• by Charlene Weisler , Op-Ed Contributor, October 8, 2014

Advertising Week was a fine, frenetic mixture of industry announcements, brilliant initiatives, measurement advancements and sales directions this year. There was talk of Big Data, Programmatic, Content Identification, Cross Platform and even NeuroScience. The industry is changing so quickly that even those of us with years in the industry can still come away with some “aha” moments. Here are three of them for me: 

Fraud Negatively Impacts Programmatic 

Programmatic was one of the hot industry topics in and beyond Advertising Week. But there is an aspect of Programmatic that I was unaware of and appears to be of serious concern: fraud. We talk about fraudulent clicks but there is so much more to the fraud problem in digital, especially as it impacts Big Data.

Data is collected and rarely revised for errors. This is especially true for shopper data where purchasing from stolen credit cards is included, creating erroneous patterns that can impact the efficacy of Programmatic. Michael Tiffany of White Ops explained, “Segmentation targeting is based on the trust of cookie data. You can't unwind the attribution model for stolen credit card purchases.”

There is also the issue of bots that troll sites. Tiffany said, “There is fraud in private marketplaces. Right now publishers are losing big because of bots.” “That is why we are moving away from an open exchange” said Joe Kowan of GroupM, “We apply programmatic to trusted publishers with whom we have a relationship.”

Can this situation impact the growth and expansion of Programmatic?

Time to Debunk the Digital Myths 

As television will inevitably evolve into the digital sphere because of connected TVs, we need to separate myths from realities. Neustar’s Lisa Joy Rosner debunked the 5 myths of digital marketing in her presentation from privacy concerns to the death of brick and morter. Here they are: 

Myth 1- Big Brother is watching. But Rosner suggested that with the right approach, it is possible to “create delightful experiences that don't have to be creepy.” She explained that “It is all about trust, relevance and personalization.”

Myth 2- Offline is dead. Rosner said that this just is not true – the numbers bear it out. “currently, 96% people watch TV. 91% read magazines. 82% listen to radio. 52% have smartphones. 76% use the internet. Integration across platforms is the key.”

Myth 3- Location matters. Well that Myth is true according to Rosner who explained, “Forty-one percent do local search to do comparison shopping before they go into a store to buy. Four out of 5 local searches end in a purchase and 73% of purchases are in brick and mortar stores.”

Myth 4- Size matters in Big Data. But Rosner said, “Accuracy matters more. It's more important to go for accuracy and quality than go for big. Smart data not big data equals accurate, agile and actionable. It must be embedded in driving the organization forward, not a back room function.”

Myth 5- Mobile is the new black. Not so fast, Rosner cautioned, “Eighty three percent of consumers expect you to know them across channels and devices and 46% purchase more when they receive personalized offers across channels.”

Neuroscience Adds Impact to Content Measurement 

Neuroscience research, as advanced by the ARF, is beginning to show important results. According to the ARF’s Gayle Fuguitt, “The opportunity is immense to measure the unmeasured and unlock techniques. We are going from the leading edge to the bleeding edge.” Horst Stipp added, “Our members asked questions about neuro and we are translating neuroscience into best practices.”

There are several methods including physical response, eye tracking, skin conductor response, EKG, EEG, Fmri and facial coding.  There were two major studies presented with the later study confirming the theoretical results from the first one. “The data pointed to using methods as a way to help you improve ad performance and sell more,” Stipp explained.  Creative testing and the revisions that were recommended based on the neuroscience results improved audience response in the final version. Mike Donahue from the 4As agreed that the ARF was “On to something very, very big.” 

The industry itself is expanding and enriching the way it is doing business. Advertising Week offered a way to see some of the newest and greatest examples.