IPG's Campbell Mithun Launches In-House RTB Trading Desk

After 18 months of piloting, the Compass Point Media unit of Interpublic's Campbell Mithun has launch its own trading desk, dubbed OdinRTB, for its retail and consumer packaged goods (CPG) clients. Chris Wexler, the company's director of media strategy and interactive, and Casey McGovern, associate director, interactive media strategy, told RTM Daily that the trading desk sprung up "organically" as a result of their client needs. "We're not taking this to market," Wexler said. "It's a service to our clients."

The move is curious because IPG's Mediabrands already has their own trading desk in Cadreon. However, Wexler and McGovern stressed that OdinRTB was not intended to compete with Cadreon, but instead offers an alternative option for clients looking for more of an "integrated" approach. "We partner with Cadreon," Wexler said. "So this is not a replacement by any stretch. It's complementary for our clients."

Campbell Mithun hasn't had too much difficulty getting their clients on board with real-time bidding. Wexler said, "Obiviously it takes some education and some explaining - and it's not an easy task - but we haven't had a huge amount of resistance." McGovern added, "The real transparency of [RTB] all is really what sells it." 

The company decided to work with CPG and retail clients because the core part of their client base are in those markets. The company has no plans to include other markets yet, but Wexler commented that if their clients' needs change, they are willing to adapt (as any agency should be).

Wexler alluded that implementing OdinRTB was also meant to prepare Campbell Mithun for the future. While the trading desk idea came as a reaction to "an outgrowth of client needs," Wexler also said that the agency wants to have the real-time infrastructure in place for the future. Part of that preparation included opening the new trading desk with display, mobile, and video RTB capabilities.

"We see the velocity changing so dramatically that this is just one small part of going to real-time analytics and real-time reaction to all media types," McGovern said. "We want real-time capability across all platforms."

The trading desk uses a mix of white-labeled DSPs with some of Campbell Mithun's own tech on the analytics side. The company revealed three of the DSPs OdinRTB will be using - Turn, TubeMogul, and DataXu.

Revealed launch partners are KeyBank, GreatClips, and Land O' Lakes.

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