In our previous article we laid down the challenges of creativity in the digital space and offered a potential solution through the infusion of data into the creatives themselves. The next questions would be “how & where” do I get this done?
Open up the programmatic gates
Truth be told, the challenge to embed data in creatives is a big one. But in terms of timing it couldn’t be more perfect. The reason for that is the (r)evolution of digital media buying towards programmatic. Programmatic media buying is more than simply automated buying practices. Programmatic media buying offers the possibility for 2-way data exchanges. On one hand results reach advertisers in real-time and allow them to make course-corrections very quick & efficiently. On the other hand advertisers can leverage data like never before. Not only can they buy specific slots depending on the audience, while buying the slot this information can be used to blend creatives in an entirely new way. Programmatic is essentially the perfect gateway to work with data-driven creatives.
We believe there are three major fields in which data-driven creatives can help to bring personalised and relevant advertising experience to the end-user - Display, video & audio.
Out with crappy bannering, personalised display is the new standard
Display bannering, next to search probably one of the oldest advertising forms in the digital space. However, where search evolved, display barely did. From a consumer point of view display still operates the same way it did 10 years ago. That doesn’t mean the format is dead. It simply means the format should evolve. Dynamic Creative Optimisation is a great example of that and should actually be today’s standard. Not tomorrow’s, today’s. So if you aren’t operating personalised bannering campaigns yet, that’s the first space you should move into. An example of such a practice is our very own Carglass case.
Dynamic personalised video, a 2 dimensional storyboard
Where DCO was a practice that came very late for bannering, dynamic personalised video will be just in time when it comes to the video market. As media buying for video formats is exploding & all platforms are switching into a “video first” mode, the possibility of personalising video offers tremendous potential. Big players such at Google (YouTube) are investigating how data can be infused into video & beta products are launched in big markets (read - US mostly). An example case can be found below:
But this is only the first step. The first applications will be focused on personalising video in a linear fashion. This means that video fragments will be added, dropped or reshuffled within the sequence based on a user’s profile or context. In a second phase layered video will be available. Imagine different CTA’s or copy being laid over a video depending on the product you visited. This creates a two-dimensional canvas for advertisers to tell their story in - A linear one and a layered one. Sounds like the future, we are closer than you think.
Audio, the next frontier
This medium is in the digital landscape a very young player. Even if it’s adopted in the digital scope of a campaign, the material will almost always be an actual radio commercial. Gone are those day. As audio is being available more and more through programmatic exchanges, so are the possibilities to turn them into truly data-driven advertising experiences. In order to do so technology players such as A Million Ads are building platforms that allow advertisers to scale personalised audio advertising into thousands of individual audio experiences all without exploding your studio recording budgets. How? By matching data signals with very short audio recordings and map these into a single, let’s say 30 second ad. This means that on a Monday morning the ad would literally say “It’s another Monday morning” simply because it’s able to match that particular recording with the time & day data signal. Don’t believe this works? Have a listen.
Move on, go data-driven
Users have been giving the advertising sector a bad grade. As technology is moving forward and allowing us to be more personal and relevant it’s up to the people in the industry to pick up the tools to build the next advertising experiences. It’s both daunting & exciting at the same time. Creatives, data analysts & media-buyers will need to work in close collaboration from the start as the way campaigns are being built needs to pivot to another way of thinking. Technology & data aren’t just the extra layers on top of a campaign, they’ll serve as the basis in order to bring advertising experiences to the users and not just ads.
Glenn Vanderlinden
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