CPX Interactive News

In the news this week, the hot topic of conversation for the online advertising industry has been about Yahoo! Inc. acquiring advertising technology company, Interclick.  Yahoo! Inc. reportedly bought the ad network for $270 in an effort to increase their remnant inventory sales. Yahoo’s display ad sales have made a significant drop this year and the company hopes that adding the technology power of Interclick will help revitalize their position in the market.

In this installment of an ongoing series, CEO and Founder of CPX Interactive, Mike Seiman shares his comment on the relevance of this news to the display advertising industry.  Click on the video below to see more.

CPX Interactive Events

In other news, OMMA Display, an online advertising industry event, is scheduled to kick off this Monday November 7, 2011 at the Sentry Center in New York City.  CPX Interactive is excited to be a part of this great event as several members of our team will be in attendance.  We are also pleased to announce our sponsorship of OMMA Display as we will be offering a live Twitter feed that will be shown throughout the day adjacent to the main stage.

By using the hashtag #ommadisplay, each attendee will be able to tweet about the latest and greatest things taking place at the event and have that tweet displayed on a massive screen for all attendees to see. 

You can watch more videos about the latest and greatest from CPX Interactive on our Vimeo channel at www.vimeo.com/cpxinteractive or on our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/cpxinteractive.  Follow us on Twitter @cpxinteractive and don’t forget to use the hashtag #ommadisplay this Monday at OMMA Display.

OMMA AdNets: the CliffsNotes version

A special thanks to our own Jamie Gutterman, Director of Sales for the contribution.

On Monday, July 18 I attended the OMMA Adnets conference in Los Angeles, CA.   The one day event consisted of a variety of speakers and panel discussions about some of the challenges that ad networks, DSP’s, and exchanges face in today’s digital marketplace.  The speakers and the panelists got me thinking about many of the hurdles we face as sales representatives for an ad network.  Whether it’s better preparing for an agency meeting or anticipating tough questions before they are asked, sales reps need to constantly be on their toes and quickly adapt when it comes to keeping up with the fast paced and ever-expanding digital industry.

Speakers like Donnie Williams, Chief Digital Officer of Horizon Media, gave insight about the intensive process that media planners/agencies go through to map out an effective strategy for their clients.  Media planners want to make sure they have a very well rounded channel allocation of all forms of media.  Although Williams recognizes the power of digital (he is, in fact, the Chief Digital Officer at Horizon) he admits that only 15% of Horizon’s total advertising budget is spent on ALL digital (which includes display, video, AND mobile).  He believes that success comes from a collaboration between online and offline.

Williams then spoke about the power of Lunch and Learns and said that a common mistake he sees is when sales reps, like ourselves, are simply “reactive” instead of being “proactive.”  His ideal Lunch and Learn would be if a sales rep came in and discussed the client’s business needs down the line, not just to solve their immediate issues. He says that media agencies want to spend their client’s money effectively and the job of the sales rep is to help THEM do a better job and look good to their clients.  Pretty basic stuff, but a good lesson learned here: More preparation before meetings.  Instead of just showing clients/agencies our offerings, we need to do the research and come in with a big idea to help them solve their long term business efforts.

CPX Team Members: Chris Okano, Brand Sales Intern, LA; Sharone Hadari, VP, West Coast Operations; Jamie Gutterman, Director of Sales

Next, an agency panel spoke about the evolving roles in our industry and wondered if robots would ever replace the human element?  The underlying answer was NO, because whether it’s branding or DR, humans are still needed for strategy.  The panel agreed that although media planner roles will change with the use of automated systems and exchanges, there will always be a need for some form of human interaction.  Another point I found interesting was that clients who are only looking for branding do not use exchanges; they are simply used for direct response.  The panel recognized that the branding aspect is only beginning to enter into the conversation.  I immediately saw this as a hurdle, because although CPX is not an exchange, it still shows that we have to get over the stigma that ad networks/exchanges can ONLY do DR well and cannot be used for branding.  It seemed that many people on the panel believed that to be the case, which is a challenge that we will continually have to overcome.

Another speaker, Joshua Wepman, VP of Savvian, mentioned that Q1 2011 was the highest spend in the industry history for digital.  Also adding that although it’s still a relatively small piece in the overall market, DISPLAY IS GROWING (at an annual rate of 25% for brands to be exact)!  Wepman spoke about the importance of inventory quality, brand safe inventory and engaging formats.  What was also interesting about the presentation was his recognition that the video market is extremely significant, engaging and is the fastest growing digital segment.  Wepman’s closing remarks were important: “Ad networks need to recognize the changes within the new digital landscape and evolve to address these new needs.”

