin Care's 217% sales increase in just one month.

---

The Future of Ad Spend Optimization

Looking ahead, Matt envisions further integration of blockchain and AI to tackle ad fraud and waste, despite current industry resistance. "AI has to be embraced as a great new technology" (13:39). Continuous innovation and education will be pivotal in driving widespread adoption and maximizing marketing effectiveness.

---

Staying Agile in a Dynamic Landscape

In response to Greg's final question on maintaining agility, Matt emphasizes the necessity of adaptability: "You have to be agile to survive in this world. And I'm doing it every single day" (14:27). This mindset is crucial for navigating the ever-evolving challenges in marketing and technology.

---

Conclusion

Episode #650 of The Agile Brand offers valuable insights into combating ad spend inefficiencies through cutting-edge technologies like blockchain and AI. Matt Wasserlauf's expertise and Blockboard's innovative solutions provide marketers with the tools needed to maximize their budgets, drive meaningful outcomes, and stay agile in a competitive landscape. For more information on Matt and Blockboard, listeners are encouraged to follow the show notes and stay tuned for future episodes recorded at ITEL Palm Springs.

---

Notable Quotes

• Matt Wasserlauf [03:53]: "It's horrific. $84 billion to be exact... we've solved the problem... our marketers are enjoying the benefits of no waste."

• Matt Wasserlauf [09:01]: "We use a smart contract... in less than 33 milliseconds, we secure the ad call that they want and we drive and deliver their ads."

• Matt Wasserlauf [11:16]: "Embrace it as a real opportunity and if you get learned on AI, it's going to be a great opportunity for you."

• Matt Wasserlauf [13:39]: "AI is amazing... when done right it has unbelievable impact."

---

Stay Connected

To learn more about the topics discussed in this episode or to consult with Greg Kihlström on marketing technology, AI, and marketing operations, visit theagilebrand.com or gregkillstrom.com.

---

This summary is crafted to provide a comprehensive overview of Episode #650 for those who haven't listened, highlighting key discussions, insights, and actionable conclusions from the conversation between Greg Kihlström and Matt Wasserlauf.

Transcript

[Domo Representative]

We all know data is valuable. We use it to tell a story to make informed decisions for our businesses. But turning data into actionable insights can be a challenge. It's time to unlock the true potential of your business data with Domo's AI and Data Products platform. Domo lets you channel AI and data into innovative uses that deliver a measurable impact. Ask your data Anything at any time. Anyone on your team can use Domo to easily prepare, analyze, visualize, automate and distribute data, all amplified by AI. Domo goes beyond productivity. It's designed to transform your processes, helping you make smarter and faster decisions and drive real growth. All powered by Domo's trust, flexibility and years of expertise in data and AI innovation. Data is hard. Domo is easy. Make smarter decisions and propel your business forward with Domo. Learn more today@AI that's AI.domo.com the Agile.

[Greg Kilstrom]

Brand.

Welcome to season seven of the Agile Brand where we discuss the trends and topics marketing leaders need to know. Stay curious, stay agile and join the top enterprise brands and Martech platforms as we explore marketing technology, AI, E commerce and whatever's next for the Omnichannel customer experience. Together we'll discover what it takes to create an agile brand built for today and tomorrow and built for customers, employees and continued business growth. I'm your host Greg Kilstrom, advising Fortune 1000 brands on martech, AI and marketing operations. The Agile Brand Podcast is brought to you by Tech Systems, an industry leader in full stack technology services, talent services and real world application. For more information go to teksystems.com to make sure you always get the latest episodes, please hit subscribe on the app you listen to podcasts on and leave us a rating so others can find us as well. Now onto the show.

We are here at ITEL Palm Springs and seeing and hearing the latest and greatest in E commerce and retail. This year many advertisers and retailers are being asked to do more with less at the same time they have smaller budgets. They also must contend with an astonishing amount of waste. Nearly two thirds of every ad dollar spent actually goes towards the end of inventory and up to 15% of total spend goes to fraud or made for advertising content. Today we're going to talk about what to do about all those wasted ad dollars. To help me discuss this topic, I'd like to welcome Matt Wesserloff, CEO at Blockboard. Matt, welcome to the show.

[Matt Wasserloff]

Thanks Greg. Happy to be here.

[Greg Kilstrom]

Yeah, looking forward to talking about this with you. Before we dive in though, why don't you give us a little background on yourself and your role at Blockboard?

[Matt Wasserloff]

Sure. I'm the pioneer in video advertising. 25 years ago I put some of the biggest brands in online video and 25 years later, or should I say six years ago, I started Blockboard. We at Blackboard rebuilt the entire digital ad ecosystem on the blockchain and today we're combining blockchain and artificial intelligence to drive amazing outcomes for our marketers.

[Greg Kilstrom]

Nice. Nice. Love it. Well, yeah, let's dive in here and I want to start by talking about the challenge that I posed in the intro. You know, wasted ad dollars generate less than optimal outcomes. And in an environment where marketers are being asked to do more with less, this waste is going to be very detrimental to, you know, the retailers we're talking with today at ETEL as well as many others and their ad campaign success this year. So why don't we start with, you know, how bad is this issue exactly?

