< Back Home

Author: Robert Stank

< Back Home

Ad Age: Opinion: How to End Programmatic Advertising’s “Transparency Theater”

When the curtain comes up on the summer of 2020, the stage is set in a tempest. Marketers have retooled creative strategies. Media companies have had to manage record-high levels of user engagement while navigating a business environment marked by one of the most challenging dichotomies ever: a sky-high supply of advertising impressions (due to increased audience activity) and a record-low density of demand (driven by bookings that are down and ad categories that are paused).

Read More Ad Age: Opinion: How to End Programmatic Advertising’s “Transparency Theater”

< Back Home

MediaPost Agency Daily: ANA Releases Buyers Guide For Media Data, Eyes ‘Agency-Owned’ Data Platforms

With at least half of Madison Avenue (IPG’s Acxiom, Publicis’ Epsilon, and Dentsu Aegis’s Merkle/M1) owning Big Data brokers — and with a litany of independent players in the marketing data supply chain — the Association of National Advertisers this morning published a report outlining uses cases and a framework for assessing who, what, when, where and why marketers should work with one of them.

Read More MediaPost Agency Daily: ANA Releases Buyers Guide For Media Data, Eyes ‘Agency-Owned’ Data Platforms

< Back Home

The Drum: Media Auditing Is Alive And Kicking – As Long As It Takes A Modern Approach

The Drum

In his article ‘Is it time to challenge the relevancy of media auditing’ Darren Woolley suggests that the end is nigh for media auditing. That in a time of real-time bidding and programmatic trading, the ability and the need to provide an audit of the price paid after-the-fact are becoming less relevant.

Read More The Drum: Media Auditing Is Alive And Kicking – As Long As It Takes A Modern Approach

< Back Home

Digiday: Ad-buying Agencies Are Cozying Up To SSPs, Creating More Transparency Questions

screen-shot-2016-09-08-at-10-09-32-am

In the rush to control how SSPs manage programmatic auctions, agencies risk digging up old concerns around the neutrality and transparency of what they do.

Read More Digiday: Ad-buying Agencies Are Cozying Up To SSPs, Creating More Transparency Questions

< Back Home

Adweek: Media Agencies Are Rethinking Their Supply Chain to Combat In-Housing

screen-shot-2016-09-30-at-9-45-59-am

Programmatic trading is entering a new era.

Marketers are increasingly taking media buying in-house as changes in privacy laws, growing suspicions about just how much spend goes toward working media and Big Tech’s dominance puts pressure on the legacy business models of network media agencies.

Read More Adweek: Media Agencies Are Rethinking Their Supply Chain to Combat In-Housing

< Back Home

ANA: Communication Breakdown – While Solutions Exist, Myriad Problems Continue To Erode The Trust Between Clients And Their Agencies

ana-logo

When media agency executive Jon Mandel alleged from the stage at an ANA national conference in March 2015 that media rebates were widespread in the U.S., he started a fire that is still burning today — and causing a fair share of agita within the marketing field.

Read More ANA: Communication Breakdown – While Solutions Exist, Myriad Problems Continue To Erode The Trust Between Clients And Their Agencies

< Back Home

MediaVillage: Five Years Later, Agency Rebates are Still News: A Conversation with Doug Wood

Screen Shot 2020-03-11 at 11.09.09 AM

Since allegations of media rebates surfaced publicly five years ago, few industry professionals have been closer to the issue than Doug Wood (pictured at top), a partner at the Reed Smith law firm and outside general counsel for the ANA. Wood will join a session on this controversial issue at the 2020 ANA Media Conference (March 25–27 in Florida) and sat down ahead of the event for a conversation with ANA Group executive vice president Bill Duggan.

Read More MediaVillage: Five Years Later, Agency Rebates are Still News: A Conversation with Doug Wood

< Back Home

The Drum: How to Build Trust Using Radical Transparency

The Drum

The phrase ‘radical transparency’ seems easy enough to understand in a nutshell, right? Stay open with your consumers, be honest about company flaws and hold your brand accountable for wrongdoings or miscommunications.

Read More The Drum: How to Build Trust Using Radical Transparency

< Back Home

Adweek: 2 Years Ago, Blockchain Was Hyped as a World Changer. So What Happened?

screen-shot-2016-09-30-at-9-45-59-am

When Ken Brook founded the blockchain ad-tech startup MetaX in early 2017, the notion of applying the decentralized ledger system behind cryptocurrency to the ills of digital advertising was still relatively novel. A prolonged rally in the price of bitcoin had brought buzz to all things blockchain, and the company received plenty of early attention. Other startups soon followed in droves.

Read More Adweek: 2 Years Ago, Blockchain Was Hyped as a World Changer. So What Happened?

< Back Home

Digiday: Why ‘Data Provenance’ Will Be The New Media-Transparency Issue In 2020

screen-shot-2016-09-08-at-10-09-32-am

Move over kickbacks, rebates and undisclosed fees — the accuracy and legitimacy of data will take center stage in 2020.

Read More Digiday: Why ‘Data Provenance’ Will Be The New Media-Transparency Issue In 2020