CPX Interactive’s Strategy is the New Creative initiative has always been a conversation about, “The Promise of Digital” and reaching its full potential in the world of online advertising.  We recently revisited this conversation by hosting a panel discussion at the IAB MIXX 2011 Conference and Expo on October 4, 2011 at the Crown Plaza Times Square in NYC.

David Shay, our EVP of Marketing, moderated the panel discussion and opened up a conversation that explored how a pendulum counter-swing that has seen the industry rapidly move towards a pure technology-based vision of ad serving, combined with an acceptance of a poor online attribution model, now runs the risk of marginalizing the value of the human element that makes up the ‘art’ of ad placement.

Hear thoughts about the opportunities, challenges and dangers of the technology-heavy ad placement tactics currently being used from our panel of industry execs:  Zach Coelius, CEO of Triggit; Steve Latham, Founder & CEO of Encore Media Metrics; Michael L. Miller, CMO of SolutionSet MediaWhiz Partnership; and Mike Seiman, Founder and CEO of CPX Interactive.

Does Google’s bullishness bode well for display?

With Google’s purchase of Demand Side Platform, Invite Media, last year it was pretty clear that their ultimate commitment to the display landscape will continue to grow beyond the independantly impressive AdSense platform and their early adexchange landscape acquisition of DoubleClick.

But in the last week two new notifications can be found, leaving no doubt that Google sees the future of online display advertising as vibrant and in play.

1.  When speaking at the IAB’s recent ‘The Future of Display ‘ event in NYC, Google VP, Neal Mohan explained to the audience that he believes that display advertising spending will rise from $25 billion in 2010 to $200 billion in as little as ‘a few years.’

and

2. Google bought Supply Side Platform, AdMeld.

Is it me, or is this spring/summer is starting to feel a lot like the same time period in 2007?

Things could be worse ; )

Does Online Advertising Have a Branding Problem?

10 years ago, in an attempt to establish differentiation from traditional media that seemed to have the market cornered on brand-building, an upstart digital industry ponied up on the deliverables of performance and measurement. As a short term strategic decision that decision seemed like a genuine revelation. Here was a medium, after all, that was designed to be interacted with.

In ways that were impossible when watching a TV spot or driving by a billboard everyday, a user could now indicate his or her favorable perception of an advertisement by actually touching (we called it ‘clicking’) it. With Digital, marketers didn’t have guess at a campaign’s effectiveness. It could now be measured. And in buying into its own hype, the industry seemed to say, ”Leave branding to conventional mediums, but if you want metrics, I’m your guy!”

But 10 years later, in a landscape that has preached the gospel of online scale and metrics from its birth, the future of digital advertising may actually rely, ironically, on its ability to pull off a skillful branding (or re-branding) maneuver….convincing marketers that the industry’s true killer apps are unique brand engagement and brand experience opportunities.

So the question is, “How do we (the industry) turn the corner on how we pitch ourselves when marketers are trained to think of as as an after thought to their core commitment of building brand affinity?” At CPX Interactive, we believe that the only real answer is to start the conversation in as many different venues and in front of as many different audiences as possible.

That is precisely why we have worked to spread the word through our own industry thought leadership panel/event series called Strategy is the New Creative, to push the conversation envelope about what digital is actually capable of.

It  is, in fact,  a conversation that is getting some traction. We were happy to see the IAB take its own turn at the topic in its recent InnovationDays event. In his coverage of the event, Chris Hosford (of www.btobonline.com) quoted Interactive Advertising Bureau as  President-CEO Randall Rothenberg urging  advertisers and agencies to “…develop more strategic, creative campaigns for the digital world, to steer digital advertising away from direct response campaigns and toward a branding model.”

The bottom line is that the digital space offer BOTH unparalleled metric measurement AND cutting edge branding opportunities that have barely begun to be realized.

“Strategy is the new creative.” The idea may not be completely new, but it does seem to have taken on new meaning in this quickly evolving metric-driven industry.  And, while the truth may not be so extreme, it is clear that the agile online marketer will have to become more comfortable pushing her creative team and media vendors closer together if she wants to remain on the cutting edge of what is possible.

