ANYWHERE WITH A PIXEL

Great post on AdExchanger.com about the Holy Grails of digital advertising. Seems to be a hot topic intersecting many industries from technology, advertising, and media, to businesses that focus on digital interactive and marketing research and intelligence.

The quest for the most versatile digital media planning and buying tool has evolved to mythic proportions. But the question remains, who will be crowned king of technology and advertising innovators?

The very best platforms seem to maximize the media planning and buying process most efficiently. However we must be aware that the notion of the Holy Grail remains elusive, as functionality continues to scale and evolve organically, which eventually replaces version after version with additional features and improvements. This is where the conversation gets interesting. The following are some of those specific digital “Holy Grail” functions and features.

Real-Time Bidding at Scale

This capability is robust in itself, but if it were to be strongly aligned with a cross-platform distribution platform, the tool will be boundless in its potential to transform digital advertising forever. Once media space or digital ‘real estate’ can be selected and media plans built through a real-time auction and bidding engine, with complete reverse auction and pricing criteria selection, the advertising industry will be flipped on its head. The ad industry will simply be “Googlefied”.

The power of buying is back in the hands of the advertisers, which enables price discovery on a high level. Let’s see how much a Sportstron billboard is really worth at Staples Center versus Oracle Arena. This will give advertisers an opportunity to optimize the value of their marketing campaigns while justifying the actual validity of campaign strategies, audience traffic measurement, and the cost of digital units per placement. Tie this in with an audience hyper-targeting feature, and this platform will be beyond nirvana.

The Digital Back Office

There are companies out there that are super stellar at this. MediaBank’s OX Platform enables layered agency to client login features that takes you through the buying and execution process with scale and comprehensive analytics tools when integrated with their complimentary AX suite for data aggregation. It will be interesting to see what else they have up their sleeve once all of these different suites become a unified and consolidated process. But can it be crowned king of innovators?

True “Grailness” can only be achieved when media planning, execution, tracking, and optimization can be unified into a multidimensional process that incorporates both traditional and digital vehicles. The management layer will have to be versatile in being able to handle multiple users with various roles assigned—from a strategic media planner, to an execution master, to a research guru that wants to do an apples to oranges comparison of media delivery. It gets difficult when you deal with multiple media platforms. MediaBank is certainly in Lancelot form. Let’s see what happens when they come out with a new integrated optimization platform, VP.

Mobile Marketing

Everyone knows that this is the staple click-through for digital out-of-home. Aggregators have developed capabilities to include mobile in their core offerings but this integrated aspect for digital destination advertising has not caught on as quickly as mobile offerings alone—perhaps because the re-targeting element is still in infancy. The key here is to find “sweet spot” locations that bring together two different audiences—identifiable mobile patrons as they congregate in specific digital signage zones that are geographically and demographically addressable.  

The Cross Digital Attribution Tool

This tool can come in many forms—as a media planning analytics gatherer, as an optimization kit, or as a media buying platform that can harness multiple channels seamlessly. Why not build an integrated tool that can do it all? This is where the conversation gets interesting, because each one of these functions is a holy grail. Cross platform attribution will consist of a single platform on a global virtual network through which networks and advertisers can harmoniously participate in media selling and buying. This tied in to the real-time auction and bid engine will prove revolutionary for the industry—giving the power of discovery back in the hands of those who want it—the brands looking to efficiently manage their marketing campaigns.

Keith Kelsen, founder and chairman of MediaTile, revised his list of The Top Trends in Digital Signage for 2009. He wrote the list back in January and has now made a few additions. The article by itself is insightful and compelling, but I thought it might be interesting to enhance this viewpoint by exploring how each of these trends inevitably intersects the next evolution of digital destination advertising technologies and marketing intelligence.

I have no doubt that the years to come will be a period of significant transformation on every level for many industries. We are just now seeing glimpses of the vast opportunities that lie ahead, due to the robust technology we have at our disposal. We are on the cusp of something phenomenal, too extraordinary to discuss in one post, so I’ll go over each of Kelsen’s identified trends one by one and elaborate how Digital Advertising Technologies will play a significant role in shaping a new industry.

Trend #1: Content is the next main talking point for the industry

No doubt, ‘Content is king.’ This has been repeatedly ingrained in our psyches for as long as digital signage has been around. Content providers are constantly flexing their creative muscles to tell stories and communicate in more effective ways. But to me, this brings up a more important question: How can marketing intelligence improve the content creation process? It’s obvious that no matter how compelling an ad is, even if I’m singing the theme song and dancing where the impression was made, I won’t respond to the message unless the message is for me. I just won’t buy a box of Tampax unless my wife asked me to, and even this is a stretch! A more interesting discussion evolves from this: what kind of digital content has a consistent impact and response-eliciting attributes, regardless of contextual relevance? Can a thirty second spot on TV deliver the same message in an elevator? Obviously not, unless the elevator screen was sound-enabled right? With the advent of content transformation and harmonization technology, creatives need to step it up and create new and innovative templates that can be distributed cross platform. This will be the norm and content trendsetters will rule the kingdom.

