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Written on 05/18/16 2:54 PM

by Mara Schneider

To put it more precisely, Viewability in the digital ad ecosystem is an online advertising metric that aims to track only impressions that can actually be seen by people. For example, if an ad is loaded at the bottom of a webpage but a user doesn’t scroll down far enough to see it, that impression would not be deemed viewable.

The viewable impression is the key to making digital media measurement comparable to that of traditional media. In television, radio, and print, the consumer has the opportunity to see (or hear) the ad. Television commercials are rendered on screens. Radio ads are broadcasted. In digital media, current technologies only measure if an ad has been served, not how fully it rendered on the screen or how long it was present. The viewable impression and the technological innovations that support it answer this need. It is important to note that the viewable impression takes it beyond traditional media; there is a higher likelihood that a person has seen a digital ad compared to a person being in the room to see the TV commercial or changing stations and not hearing a radio ad.

Industry research shows that an average of 55% of all digital display ads do not have the opportunity to be seen. This could be due to many factors: the ad is below-the-fold and the user did not see it OR by fraudulent non-human traffic from bots or other computer programs.

Moving toward Viewability is RPM’s #1 priority and we are setting up systems to ensure that all of our advertisers are getting the highest percent of viewable impressions. Verification companies including 3rd party ad servers now have viewability measurement built in to measure whether an ad is viewable or not on desktops or PCs. Mobile measurement will follow shortly but is not ready for primetime.

How is it Measured? The Methodology

Most measurement companies including Integral Ad Science (IAS) use geometric data measuring the position of the ad relative to the viewport or other elements of the browser. This technology works for finding the corners of the ad in the window and determining if it is on the user’s screen. 70% of all ads are capable of being measured to determine if they are viewable on desktop inventory.

Mobile in-app is difficult to measure, however, on average about 80% of inventory in apps is viewable, making it much higher than desktop. It is important to note that publisher-direct sites like Facebook, Instagram or Twitter are not measured by viewability measurement vendors, however, this will change in the near future. Their argument is that they are mostly viewable due to the nature of in-feed mobile viewing habits but this has not been proven. Facebook just recently announced a partnership with IAS to start measuring its inventory viewability.

Protecting against Fraud

In addition to viewability, it is important to address Ad Fraud. Ad Fraud is defined as the practice of serving digital ads that have no chance of being viewed by a human user or are misrepresented by the seller. Fraud can either be non-human traffic (bot traffic) or human traffic that is misleading to the advertiser.

Agencies and Publishers cannot measure Viewability unless we first address Fraud. Ad Fraud is a big concern on both sides and can run rampant through Ad Exchange inventory.

Below is a list of common fraud tactics used:

Click Farms: groups of users intentionally generating traffic for the purpose of inflating impressions or clicks (was more common 5 years ago)
Ad Stacking: covering ads with other ads
Non-viewable or Hidden Ads
Bots (Non-human traffic or NHT): prevalent on both regular sites and premium sites
URL Masking or Impression Laundering (Spoofing): detecting one URL with another (domain is misrepresented); illegal activity hidden by legitimate sites (made to look like real sites, a façade)
Unintentional Navigation: zero click traffic, pop-ups/unders, redirects

How to protect ourselves against Fraud?

Pre-Bid Segments (detecting viewability before the ad is served)
Verification Services
Private Marketplaces
Tiered Inventory Levels

Advertisers must look at Viewability AFTER Fraud, meaning filter out fraud before looking at viewability.

What’s Next?

Over the next few months, RPM will be introducing our approach to viewability. By improving the quality of our ad placements, we not only improve viewability and combat fraud but we will ultimately improve performance results for our clients.

What is Programmatic Advertising? Programmatic is the automation of buying and selling digital advertising inventory, including real-time bidding (RTB), that has seen tremendous growth over the past five years. It has started to transform how we buy and sell ad inventory. While RTB has historically been associated with remnant inventory, this technology is now increasingly being applied to a wider range of inventory. There has been confusion in the marketplace over terminology with a number of terms being used interchangeably such as: “programmatic,” “programmatic direct,” “programmatic premium,” “programmatic guaranteed,” and “automation”. Many definitions abound and they vary from site to site and from partner to partner. Additionally, marketers are bombarded with a lot of acronyms when referring to Programmatic, for example RTB, DSP, DMP, SSP, and many more. We will attempt to decipher and provide definitions for many of these key terms.

