• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, June 10, 2013

Most agency trading desks boast about their real-time trading capabilities, but GroupM’s Xaxis now literally trades throughout the day, thanks to a global expansion that has given it coverage across the planet. “Everywhere WPP is developing, Xaxis will be in that market, as well,” Xaxis CEO Brian Lesser vowed during a presentation at WPP’s Digital Day last week. Xaxis already trades in 22 global markets, is represented in every major region with the exception of the Middle East and Africa, which are coming soon, he said.

That’s fitting, when you consider that Xaxis’ technology roots come out of WPP’s aptly named 24/7 division, which has invested $1 billion to date to build the technological infrastructure that Xaxis relies on. But technology is only one element that differentiates Xaxis from other agency trading desks. Lesser said it’s technology combined with proprietary software, data and people that makes it unique. In fact, he noted that while Xaxis currently has more traders (50) than any other trading desk, it actually has more analysts (60), and that makes it more of an insights company than a media procurement firm.

In terms of trading, Lesser said Xaxis also is differentiating itself from other agency trading desks by downplaying its use of auction models in favor of leveraging its -- and those of GroupM sister shops Mindshare, MEC, MediaCom and Maxus -- relationships with premium media suppliers to utilize programmatic technology to serve ads to the most precious inventory and audiences possible.

“Media is a very important part of our equation and one of the ways we differentiate ourselves from our competitors,” