Unless trading desks can offer a more transparent approach to their work, advertisers are likely to remain distrustful, according to experts speaking at MediaTel’s Automated Trading Debate on Tuesday.
In a session that probed client attitudes towards the growing trend to automate the ad trading process, the industry is hearing mixed messages – with the rise of programmatic both delivering substantial benefits to clients, whilst offering limited transparency.
Last month the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) announced that 87% of its members are “unhappy with the levels of transparency” offered by agency trading desks.
The WFA’s Rob Dreblow has also claimed that with the development and investment being driven by the big agency groups and ad tech companies, “it appears that not everything being created is always in the best interests of advertisers.”
However, as Danny Hopwood, head of platform EMEA at VivaKi said during Tuesday’s debate: programmatic will continue to grow because it is what clients demand.
“Because of the data insights, you can give [clients] everything they want, directly from the platform,” he said. “[You can show them] the performance of their campaign. They are hungry for that information.”
Yet the requests of advertisers to do more with their data and derive more value from campaigns means handing over a large degree of trust to specialists operating esoteric technologies.
“I think as the sector gets more complicated and fragmented we’re going to have less transparency,” warned Sarah Lawson Johnston, managing director of Mediaocean, addressing delegates about the likely future of the sector.
“[However,] advertisers are becoming much more clued up; with many actually saying they want to be more data fluent – and it is the role of agencies to help them navigate this very complicated landscape.”
Jim Marshall, chief client officer at Aegis Media, agreed and said that agencies “have a job of delivering specialist services,” but also noted that clients should not really have to understand trading desks, arguing it is for the agency representing them to manage.
VivaKi’s Hopwood shared this sentiment, but recognised the problems advertisers face.
“If we continue to talk in acronyms, it will continue to be opaque,” he said. “But it is also up to agencies to work with their clients to get them to understand trading desks.”
When asked what he thought of those that call it a “dark art,” Hopwood said agencies and clients should simply come and sit with his team and watch the work they do. “It’s just about education,” he said.
It appears the distrust issue has even prompted some larger advertisers to consider – and in some cases actively pursue – building their own trading desks.
“The transparency issue has led some clients to actively look into this,” said Ryan Kangisser, head of digital at MediaSense. “We’re working with brands that are just learning what [automated trading] can mean for them…yet despite being able to, very few pursue it because it is so difficult to do.”
Humans vs. Algorithms
Asked if automated trading would spell the end of the human touch, some operators have been quick to pour cold water on the idea.
Lawson Johnston told Newsline that people are assuming the machines are going to take over.
“But I think that’s absolutely not the case,” she says. “I work for a tech company but we’re producing platforms and technology that people can use… it’s what people do with the tech that is key; if you have great algorithms but no people to add value to them then it’s pointless – it’s about automating the right things.”
However, MediaSense’s Kangisser admitted that, in his view, the industry is in danger of losing the personal touch.
“I think there’s a tendency to focus too much on the algorithms,” he said, “and not enough on the magic agencies have spent many years creating a story about.”
Similarly, Kangisser said the fragmentation of the sector makes it difficult for clients even to know who to turn to when something goes wrong. “Who do you call out of hours when your banner isn’t showing?”
It is, he concluded, “a bit disjointed at the moment.”
See also: Automated trading “inevitable” for all media.
To find out more about MediaTel events, visit the dedicated website.