In simplistic terms, another word for Programmatic is Audience Buying because that this is essentially what advertisers are purchasing:

PROGRAM-1 instead of placements, they are purchasing Audiences regardless of where they may be browsing or surfing. The inventory is bought using algorithms, AI (artificial intelligence) and automated trading/bidding systems. At the core of Programmatic is the Ad Exchanges; they aggregate digital ad inventory from millions of sites and operate very much like a Stock Exchange. We’ll explore that in a later section.

The below graphic gives on overview of how programmatic is structured from the media agency side as well as the publisher side. Programmatic sits in the middle and makes decisions in real time as to how the inventory is bought and sold.

Why do we need Programmatic?

With programmatic buying, advertisers have access to vast amounts of inventory, data, and targeting options. According to eMarketer, by 2017 83% of all display ad buys will be purchased programmatically. Magna Global predicts that US programmatic ad spending will hit $17 Billion by 2017.

Programmatic buying allows advertisers to target audiences in a multitude of different ways, below are the main options for targeting display, mobile or video ads:

In the future, most buying will be done via programmatic; not only for display ads but also for video, TV, audio, social and native. Buying in this manner actually saves money because of the efficiencies brought about by automation. However, costs can quickly escalate the more vendors and technology companies that enter into the mix. Each will get a cut of costs which can quickly add up.

The advantages are:

Economic Efficiency
Targeting
Organizational Efficiency
Measurement
Transparency

How does it work?

At the core of Programmatic is the Ad Exchange. Similar to the stock market, ad inventory on the Exchange is placed into a bid auction system where advertisers can bid on ads based on location, demographics, psychographics and a range of other criteria. The inventory options that are available go far beyond display ads including: Video, Mobile, Native, Social and Audio.

The graphic below demonstrates how all of these platforms and systems work together in a complex ecosystem that operates within milliseconds of an ad being delivered to a users screen. Both agencies and publishers are feeding in buys and inventory on either side. In the middle stands a system of Trading Desks (owned by agency holding companies), DSP’s (Demand Side Platforms), Ad Exchanges, Data Providers and Management Platforms (1st party and 3rd party), and SSP’s (Supply Side Platforms).

Definitions:

Trading Desk: large agency holding companies that have their own programmatic buyers that purchase directly from the Exchanges for their list of clients.

DSP (Demand Side Platform): enables advertisers to purchase ad inventory via RTB exchanges (examples are MediaMath, Turn, Invite Media, The Trade Desk)

Ad Exchange: a digital marketplace that enables advertisers and publishers to buy and sell advertising space, often through real-time auctions (Doubleclick, AppNexus, OpenX)

SSP (Supply Side Platform): a technology platform that enables web publishers to manage their advertising space inventory, fill it with ads, and receive revenue

DMP (Data Management Platform): provides the function of data collection, translation, classification, indexing and storage. In simple terms the ‘plumbing’ part of data-driven marketing online. (Oracle BlueKai, Neustar, Aggregate Knowledge)

Data Usage:

Programmatic buying allows the inclusion of many data sources to inform targeting and optimization decisions. It allows the buyer to show one ad impression to one anonymous viewer in one context. In the current programmatic landscape, the most common data used is leveraged on the buy side. Buyers layer both third-party data, as well as advertiser first-party data, onto campaigns. In addition, some publishers offer their first-party data.

Protecting against Fraud

Industry research has shown that an average of 55% of all digital display ads are not seen at all. This could be due to many factors: ad is below-the-fold and the user did not see it, fraudulent non-human traffic that comes through from bots or other computer programs.

Moving toward Viewability is RPM’s #1 priority moving forward and we are setting up systems to ensure that all of our advertisers are getting the highest percent of viewable impressions. Verification companies including 3rd party ad servers have viewability measurement built in to measure whether an ad is viewable or not on desktops or PCs. Mobile measurement will follow shortly but is not ready for primetime.

