Singapore – Global digital advertising company Aleph Group has announced that it has completed the acquisition of Entravision Global Partners (EGP), the digital commercial partnership business unit of Entravision Communications Corporation.

This strategic move significantly expands Aleph’s global footprint, solidifying its position as the single point of access for global digital media platforms seeking to reach audiences across Latin America, Asia-Pacific (APAC), the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. 

With this, Aleph now reaches over 140 countries, empowering over 60 digital media platforms and over 26,000 advertisers with direct access to a combined audience of 3 billion consumers.

Through this acquisition Aleph will also strengthen its presence in 29 markets, through Southeast Asia (formerly MediaDonuts), Latin America, and Central America (formerly Cisneros Interactive), extending its relationships with partners such as TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), Spotify, Pinterest, Criteo, Snapchat, and others.

Gaston Taratuta, CEO and founder at Aleph Group, stated, “The acquisition of EGP marks an important milestone for Aleph. We have great respect for what they built as a worthy competitor. With EGP’s deep roots in key Central America and APAC markets, this acquisition perfectly complements our existing global network. Aleph is now the only and undisputed global leader in enabling digital marketing in emerging economies.”

He added, “As Aleph approaches its 20 year anniversary in 2025, we are building a generational business, and we look forward to continued growth and success. The shift from offline to online GDP is accelerating, and we are committed to driving digital communication, payments and education in these markets.”

Singapore – Integral Ad Science (IAS) has announced new partnerships with social media platforms Pinterest and Reddit to provide advertisers for these platforms with AI-driven brand safety measurement tools via IAS’s AI-driven Total Media Quality (TMQ) Brand Safety and Suitability product.

As part of Total Media Quality (TMQ) for Pinterest, advertisers get access to Viewability, Invalid Traffic (IVT), and Brand Safety Measurement within IAS Signal, the unified reporting platform that delivers the data and insights advertisers need to easily manage their digital campaigns. This enhancement expands on IAS’s partnership with Pinterest, which offered Viewability and Invalid Traffic (IVT) Measurement across display and video inventory in 2023. 

Meanwhile, for Reddit–the partnership will give advertisers an additional layer of trusted, third-party transparency in their investment on Reddit as they reach and engage with the platform’s 100,000+ interest-based, intent-driven communities. Global Reddit advertisers will have access to IAS’s reliable, independent Brand Safety and Suitability, Viewability, and Invalid Traffic (IVT) measurement to safeguard and scale their campaigns across Reddit. 

Lisa Utzschneider, CEO of IAS, said, “Reddit continues to be a leader in contextually relevant conversations, with a breadth of opportunities for advertisers to reach its highly engaged communities. Our partnership will give Reddit customers additional confidence that their ads are appearing alongside content that aligns with their brand values via reliable and accurate data, so they can focus on driving business growth within Reddit’s uniquely valuable archive of human experience.”

She added, “Marketers are looking for brand safe destinations to reach highly engaged audiences across demographics as they look to safeguard and scale their brands. The launch of our AI-driven Total Media Quality for Pinterest reaffirms our commitment to giving advertisers the confidence that their spend is being allocated towards appropriate environments.” 

Bill Watkins, chief revenue officer of Pinterest, said, “In partnership with IAS, we are excited to offer brand safety to our customers and give them greater confidence in their advertising strategies through best-in-class technology. Pinterest is committed to providing a shoppable, positive platform for consumers, and our work with IAS will ensure advertisers can engage with the right audiences as they move from inspiration, to consideration, to conversion.” 

Meanwhile, Jim Squires, EVP of business marketing and growth at Reddit, commented, “Third-party validation underscores our commitment to equipping Reddit advertisers with the tools they need to confidently grow on our platform. With IAS, we’re giving our clients a clear understanding of where their ads are appearing and how they’re delivering on Reddit, increasing confidence and allowing them to focus on what matters: developing their campaign strategy and creative.” 

When you read the title of this article you might think the opposite. You might think there are already too many tools out there but in fact that’s not the reality. At least within independent agencies, it is not true and if you look at bigger agencies, tools are rarely adopted and used across markets. 

