Dun and Bradstreet: Programmatic Advertising, Trust and Confidence

Michael Krigsman: I’m Michael Krigsman, an industry analyst and the host of CxOTalk. And today, we’re talking about B2B programmatic advertising with two world experts: Anudit Vikram, Senior Vice President of Audience Solutions at Dun & Bradstreet and Mike Zaneis, who is the CEO of the Trustworthy Accountability Group. When we talk about B2B programmatic advertising, what do we mean?

Anudit Vikram: Programmatic advertising is all about advertising using machines (using technology) and using what we have now to be more efficient than how we were running advertising in the past. So, the olden days of many, many people running advertising using IOs, creating media plans, has kind of given way to machines making us a little bit more faster, cheaper in some ways, and running advertising using algorithms and bidding on media — deciding the actual price automatically, and essentially just scaling out advertising way more than we could have in the past.

Michael Krigsman: So, programmatic advertising gives marketers a way of connecting the dots between their marketing spend and the ROI they get back.

Anudit Vikram: Absolutely! I mean, technology, you know, the best thing about technology? It allows you to measure just about everything that you were doing. And so, one of the bigger benefits of programmatic — outside of the fact that it gives us this immense scale in letting advertisers, brand marketers, reach exactly who they want and when —  is also the ability to connect back to what was working for them. You know, where was money actually being rightly spent?

Michael Krigsman: Mike, the Trustworthy Accountability Group is focused on key challenges that marketers must address as they’re engaging in this type of program. So, tell us about that.

Michael Zaneis: So, we’ve gone away from sort of one-to-one relationships that used to exist. And now, it’s one-to-many. Marketers have, perhaps, hundreds or even thousands of partners that touch their ads before they actually are displayed on a website or device. So, the challenge is to have transparency around who your partners are to make sure that they’re legitimate actors; to make sure your ads are on appropriate content; and then, of course, to make sure that real humans are seeing your ads and not non-human, fraudulent traffic.

Michael Krigsman: So, there’s a need to rebuild that chain of trust.

Michael Zaneis: There really is. It’s about transparency. That’s the foundation of trust. And so, the idea of having common standards, and a high level of conduct that you can hold your partners to, is what’s vitally important these days in the space.

Anudit Vikram: Yep! If you look at the LUMAscape (you know, one of the most popular diagrams in our space), you can see the hundreds and thousands of actors that play here. And I think what programmatic does for us is: it allows each of those actors to provide value into the supply chain. And so, you know, having companies like TAG be there and put in processes in place, which allow us to then have that visibility into the actual supply chain — into the advertising technology supply chain — if you will, becomes even more important for us today.

Michael Krigsman: So, Mike, it’s data and trust that come together; that create the right kind of result with programmatic advertising for marketers.

Anudit Vikram: That's exactly right. I mean, it's a wonderful marriage when we can make it happen. There's been a bit of a disconnect over the past few years as the industry has really grown and matured into the programmatic space. But, I think, because of datasets like what D&B provides to the industry, because of programs like TAG, and others like the Media Rating Council accreditation, we're bringing those two variables back together into this wonderful harmony, which is going to really provide value and brand safety to marketers.

Michael Krigsman: So, what is your collective wisdom, so to speak, having done this for a long time that you can offer to marketers?

Anudit Vikram: Well, when we think about data, I think about it in three major pockets, if you will. First, the fact that we have access to data means that we can be so much better at identifying and targeting the people that we want to reach. Second, the fact that we have data means that we are going to be so much better at measuring what our marketing campaign is actually doing for us. And finally, being able to take that data — that measured information —  that we have, and then run analysis against it; run models against it. So, you use the data for targeting, you use data for measurement, and then you use the data for analysis that feeds right back into targeting and makes everything become so much more efficient in the long run.

Michael Krigsman: And Mike, you’re going to get the last word. What is your advice to marketers on ensuring that that chain of trust remains intact?

Michael Zaneis: The key for marketers, these days, is to take personal responsibility. It's all about brand safety, and that begins with you, and you have to own it and use it appropriately. It can give you power and a wonderful ROI.

Michael Krigsman: Mike Zaneis, CEO of the Trustworthy Accountability Group and Anudit Vikram, CEO of Audience Solutions, Dun & Bradstreet. Thank you so much for taking the time today!