i3 - November/December 2016 - 61

By Gary Arlen

Business

C S PAC E

Marketing Tech Expands
Digital Advertising Quality

A

DIGITAL VISION/GETTY IMAGES

t first, digital advertising was about cost-per-click, targeting and personalization. Now, the buzzword is "marketing
tech," (martech) and the tactics involve sophisticated use
of big data, including programmatic buying, geofencing, pixel tracking and retargeting with the ultimate goal of
personalization: reaching a customer at the "purchase moment."
"There's an extreme level of complexity," explains Greg Stuart, CEO of
the Mobile Marketing Association
and former president of the Interactive
Advertising Bureau. "It combines media
buying with audience profiles, location
data and dynamic creative design.
It requires agile, ongoing marketing
and a complete transformation of how
marketers look at their organizations."
Stuart, a direct marketing executive,
believes that the new ecosystem of digital
marketing "only becomes effective
when we layer in data."
"You have to have strong measurement
and data analytics," he emphasizes,
acknowledging the new pre-eminence of
"multitouch attribution," which means
that customers encounter marketing
C TA . t e c h / i 3

offers via mobile, smart TVs and other
new media platforms as well as traditional ad formats.
The rapid growth of marketing technology in high-tech retailing reflects the
increased sophistication of the marketing
community. The Wall Street Journal,
citing research from PitchBook, a venture
capital and private equity data firm,
noted that while martech firms attracted
a growing $1.2 billion of investments last
year, adtech funding dropped to $446
million, the lowest level in a decade.
The shift reflects the ad community's
revisions, contends Scott Kurnit, founder
and former chief executive at Keep.com,
About.com and several interactive cable
TV ventures. He cites the trend to bring
digital advertising/marketing "in-house"

rather than rely on agencies.
"Clever advertising to broad audiences
creates solid word of mouth (or fingers)"
and will be special long into the future,
Kurnit says. "Digital is 100 percent measurable," he says, but frets that it can fail
to find new customers. Kurnit cites the
tricky learning process, which includes
developing standardized measurement
processes to assure that they don't
"reduce innovation."
Ian Wheal, head of strategy at
Adstream, a global digital asset management firm, believes that companies
recognize the need for "more real-time
in their marketing campaigns, which
has stoked demand for software and
systems to make that more possible." In
ComputerWeek, Wheal cited the trend
among C-level executives "to get much
better visibility." Adstream, an exhibitor
at CES's C Space, has focused on programmatic video and the convergence of
cross-platform delivery.
Criteo, also a martech provider
and a C Space exhibitor, points to the
importance of multiple media presence.
Its report on first-half 2016 digital
marketing found that for the first time,
shoppers used smartphones for most of
their mobile transactions.
"Retailers need to create a truly
seamless mobile and cross-device
experience and be prepared to engage
with users no matter where they are
along the path to purchase," says Elie
Kanaan, Criteo's executive vice president of marketing. "Brands that master
the mobile trend will have a head start
on competitors and the momentum
to lead the pack through the shopping
seasons ahead."
n

The boom in digital advertising
has its downside, notably the proliferation of "ad-blockers," which let users
eliminate ads on their screens.
According to Interactive Advertising
Bureau research, one-third of
U.S. web users and 41 percent of
millennials have installed ad-blocking
software on at least one device.

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http://www.adstream.com/us/ http://www.criteo.com/ http://www.mmaglobal.com/ http://www.Keep.com http://www.About.com http://CTA.tech/i3
i3 - November/December 2016

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