Predicting the Future of TV without Cookies. A Discussion with a4’s Natalia Irmin

We are facing an industry measurement change with the upcoming retirement of the cookie. While not always the optimal way of data gathering, we as an industry have come to rely on it. But this change need not be a challenge according to a4’s Director of Data and Strategy, Natalia Irmin. 

In fact, a cookieless future is going to looking pretty good. “Cookies are not something that's always existed. It feels like they always existed, but actually hasn't. We still measured before cookies were available and those practices will be coming back,” she explained.

Embracing a Cookieless Future

For Irmin, there are lots of options for measuring without cookies. “First, you still have your first party data which gives you a lot of flexibility,” she noted. And there are new technological breakthroughs that weren’t even imagined when cookies were first introduced. “How do I use artificial intelligence,” she posited, “How do I use data science to create the models that are going to inform what I need to do with my advertising? That is something that a lot of companies are thinking about and coming up with solutions.” But, she noted, “Not the entire universe is deterministic. It depends on the the breadth of your operations. You might have to deal with data that's not necessarily one to one. If you want to keep doing that, you’ll have to think about working with models that focus on incremental reach beyond TV.”

Data from cookies for Irmin falls into two buckets – targeting and measurement. “I think targeting is less of a challenge,” she stated and added, “The measurement portion, how are you going to measure, is more challenging.

Grappling with Walled Gardens

Walled gardens present another ongoing challenge for measurement. But Irmin remains generally optimistic about the industry’s ability to work with walled garden companies. “What I'm finding,” she began, “Is that recently there's been more talk about collaboration and moving beyond those walled gardens.” And yet, she averred, “While we find it useful to collaborate with other companies, we still recognize that the walled garden still exists and some of them, depending on their size, are still useful to work with. You are not going to stop working with some walled gardens,” just because they don't allow you to access certain data.

Being Pro-Active in Industry Changes

Getting ahead of industry changes and evolving into new solutions is pivotal for companies who want to develop the best, most accurate and sophisticated solution to industry changes concerning data. Google, after all, gave the industry a year to adjust before it retires the cookie. Procrastination, however, is not recommended. “From our perspective at a4, we keep exploring all the solutions that come up in the marketplace and start testing,” early in the time frame. “The adjustment period seems like the more correct way to go, because you don't want to wake up one day and be like, ‘Oh I just don't have a solution for this, because I had that extra year and I completely forgot about it and was focusing on other stuff and now I have nothing.’ Definitely don’t do that,” she warned.

Contextual Targeting

For a4, the future, and even the present, rests on contextual targeting. “We are more focused on targeting for measurement and have developed our own internal solutions that include both first party data and modeling,” she explained, “For targeting you’ve got to start thinking more seriously about contextual. With cookies, contextual was always viewed as something that's less good, less accurate, perhaps. But in reality, contextual actually provides you with ability to control your brand safety and it means that you're actually going to those places where your audience is.”

The value of contextual marketing cannot be under-estimated. “You can target certain inventory and nothing else. When you work within the DSP, for example, you have a source of inventory. You then take IPs that you've determined are associated with certain households and a footprint you want to target. Then you layer on top of that inventory specific behavioral targets, people who visit certain related websites. Then measure your campaign after the fact, and make adjustments. Using IPs and measuring contextually allows you to find the audience that you're looking for,” she said.

Collaboration and Team Effort is Vital

Perhaps the most important aspect of navigating through industry change is collaboration and team effort. “It comes down to the people that you get to work with within your organization and with people in other organizations. Because we work with so many different partners, you can really see the difference between working with a company that has people that care or not. One of the best things about working at a4 is working with the people and the teams. I see how hard these teams work to provide to provide a solution and provide answers to all these questions and challenges that that our clients are facing and be able to tell them ‘Don't worry.’ We’ve got you. We know how to help you. We know what you're dealing with and we're working diligently to maintain and expand our offering to give you something extra to help you face those challenges,” she concluded.

This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com

Impacting the Ad Effect and Insuring Brand Safety. An Interview with the ARF’s Paul Donato

Advertisers are finding that the context in which an ad is viewed – not only within the commercial pod surrounded by other ads, but also the specific media platform, brand, device and time and place -  impacts the ad effect, both positively and negatively. With the proliferation of devices and platforms and the fragmentation of the media environment, brand safety is becoming a bigger issue. 

Paul Donato, Chief Research Officer at the ARF, has conducted considerable research in these areas and spoke to MediaVIllage about the insights and conclusions:

Charlene Weisler: What do you mean by context?

Paul Donato:  The context of an ad is the environment in which the advertisement is viewed, from the content surrounding the ad to the platform on which it appears. There is a large body of evidence supporting the premise that the context of an ad can affect perception of the ad, both positively and negatively. 

Weisler: And brand safety?

Donato: Brand safety is an issue that arises when the context of the ad, usually the content that the ad appears in tandem with, causes negative consumer reactions that can impact perception of the brand being advertised. Brands are afraid to appear next to unsavory content out of the fear that they may lose consumer trust and hurt brand equity if they are perceived as being supportive of that content.

Weisler: What are some of the highlights of the research you have seen regarding the effect ad context can have on perception and recall?

Donato: The research on the context effect goes back about 60 years. Studies have shown both positive and negative effects from ad context, though the focus lately has been on negative effects, given recent brand safety controversies. Most studies on the context effect have involved television commercials, and the general consensus was that the programs surrounding the commercials did impact the response consumers had to those commercials. Studies found that consumers were more likely to recall commercials in their favorite programs, and that advertising was more effective when there was alignment between the program and the product being advertised.

A recent ARF review of research on the context effect found that, while the evidence clearly supports the legitimacy of the context effect, the studies don’t sufficiently explain why the context effect occurs. Additionally, the ad context is difficult to isolate as it interacts with factors like brand and product characteristics and consumer attitudes.

Weisler: How does context impact ad receptivity?

Donato: The context of an ad impacts consumers’ state of mind, attention level, and emotions, which sets the stage for how an ad is perceived and processed. However, context is only a secondary factor to be considered, because quality of ad creative, reach and targeting are usually much more important in determining those responses.

Weisler: What are the elements of context and which ones are most pivotal?

Donato: The content the ad appears in and the other ads it is surrounded by, the media platform or brand, the device, and time and place all contribute to the context of an advertisement. Evidence is strongest regarding the content the advertising appears next to, like the program a commercial appears in, the text of an article next to a display ad or the video content that follows a pre-roll ad. How can an advertiser control for maximal context? and brand safety? How can ad context be used strategically to drive increased ad recall and more positive ad perception?   

It’s important for brands to conduct research with target consumers to uncover reactions to the content and context in which they plan to place their ads, as there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Brands should look for their target consumers’ preferred content, the content they pay most attention to and the content that prompts the most positive emotions. By placing ads in these contexts, brands stand a better chance of improved ad perception and recall from consumers.

The other way to improve ad effectiveness using the context effect is to align advertising with the content it will appear with on multiple emotional dimensions, which creates a sort of halo effect. It’s not enough to include a football-themed ad to play during a big game – advertisers need to understand why consumers love the specific sport and how their teams make them feel to create a strong alignment with the programming and the consumers’ emotional state.

Companies that conduct the necessary research and consider context from the beginning of the ad creation process will see the biggest gains from the context effect.

This article first appeared in www.MediaVIllage.com