What are tools?

Tools are like a recipe. Once you have the right formula you write it down and start working on making it easier and applicable to all situations. You remove the manual bits and bring more automation. 

Tools will help you systemise a success that you encountered before or help you overcome an issue you regularly have. Overall, all tools’ purpose is to reduce manual and ad-hoc work to save time but not only that otherwise it would be the same as a process. 

Let’s clarify the difference between a tool and a process. A process is a few steps put together to achieve an end goal and usually, it will leverage several tools in the steps, while a tool is a platform or a technology that is automated and will minimise as much as possible the manual and ad-hoc work. 

The benefit of having a tool in an agency is to repeat some work as much as you want and to be able to scale it to more brands and more markets. For example, a budget optimiser tool will help every time a plan is being created to optimise the budget so the campaign can deliver maximum ROAS. If there is no tool, then it becomes a manual process every time a planner builds a media plan and resulting in wasting time with repeated tasks.

Tools in advertising

From a campaign perspective, how do tools help in driving cost savings and deliver more effective campaigns? It’s simple. If you have to repeat the same processes and task every time you build a plan it will require a lot of hours of specialists. This means more budget is required to make it happen. 

In our previous example, of a budget optimiser tool, if there is no such tool available, the agency has every time to collect data, analyse it and build the optimised budget. Not only does this require a budget to do but also it is a source of error as it is all manual work. 

Tools can be created to serve specific purposes and therefore directly drive efficiency for campaigns. In our previous example, a budget optimiser tool will help to make the most of each channel by avoiding the point of diminishing return (PODR).

Tools are innovation catalysts 

A tool is a way to ensure every client can benefit from the innovation. If the innovation is not conceptualised in a tool, then every time the client wants to leverage the innovation the wheel needs to be reinvented and the process started again. Having tools guarantees that each client of the agency will benefit from it and use it.

Tools in agencies 

We mentioned earlier a budget optimser tool. Yes, that’s something you should request from your agency as it will ensure your media budget is well spent across each of the channels you will use. In other words, it will help you deliver the maximum ROAS for your campaign. You could expect some performance improvements around 5-8%. Let’s now look at the different types of tools you should request from your agency:

  • Insight tools – Another repetitive task that every agency is doing is uncovering insights to inform each strategy. Not so repetitive as each insight is different but the process of doing it via different sources can be time-consuming and repetitive. You could again push your agency to formalise the process with building a tool that can extract data in an automated way from various sources but also visualise it in an actionable way. These tools are more applicable to the planning stage of your campaign. You should request from your agency tools that are present all across the steps of a campaign, from planning to reporting. This will help you win. 
  • Execution tools – Planning tools are important, but nothing is more important than the execution of a campaign. Look into tools that are simplifying the media buying process. For example, a tool that could aggregate all buying platforms into one platform. This would allow the optimisation of your campaign to happen in one single platform rather than 5 to 10 various platforms. It will drive effectiveness for your campaigns.

Finally, let’s tackle a topic related to tools but more relevant to agencies. Adopting new tools within an agency can be challenging, but with the right approach, you can increase the likelihood of successful integration. Here are some strategies to help ensure that new tools are adopted by teams:

  • Identify the Need and Benefits
    • Clearly articulate why the new tool is necessary and how it addresses specific pain points or improves current processes.
    • Highlight the benefits, such as increased efficiency, better collaboration, or cost savings.
  • Involve the Team Early
    • Involve team members in the selection process to ensure the tool meets their needs and preferences.
    • Gather feedback and consider conducting a pilot test with a small group to gather insights before a full rollout.
  • Provide Training and Support
    • Offer comprehensive training sessions to help team members become comfortable with the new tool.
    • Provide resources such as tutorials, FAQs, and a dedicated support team to address questions and issues.
  • Communicate Clearly
    • Communicate the implementation plan, including timelines, expectations, and how the tool will be integrated into existing workflows.
    • Use multiple channels (emails, meetings, documentation) to ensure everyone is informed.
  • Showcase Success Stories
    • Share success stories and case studies of how the tool has benefited other teams or organisations.
    • Highlight quick wins and positive outcomes from the pilot phase or early adopters within the team.
  • Encourage and Reward Adoption
    • Encourage team members to use the tool by recognizing and rewarding those who embrace it.
    • Create a culture where experimentation and learning are valued, reducing resistance to change.
  • Monitor and Iterate
    • Continuously monitor the adoption process and gather feedback from the team.
    • Be prepared to make adjustments based on feedback and changing needs.
  • Measure and Report Progress
    • Establish metrics to track adoption rates, usage patterns, and impact on productivity.
    • Regularly report on progress and celebrate milestones to keep the team motivated and informed.

