The programmatic ad buying experience is changing; the transforming needs and behaviors of users during this new normal brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic is impacting how consumers want to be spoken to. Todd Heger, Chief Revenue Officer at Digilant joins SalesTech Star in this QnA to share a few trends and observations on how crucial it is for businesses to get their messaging right, especially now.
What are some of your near-future predictions for programmatic ad buying and how will changing behaviors, lifestyles and user habits due to Covid-19 play a role here?
Third party cookies have historically been the “currency” of programmatic advertising, but with GDPR and CCPA compliance in effect and the ban of cookies across Google, Facebook, Safari looming, we’re starting to see a greater reliance on viable alternatives to third party cookies. This shift will trigger a fundamental change in how programmatic advertisers media plan. Out of necessity, first party data will become a larger part of programmatic media plans, but for advertisers who have yet to aggregate and first party data, context and placement will become the golden ticket to maintaining scale and engagement.
Of course, this is easier said than done. COVID-19 has heightened consumer expectations for advertisers. Consumers expect brands to step up and have greater discretion with what ads say and where they are placed – robust contextual data that includes sentiment and tone paired with smart placements can help.
Why should brands be focusing on an omnichannel approach to provide a seamless and more personalized experience to consumers, during these times especially?
Right now, it’s critical for advertisers to get their messaging right. This means, messaging needs to be timely AND it needs to be uninterrupted and meet consumers wherever they are along the customer journey. The number of channels consumers use to discover and shop brands and retailers is growing quickly, in large part due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Sure, consumers are spending more time on the internet and on social media, but we’re also seeing significant growth in emerging channels like streaming TV and podcasts. Having a singular, omni-channel strategy vs. siloed strategies will be the best way to keep up with today’s hyper-connected consumers.