Q&A: Publicis' VivaKi Global on Automation, Programmatic and TV

In the photo aboveamp160Jay Sears of Rubicon Project far left Arun Kumar of IPG39s Cadreon Stephan Beringer of Publicis39 VivaKi Ashwini Karandikar of Dentsu Aegis Network39s Amnet Adam Shlachter of Digitas and Lou Paskalis of Bank of America discuss ad automation issues of the day in Cannes FranceBe sure to read Jay39s previous interviews with Kumar Schlachter and PaskalisYour Name Stephan BeringerYour Company VivaKiYour Title CEO VOS VivaKi Operating SystemSEARS What do you read to keep up with politics art and culture BERINGER I read newspapers magazines books billboards email alerts flyers postcards graffiti amp8230 I have my routines and keep my eyes open for any information that might come to me in unexpected waysSEARS What do you read to keep up with friends BERINGER Not so much really other than network updates When it comes to friends I prefer meeting in person or making phone callsSEARS What do you read to keep up with our industry BERINGER A lot and still not enough Communication with clients colleagues partners etc probably beats all lecturesSEARS What39s your favorite commercial of all time BERINGER I have a couple and the usual suspects typically include Budweiser39s original Whassup commercialSEARS With regards to advertising automation and programmatic what are VivaKi39s three biggest companywide initiatives in 2015 BERINGER Growing Publicis Groupe39s Programmatic FootprintAt the end of last year we moved programmatic buying into the media agencies and shifted our approach to focus more on programmatic data and tech strategies and solutions With campaign activation sitting at the agencybrand level where they have more influence on the overall media planamp160it frees VivaKi up to focus on designing datatech infrastructures doing programmatic consulting training andamp160education advanced analytics and building out unique programmatic solutions that solve our clients39 challengesAccelerating Adoption of Always OnSince our partnership with Adobe was announced at the end of 2014 we39ve been working to build out unique solutions that seamlessly stitch together Publicis Groupe expertise with Adobe39s Marketing Cloud solutions We39ve made enormous progress and the demand is going through the roof so here again education training and recruiting are key while we also innovate on the solution itselfAutomation and WorkflowsWith the recent changes at VivaKi we are in the process of creating a new operating model that stitches together multiagency services technologies and workflows to the benefits of our clients One of our big goals this year is to effectively bring together marketing tech data creativity and strategy so that we eliminate silos This will help us optimize delivery and maximize our investments in ad budgets talent and consumer engagementSEARS On average companywide globally amp160out of each 100 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 BERINGER NASEARS What will this number be in 2017BERINGER It39s hard to predict for 2017 but we know it39s going to be a huge uptick amp160particularly across Publicis Groupe clients now that programmatic expertise is sitting closer to the core media teamsSEARS Tell us the about the global advertising operations of VivaKiBERINGER VivaKi is the programmatic center of excellence We serve as a hub and node model that helps scale Publicis Groupe39s paid media ad tech and data power in a way that benefits our clients and grows their brands We create operational efficiencies coordinate partnermedia agreements provide programmatic expertise and consulting training and education advanced analytics vendor verification performancequality offerings eg Quality Index RealTime Auditing and moreSEARS How many employees are there in your organizationBERINGERamp160205 globallySEARS Draw an analogy between the automation of television and a European football game Are we in the pregame Still driving to the stadium BERINGER I39d say that we39ve just arrived at the stadium and are waiting for the opposing team to show up There39s one team that39s on the practice field They have some skills but are still perfecting their performance for this high energy fastpaced sport amp160On top of that the referees have locked up the balls ie the settop box data so we are lacking the necessary equipment to play the gameSEARS How can advertising automation help the strategy and planning functions directly or indirectly at an advertising agency BERINGER Advertising automation is a powerful tool in reaching the consumer at the right time and place of their journey with the right message Today we have companies who are changing the way we have conversations with consumers like Adobe Oracle and Salesforce The richness of data in the industry now means that we can couple these insights with their marketleading offerings to pinpoint when and where a person might be most receptive to messaging The right data plus technology means that we can now anticipate what the consumer needs before they even know that they need itSEARS Can linear TV be automated yes or no BERINGER Yes to some degree A small fraction of TV inventory is available to be sold programmatically but we are still a long way off from establishing a truly addressable system for TV What we really need to do is unlock the data and solve for the proper delivery mechanismAt VivaKi we have a lot of experience working with VOD and connected TV and are trying to apply some of those learnings to the linear TV space We have a number of offerings we39re developing right now that will help us reach audiences and continue the conversation as they move from online to offline viewingSEARS What two or three events or happenings will accelerate the automation of television BERINGERGreater access to settop box dataBetter media infrastructure for seamless delivery of relevant inventoryMoving beyond the cookie amp160ability to map personal ID across devicesSEARS Transparency amp160on media costs on data on inventory amp160has become a lightning rod issue Should transparency be a negotiated benefit for the advertiser client yes or no BERINGER No transparency should not be a negotiated benefit It should be something that should be demonstrated and delivered amp160without question amp160in each and every media planSEARS Which of the following will accelerate the automation of site direct direct orders budget Pick all that applyDynamic access to all publisher inventory vs just quotremnantquot or quotauctionquotAbility to leverage publisher first party dataAbility to leverage advertiser first party data against all publisher inventory especially premiumAvailability of rich media expandable units and larger IAB Rising Star formatsAbility to more easily curate audiences for specific advertisers across the premium content of multiple publishersAll of the aboveBERINGER All of the aboveamp160It39s important to note that technology and access to more data will make us smarter about our placements We continue to see the evolution publishers and even bundled groups of publishers make all their inventory available via programmatic pipesamp160 But how we determine whether or not to buy direct will depend on the broader media planamp160 For Publicis Groupe programmatic is now more ingrained than ever in the overarching media strategy We can stop referring to it as a separate channelSEARS 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 BERINGER I would fly to a nice place together with good friends and my familySEARS What is your favorite restaurant in the world BERINGER It39s a very small pizza joint in Rome I have been going to since approximatelyamp1601977 or soSEARS Thanks StephanThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecom management or associated bloggers

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Q&A: Publicis' VivaKi Global on Automation, Programmatic and TV

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Q&A: Publicis' VivaKi Global on Automation, Programmatic and TV

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