To conclude I would say that tools are critical in advertising, and we need more of them if and only if they serve a strategic purpose and if you build processes for them to be used. 

This thought leadership piece is written by Sebastien Lepez, Founder and CEO at JOLT Digital

Singapore – Integral Ad Science, a global media measurement and optimization platform, has announced that it has expanded its reporting and insights to Amazon. Through a server-to-server (S2S) interaction on Amazon’s DSP, advertisers now have access to measurement coverage for campaigns across Amazon custom audiences and Twitch inventory.

Advertisers in Amazon DSP from IAS have access to viewability, invalid traffic (IVT), brand safety, and appropriateness as solutions. 

IAS now offers Amazon DSP media buyers brand safety and suitability, viewability, and IVT measurement for custom audiences, as well as viewability and IVT measurement for Twitch. Cross-device measurement is available on the web and via apps for CTV, mobile, desktop, and tablet. 

Viewability, invalid traffic assessment with Amazon Ads, and brand safety and suitability expansions from IAS will be accessible in IAS Signal. The purpose of this platform is to give marketers a more uniform view of their global campaigns and more access to campaign data. 

In the third quarter of 2023, IAS also improved its integration with Amazon Ads by adding Context Control pre-bid segments. In addition to IAS’s regular pre-bid categories in Amazon DSP, customers can now simply select where their advertisements appear and reach contextually relevant content. 

Speaking about the partnership, Lisa Utzschneider, CEO of IAS, said, “IAS and Amazon Ads share the value of customer obsession, and our global collaboration demonstrates how our companies continue to maximise return on investment for advertisers and are committed to providing independent measurement. This is yet another way IAS is empowering marketers with actionable data to drive superior results, giving them more confidence that their spend is being optimised towards performance.”

The new era of contextual advertising is not just focused on becoming more privacy-centric following the impending phaseout of third-party cookies but rather it is also focused on driving efficiency for businesses and offering new ways to engage with its consumer base through multiple channels and varied advertising stipulations.

As part of the What’s NEXT Interview series, MARKETECH APAC spoke with Marc Zander, global chief client officer at Teads, to learn more about the new strategies and insights in the new era of digital advertising. The company’s cloud-based omnichannel platform enables brands to implement programmatic advertising campaigns across the global ecosystem of quality digital media.

To begin with, Zander shared that while artificial intelligence has been at the core of the latest trends in digital marketing and advertising, there has a been a shift from predictive to generative AI in the industry, noting that Teads’ proprietary contextual advertising runs on predictive AI and has been in effect for a significant period of time.

“From a Teads perspective, we’re in a great position because we use AI in everything we do and have been doing that for the last 10 years. And we use it very much from a predictive perspective to make sure that we maximise the effectiveness and efficiency of our client’s advertising budget,” he said.

Zander also added, “We’re moving very much from predictive AI to generative AI and looking again to see how we can create multiple variations in ad context to provide the best possible solutions.”

He also notes how Teads is using AI for creative optimisation, as well as measurement and prediction tools in its system, making AI an integral part of their offerings for their clients.

Part of the change that he also observed in the industry is the shift in media consumption, specifically moving away from linear TV to connected TV (CTV). Such shift has made Teads fully embrace this shift, resulting in them building a quality brand safe for clients that ensures a fraud-free ecosystem for brands online.

Meanwhile, when asked about his perspective on the move to cookieless advertising, Zander mentioned that this is more of a good news for Teads, as its services is centred around contextual advertising. This means that with them having access to data from their partner publishers, they are able to get much more quality and quantity of data that doesn’t infringe any consumer privacy.

