Simon Struna is a programmatic digital ecosystem specialist at iPROM and one of the leading experts in digital infrastructure in the Adriatic region. After his insightful lecture at Weekend Media Festival 2017 we picked his brain about the future of predominantly digital advertising.
Media Marketing: It is hard to capture attention of people these days. What is it that solves that problem?
Simon Struna: I am fully aware that attention span of humans is shrinking, the technology and flood of information – we’re being bombarded by it just about everywhere – bring us closer to the gold fish. Advertisers have only a few seconds to capture attention of a person and that is only the first step. Then the story must be really persuasive and deliver a clear message that in the end translates into a sale. It may seem complicated and, believe me, it is. But as technology got us into this mess in the first place, it is the technology that helps us deal with it too. And that is what I am really excited about. Showing the world we can efficiently target just about any person – or should I say digital screen – out there.
Media Marketing: How does the future of digital advertising look like?
Simon Struna: Digital advertising is becoming programmatic advertising and has been steadily growing over the last decade. Last year the figures of total online advertising spend for the first time surpassed 40 billion Euros, with average growth in Europe at 12.2% according to IAB Europe study. All the countries in the Adriatic region performed above average, especially Slovenia with 33.2% online advertising growth, followed by Croatia and Serbia – both delivering 18% growth. There is another trend in the making – last year for the first time in Europe, more than half of all digital ads were traded in a programmatic way. This says a lot since Europe was always lacking behind the United States when it comes to advertising and digital is no different – in the States last year already more than 70% of ads were distributed in a programmatic way. In a couple of years digital will eventually equal programmatic as programmatic will become the only form of digital advertising.
Media Marketing: Can you tell us where programmatic advertising came from and what is all about?
Simon Struna: Looking back, all the way back to the pre-digital age, advertisers made adverts based on forecasting. They filled advertising spaces in web-based media with ads that were similar to other ads they used in the traditional media. The logic behind it was really simple: if someone reads a magazine about fashion, he or she must certainly be interested in ads about fashion, be it on radio or a website. Over time this model proved to be insufficient for all the more demanding goals of advertisers, it proved costly as well as they were casting a wide (and therefore expensive) net just to catch a limited amount of fish. Not being liked by publishers who tried to sell all available advertising capacity and at the same time satisfy KPI of advertisers or customers didn’t help either. Publishers wanted to earn the best price for each displayed ad; conversely, advertisers wanted to purchase exclusively the impressions that reached important users. Programmatic technology was the answer for all involved parties. Programmatic advertising is a process of advertising space trading, supported by technology. It is a highly automatized process which significantly accelerates the management and decision-making procedures of trading with ad inventory.
Media Marketing: But programmatic used to be associated with adjectives like marginal, cheap etc.?
Simon Struna: With the emphasis on “used to”. Digital landscape is a fast evolving market. Programmatic advertising in digital media is becoming a norm due to its several advantages. Only a few years ago it was marginal and used by advertisers who wanted to target web users as cheaply as possible –regardless of quality of users and context. However, the development of programmatic led to the point where smart data allows us accurate targeting of user segments and even individuals. Programmatic became an extremely intelligent way of advertising: using a dynamic message tailored to each and every consumer and displayed on premium media delivered in exactly the right time. In the future programmatic advertising is going to touch every part of our lives, since it will be present in all devices around us.
Media Marketing: So you believe it will become omnipresent?
Simon Struna: For sure it will. Digital advertising across different platforms will be equal to programmatic advertising. Programmatic advertising is already rapidly changing advertising space not only in digital media but traditional media as well. Programmatic affects TV, radio, even print media! The digital marketing used to learn from the traditional one, now the tables are turned – it is digital’s time to get every media on a new level. And it is doing precisely that with programmatic advertising technology, building its omnipresent ecosystem.
Media Marketing: So the analog age is over?
Simon Struna: Let’s face it – it is over. We are entering the age of internet of things which changes consumer behavior. Marketers all around the world are facing a new challenge – not just how to talk to the target individual but also to all the devices and screens around him. In the digital world the advertising money goes in the direction of consumers eyeballs. The biggest challenge is to find the right person we’re addressing – on the right device or screen. But this is where data helps us. We can build better and most accurate user profiles because of it. We know what user likes and doesn’t like, where he seeks the information and how.
Media Marketing: Where do you get all this data from?
Simon Struna: We capture data from just about anywhere. 90% of all data in the world was generated in the last two years. New devices, services, sensors are generating unbelievable amounts of new data. But businesses of today are still not making good use of the data they have at their disposal. Most data is still stored in silos, separated in their own environment, such as CRM, analytics, call center etc. What is even sadder is that these silos hold enormous amount of data in plain files or even on paper. If you want to make use of the data you have to bring it one place. We have built iPROM Cloud Marketing Platform which is a digital data management platform that deals with cookies, audience data, analytics, mobile data, device data, location data – just about anything you can think of – and enables data driven advertising. It allows advertisers to deliver the right message to the right user – at the right time! It is a game changer. And it allows customers to have complete control over their data, find and engage with their audience on any screen, anywhere on the internet. For instance, at iPROM we are already connected technologically thru iPROM Cloud to the internet of thing and can manage programmatic campaigns on Printboxes, displays in taxis, and since this month also on Beenius interactive TV platform.
Media Marketing: How about creativity which is the secret sauce of advertising – doesn’t automation kill creativity?
Simon Struna: Programmatic doesn’t kill creativity but it empowers it instead. That’s why we see such rapid advancement of programmatic advertising everywhere. Creative will still take time and effort and testing – don’t forget about that, but programmatic can certainly deliver it to the intended customer. One size doesn’t fit all; the same message doesn’t work for everybody. With TV advertising you’re casting a wide net to catch some fish, but with programmatic you know exactly which fish you’re after. We live in the age of an individual. Behind each device, each cookie, there is an individual with its own interests. Should you reach the individual you have to be relevant – programmatic creative is a solution that delivers the right message to the individual in the right way and at the right time. Ads are tailor made in a real time and adapted to every single website visitor or user of a service. Businessman, student, housekeeper … they each receive a creative that is relevant for them. The programmatic creative technology gives us numerous possibilities to deliver the right messages, creative ones, based on the right data over the right media at the right time to the right person. If you’re a marketer or advertiser you don’t have to worry about technology anymore. Just think out of the box and get really creative. Programmatic technology will back you up. At iPROM we have in-house developed a technical solution iPROM Real-time creative, which enables you to target and deliver the right creative to the right audience, programmatically.
Media Marketing: So what is your recipe for success?
Simon Struna: Our advanced computational advertising algorithms, coupled with the broadest selection of exchange and direct publisher display inventory currently available. These enable customers to target their audiences and prospects with greater efficiency, while real-time insights will ensure that they reach them with meaningful and relevant messages. And you can get totally creative with this technology as it supports just about everything digital out there as the system accesses global and premium inventory with top publishers.
