Marco Bertozzi of Publicis’ VivaKi

Your Name:Marco Bertozzi

Your Company:VivaKi

Your Title:President, Global Clients

SEARS: What do you read to keep up with politics, art and culture?

BERTOZZI: I am an avid news follower on TV and in the press so that covers the politics and there is plenty of that let’s face it. Twitter feeds many of my other passions in terms of people I follow and the rest comes from a steady stream of reading when I can fit it in.

SEARS: What do you read to keep up with friends?

BERTOZZI: Are you assuming all my friends are famous and are featured in newspapers and the trade press? Afraid not. For those that are though I love Newsle which alerts you every time one of your contacts is in the press.  Otherwise I try and see my friends and drink with them!

SEARS: What do you read to keep up with our industry?

BERTOZZI: Twitter.

SEARS: What’s your favorite commercial of all time?

BERTOZZI:It has not changed from last year. My favorite commercial of all-time is an ad for Blackcurrant Tango.

SEARS: With regards to advertising automation and programmatic, what are VivaKi’s three biggest EMEA initiatives in 2015?

BERTOZZI:

1. For VivaKi, the biggest initiative by far has been moving programmatic buying into its rightful place within the media agencies.  Programmatic has gone mainstream and it has now become a matter of “checking the box.”  You can’t really plan and buy media without programmatic at the heart of it all.  So we’ve shifted our approach and mindset completely away from the trading desk to the acceleration of all Publicis Groupe brands in programmatic, data and technology strategies and solutions.  It’s a VivaKi initiative and a Publicis Groupe imperative, critical to all our agencies.

2. VivaKi -- at least the OS side of the house -- has been reorganized as an R&D/innovations center that builds, distributes and transports (from any one of our agencies to others) a host of new solutions and practices.  We also drive access to technology and data. Programmatic Consulting is a VivaKi service that the agencies can tap into at any time. Think of it this way: At any given moment, our agencies (those who know the clients' needs intimately and own the client relationships) may run into a challenge or may spot an opportunity to do something unique from a programmatic perspective, for a single marketer (or many).  The new solution might require a host of things: multiple external partners working in unison; some new, bolted-on technology, or a new/different data feed.  Through the Programmatic Consulting team housed in VivaKi, the agencies have access to a stealth team of specialists, product designers and engineers who will do the heavy lifting to help bring the agency/client solutions to life.  The agencies can stay focused on the full spectrum of client services while the consulting team builds and delivers the solution.

3. VivaKi is also focusing on the expansion of our Always On platform in partnership with Adobe.  Publicis Groupe has created an ecosystem that pivots on collaboration across multiple disciplines, all connected through a shared technology platform -- currently the Adobe Marketing Cloud.  Through this common interface, disparate Publicis Groupe teams are able to work in a shared environment, extracting the data they need to develop audience engagement tools and plans, then returning the intelligence and solutions into the center where others can engage with and act on it as well.  As Always On achieves its full potential, all Groupe agencies will become interoperable.  Clients will have a confederation of disciplines acting in harmony on their behalf, reaching a customer that is profoundly understood by every agency trying to engage him or her. 

SEARS: On average in the EMEA market -- out of each $1.00 spent on media (all media, not just digital) by one of your advertisers, how much today (in 2015) is spent on automated or programmatic channels?

BERTOZZI:What I can tell you is this: The numbers are much bigger than they were a year ago and not nearly as big as they are going to be this time next year.  Programmatic is projected to account for 60% of all media spend by the end of this year, at least I think that’s the most recent projection from the seers-of-things-to-come.  IAB says programmatic is already 50% of all digital spend.  Do the math.  Assuming that percentage is accurate, and with programmatic/automated media buying now in the hands of Starcom MediaVest and ZenithOptimedia, you can bet our number is going to increase exponentially.

SEARS: What will this number be in 2017?

BERTOZZI: Check Forrester or eMarketer.  We are sure to see some high forecasts coming through this year.

