Doug Weaver of Upstream Group: The Ad Automation and Programmatic Confidantes

Dougamp8217s name is synonymous with digital media and technology sales For the past 14 years heamp8217s hosted Seller Forum the industryamp8217s only peeramp8208toamp8208peer networking and content event just for digital sales leaders And each week he writes The Drift a provocative industry blog that directly reaches nearly five thousand executivesJAY SEARS What do you read to keep up with politics art and culture DOUG WEAVERamp160 NPRamp8217s political coverage and specifically the NPR Politics podcastamp160 That plus The New York Times and The Washington Post coverage and the audio feed of MSNBC on satellite radioamp160 Seeing a pattern hereamp160 With regard to art and culture the Sunday New York Times Book Review nonfiction titles mostly plus NPRamp8217s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast and every film review I can get my hands onamp160 And friends who know musicamp160 I count on them for recommendations as Iamp8217m pretty much stuck in the amp821680sSEARS What do you read to keep up with friendsWEAVERamp160 Iamp8217m addicted to the LinkedIn appamp160 That probably says something about how much my friendships are woven into the industryamp160 Iamp8217ve never lived in the same area code as most of my best friendsSEARS What do you read to keep up with the advertising technology industryWEAVERamp160 AdExchanger and Digiday are sort of the daily left and right brain feeds of the biz for meamp160 Pretty much everything hits my inbox or LinkedIn feed so I graze for names I recognize or themes that pique my curiositySEARS Whatamp8217s your favorite commercial of all timeWEAVERamp160 My favorite commercial is fictionalamp160 Itamp8217s the one Don Draper described in the pitch meeting to Kodak for amp8220the Carouselamp8221amp160 That was the perfect synthesis of artist and artamp160 He presented the dark side of that vision in the famously disastrous Hershey pitchSEARS With regards to advertising automation what are the three biggest trends you expect to impact companies in 2016WEAVERThe authenticity premium continues to grow Native influencer marketing content marketing all flourish It will be messy and profits will be questionable but itamp8217s the Corsican twin of programmatic automationamp160 Whoever can scale wins bigThe Democratization of Mobile Videoamp160 No question Facebook and YouTube are still the superpowers but the measurement issues and more will cause a thousand more flowers to bloomamp160 Game ainamp8217t over yetCross dressingamp160 We used to have a solid idea where the agency ended and the tech company beganamp160 For that matter we used to know the difference between media companies and telcos Look at WPPamp8217s acquisitions and the proposed ATampampTTime Warner acquisition Like thatSEARS With regards to advertising automation what are the three most overblown topics that you wish would just go awayWEAVERHeader biddingamp160 I get why itamp8217s truly important but itamp8217s an adjustment not a paradigm shiftamp160 And itamp8217s just one more thing to confuse marketers who still donamp8217t understand usAttributionamp160 Just the most depressing conversation I feel like weamp8217re trapped watching a game show where only accountants and procurement people get to playTie between adblocking viewability and fraudamp160 Weamp8217ve been addicted to an infinite supply of ad impressions and this is the wreckage our addiction has createdSEARS Describe your firm and then tell us the three most common issues you help clients on with respect to advertising automation and programmatic tradingWEAVERamp160 Upstream Group serves a wide range of sales leaders and sellers in our industry from ad tech companies on one side to high touch content marketing players on the otheramp160 If they work with us they feel connected and empowered for the difficult and confusing work of sales in todayamp8217s asymmetrical environment CROs attend our peertopeer Seller Forum events individual sellers take part in the companyspecific sales workshops I conduct and a few thousand people in our industry read and pass along our blog The Driftamp160 Weamp8217ve been at this for 19 years and it seems like weamp8217re starting to get pretty good at itSEARS Tell us more about your firmWEAVERSEARS What are the most common issues you help clients on regarding automationWEAVERWe help ad tech companies clearly communicate their value and urgency to buyers get better levels of commitment and drive actual usage of their productsFor those on the creative and media sides of the business we help them form and execute sales strategies to avoid the commoditization that automation has brought onWe humanize the ad technology saleamp160 Of course this is after the company has realized that itamp8217s not all about the techSEARS The majority of ad technology companies have struggled relatively small unprofitable or both Of the poor performers what are the commonalities between them that have contributed to this weaknessamp160WEAVER Insularity They talk to themselves too muchamp160 Staying with a charismatic founder as CEO for too long Even if you think youamp8217re Zuck you need to turn over a bunch of controlamp160 Unimaginative hiring Youamp8217re overvaluing direct experience and youamp8217re note freshening the gene poolSEARS A smaller handful of ad technology companies has achieved scale and performed better than the rest What are the commonalities between them that have contributed to this relative strengthWEAVERamp160 They assume their own mortality and are appropriately paranoid and curious about whatamp8217s nextSEARS Do we live in a amp8220tale of two citiesamp8221 where Google and Facebook win almost everything advertisers are dictated to and other media companies fight for the scrapsWEAVERamp160 Yes but only if thatamp8217s the only book you read Itamp8217s just one volume on one shelf in a great big library I think ATampampTTime Warner IBMWeather WPP VerizonAOLYahoo and a few others will have a say And Iamp8217m just old enough to remember when we were saying amp8220Well game over Netscape wonamp8221SEARS Please answer the following statements yes or no WEAVERSEARS Tell us a bit more about youWEAVERamp160 When I was a kid I wanted to be in advertising because of watching Bewitchedamp160 I thought Darren Stevens had the coolest jobamp160 And I also wanted to be a teacheramp160 I got both of my wishesamp160 I have the best job in the business and Iamp8217m just smart enough to be appropriately gratefulThe other thing Iamp8217d clear up is the whole amp8220Doug sold the first ad on the webamp8221 narrativeamp160 I was lucky enough to work at Wired Magazine and to be part of the team that sold the first dozen ads on the webamp160 They all launched on the same day October 24 1994amp160 There was no amp8220first adamp8221amp160 If you want to be specific the first amp8220saleamp8221 was made by Wiredamp8217s founders Louis Rossetto and Jane Metcalfeamp160 They sold a sponsorship to ATampampT via their agency NW AyerSEARS If you could go to the airport right now with friends or family and fly anywhere in the world for vacation who would you take and where would you goWEAVERamp160 The amp8220whoamp8221 part is easyamp160 My wife Sharon is my best friend and sheamp8217d make it a great experienceamp160 Since we have homes in two remotely beautiful places on a hillside in Vermont and overlooking the Atlantic coast in Maine we love visiting cities Iamp8217d go back to Barcelonaamp160 If all your senses donamp8217t come alive there you are probably deadSEARS If you could create an endowment to fund any existing nonprofit you designated what lucky nonprofit organization would that beWEAVERamp160 Iamp8217m very involved with the TD Foundation which helps the children of Wounded Warriors and I love the work we doamp160 Iamp8217d have half the money go there and the other half go to the National Institute of Mental Healthamp160 Anyone whoamp8217s watched a loved one struggle with mental illness gets this right awaySEARS What is your favorite restaurant in the worldWEAVERamp160 Iamp8217ve had amazing meals and experiences so many placesamp160 But the place Iamp8217d miss most if it closed is a little hole in the wall called The Ramp in Cape Porpoise Maineamp160 More political and sports memorabilia than you can even take in wonderful food amazing sunsets great draft IPAs and outstanding serviceamp160 Feels like homeSEARS Thanks DougClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this article are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated bloggersamp160amp160

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Doug Weaver of Upstream Group: The Ad Automation and Programmatic Confidantes

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