[Matt Wasserloff]

It's horrific. $84 billion to be exact. That's a Juniper Research number. $84 billion of advertising is getting wasted. So we attack, we attack the problem. We've solved the problem. And so our marketers who really are focused on outcomes like sales and leads, and that's why we're here at etel, they're enjoying the benefits of no waste.

[Greg Kilstrom]

Yeah, yeah. So what's the typical like paint the picture for, you know, what's the typical like pre blackboard solution for marketers that, you know, they know there's this issue, I mean this has been well, a well documented issue. How are they, how were they trying.

[Matt Wasserloff]

To solve it before, before Blackboard, you would use a verification company. So the biggest are double verify ias, Integral Ad Science Moat was one. And you would pay them to look at all of your ad delivery and tell you where it was well spent and where it wasn't well spent? The problem with those services is they're manual and they're very cumbersome and they don't provide you real time results. You have to analyze that post buy. So it hasn't been a very good solution. And for the past 15 years, what really it's allowed is for this problem to grow to $84 billion.

[Greg Kilstrom]

Yeah, yeah, well, and that $84 billion on the advertisers end, I mean that's the, that's huge. That impacts a lot. What about the consumer?

[Matt Wasserloff]

The consumer is really not the victim here. Although I will say the consumer's experience in streaming in particular is suboptimal if you're watching sports or even the shows on Netflix and what have you. They're not great experiences. They're interruptive. There's high frequency with these marketers. You'll see the same ad many, many times. So there's a lot to improve for the consumer. But really the, the biggest losers in all of this have been the marketers.

[Greg Kilstrom]

Yeah. Yeah. So let's talk a little bit about Blackboard solution here and you know, how you solve for this. I know you briefly mentioned, but you know, talk a little bit about blackboard and where it kind of fits into this process.

[Matt Wasserloff]

Sure. You know, we're six years old. We've become a much bigger company because our advertisers are really happy. What we're doing is we're making every dollar for them work. So a lot of our customers are challenger brands who are really focused on making their dollar work out there. We work with great agencies who are really focused on their clients and their clients business. So we're having a lot of fun helping marketers really leverage this incredible new medium, which is streaming CTV. We're driving outcomes, the focus being on KPIs that are sales and leads and really helping them build their businesses. So it's been a great six years.

[Domo Representative]

We all know data is valuable. We use it to tell a story, to make informed decisions for our businesses. But turning data into actionable insights can be a challenge. It's time to unlock the true potential of your business data with Domo's AI and Data products platform. Domo lets you channel AI and data into innovative uses that deliver a measurable impact. Ask your data. Anything at any time. Anyone on your team can use Domo to easily prepare, analyze, visualize, automate and distribute data, all amplified by AI. Domo goes beyond productivity. It's designed to transform your processes, helping you make smarter and faster decisions and drive real growth. All powered by domo's trust, flexibility and years of expertise in data and AI innovation. Data is hard. Domo is easy. Make smarter decisions and propel your business forward with Domo. Learn more [e-mail] that's AI.domo.com Want to learn more and join the discussion About Marketing and AI? Attend a premier conference dedicated to marketing and AI. That's Meicon, the Marketing Artificial Intelligence Conference. From October 14 through 16 in Cleveland, Ohio. Meikon brings together the brightest minds and leading voices in AI. Don't miss this opportunity to connect with a dynamic community of experts, visionaries and enthusiasts. The Agile brand is proud to be the lead media sponsor of this important event, Register today@marketingai institute.com, that's Marketing AI institute.com and use the code Agile 150 for $150 off your registration fee. I can't wait to see you there.

[Greg Kilstrom]

Can you talk a little bit about, you know, you mentioned it's. It's built on AI and, and blockchain. Can you talk a little? I'm sure a lot of people are familiar with some applications of blockchain, but how is blockchain used kind of in this.

[Matt Wasserloff]

Right. You know, so pre Sam Bankman Fried, I tried to educate the world on really the best use case of blockchain, which is security. Okay, Security. It's not cryptocurrency. It's all about securing the back end. And that's why I chose Ethereum blockchain to be particular for our enterprise here. So Blockboard is built on Ethereum. We use. On Ethereum, we use a smart contract, we, which is really a digital insertion order. It's a piece of code that has the parameters of the marketer's goals and campaign. And quickly, in less than 33 milliseconds, we secure the ad call that they want and we drive and deliver their ads. And that process on a smart contract is the key to the kingdom.

[Greg Kilstrom]

Yeah, yeah, well, and, you know, so talk a little bit about the results that the customers are seeing because of that.