“We’ve been essentially cookie-free for the last three years, and we’ve been working over the last two years to prove to our clients and our advertisers that we can deliver at least the same, if not better results, in a cookieless world. Whilst a lot of advertisers may think “what do we do in a cookieless world”, Teads is already cookieless by default, and over 75% of everything that we do is cookieless,” he explained.

In terms of advice for brands to future-proof their digital advertising strategies, Zander offers three particular actionable advice for marketers to follow. They include having a strategic look on the media supplies being put in the system, deciding on who you want to work with and leverage what they can do, practise responsible advertising, as well as reducing carbon footprint.

“From our perspective, a phrase that I use a lot is “we’re only just starting to scratch off the surface of our potential”, and so we are working with more and more partners, [and] we’re really excited because we’ve grown very quickly,” he said.

Zander also advised, “We live in a world now where the best marketers are breaking down the silos between creative, media, data and insight. Whilst it’s a more complicated ecosystem, it also has tons more potential than it had in the past.”

For more of Zander’s insights on the future of digital advertising in 2024 and beyond, check out the full video interview on our official YouTube channel or check out the podcast version at our official Spotify page.

Singapore – Singapore-headquartered SQREEM Technologies, a global digital behaviour aggregator company, has announced its definitive acquisition of Singapore’s TotallyAwesome, a contextual digital advertising platform specialising in youth marketing in the Asia-Pacific region.

The deal will integrate TotallyAwesome’s extensive reach of over 900 million users and human-curated whitelists with SQREEM’s proprietary AI technology to produce enhanced, precision-targeted web environments for young users and their families, significantly increasing safety in ad placements. 

Together, the pair will form the largest behaviour audience repository on the planet, reaching over 2.4 billion consumers in 80 countries.

Moreover, the acquisition strategically positions SQREEM to navigate the complex landscape of ethical youth marketing, especially as global conversations increasingly emphasise the responsible use of AI in targeting vulnerable audiences. 

By extending SQREEM’s product suite to include comprehensive, age-appropriate solutions, the purchase combines SQREEM’s advanced AI-driven behavioural database and TotallyAwesome’s robust understanding of youth audiences and their digital experiences across 14 key Asia-Pacific markets, offering brands and agencies an unparalleled ability to reach millions of young consumers and parents in a safe and compliant way.

The combined tech stack of SQREEM and TotallyAwesome will be accessible on a unified full-service platform, offering agencies significant cost reductions and improved operational margins. TotallyAwesome’s existing team, approximately 100 strong across key markets including Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City, Melbourne and Sydney will merge with SQREEM’s global workforce to streamline operational processes and expand market reach, enhancing efficiency and market competitiveness.

Ian Chapman-Banks, CEO of SQREEM, said, “SQREEM now offers the most comprehensive solution for advertising agencies and brands seeking to connect with youth audiences ethically and effectively. Our combination of tech and expertise will demonstrate how brands can precisely tailor their engagement with kids, teens and families while prioritising safety and trust.”

Meanwhile, Raja Kanniappan, CEO of TotallyAwesome, commented, “SQREEM’s acquisition of TotallyAwesome perfectly aligns with our strategy of curating high value audiences without cookies, drawing on our 9+ years of experience in marketing to kids, teens and families – and our more recent 18+ audience offering. With SQREEM’s cutting-edge AI technology solving the industry-wide challenge of activating against cookie-free intent-based audience segmentation, this union significantly strengthens both companies across all industry sectors.”

Singapore – Digital entertainment and media platform Azerion has recently unveiled its latest suite of video solutions, designed to drive consideration and engagement across JAPAC.

These new video formats leverage proprietary technology and seamless integrations into a curated network of premium sites across APAC to deliver extraordinary advertising experiences on every screen.

Furthermore, Azerion promises versatility in presenting advertisers with connections to diverse audiences through new and exciting combinations of ad formats to make campaigns more effective.

