Machine-Built Brands

Is display advertising a dying breed? Possibly, but if done right, it can be just as effective as search, if not more so. The real question is: Can the "machines" that are used to buy display advertising have a role in building brands? Yes -- but only if the creative is up to the job.Think of any checkout line at a grocery store or pharmacy. Most times when you go to the grocery store, you aren't going for the gum, the candy bars or the tabloids that are at the checkout line. But once you've gotten the staples you originally came for, that pack of gum looks very tempting and given where it's displayed, it's that much easier to just grab a pack and throw it in your basket. This scenario is completely different than one in which someone who has to have a piece of gum after every meal sees a commercial for Trident Layers -- a gum from a trusted company that recently has been running lots ofcommercials -- and goes into the local Duane Reade or CVS with the intention of buying it. The former is what usually happens in the case of display advertising: machine-based buying, which is good for driving short-term and immediate transactions, is the checkout line. However, it's not necessarily good for building a brand people want to buy -- online or offline. That's because people forget that it's not about the algorithm -- it's about the content. There seems to be a belief that if we find the right algorithm and give the right data, the right ad will appear on the right page at the right time and the consumer will pay attention to it or, even better, buy. There is an entire ecosystem emerging that exists to reassure brands that the "right place" is still brand safe. Data and algorithms are amazing tools and advertisers have been studying them and optimizing based on data since theinception of advertising. Now we are looking to technology and data to deal with the shortage of media planners and the cacophony of options available through the Internet. Machine-based buying should be in a publisher's advertising mix. However, just like the items in the checkout line, there is also no machine that can create a compelling brand experience with multiple, interactive ad units that relate to the content on the page (but maintain editorial independence) and leave the viewer impressed.Only content experts, working in tandem with creative advertising professionals, can create those experiences. With a 15-, 30- or 60-second TV spot, advertisers create their own experiences where they have 100 percent of the viewers' attention. Interstitials and pre-roll videos re-create that online in smaller time spans. But the number of viewers who see an interstitial or pre-roll is tiny compared to TV.Advertisers and premium publishers have a mutually beneficial opportunity here. Together, advertisers and publishers can create scalable, unique brand experiences. Combine compelling creative with the right context and a partnership to create a memorable user experience, and you have brand magic.For example, my third-grade son had a homework assignment recently that entailed finding and reporting on three advertisements he saw that he liked. He had to report on where he saw the ad, who the ad was targeting, its message, and if he thought it was effective. We didn't find a single winner in the online advertising space (he chose Honda Accord's "Cog," Pepsi's "Pinball" and Procter & Gamble's "Thank You Mom" contest). He had seen Pepsi and P&G on TV, and we found all three on YouTube. His favorite was P&G because he loved the Olympics and it had to do with the Winter Games -- and he loved that it made his mother cry every time we saw it. Because of this commercial, he became aware of Crest and Tide. He's years away from buying, but P&G has started a brand experience with him. A brand experience online must strive for the same effect (while not targeting the third grader).The big black box of advertising has many areas where it can help uncover content, verify audiences, etc. There is a role for each advertising "machine," but building brands isn't one of them.If publishers and advertisers partner rather than buy and sell separately, there is no reason that online experiences cannot be as compelling as the P&G experience my son witnessed. The human layer provides something that no operator or machine can, and that is something all advertisers and publishers can take advantage of.Joelle Kaufman is svp, worldwide marketing at Adify. She can be reached at jkaufman@adify.com.

Brand Marketing

Machine-Built Brands

Joelle Kaufman

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Joelle Kaufman