Today we continue a series of Q&As with mobile advertising leaders leading up to Rubicon Project’s conference on Wednesday, February 26, 2014 from 9am to 1pm at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. The packed agenda includes two panels—“Ad Agencies, Mobile and the Automation Opportunity” featuring leading mobile first agencies and “Mobile First DSPs—Why? And Why Now?”
If you plan to be at Mobile World Congress and would like to attend the Wednesday conference, please send an indication of your interest here or contact sears@rubiconproject.com.
Today we continue our mobile leader series with Kate Burns, VP EMEA of Drawbridge, a mobile demand side platform.
Your Name: Kate Burns
Your Company: Drawbridge
Your Title: VP EMEA
What Flavor Ice Cream Best Describes Your Management Style?
Pistachio
SEARS: In mobile today, how much of each $1.00 spent on mobile media by one of your advertisers is spent on automated or programmatic channels?
BURNS: Depends on the vertical –
Gaming and entertainment – 50% or CPG – 10%
SEARS: For mobile, what was this number in 2011?
BURNS: Average - $0.20
SEARS: For mobile, what will this number be in 2015?
BURNS: $0.35
SEARS: App vs. mobile web. The app world is fueled by cost-per-install advertising dollars from the most popular apps such as King.com’s Candy Crush, yes or no?
BURNS: Yes. Simply because the experience in CPI is better – they “have you” because you have paid, your comprehension is that the experience is better for doing so; they want to upsell you and ENGAGE with you. It’s the rule of economics – usually the pleasure of free is short lived because the experience is pants – you are waiting to get ripped off.
SEARS: The mobile web world suffers from an inability to track users and is waiting for better targeting and more brand dollars to arrive in mobile, yes or no?
BURNS: Yes. It’s coming though – brands and agencies are catching up with consumer usage of mobile vs desktop – so with that will come innovation and better tracking. (Drawbridge has proved it is possible.)
SEARS: It seems like many of the leading agency trading desks have been slow to embrace mobile. After they solidified their work in display, most trading desks focused on building their video capabilities. What will be the catalysts for trading desks – and their operating agencies at the biggest holding companies – to place more focus on mobile?
BURNS:
1. Cause for mobile strategy within trading desks = USEAGE (consumer uptake)
2. Disagree – most of the agencies bought search in house effectively without acquisition but with good recruiting, and leveraged better deals with Google as they had the “brands” and the buying power.
3. Bad acquisitions by agencies into independents– too many to list both in mobile and search.
SEARS: Are the big carriers still relevant in mobile? Everything now happens “off deck,” SMS and call revenue is declining, yet carriers sit on a treasure trove of data. What are the biggest threats and opportunities for carriers and which ones around the globe are the most progressive? [Discuss the overall trends and give examples of what the more progressive carriers are doing. 1-4 sentences.]
BURNS:
I have to remain impartial.
Carriers are vehicles for delivering the experience but are not the experience – until carriers start investing more in content they will only be a pipe.
Delivery of quality and targeted content experiences through data is a huge opportunity.
SEARS: The future of user ID and cross device targeting. What do your advertisers use today for user targeting? Which companies (or types of companies) are in the best position to facilitate user ID and cross device targeting?
BURNS: Drawbridge is solving a major problem in mobile advertising: It is easy to target a device type, but hard to target an audience or an individual on mobile. Drawbridge has approached this problem by matching people to over 1 billion devices (growing quickly every day). On the base of this core innovation, we are able to offer marketers superior results through audience targeting with third party data, retargeting across devices and smarter "run-of-data" campaigns.
SEARS: What are the top “data points” either missing or of dubious quality in mobile media?
BURNS:
1. IDFA
2. Location
SEARS: Describe how most media (all media, digital + non-digital, non-programmatic media) is bought and sold today.
BURNS: Programmatic – RTB through agencies which is the majority of our EMEA revenue.
Direct buys/“premium” brands still require names publisher lists and “human” intervention.
SEARS: Tell us about Drawbridge.
BURNS: Drawbridge has built the first effective cross-device matching solution, bridging data from the desktop web to target over 1 billion mobile devices. Marketers can finally target audiences with precision on mobile devices to drive performance at scale, unlocking the true potential of mobile advertising.
SEARS: What are Drawbridge’s three biggest initiatives for 2014?
BURNS:
1. Video
1. Desktop
2. Self-service Programmatic
SEARS: By 2015, what percentage of total media spend across your holding company (or your agency, or your agency/trading desk clients) will be programmatic?
BURNS: 60%
SEARS:
Apple vs. Google.
iOS vs. Android.
Closed vs. Open.
“The 1%”[Apple] vs. the “Middle Market” [Google].
How do you and your clients think about this dichotomy and how does it impact your advertisers? And how do global markets with a preponderance of feature phones even fit into this mix?
BURNS: Most of our partners view iOS and Android as the same vehicle for targeting users.
iOS does tend to work better in terms of response and engagement.
SEARS: To drive adoption of direct deal automation (programmatic premium) and use of the programmatic channel, what are the major impediments to overcome? Rank these in numerical order:
BURNS:
_2__ Operational or workforce issues inside the holding companies or operating agencies
_1__ Premium (direct deal) inventory availability via programmatic
_3__ Lack of proper ad technology
__4_ Alignment of agency compensation models
Supply side constraints and lack of quality inventory for programmatic buys is the single biggest issue for mobile buys.
SEARS: How are RFPs used in your business? What does a “Programmatic IO” or a “Programmatic RFP” look like?
BURNS:
RFPs are the same as they have always been.
Programmatic – platform IO is similar to a trading desk/marketplace transaction – bid placed between supply and demand in a self-serve environment.
SEARS: What should top comScore publisher CROs do to build their mobile direct order automation and programmatic selling with your trading desk and operating agencies?
BURNS: Work to gain a proper understanding of the value of their inventory. Too many factors (direct sale teams, inflated brand perception) exaggerate the true value of their inventory.
SEARS: Why is direct deal automation so important? Is it important?
BURNS: Because it helps the ecosystem derive a true value of inventory bought and sold.
Not all inventory is the same by vertical in terms of value/conversion/content – so it should be bought and sold depending on its worth to the user and advertiser.
SEARS: All of you work for global companies. What global markets are the leaders and laggards in mobile programmatic?
BURNS: I would say that most markets are on a par outside of Asia – who leads in terms of adoption and innovation.
Tell us a bit more about you.
SEARS: If you could travel for pleasure anywhere in the world, to a place you have never been, where would you go?
BURNS: Sri Lanka
SEARS: If you were trapped alone on a desert island and needed to choose one ad holding company CEO to accompany you ( other than your own holding company CEO), which CEO would you pick and why?
BURNS: Sir Martin. Because I like him ;)
SEARS: When is the last time you went out for a three martini lunch?
BURNS: With Joanna Burton.
Thanks Kate!
Jay Sears is Senior Vice President, Marketplace Development for the Rubicon Project. Sears works
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