Going into detail with this initiative, Azerion offers viewers seamless navigation through video content using familiar gestures such as hovering, swiping, and clicking, while also having the option to embed interactive elements in videos, direct shopping from the video interface, personalised video experiences, and rewarded video experiences through engagement incentives. 

Talking about these integrations, Lizzie Grant, director of operations & partnerships JAPAC at Azerion, said, “Applying strategic targeting to video campaigns has never been more accessible, with key data integrations to access broadcast audiences such as Samba TV audience behaviour, TV synch, through to lower funnel curated audiences based on user browse behaviour via our proprietary DMP, we have the power to make brand videos work smarter and harder.”

Meanwhile, Jay McCalla, creative director at Azerion, commented, “We have always prided ourselves on our creative expertise, we know what works and how to ensure maximum user engagement. Video is a natural space for us to bring our creativity to life and work with brands in a way that suits their needs to drive strong results.”

Thailand – Arçelik Hitachi Home Appliances, the global provider of Hitachi-branded home appliances (excluding Japan), has teamed up with Scope3 to help drive the target reduction and inform lasting changes to Arçelik Hitachi’s digital media strategy.

Arçelik Hitachi is on a mission to reduce the carbon emissions from its digital advertising campaigns by at least 25% over a six-month period. 

In this partnership, Scope3 will work with Arçelik Hitachi’s agency H+ to help reduce emissions in their digital campaigns by removing climate risk inventory (MFA and inventory with high carbon emissions) using Green Media Products (GMP+), which also blocks problematic ad placements by design.

Arçelik Hitachi will leverage Scope3’s granular, dynamic, and comprehensive emissions data model designed to accurately measure the carbon emissions from digital advertising. The model powers Scope3’s suite of reduction solutions for brands, agencies, and publishers, including Green Media Products, Climate Shield, and more.

The optimisation will occur midway through a six-month campaign period to provide a definitive side-by-side comparison of reductions and performance data. It will run from May to December 2024 in four markets: Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

According to Melis Erdinç, head of digital marketing at Arçelik Hitachi Home Appliances, engaging Scope3 to reduce the carbon footprint of its digital advertising activities is the next step in the company’s sustainability journey.

“With our parent company, Arçelik, being recognised by Corporate Knights in its ‘2023 Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World’ list, Arçelik Hitachi places sustainability at the core of our business and is always looking at new and innovative ways to help us get to Net Zero by 2050. Last year, when Scope3 expanded its activities in Southeast Asia, we eagerly seized the opportunity to collaborate. Together with Scope3, we are pioneering a greener approach to digital advertising. We’re thrilled to commit to a 25% reduction in the carbon footprint of our digital marketing activity by the end of 2024. I’m proud to say that this partnership reflects our commitment to sustainability and innovation,” Erdinç explained. 

Ben Poole, director at H+, also shared, “We are excited to be affecting sustainable change in the industry through this pioneering partnership. More sustainable media is also better quality and more effective. We are committed to developing a continuous programme of emissions reduction with Scope3, Arçelik Hitachi, and other brands in the region.”

Meanwhile, June Cheung, head of JAPAC at Scope3, said, “We want to help brands and agencies across Southeast Asia increase media efficiency, reduce emissions, and drive industry-wide change, so we are delighted that Arçelik Hitachi has committed to decisive and bold action to reduce the carbon footprint of its digital advertising. We are confident that Scope3’s data and the Green Media Products offered by our partners will be able to drive both the reductions and performance Arçelik Hitachi is seeking, and that their reductions journey will inspire other forward-thinking brands across the region to follow suit.”

Singapore Bonzai, the creative automation platform, has launched its latest service, Fillboard, a premium digital ad format designed to improve viewability and user experience (UX) for advertising served on desktop, tablet, and mobile platforms.

With the introduction of Fillboard, a customised ad format by Bonzai, marketers can draw in and retain users without interfering with their enjoyment of the website’s content. Advertisers looking to create distinctive and impactful campaigns are empowered by this technology. 

