“What is advertising technology?” It’s a question I’ve asked and answered many times. After spending nearly eight years at Publicis Groupe, I recently joined Baker Host’s Chicago office in the Digital Assets and Data Management practice group, where I lead a team of attorneys supporting business units focused on media, information and advertising technology (“ad technology”). As part of this transition, I have had the opportunity to meet many new attorneys at the firm and their existing and potential new clients, and this requires respecting my “elevator pitch.” That includes a discussion of advertising technology, starting with explaining what an elevator speech is.
If you search online, you will find slightly different definitions depending on the source. Most include some of the following differences: Ad technology is a set of technologies and tools used to buy, manage, target, deliver and analyze digital advertising campaigns.. And that is correct, although it is not very useful. Instead, I usually try to describe it more briefly; It’s this technology that allows advertisers to get their ads in front of the right eyeballs. After all, the purpose of advertising is to engage consumers, especially the right consumers. Ad technology helps advertisers do exactly that. Innovative, impressive, award-winning ad creative is great, but to move the sales needle, those ads must be seen by the right consumers. Additionally, producing great ad creative and buying media to place those ads are valuable investments for advertisers. Ad technology provides tools that advertisers can use to ensure that their ads reach the right audience and that those investments are worthwhile. I found it focused at first why Ad technology, on the other hand whatIt helps provide important context, especially for people who can’t live and breathe this stuff.
With this background, I would like to offer a few examples. My favorite is the demand side platform or DSP. I like using DSP for several reasons. One of my first experiences in ad tech was providing legal support to a DSP owned company. And I was lucky enough to get internal customers (some of the best and brightest in ad tech) to explain how the platform works and, in turn, how the entire ad tech ecosystem works. DSPs also plug into and engage with other ad technology platforms, including sell-side platforms and exchanges, data providers, ad servers, and various metrics, brand safety, and verification providers. Therefore, you can familiarize yourself with a variety of ad technology providers when considering a DSP. And discussing DSPs allows us to introduce some standard terms that are frequently used in ad technology.
A DSP is a platform used by advertisers or their agencies to programmatically buy ad space and run ad campaigns. The terms “demand side” or “buy side” generally refer to advertisers who want to buy media space to show their ads to consumers. The terms “sell side” or “supply side” generally refer to those who want to sell media space to advertisers; For example, a website owner and publisher with advertising space available for sale. Just as a DSP helps advertisers buy ad space programmatically, a sell-side platform, or SSP, helps publishers sell their ad space. DSPs and SSPs allow ad space to be bought and sold on a per-per-perception basis, known as real-time bidding or RTB. To illustrate how this works, imagine a consumer using their web browser to view their favorite news site. Type the address into the browser and hit enter. After a second or so, you’re looking at the home page of the site. But in the few seconds it takes to load the page, a lot is happening behind the scenes. During this short period of time, the ad spaces on the page (each called an “impression”) are auctioned off, the winning bids are selected, and the winning advertiser’s creative ad is presented and loaded into the ad space. , along with other content on the page, and it all appears on the user’s view page. The bidding is facilitated through communication between SSP and DSP. An SSP sends a bid request to DSPs announcing that it is willing to sell and will accept bids from advertisers for that ad space. The bid request includes information about the impression to help advertisers decide whether or not they’re willing to bid and how much they’re willing to bid – this can include things like a description of the content on the page, etc. The device and operating system the user is using, the user’s location and other information about the opportunity. DSPs receive the bid request and use the information provided to determine whether to bid on behalf of their advertising clients. DSPs compare the data in the bid to the parameters that advertisers set when they initially set up their campaign in the DSP. If there is a match between the opportunity and the target parameters configured by the advertiser, the DSP will issue a bid (send the bid response) and the DSP will determine the bid amount based on how well the opportunity matches the advertiser’s parameters. Among other reasons. All bids are compared, the winning bid is selected, and the winning advertiser displays the ad to the user on the page.
DSPs and SSPs are not the only ad technology providers involved in these transactions. Ad servers play an important role and are used by publishers and advertisers. They are responsible for storing the creative assets, delivering the content to the site and collecting/tracking various data and metrics of the campaign (eg, number of views and clicks). Data providers give advertisers access to more proprietary information about consumers to determine whether the consumer is part of the consumer segment they want to target and, in turn, the likelihood and how much to bid. There are a variety of other tools that can be used to measure, analyze, and improve the performance of embedded ad campaigns during this process. For example, brand safety and ad verification providers can analyze the campaign to ensure that the ad isn’t appearing alongside inappropriate content that could harm the brand, that the ads are being delivered to real people and not bots. The user on the page.
The above description is by no means a complete or comprehensive discussion of the entire ad technology ecosystem and its many components. It’s a simplified description, focusing on that part of the ecosystem. But hopefully it provides some useful information to get a basic understanding of the place. And again, I think it’s always important to come back to the subject why Ad tech: Getting ads in front of the right eyeball.
Using data and technology in this way can trigger many complex legal and regulatory requirements. Furthermore, the contractual agreements governing the sale, license and use of this information and technology can be very complex. I help brands, agencies, publishers, data providers and ad technology platforms deal with these complex agreements and legal requirements. The ecosystem runs on data. This includes transaction data, such as time of day and bid price. It also includes information related to the consumer’s ad, such as the consumer’s location and device type, and whether the consumer belongs to a specific demographic or behavioral segment (eg, age, gender, travel enthusiast, sports fan). Agreements governing transactions on this site should address the collection, ownership and use of this data. In addition, because some of this information meets the definition of “personal information” or “personal information” as defined by various U.S. state privacy laws and international privacy frameworks, it is important to understand and address any compliance obligations under those laws. Similarly, if you are developing new products and services in this space, you should map and understand the data flow early on to assess any data privacy compliance obligations and necessary contractual terms.
In addition to these data-related issues, many other issues in advertising, media buying, and technology platforms in general come into play. These editorial guidelines and brand safety requirements; Payments and payment terms; Cancellation and Termination Terms; Issues related to intellectual property ownership, use and licensing; Compliance with Federal Trade Commission guidelines on native advertising, endorsements and testimonials, and social media marketing, platform service level requirements (eg, platform availability, hours of operation and response times); And issues related to formal contractual representations, warranties, indemnities and liability caps, can all come into play.
It can be complicated. But I suspect this is where the “pitch” part of that elevator noise usually comes from. I have years of experience partnering with brands, agencies and ad tech companies to help them navigate these complex issues. I’m a techie at heart and I find this space extremely interesting. Things in this space are changing so fast – I learn new things every day, and I think that’s great. I hope this post has given some of you a better understanding of ad tech. I look forward to continuing to work in this space and seeing how it evolves over time, and I’m excited to help clients navigate this complex landscape.
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