The Digital Marketing Podcast

Episode Summary: Exploring Programmatic Advertising at Scale with Adobe

Date: July 13, 2016
Host: Ciaran Rogers
Guest: Pete Kluge, Group Manager, Product Marketing, Adobe (Media Optimizer)

Overview

This episode dives deep into the world of programmatic advertising, demystifying industry buzzwords and exploring how programmatic ad buying is transforming digital marketing. Ciaran Rogers interviews Pete Kluge of Adobe, providing listeners with a comprehensive breakdown of programmatic buying, the challenges marketers face with cross-channel campaigns, budgeting, attribution, and how Adobe’s unified marketing cloud addresses these needs at scale. The discussion encompasses core concepts, actionable trends, and the evolving capabilities of Adobe’s marketing suite.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Defining Programmatic Advertising

• Programmatic Advertising Growth:

  • Rapid global adoption, predicted to reach $56 billion by 2019 from $20 billion in 2016.
  • Still early in its lifecycle; definitions and understanding can vary.

    "There's broad adoption happening of Programmatic at the same time. It's still in its early stages and not well understood by everybody... But it's growing at a fast pace." – Pete Kluge [00:47]

• Core Characteristics:

  • Automated: Streamlines the buying of ads across channels and devices.
  • Transparent: Vital to know where ads appear and the true cost of media and fees.
  • Data-driven: Employs audience data for targeting, insights, and ongoing campaign optimization.

    "It's automated, transparent, data driven. It’s the automated buying of ads across channels and devices." – Pete Kluge [01:40]

• Inclusive of All Channels:

  • Not just display; search (the original programmatic channel) should be included.
  • Real-time bidding (RTB) is only part of the story.

2. Quality vs. Quantity (The Scale Question)

• Efficiency and Scale:

  • Programmatic enables both increased reach and higher quality targeting.
  • Solves the inefficiencies of manual media buys (eliminates redundancy, enables frequency capping).

    "It's about quality, but at scale." – Pete Kluge [02:59]

• Technology – The Demand Side Platform (DSP):

  • Aggregates different ad exchanges for real-time bidding and campaign management.

    "A demand side platform is a technology that has real time bidding capabilities... used to plug in to the ad exchanges." – Pete Kluge [04:00]

3. Budget Allocation & Channel Integration Challenges

• Key Struggle:

  • Determining how to split budget between search, display, social, etc., and measure performance.

    "Having the right insights to allocate your budget to most efficiently meet performance goals is a challenge we hear about from advertisers." – Pete Kluge [05:33]

• Unified Platform Advantage:

  • Adobe’s platform manages search, social, and display together for holistic insight and cross-channel optimization.

    "We have all three channels, search, social and display within a programmatic ad buying platform." – Pete Kluge [05:41]

• Cross-Channel Attribution:

  • Consistent tracking enables marketers to see the full customer path to conversion and accurately attribute results across channels.

    "If a user saw a display ad, then... went to Facebook and bought something, well, we see that whole path to conversion." – Pete Kluge [06:51]

4. Attribution Models

• Current State:
  • Most businesses still rely on last-click attribution, especially in the UK.
• The Case for Experimentation:
  • Adobe’s platform offers five attribution models; businesses should experiment to find what’s most effective.

    "You test everything and see what works best for your business and that's where you allocate your budget." – Pete Kluge [09:09]
    "It's experimentation really." – Ciaran Rogers [09:35]

5. Emerging Trends in Digital Advertising

• Customer Experience is Core:

  • The modern consumer expects personalized, relevant ad experiences across all touchpoints.

    "With the digital revolution, consumers expect compelling experiences... and that's the best way to get them to engage with their ads." – Pete Kluge [09:51]

• Key Technologies Needed:

  • Data Management Platform (DMP): Builds user profiles for targeting.
  • Programmatic Ad Buying Platform: Enables efficient, cross-channel media buys.
  • Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO): Personalizes ad content at the individual level.

    "When you're planning a campaign, you think about your audience... the media buying part of it, and what is the message..." – Pete Kluge [10:59]

6. Adobe’s Marketing Cloud: Components & Integration

• Overview of Adobe’s Solutions:
  • Adobe Analytics: Website analytics.
  • Adobe Target: Content testing and site personalization.
  • Audience Manager: Data management platform (DMP).
  • Adobe Media Optimizer: Cross-channel, programmatic ad buying (search, social, display, video).
  • Primetime: Video content delivery.
  • Adobe Experience Manager: Manages content across channels.
  • Adobe Campaign: Marketing automation/email.
• Unified Core Services:
  • Integration allows a consistent audience profile and seamless cross-platform execution.
  • Enables cross-solution audience targeting and richer customer engagement.

    “This connection between all the different solutions... is really exciting... We have ad tech and marketing tech solutions as part of the cloud.” – Pete Kluge [13:36]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Importance of Transparency:

  "There's a lot of vendors in the industry today that are not transparent, that have hidden fees, you don't know where your ads are running." – Pete Kluge [01:59]

• Analogy for Ad Exchanges:

  "I think about [ad exchanges] like a stock market... publishers selling ad space and advertisers buying it. It's an auction environment." – Pete Kluge [04:14]

• Unified Platform Benefits:

  "To see all three [channels] knitted together in one platform is very exciting." – Ciaran Rogers [06:19]

• Industry Integration:

  "For years, we've been working with these disparate solutions and disparate platforms... There's not a lot of joined up between them.... it's very exciting the direction that it's going." – Ciaran Rogers [14:42]

• The Pace of Adobe’s Development:

  "It's amazing what Adobe has done in the last seven or eight years... all these acquisitions... integrating the solutions and building some marketing cloud and building this vision around it." – Pete Kluge [15:26]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Introduction & Guest Background: [00:13]
• Defining Programmatic Advertising: [01:40]
• DSP & Ad Exchange Mechanics: [04:00]
• Budgeting & Cross-Channel Attribution: [05:20]
• Unified Tracking & Attribution Models: [06:35]
• Experimentation with Attribution: [09:09]
• Current and Future Trends: [09:51]
• Adobe’s Marketing Cloud & Integration: [12:23]
• Reflections on Digital Marketing Evolution: [14:42]
• Adobe’s Growth and Vision: [15:26]

Tone and Style

The episode maintains an upbeat, conversational, and educational tone. Technical explanations are broken down with analogies and plain-language definitions, making complex concepts accessible to both beginners and seasoned marketers.

Conclusion

This episode provides an accessible yet comprehensive exploration of programmatic advertising, emphasizing the value of automation, transparency, cross-channel integration, and data-driven marketing. Insights into attribution, campaign planning, and Adobe’s evolving marketing suite offer listeners actionable takeaways for navigating the shifting digital landscape. The discussion highlights how unified platforms like Adobe’s Marketing Cloud empower marketers to optimize experiences and returns at scale.