More and more high quality inventory is being made available programmatically like private marketplaces and publisher direct. By accessing this inventory, we can improve the quality of our ad placements and also improve viewability.

Programmatic Vendors

As you can see by the below Lumascape chart, there are an enormous number of players in the Ad Tech space. More come to market every day and also get acquired by other companies or change business models. Keeping up with the rate of change is very challenging, however, RPM keeps abreast of these changes by attending industry events, researching technologies and scheduling regular vendor meetings.

How is it Measured?

Programmatic buying can be purchased in different ways depending on campaigns goals. Below are the most common goal and cost structures:

Awareness: CPM or Cost-per-Thousand (used most frequently)
Performance: CTR (click-through rate), CPA (cost-per-acquisition), CPL (cost-per-lead), ROI
Viewability metrics by the 3MS (MRC, IAB, ANA and 4A’s) have established the following measurement standards to assess whether an ad is viewable:
Display: 50% of ad pixels must be viewable on desktop/PC for 1 continuous second
Video: 50% of ad pixels must be viewable on desktop/PC for 2 continuous seconds
Mobile: Viewable Impressions guidelines are currently being decided upon

Recommendation

Due to the enormous amount of inventory and opportunities Programmatic has to offer, it is an area for growth and exploration for all PNG properties. RPM is already working with Programmatic partners and has begun testing these vendors to determine reliability, volume and performance. We will continue to test new DSP partners to determine which ones fit our needs and comply with our quality standards. RPM is researching future opportunities for establishing its own trading desk using the latest technology with 100% transparency while also ensuring the highest quality inventory.

Next Steps

Viewability Approach
Determine and test new Programmatic partners
Share goals and objectives with new partner
Implementation
Shared Analytics
Evaluation

by Dan Henrick

Now that it’s been a few weeks since the Super Bowl, we’re finally able to get an objective look at how each of this year’s commercials resonated with viewers. According to Advertising Age, the big winner was Mountain Dew’s “PuppyMonkeyBaby” spot, a bizarre and somewhat divisive ad that nevertheless dominated Facebook and Twitter in the days since. Another popular ad, Heinz’s “Wiener Stampede” performed well, and elicited an overwhelmingly positive sentiment among viewers polled. Both of these spots capitalize on heightened absurdism, a direction which has become increasingly prevalent among ads aimed at young males. Although the voice of these ads appears to be quite modern, the history behind this comedic direction is older, and by understanding its history and methodology, we can understand why it resonates so strongly. In fact, the first clear progenitor of absurdism just turned 100 years old this month.

On February 5th, 1916, the Café Voltaire opened in Zurich, Switzerland. The founder, Tristan Tzara, along with a number of exiled artists, were at the vanguard of the artistic movement known as Dada. While Switzerland was technically a neutral country during World War I, these writers, poets, painters, and dancers (many of them refugees) were still inundated with images and news of the War’s tremendous loss of life. To them, the only reasonable response to the senseless horror around them was “nonsense.” According to Tzara’s manifesto, art must imitate life, but if life is random, nihilistic and pointless, then art should be every bit as pointless and absurd.

That is not to say that the existential dread that birthed the Dada movement is humorless one. If anything, it was completely the opposite. Dada performances were often raucous, spirited shows that mocked war and society, but also mundane every day trivialities. I mean, take a look at this photo of poet Hugo Ball in a full robot costume, and you get a sense of what a Dada show was like.

Like any movement borne out of such a volatile environment, Dadaism quickly imploded in Zurich. The creators behind it splintered off to what we now call Surrealism, Futurism, and Cubism, all influential in their own right.

So, why are we still talking about a short-lived bohemian fad in Switzerland 100 years later? And moreover, why should we care? The answer is that Dada’s DNA is still pervasive throughout modern humor, philosophy, and especially marketing. Much of that is due to the hugely influential comedy pioneers, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, who directly credited their specific absurd comedic voice to their exposure to Dadaism.

In recent years, studies have shown that messages delivered with an absurd voice not only resonate stronger with audiences than appeals to class status or sex appeal, but they also resonate across cultures. Since the morals and social norms of different cultures vary from region to region, much can be lost in translation. However, with absurdism, the “nonsense” or tweaking of everyday commonalities, the message is universal.