[Matt Wasserloff]

So we have amazing customers. Proactive Skin Care was our first that tested not only blockchain, but AI. So the, you know, the key in this is really the blockchain providing security so that when you tap AI and the potential of accelerating those outcomes, there are guardrails in place. So proactive, in one month, sales went up 217%. And they've been our biggest customer ever since. They continue to see improvement. You know, one of the real exciting parts of AI is it's removing diminishing returns. You know, typically when you're trying to drive outcomes, you know, you may accelerate those outcomes and over time you might see them diminish. AI is removing diminishing returns. It's unbelievable. And proactive. Proactive is enjoying that.

[Greg Kilstrom]

And is that just because of, like, machine learning? Yeah.

[Matt Wasserloff]

Yes, it's machine learning. It's always improving. So rather than relying on our team, we have a great team of 80 people, and it's great for them to understand how to optimize campaigns and do all that work. But now that we're tapping AI and it's taking it out of their hands and they're looking at everything else that we haven't been looking at. It's been a real accelerator for us.

[Greg Kilstrom]

And real quick on that part, you know that it sounds like AI frees up the team to do other things. How do you think about that kind of relationship?

[Matt Wasserloff]

Yeah, I don't think it's a threat to humanity. Okay. And I, and I want to share with your listeners on this podcast, you know, embrace it as a real opportunity and if you get learned on AI, it's going to be a great opportunity for you. So we're seeing that for the 80 of us at Blackboard. You know, we're understanding the potential of this great new technology and we're using it and educating our customers and our marketers and our marketing partners on how to really leverage it. So it's a great opportunity for our industry here at etel.

[Greg Kilstrom]

That's great. That's great. So lots, lots of people listening out there are advertising already. You know, how do they start working with you? Like, what's, what's, what's the.

[Matt Wasserloff]

We pride ourselves in ease. I mean, you know, it's just a matter of touching base with us and us finding you. And when we do find you, it usually starts with a test. A test that with a budget that you're comfortable with. And you'll see the impact right away. And so it becomes a fun exercise for Proactive, being the example we've been talking about here. In one month, they saw sales go up 217% and it was a very fun and exciting conversation going forward.

[Greg Kilstrom]

Yeah, yeah. So want to get your thoughts a little bit on where we go from here? So you're platform uses blockchain, uses AI, you know, two tech. I'm sure it uses a bunch of other tech as well. You know, where, where do you kind of see this technology continuing to improve this, this big challenge of fraud and waste.

[Matt Wasserloff]

Right, right. I, I, unfortunately, it's not going fast enough. Our industry is, you know, I'm talking about, the digital ad industry is very entrenched. You know, a lot of people spent a lot of time and a lot of money building tech stuff, stacks. And so everyone is more or less reticent to change and, or hesitant to change. And, you know, all we can do is one, you know, one at a time, you know, finding customers like Proactive who are interested in this new technology and testing and learning. Those are our customers. But it is happening for my taste, much too slowly.

[Greg Kilstrom]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, do you think there's, on the marketer side, do you think there's reluctance to use too much AI too quickly? Or is it more just a matter of education?

[Matt Wasserloff]

No, I think we've been slow to use it. I think the industry views it as a threat to their jobs and so I'm trying to re educate those who I get a chance to talk to and hear on this podcast. I mean it's an amazing opportunity and when done right it has unbelievable impact. So we have to find like minded people.

[Greg Kilstrom]

Yeah, absolutely. Well, thanks so much for joining. One last question for you before we wrap up. I'd like to ask this to everybody. What do you do to stay agile in your role and how do you find a way to do it consistently?

[Matt Wasserloff]

You have to stay agile to survive. We are in a very hyperconnected world, but we're also in a world that has, you know, lots of different challenges and we have to continually look to be better, learn, understand new ways of doing things. You have to be agile to survive in this world. And I'm doing it every single day.

[Greg Kilstrom]

Yeah. Love it. Well, again I'd like to thank Matt Wasserloff, CEO at Blockboard for joining the show. You can learn more about Matt and Blockboard by following the links in the show notes and stay tuned for more interviews at ITEL Palm Springs.

Thanks again for listening to the Agile Brand brought to you by Tech Systems. If you enjoyed the show, please take a minute to subscribe and leave us a rating so that others can find the show as well. You can access more episodes of the [e-mail] that's theagile brand.com and contact me if you're interested in consulting or advisory services or are looking for a speaker for your next event, go to www.gregkillstrom.com that's G R E G K I H L S t r o m.com the Agile brand is produced by Missing Link, a Latina owned, strategy driven, creatively fueled production co op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. Until next time, stay curious and stay agile.

The Agile Brand.

[Domo Representative]

Ever heard of Farm to table? How about Farm to Home? That's how Costa Farms plant business works with over 1500 plant varieties grown over 5200 acres. They're not just a company, they're your plant partners who've been perfecting their craft for 60 years. They deliver beautiful, high quality, easy to care for plants. They even offer virtual plant consultations and an insider club for rare plant access. Check out www.costafarms.com today and enter code worthknowing costafarms15 for a 15% discount on your first purchase. You can also purchase this unique plant brand at Lowe's, Walmart, Amazon and Home depot. Go to www.costacostafarms.com.