The possibility that the target audience will see the advertisement, its longevity during an advertising impression, and whether or not it will appear on a user’s screen when a page or app loads are all indicated by the Ad Viewability Score. The desire for the ad inventory rises when an ad’s viewability score rises and campaign performance reports get better. Using ad styles that will grab viewers’ attention is one of the industry norms for optimising viewability, which is important for publishers and advertisers alike.

Speaking about the launch, Rahul Pandey, founder and CEO at Bonzai, said, “With a keen understanding of how the slightest boost in user attention can bring significant gains in ad awareness, Bonzai Fillboard was designed with care. We are offering a solution that helps avoid outdated intrusive methods, prioritising contextual advertising that aligns with user intent. Moving away from formats that interrupt, cover site content or don’t work across devices, advertisers can now utilise Fillboard, a fresh way to connect with all their audiences and stand out in the crowded digital landscape.”

Meanwhile, Ash Tanwar, head of ad Operations at The Guardian, commented, “Our long-standing partnership with Bonzai has played a pivotal role in shaping our vision for a product geared towards enhancing ad effectiveness. Close collaboration with the team has culminated in an ad format that ensures heightened viewability for our readers, thanks to its ingenious cross-screen experience. With initial testing already proving to have promising results, this new product in market will undoubtedly excite our advertisers.” 

Brands looking to connect with online audiences are often faced with the challenge of striking a delicate balance between efficiency and creativity when it comes to their advertising efforts. To succeed there is a need to maintain creative edge amidst efficiency and ensure that ads not only resonate with their audience but also deliver tangible business results.

To delve deeper into this topic, MARKETECH APAC sat down with Thomas Haugan, head of APAC at Bannerflow, a Creative Management Platform (CMP) enabling in-house marketing teams to take control of their digital and social advertising. 

In this exclusive interview, Haugan shares his expertise and insights on leveraging technology and automation to drive efficiency without compromising creativity in digital advertising.

The vital role of creativity in digital ads

“Beyond ensuring that the ads do justice to the brand itself, which might be more of a subjective matter of opinion, it is equally important from a business perspective”, Haugan said.

Google says that 70% of performance is determined by creative and according to Nielsen creativity drives 56% of a campaign’s sales ROI, while Kantar and WARC gathered evidence showing that the most creative and effective ads can generate more than four times as much profit. Similarly, a study by Yahoo and Magna Media Trials found that “quality creative is an effective KPI driver for brands compared to ad media placement, driving top-of-mind ad recall (79%), brand favorability (77%), and purchase intent (76%).”

Conversely, under-optimised creative can result in wasted media spend, representing a substantial loss in marketing investments. Some reports claim this wastage is as high as 55%.

Looking at this data, Haugan commented, “Think about how crazy that is—wasting up to 50%+ of the media budgets, according to industry reports, and, as an additional consequence, also wasting much of the effort and budgets used to create those ads in the first place. It is needless to say that this is less than an optimal return on marketing investments, to put it nicely.” 

He further emphasised that brands must optimise creative content tailored to specific channels, audiences, and contexts. Automation and direct integrations with ad networks can facilitate this optimisation, ensuring that ads deliver maximum impact and ROI.

Streamlining creative production with technology and automation

Haugan emphasises that technology and automation play pivotal roles in enabling brands to streamline their creative processes while maintaining a high level of creativity. 

By leveraging automation, brands can eliminate repetitive and manual tasks involved in the design and production of ads, allowing creatives more time to focus on ideation and design. Utilising technology and automation streamlines the process of scaling an initial master design into all the various sizes and versions needed for a campaign, across all the different channels and languages. This efficiency drives up to 80% of time savings compared to traditional manual methods.

“It is, however, important to automate without limiting the flexibility a brand needs to create the ads exactly how they want them to be. Or, said differently, don’t sacrifice creativity just for efficiency alone, that’s not going to deliver the results you want either. This is why we don’t believe in having rigid, templated solutions, but rather enabling a brand full flexibility to apply changes at scale or in individual ads at any point during the creative process, even after a campaign has gone live,” Haugan stressed. 

Technology is also a significant aspect of driving efficiency, as it fosters better collaboration between internal and external teams. It optimises workflow by eliminating inefficiencies such as sharing files back and forth and receiving feedback through multiple channels, thus saving more time for the campaign preparation process.