The logic behind this is fairly simple. If you shock a viewer with a bizarre or nonsensical image and then twist that image to connect with a familiar experience or emotion in an unexpected way, that connection will be stronger than a direct appeal. A study published in the Journal of Promotion Management showed that this is true across cultures and genders. That initial jolt causes the viewer to pay attention, and not only will they be able to recall the message, but they will retain more of the message itself.

There are caveats to this approach, though. For example, if that connection between the absurd and the every day is too tenuous, then you risk alienating your audience or preventing them from recalling your message or product entirely. Also, this study also found that while absurdism is one of the most effective ways to imprint your message across genders and cultures, that doesn’t necessarily translate to “persuasiveness.” In fact, viewers who identify as masculine and individualistic are more likely to respond positively to an absurdist message than viewers who either identify as feminine or collectivist. Hence, that is why advertisements like Mountain Dew’s “PuppyMonkeyBaby” is so effective in targeting young men.

It would be hard to tell what Tristan Tzara would think of the influence of Dada on today’s culture. On one hand, he was an outspoken liberal political voice who protested France’s actions in the Algerian War. On the other hand, he was also a gregarious showman and well-known promoter who relished the attention. Either way, the echoes of Tzara and his contemporaries’ message, that sometimes the best way to deliver a truth is through nonsense, still resonates today.

by Mara Schneider

What is Marketing Attribution?

Marketing attribution is the practice of determining the role that different channels play in informing and influencing the customer journey, and subsequently allocating partial value to different touch points which have influenced an action, purchase or another desired outcome.

Or to be put in another way, it is the practice of using advanced statistical approaches to allocate proportional credit to marketing communications and media activity across all channels, which ultimately leads to the desired customer action.

There are many different attribution models, each with their own merits, however, the most important element is to pick a model that fits company and marketing goals.

Currently, there are two popular models:

Algorithmic Modeling (correlations, regressions, etc)
Operational (analyzing all touchpoints that drive actions)

At RPM, we believe that the most effective attribution model is when all forms of communication are accounted for digitally and off-line (traditional). This enables a more holistic view of activities, and therefore the ability to encompass how individual activities can be better leveraged for the desired outcome. This includes promotions, partnerships, branding opportunities, digital and traditional advertising, websites, apps, call centers/customer service, community outreach, PR, philanthropic activities, and more.

While attribution started out as a “rules-based” approach and moved to “algorithmic” using formulas to assign conversion credit, the future of attribution is moving from “retrospective” to “predictive.” This means combining statistical predictive response models with econometric models to predict what will happen in the future, and therefore drive allocation of budget and resources toward the levers that truly impact business.

Why Organizations Are Moving Toward Attribution

As an essential part of the marketing process, there are numerous business reasons to implement attribution: to support marketing and advertising spend, to build an understanding of the customer journey and audience behavior, and to use this understanding to optimize the media mix.

Marketing and advertising attribution satisfies the desire to move beyond clicks, CTR, and straight conversions.

When marketers implement attribution, they often gain immediate insights that allow them to better adjust their budgets, moving money away from poorly performing channels and into more successful ones. This allows for a better strategy across the entire path to conversion.

It’s important to keep in mind that the advanced math used for attribution should not trump common sense and a marketing team’s personal and business observations when making planning and spending decisions. Attribution should be used as part of the overall marketing analysis and brands shouldn’t use it as the quintessential decision making tool.

The Science Behind Attribution

Although each attribution company has its own proprietary technology, many of them use a combination of the following mathematical modeling techniques:

Simultaneous Equation Modeling
Mixed Effect Models
Regression Analysis: Parallel Bayesian Logit Regression
Endogeneity Treatments
VAR Models
Mutually-exciting Point Process Models
Hidden Markov Models

Regardless of the partner you choose, each company should be forthcoming and open to explaining their methodology and approach – no company should have a “black box” and be unwilling to share what’s inside. Even with this mathematical modeling, attribution is not perfect and the industry still has a long way to go in determining how consumers navigate through this complex consumer journey.