SEARS: Tell us the about the EMEA operations of VivaKi:

BERTOZZI: We are in conversations across all markets about how we accelerate the programmatic capacity of the agencies in this region.  We are still mapping out the tactical steps but the goal is clear -- to expand Publicis Groupe’s programmatic dexterity by moving the programmatic service expertise upstream into the agencies and closer to the strategic planning process and closer to clients.

SEARS: Please tell us the percentage increase, managed budget (media spend) 2014 vs. expected 2015 for EMEA:

BERTOZZI: I will be disappointed if we don’t achieve a 50%+ level of growth this year.

SEARS: What countries are you entering in 2015?

BERTOZZI: VivaKi OS will be a central operation supporting all agencies in all markets. We expect every market and agency supported by VivaKi to be in the programmatic space.

SEARS: Draw an analogy between the automation of television and a European football game. Are we in the Pre-game? Still driving to the stadium?

BERTOZZI: I am excited to say we have just parked the car. The journey was long and arduous but now we are here things will be smoother.  We just need to get to the right seat now.

SEARS: How can advertising automation help the strategy and planning functions (directly or indirectly) at an advertising agency?

BERTOZZI: Automation does not help strategy and planning in a direct capacity because what we are saying with automation is we do what we did before but through a platform.  That means we could not change a thing about our strategy and deliver in an automated fashion.  Now the platforms that deliver cross channel execution, audience insights and targeting and cross device targeting will make the difference -- that’s the exciting bit.  Automation is an efficiency play so I hope it frees up time to allow us to improve strategy but in of itself it does not contribute.  I am as excited about automation as I am about DDS.

SEARS: Can linear TV be automated, yes or no?

BERTOZZI: Yes -- parts of it already are.  If we are talking about a true real time addressable system for TV, then I would say we are a considerable way off.  The closest model would be something like Sky’s AdSmart and the two minutes of local ads per hour available to buy programmatically on US cable TV.

SEARS: What two-three events or happenings will accelerate the automation of television?

BERTOZZI:

1. Greater access to non-aggregated set top box data. Companies are sitting on treasure troves of set top box audience data that is not being opened up to advertisers and agencies such as our own Precision Marketing team in SMG.
2. Greater interest from creative agencies as to the opportunity.
3. When Jay Sears renames one of his panels The Future of Linear Television.

SEARS: Transparency -- on media costs, on data, on inventory -- has become a lightning rod issue. Should transparency be a negotiated benefit for the advertiser client, yes or no?

BERTOZZI: It is non-negotiable.  It is a client’s prerogative and it should be standard operating procedure.

SEARS: Which of the following will accelerate the automation of site direct (direct orders) budget? Pick all that apply:

1. Dynamic access to all publisher inventory [vs. just “remnant” or “auction”]
2. Ability to leverage publisher first party data
3. Ability to leverage advertiser first party data [against all publisher inventory, especially premium]
4. Availability of rich media, expandable units and larger IAB Rising Star formats
5. Ability to more easily curate audiences for specific advertisers across the premium content of multiple publishers
6. All of the above

BERTOZZI:  F) All of the above. Read my article in Campaign.  Brilliant creative will move budgets more than dynamic access to publisher inventory, more than the availability of rich media and larger, expandable formats, which are already available.  More than everything you list on your questionnaire.  When Big Ideas get into bed with Big Data, you can bet Big Budgets are going to want join the party.

SEARS: 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 go?

BERTOZZI: My wife, my son and a select group of good friends. Take me somewhere that has skiing in the morning, beach in the afternoon and early evening golf!

SEARS: If you could create an endowment to fund any existing non-profit you designated, what lucky non-profit organization would that be?

BERTOZZI: I don’t have a specific one in mind, but it would be focused on children and making sure they are fed, watered and educated and shielded from the difficulties they face in some parts of the world.

SEARS: What is your favorite restaurant in the world?

BERTOZZI: No such thing.

SEARS: Thanks, Marco!

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