By Elizabeth Harz, President, Media, Adara
What does programmatic 3.0 look like?
At the intersection of Madison Ave and Silicon Valley labels like programmatic 3.0 are inevitable! And where some skeptics will say a term like that is premature or unnecessary, I welcome it if it helps us take stock of where we have been, assess where we are headed and get to the promised land faster!
Fundamentally, I believe the industry and consumers both want the same thing - engaging relevant conversations throughout the journey of considering, choosing, and purchasing things. That certainly varies from buying a car you've been obsessed with to a carbonated beverage, but the fundamentals remain the same. The promise of data driven marketing communications is undeniable. For brands, that represents the opportunity to access big data in real time to build brand affinity, drive purchase and create an ongoing relationship with a consumer. For consumers, it represents the possibility of relevant and engaging creative and content marketing that helps in decision making and validates the brand relationship.
But Rome was not built in a day.
So, we had programmatic 1.0 which was the toddler stage - basic automation, initial data sets, and remnant inventory. Then the tween years of 2.0 (which we arguably are still in) where the technology, data, and inventory improved but walled gardens were erected creating empires similar to old school media behemoths we all recall in print or television.
But the funny thing about evolution, is that it's impossible to stop. The technology is here. The data is being collected, organized and analyzed. Consumers are not only on one platform, on one device. I hope what programmatic 3.0 delivers is the promise of using quality data, impressive technology and fantastic inventory (great marketing communications vehicles in and around the content, commerce and community forums consumers love) to allow brands and their fans to engage in a much richer, more fun, ongoing conversation across channels! Dare I type it or will you stop reading? The right message at the right time to the right person on the right device. Sill there?
I hope the lumascape narrows and the companies that are features or point solutions at their core are acquired or become extinct, allowing marketers to navigate solutions more easily than in today's deafening landscape. And those that are left standing allow the promise of automation and data driven marketing communications to deliver the vision, vs. recreating the old way of doing business just with many more mouths to feed in the food chain.