Michel de Rijk, CEO for APAC of Xaxis , a global digital media platform that programmatically connects advertisers and publishers to audiences across all addressable channels, discussed the state of programmatics in Asia during his session in the afternoon of Day 2 of IMMAP DIgicon 2016.
Rijk started by presenting industry trends in the APAC region: from traditional to digital, from media silo to converged media, from communications to experience, from art + copy we now have code + data, and from rigid plans we now respond with agile iterations. He then proceeded to note that while we’re all scampering to keep up with the challenge of digital and enjoying the opportunities it offers, we have also come to realize the truth that our ads are still not getting to our target market., “Your ads are getiing blocked. True, 55% of our market are smartphone users but 36% of them use ad blocking apps.” In addition, there’s ad fraud which Rajk declared is the “single biggest threat in the digital industry”.
He says what we need to realize is, “The click is the worst thing that’s ever invented. The click has to die and the way to do that is to use more meaningful matrices: from CPC to VCPM, from landings to conversion, and from completed views to audience measurements.” The order of the day is evolution. Data platforms continue to evolve and so must our understanding and appropriate use of them. He punctuated his presentation with a quote from Sir Martin Sorrel, CEO of WPP, “ Rather than ‘Mad Men’ today’s advertising industry needs ‘Maths Men’ and ‘Maths Women’.
We can amass huge volumes of data about our target market and we get not only qualitative data but quantitative data as well but we must know how to read, analyze and apply them so as to make data relevant and efficient to our business. To do this, Rijk prescribes that data should be used to pinpoint information on when the right time is, where the right place should be and how and what kind of creative will yield the best response, “ The more targeted you are, the lower your click rate, specially if you deliver the right message to the right audience.
In an eMarketer report cited by Rajk, only 22% of APAC marketers regularly use data to adapt creative. For some unknown reason, the bulk of other marketers rarely mine data to help shape their creatives – a sad state considering that we now have access to data that were off limits or hard to obtain to marketers before. Rajk says, “Always think data first but know how to use programmatic to your advantage and realize that programmatics is valuable to creatives as well, “47% of agencies, publishers, and brands believe that programmatics is leading to new forms of creativity and storytelling in advertising.” Rajk concluded that contrary to what some believe that data is the bane of creativity, it may actually be a boon as it will help creatives understand their audience and provide details on how they respond to their creation. It can be very valuable in helping shape their manner of storytelling.