For Digital Attribution specifically, the models are broken out by:

Last-Touch (or First-Touch): credit given to first click or last click
Linear: Credit spread evenly throughout
Multi-Touch
Time Decay
Position Based
Regression or Algorithmic

The ideal scenario is to move away from single touch to closed-loop or multi-touch which takes into account the various ways that a consumer comes in contact with your brand or message.

How Marketers are Implementing Attribution

Key: Closed-loop=Linear or Time Decay
Single touch=Last touch or First touch
Multi-touch=Regression or Algorithmic
Fractional allocation=measuring only some channels

Are you ready for Attribution?

Typically, companies that implement attribution methods into their marketing activities can see a lift of 20-30% improvement in marketing effectiveness, 3-4% increase in revenue, and anywhere from 3x-50x increases in first year ROI. For most organizations, those are compelling numbers.

So where do you begin?

The first step, after understanding the role of attribution and evaluating potential partners, is to develop a roadmap. Work with chosen attribution partners to assess technology needs and the willingness to share data. Collaborate with internal marketing and CRM teams to identify the need and establish a purpose. Evaluate the goals of attribution and what it can accomplish for your organization.

Start small and learn to crawl, walk, run. Work towards incremental progress using more sophisticated metrics with each campaign. Look at all of the touchpoints where your organization is in contact with your customers. Make sure you understand each interaction.

Still think you’re ready for attribution? Then the ingredients for success are simple: get your data right, get your brand identity right, and get your math right.

What Is Beacon Technology? Beacon and the Apple Store

Beacon technology is taking the AdTech world by storm. Apple first led the innovation with their patented “iBeacon” platform introduced in 2013. If you are currently using iOS7 on your iPhone, then you are using beacon technology even though you may not realize it. In the simplest terms, beacon technology blends physical retail environments with online experiences by placing a “beacon” (a small, egg-sized device that transmits signals via Bluetooth) in a store, which in turn pushes notifications to shoppers’ phones. Pair that with the functionality of a branded store app and you’ve got an unparalleled bridge between the physical and digital worlds.

Who Is At The Forefront?

A few companies are using beacon technology to its fullest extent. Below are just two examples of beacon innovation in action.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts instituted an iBeacon trial in many of its locations that assists concierge team members in greeting guests by name, accelerates the check-in process for frequent guests, and alerts housekeeping when guests are still in the room. They introduced a new pilot program in which consumers at a few of their U.S. hotels will be able to walk into a hotel, skip the check-in process, go straight to their room and open the room door via keyless entry activated on their smartphones.

For this to work, the guest must have a partner app installed and turned on. By having the app installed and beacons placed in strategic locations around the hotel, Starwood can send push notifications to guests as they walk past the bar area or send offers for entertainment, spa services or restaurants encouraging guests to spend more time and money with on-site amenities.

Macy’s

For the holiday season, Macy’s deployed beacons in nearly 800 stores throughout the U.S. to capitalize on an offline data-driven retail experience. Macy’s is using beacon technology to track customer movements within stores, push product recommendations and discounts and to inform shoppers about relevant sale items.

The Future Vision

Many companies are taking beacon technology to the next level: Walgreens, Walmart, Virgin Atlantic, American Airlines and Lord & Taylor, just to name a few. Industry experts agree that this technology is the key to bridging the gap in mobile and physical shopping experiences; it allows personalized engagement at a level never seen before. 90% of consumers say that more personalized experiences will increase their loyalty and likelihood to shop at a particular store.

Will beacon technology work for you? Performing small tests in different retail locations could be your next step to implementing a beacon technology into your broader marketing strategy.

What Does This Mean for PNG?

By utilizing the current PNG or property branded apps, beacon technology can be used to encourage engagement within the app by offering incentives, specials or promotions pushed to consumers when they enter the property. Passing by the bar or a certain games area could ping a customer to get a personalized offer or deal. Much like the Starwood Resorts campaign, properties with hotels can use the app to check-in and take advantage of keyless entry. PNG may also want to explore linking the apps together to aggregate rewards points or migrate current users to one unified “Marquee Rewards” or Hollywood Casino app that would operate across all properties and eventually include the Trop. In addition, traffic and usage patterns could be analyzed to determine customer’s behaviors leading to a better experience overall.