The 10 Best Quotes from our Mobile Marketing Programmatic Summit

Yesterday was our Mobile Marketing Programmatic Summit, where we brought together brands with key thought leaders from the mobile marketing world to explore and discuss this vital technology that has changed the way the digital ad ecosystem works.

Programmatic is rapidly becoming the standard when it comes to targeting and deploying mobile and cross-screen campaigns, but many aspects of the technology are still poorly understood by a large number of marketers. Our Summit gave brands an opportunity to connect with ad tech providers, industry experts and their peers to ask questions, challenge assumptions and hear about some of the latest developments and cutting-edge insights.

If you werent able to make it to the Summit, you missed out on some fantastic guidance from leading industry figures, but you can still access some of the gems of wisdom here, with our top 10 quotes from the day.

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“What are the benefits of programmatic? Being able to monetise a huge amount of content effectively without pissing off our audience.”
Joe Clo, head of advertising, Unilad

The day kicked off with a view of programmatic from a cutting-edge publisher in the form of Unilad. Joe Clo walked us through the enormous amount of data that the firm deals with as the most engaged social publisher in the world, and explained how programmatic advertising gave them the tools to manage and monetise that information in an effective way.

“Theres a growing expectation to personalise across every device, in every interaction. Mobile programmatic brings new tools, but also more things to consider.”
Jen Brown, director of marketing, EMEA, Tealium

Jen Brown of Tealium explored whether programmatic was serving to simplify marketings search for a single customer view, or making it even more complicated as the demand for a joined-up view becomes even more central to peoples expectation of marketing.

“Facebook are a frenemy. Theyre someone we have to deal with, but were always wary of the moves their making in terms of publishing.”
Amir Malik, programmatic director, Trinity Mirror

In his presentation, Amir Malik provided us with a new publishers viewpoint on the programmatic world, and how changes in the consumption of news and content were creating new challenges for traditional publishers that programmatic was helping to combat.

“For me, programmatic is about simplifying the process of delivery, so that you can focus on the creative side.”
Antoine Barbier, senior director of product, mobile, TubeMogul

During our Ask Me Anything panel, Antoine Barbier of TubeMogul brought the discussion back to whether or not creative can sit comfortably with programmatic, and whether the focus on data, bidding strategies and demand-and-supply partners was blinding us to the original benefit of the technology – being able to get your messaging in front of the people it will most impact.

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“We know it takes two months for a theatregoer to see another show, so we geofence the theatres, then sit on that data for one and a half months before using it to target those people with adverts for a new show. Thats something that only mobile can do, and weve seen great success with that.”
Juan Diaz, digital manager, Dewynters

During a roundtable session, Juan Diaz from ad agency Dewynters shared how the firm was using data to inform their strategy when it came to promoting West End shows, combining qualitative demographic knowledge with the kind of location data only mobile can provide.

“Today, Facebook, Pinterest and Google through YouTube have created fantastic places to invest in consumers, but were missing out on a chance to reach consumers in other ways, across the walled gardens.”
Alex Merwin, vice president of global programmatic demand, SpotX

Alex Merwin addressed the power that walled gardens have when it comes to targeting consumers, why we shouldnt be relying on the tools they provide us, and how programmatic and coordination between publishers is creating solutions to this problem.

“Agencies are incentivised to work with private marketplaces, but programmatic guaranteed is much more interesting to publishers, and you have big premium names like the Financial Times waiting for it to become the standard rather that creating a private marketplace.”
Amir Malik, programmatic director, Trinity Mirror

During our panel debate, Amir Malik discussed the various different forms of programmatic that are emerging as the technology matures, and how they are being adopted at different places within the ad ecosystem.DSC_0008

“88 per cent of advertisers would reduce the number of ad tech vendors they were working with, if they could guarantee that it wouldnt affect the performance of their ads.”
Julian Savitch-Lee, director of client services, BidSwitch

Is programmatic leading to fragmentation in the mobile market, and is it time to make a push back for consolidation? Julian Savitch-Lee from BidSwitch walked us through the confusion that the ecosystem can create for advertisers, and whether or not the glut of supply and demand partners was good for the industry.

“Data is huge for us, but I think theres a danger of becoming too granular and targeting the same people again and again, and never reaching out to new consumers because they dont fit the profile of your existing customers.”
Flo Mills Lyle, publisher manager, Linking Mobile

Flo Mills Lyle from mobile affiliate network Linking Mobile brought up the risks of retargeting during a round table session, and how chasing customers with cross-screen campaigns can sometimes end up cannibalising your audience with little benefit in return.

“Ultimately, were all in a business-to-business space, and we have to remember its still about people.”
Jen Brown, director of marketing, EMEA, Tealium

As part of the AMA session at the end of the day, Jen Brown asked how ad tech firms can distinguish themselves when there were such a large number of different offerings out there, and reminded us that, no matter how technology changes the industry, it all comes back to people in the end.

If youre interested in hearing these sorts of insights and more with a focus on building brand on mobile, our Mobile Marketing Brand Summit is coming up next month, with speakers including Barclays and Taj Hotels. Click here to find out more.