As the title of this post indicates, the CPX Interactive team has been thinking a good deal about this concept. We believe that there is a great opportunity to leverage the kind of hyper audience targeting that is becoming more and more common place and to use it to take brand development (and engagement) to an entirely new level. We have been thinking about this so much that we have decided to make it the topic of a series of workshops at industry events this Fall.

CPX moderated the first of these, “Strategy is the New Creative” workshops at September’s IAB MIXX event in New York City.  The next two workshops come on back to back days in November on two different continents. (ad:tech NYC and IAB Milan).

More on all of this in the coming days and weeks…but we definitely wanted to take a moment and thank our panelists (and attendees) from the MIXX panel. Below is the description of the panel topic and a list of our panelists. Thanks to all for making it such a success.

IAB MIXX – September 27, 2010

Workshop 3
Room 510, 5th floor

Strategy Is the New Creative

It is often argued that the interactive space, with its focus on measurement and metrics, has tilted the advertising scales toward “science” and away from “art.” There is, however, another way to see the current evolution of the landscape. Rather than destroying the creative opportunity, the ability to define and target micro-audiences has opened up huge new opportunities in campaign strategy development. In fact, hyper-targeting has given birth to a new marriage of art and science where campaign strategy has become the new creative opportunity in advertising.

Moderator: Rob Rasko, Chief Operating Officer and President, CPX Interactive
Brian Chiger, Digital Strategist, Agencynet
Mike Seiman, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, CPX Interactive
Mary Stack, Vice President, Media Planning and Partnerships, Discovery Communications, LLC

Last week, the IAB held its second annual Long Tail Alliance Fly-In in Washington, DC. CPX’s CEO Mike Seiman, and VP of Publisher Development, Mike Zacharski, joined other IAB member supporters, and 46 small publishers, to tell their elected officials about the importance of Internet advertising to small business growth. The publishers represented 14 states, and spent a day on Capitol Hill meeting with members of the House and the Senate to discuss how the privacy legislation proposed by Rep. Rick Boucher would negatively impact them.

According to MediaPost, the bill “would require companies that track users across the Web to notify them and either obtain their consent — though opt-out consent would be okay if the companies allowed consumers to view and access their profiles. The bill also would require opt-in consent before sites collect or disclose sensitive information, defined as medical records, race or ethnicity, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, financial records and precise geolocation information.”  The Fly-In attendees split into groups and spoke with members of Congress about issues that concern them, such as why they believe cookies are beneficial, and the importance of the fact that IP addresses are non-personally identifiable pieces of information.  This video shows more about the positive impact of cookies on a user’s online experience.

In addition, a new study issued by the IAB on June 10 found that interactive advertising is responsible for $300 billion of economic activity in the U.S.–or 2.1 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP). Plus, over three million people are employed in the U.S. thanks in part to the online ad business, including 1.2 million with high-paying jobs that did not exist two decades ago, says the study.

“The results of this study confirm the vast influence and driving importance of the ad-supported Internet to the overall economy,” said Randall Rothenberg, IAB president and CEO. “By understanding the total contribution of the Internet to the U.S. economy, we can more accurately assess the impact of potential legislative changes on the Internet’s operations, particularly the consequences of any actions that would alter ad-supported business models.”

When they were not meeting with legislators, the Long Tail members attended training sessions, strategic planning panels and roundtable discussions created specifically to address the business interests of small publishers. Mike Seiman joined Jarvis Coffin of Burst Media, and Scott Portugal of TRAFFIQ/MMi to answer the publishers questions about ad networks.

Mike was grateful for the opportunity to participate in this event, and enjoyed speaking to members of Congress. Read about his experience here on his personal blog.

The benefits of targeting are clear, for both advertisers and publishers. As seen below, more than 60% of agencies were able to increase their clients’ online display ad spending budget as a result of audience targeting.

Publishers benefit from higher CPMs, better performance, and more, as seen in this chart:

Agencies, advertisers and publishers are all concerned about the looming possibility of targeting-related legislation. eMarketer found that the majority of advertisers and publishers, and about one-half of agencies, believe the most effective way to protect consumer privacy is through industry self-regulation. However, many of these advertisers and publishers were unfamiliar with the self-regulatory initiatives already begun by the IAB. Although they know what is at risk if the government takes control of regulation, it is clear that some are still hesitant to take the initiative themselves.