The next two panels spoke about transparency.  Many people on the first panel believed that transparency was the key to minimizing conflict between brands, agencies and sales reps alike.  Since there are so many technology companies out there and so many options for media buyers, when sales reps go to a meeting they need to make sure that their company is offering them a clear solution to their business problem.  What was a little disconcerting to hear was that most of the people on the panel believed that ad networks are in a tough spot right now.  They constantly need to adjust and make sure they are using the best data partners and have the best technology.  The reality is, it’s a competitive world out there and someone can always do it better.

The second panel touched further on the issue of transparency and recognized a clear dilemma:  Once a client is given full transparency they become very picky as to what sites they want to appear on and want to cherry pick.  The final takeaway was that when full transparency isn’t possible advertisers should focus on these main questions: What aren’t you showing me that you should be, am I getting what I paid for and how can you prove it?

The next panel spoke about video and came to a realization that not everyone is ready for it just yet.  Many agencies can justify video to their clients as an “extension of TV” and use this hybrid approach to get video onto a plan.  This panel was interesting because many people had differing opinions.  Some believed that video would never be able to be used for DR purposes (only for branding); while others believed video could be used to leverage both.  From an agency perspective, their challenge is: how can we measure video and how do we sell it to the client?  If we have good answers and can make sure to show video to the right people (targeting that’s not necessarily there just yet) it might be easier to sell into the client.

The next panel spoke about entertainment marketing and the need for high impact takeovers and custom executions to promote things like movie premieres. This panel looked to ad networks as simply a place for display and not a place for exciting custom executions that they typically find with direct publishers.  One panelist even mentioned that it’s “difficult to work with ad networks” for things that require a big splash like takeovers, sweepstakes, and never-been-done-before executions.  Another panelist wondered if it was “worth the production cost” to work with networks to do custom executions such as multiple site Homepage Roadblocks since it still requires a lot of time with an individual kick off call with each publisher to discuss site specs, etc.  One panelist asked  if ad networks could adapt to complex creative because they didn’t believe that networks could do custom creative and get both the reach AND the impact.  This definitely struck a nerve and shows that we still have a big stigma to break and prove to the industry that CPX is not just another ad network.

This last segment was about the newest craze in digital: local and hyper-local marketing.  Companies such as AOL, who have recently acquired Patch, are focusing on local advertising and finding out just how effective it is.  The panel discussed how advertising dollars are moving into promotions to develop a one-to-one relationship with consumers instead of a national broadcast.  They believe that local ads are more effective when placed next to local content.  However, national advertisers can be effective on local sites as long as they have a local component.  For example, if a national car dealership creative says something like:  “serving the Glendale area,” that would be more engaging and effective to a consumer.

Overall, here are the key takeaways that I got from this conference:

• Be proactive when going into a client or agency meeting.  Help them solve their long-term business objectives; don’t simply be “reactive.”
• Ad networks, DSP’s and exchanges will continually have to overcome the challenge that they are only good for DR and not appropriate for branding.
• Ad networks need to address and quickly adapt to industry changes and make sure we are offering clients a clear solution to their specific business problem.
• Full transparency may never be possible, but make sure you are being as safe as possible and providing your clients with answers to questions they may have, even before they ask.
• Look for creative ways to sell new things like video to clients (i.e.: making it an extension of TV)
• There is still a stigma that ad networks can only do simple static/flash display advertising.

CPX is looking forward to two great industry events at the beginning of November, OMMA Adnets and Ad:tech NY.

OMMA Adnets is taking place on November 3rd at the Crowne Plaza Times Square in New York City. The event is in its second year, and this year will focus on the topic: Audience is King: Targeting the Challenges of 2010, exploring the shift from more focused targeting to building audiences. The keynote will be given by Matt Spiegel, CEO of Omnicom Media Group Digital.  Make sure to pick up your CPX Interactive lanyard when you get your badge at registration!

Ad:tech New York is “the largest gathering of online marketers,” with more than 200 speakers and more than 250 exhibitors. The event will take place at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City from November 4-6. Topics include entertainment, targeting, mobile, and emerging media, and keynote presentations will be given by Sir Martin Sorrell, Chief Executive, WPP; Jimmy Wales, Founder, Wikipedia/Co-Founder, Wikia; and Jonathan Miller, Chief Digital Officer, Chairman and CEO, Digital Media Group, News Corporation. CPX Interactive will be exhibiting at booth #1500. Come by and say hello!

Got to love these two quotes from Erik Sass’ article for MediaPost covering topics at the OMMA Hollywood conference yesterday.

Mark Mahaney, an Internet analyst with Citigroup Investment Research, said: “You’d have to screw things up massively to interrupt the influx of money to online.”

Gian Fulgoni, the chairman and co-founder of comScore, agreed: “Online is capturing more share, and all the evidence indicates it’s going to continue capturing more share… “

Sass was reporting the general agreement that, while online ad spending will certainly take a hit in the recessive economy, the decline is likely to be far less steep than the decline across all advertising, including TV, radio and print.

HERE IS THE ARTICLE