Another aspect of driving efficiency is dynamic creative, which utilises automation to enhance efficiency and performance by automatically updating elements such as pricing and availability without manual intervention. 

Through Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO), brands can tailor multiple versions to different target audiences, utilising a base template to display relevant combinations of creative, messaging, and offers. This streamlined approach generates numerous ad variants effortlessly, maximising effectiveness across various ad sizes and digital ad channels.

Key challenges and solutions for balancing efficiency with creativity for brands in APAC 

Across numerous meetings with hundreds of brands in APAC that connected with Bannerflow, Haugan was able to pinpoint a recurring challenge where many brands struggle to create rich content at scale within tight timelines and budgetary restrictions. Consequently, many resort to suboptimal content or less content than desired to meet campaign deadlines and be able to work within these budget constraints.

Automation solutions offer a viable path to overcome these challenges by enabling the rapid creation of premium content at a fraction of the time and cost associated with manual methods.

According to Haugan, brands need the right tool that can help them create premium, rich content at scale, at a fraction of the time and costs it would take to do it manually and/or via external partners.

In Bannerflow’s case, the platform enables designers to create rich, interactive HTML5s without needing to write a single line of code or having to do it one by one. 

Automating repetitive tasks, especially adapting ads to various sizes and languages, significantly saves time. This allows designers and marketers to focus more of their time on creativity, leading to more effective ads that offer better value for their media spend.

Secondly, by enabling flexibility throughout the entire process, technology can help brands not be locked into one creative design at the beginning of the process, but rather continue to adapt and optimise throughout the entire campaign lifecycle, even after the campaign has gone live.

Lastly, DCO, a longstanding industry buzzword, presents both a priority and a challenge for many brands. While some effectively utilise dynamic creative, a significant portion falls into two categories: those disappointed by previous DCO platform experiences and those lacking the capacity to implement it. Generating enough creatives remains a common issue, where automation offers valuable assistance.

Leveraging automation for continuous improvement

Haugan believed in the transformative impact of automation on campaign management, particularly in terms of measurement, optimisation, and personalisation. 

Direct publishing revolutionises campaign management, offering innovative optimisation methods. In contrast to the traditional approach, where changes entail a lengthy process of design, asset exporting and sharing with a media team or agency for manual uploading; direct publishing enables swift adjustments based on real-time performance data, cutting down on turnaround time from days to minutes or hours.

Haugan shared, “One of our regional airline clients shared how this process [the traditional approach] prevented them from capitalising on certain tactical sales opportunities because, by the time they would have refreshed creatives in the market, it would be too late. Or, in other words, losing out on revenue-generating opportunities because of manual workflows.” 

With automation, this all changes dramatically. Firstly, it eliminates the manual publishing process, allowing for direct submission of creatives to the preferred advertising platform. 

Secondly, as soon as a campaign goes live, close to real-time creative performance insights become available, providing a valuable understanding of campaign performance and audience engagement with the creative content.

Thirdly, should a change be required, one can promptly access the platform, implement modifications, and swiftly update live ads in near real-time across multiple channels, drastically reducing the time required for such tasks from days to minutes.

Haugan shared that one of their clients at Bannerflow, CMC Markets, saw a 23% increase in post-click conversions by being able to update their campaigns in real-time and be more topical in their messaging. 

“This completely changes how you think about the management of campaigns, where you can go live with an initial design and then continuously optimise for as long as the campaign is live and as you get feedback from the audience,” Haugan remarked. 

Additionally, automation further extends its capabilities by enabling dynamic design elements sourced from a feed, facilitating the rapid creation of thousands of ads tailored to each viewer. This Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO) ensures that the most pertinent combination of creative, messaging, and offers is delivered automatically. Moreover, updates to the feed source automatically reflect changes in information such as price or availability, streamlining production, enhancing content relevance, and minimising media spend wastage.

“With the right technology and automation platform at your fingertips, brands have an opportunity to drive real efficiency and relevance, but importantly, without having to sacrifice creativity,” he concluded.