For more on targeting and consumer privacy, check out  these posts, and visit the Online with CPX section of our blog. CPX COO & President, Rob Rasko, discussed these issues in video interviews with some of the foremost industry execs at the IAB Leadership Meeting earlier this year.

By Samantha Karol, Senior Marketing Assistant

It’s a busy week for the online advertising industry, and CPX Interactive is taking part in events in Florida and Washington, D.C.

COO & President, Rob Rasko, and EVP of Sales, Gary Bembridge, are attending the iMedia Brand Summit in Miami.  At this Summit, iMedia is asking digital marketers and their brand manager colleagues to pair up and learn together. They have been discussing core business challenges with peers-and publisher and service provider partners, and yesterday, enjoyed a keynote from Mark Snyder, CMO of the Kmart Corporation. CPX is sponsoring today’s lunch, from 12:30-1:45.

While Gary and Rob are in Florida, CPX CEO Mike Seiman, and VP of Publisher Development, Mike Zacharski, are in Washington D.C., lobbying Congress on behalf of small website publishers. They are participating in the IAB Long Tail Alliance Fly-In, a unique opportunity for small publishers from across America to tell their story to Congress. CPX is a major supporter of the Long Tail Alliance, and is proud to be a part of this event.

CPX is a sponsor of IAB Europe’s Interact Congress Barcelona 2010, which takes place June 2^nd-3^rd at Casa Llotja de Mar. Rob Rasko, COO & President of CPX Interactive, will take part in a panel on the second day of the event. The panel will discuss Direct Response vs Online Branding, and will be moderated by Randall Rothenberg, CEO of IAB US. It takes place at 2:00 pm on Thursday the 3rd.

The overarching theme of this year’s Interact Congress is Branding Online: The Time is Now. Panels and keynote addresses will cover topics including opportunities and challenges, creativity and engagement, use of social media, and the role of online in overall strategy. The event concludes with the Mixx Europe Award ceremony, recognizing the best branding campaigns across Europe, as well as the most awarded brand, agency and advertiser.

CPX Interactive would like to invite to you to join the IAB and other online entrepreneurs like yourself in representing small publishers from across the country at the 2010 Long Tail Alliance Washington Fly-In, June 14-15. This event is a great opportunity for long tail tail publishers. During the two-day meeting you will:

• Meet with members of the U.S. Congress and their staffs to tell the story of your small business.
• Learn strategies and best practices for growing your business through workshops designed specifically for the small publisher.
• Be guests of honor at a special networking reception and dinner at the Google offices in Washington, D.C.
• Share your personal experiences on how interactive advertising has impacted your life and sustained your business.

More information plus photos and highlights from last year’s Fly-In can be found at www.iab.net/flyin.

There is no charge to attend the Fly-In. However, you must pay for your own travel and lodging. As a thank-you from the IAB, those who come to Washington will receive a complimentary one-year Long Tail Alliance Membership or a one-year extension to their existing membership.

If you would like to be part of this special event, visit www.iab.net/flyin to register and book your hotel. The IAB has reserved a block of discounted rooms specifically for Fly-In attendees. Or if you want more information, please contact Chris Glushko of the IAB at chris@iab.net or 212-380-4722.

CPX COO, Rob Rasko, talked to Josh Crandall, CEO & Co-Founder of Netpop, a new social advertising and insights platform, at the IAB Leadership Meeting. Crandall explained that the Netpop platform provides brands and publishers the opportunity to structure conversation with their audiences around mutual interest. He looks forward to working with companies who are defining how consumers are interacting with advertising, around products that mean something to them, and working with consumers to change how advertising works for them.

Responding to IAB Chairman, Dave Moore’s, keynote speech encouraging more aggressive advertising, Crandall emphasized the importance of respecting consumers with the data that is included in advertising. He also pointed out that it’s important for consumers to understand their responsibility to participate with advertising and provide their perspective on it. This  opportunity to engage in a dialogue with the consumer is, he says, something that was never possible in traditional media, and should definitely be embraced.