Trend #2 Traditional broadcasters are getting into the digital signage marketplace

Kelsen touches on my previous points as he explains how traditional broadcasters are tasking their creative departments to implement cutting-edge tools to create the next evolution of digital signage content. Will they be Flash, Rich-Media enabled? After Effects and CGI-oriented down the line? I sure hope so. This will have to happen in order to evolve the industry. But if there was indeed a unified platform for distribution, and a technology that can transform content and deliver it anywhere with a pixel, this could also mean a transformation in the media buying process itself–maybe even syndication. Also, can a digital signage media vehicle support brand initiatives in new ways, blurring the lines between platforms? Content transformation technology can truly lead to pure integrated marketing. Account directors no longer have to manage multiple campaigns. One buy means executing an array of advertising initiatives and a new level of interactivity.

Trend #3 Agencies are awakening to the power of digital signage

His points are sound but I would also be willing to argue that even though agencies are realizing the power of digital signage, they are also weary of the vehicle and frustrated because of the lack of efficiency in this space. The digital signage industry is too fragmented to execute efficient media buys. Too many networks, too many formats to recreate content. Not enough time. There needs to be ONE platform to deliver brand messaging across ALL digital signage networks and a technology that can transform content and deliver it to any audience, anywhere with a pixel. One distribution channel across multiple platforms. One powerful audience targeting application. This is what advertisers and agencies value. Efficiency. If you could take the power of a technology with a global enterprise solution and digital asset management classification, and combine this power with an application that had the robustness of an Atlas Media Console through which you can hyper-target select audiences, agencies will call this solution the ‘Holy Grail.’ They have.

Trend #4 Brands are shifting money to this market from traditional TV

Brands are indeed shifting budgets to digital signage, but also keep in mind that budgets are getting filtered into the digital space in general, not just digital destinations. Online is still what advertisers value the most because of its measurablility and functionality. If we can bring the power and functionality of the web to digital signage, the industry will truly be revived. I just think that a layer of sophistication needs to be added to the mix when it comes to measuring audiences. OVAB is currently working on establishing a clear set of guidelines for media planners to abide by in order to measure audience recall and to justify media spending on select networks.

Trend #5 Cross-platform and interaction with cell phones is critical and Trend #6 Interactivity and measurement

Multi-platform integration will always be the industry’s hottest topic. Mobile is a natural compliment to any digital destination campaign because mobile itself, is a digital destination. It displays messages with pixels. All global brands understand how important mobile is and they’ve proved it by spending billions of dollars on mobile campaigns with phased interactivity and opt-in initiatives. The next evolution here will be an evolution in proximity advertising and blue tooth technologies. D.A.T is partnered with all of the major digital sports networks like the NBA, NHL, and Nascar. These networks have the most captive audiences because sports fans are the most loyal audiences in the world. Their participation in any interactive marketing initiatives have a huge success rate granted the campaign is compelling and trendsetting. Mobile is measuable and functions like a click-through in digital signage. This kind of complimentary component will add value to any digital campaign.

Trend #7 Data-driven content or ad search for DOOH

This is where Digital Advertising Technologies establishes itself as the ultimate trendsetter and innovator of smart advertising solutions in the digital space. D.A.T is paving the way for the next generation innovation in digital destination advertising. Today, Entourage Advertising is the only platform that offers full media planning and audience targeting solutions that can execute powerful, focused ad placement across all networks of digital destinations worldwide, enabling advertisers to reach their target market with captivating precision through the digital universe of the Entourage Media Network. Entourage helps advertisers better understand their audience, maximize budgets, and improve ROI. So far, this solution is unmatched in the industry.

Trend #9 Consolidation and failures will continue

Networks are simply having a hard time monetizing their remnant ad inventory. This is why the industry is in need of a versatile aggregator to help extend their reach and increase their business. Advertisers want efficiency. The only way to accomplish this intelligently is to consolidate all digital destination platfoms into one unified media channel. Since content transformation and harmonization is already a reality, a complete and unified network is already growing and evolving its audience-targeting intelligence. You guessed it, Entourage Advertising and the Entourage Media Network.

Trend #10 Growth for the industry is positive

Growth is definitely positive if the industry is fixed first. A collective effort needs to take place, one that refurbishes a fresh set of marketing intelligence into a tool in which advertisers can target their audiences more effectively. Growth will only take place once this layer of sophistication blankets the entire industry.

Trend #11 The print industry seeks digital

I forsee the next trendsetter will have a digital foundation as their core solution, but print and all other types of marketing can be an added value to the campaign. Perhaps all media should be bought this way–through one platform that has the ability to aggregate digital destinations the same way Google AdWords aggregates websites. The true trendsetter is the company that bears in mind all of these trends, and delivers a solution that is versatile enough and adoptable on a massive scale. So far, Entourage Advertising seems poised to be the ultimate trendsetting solution.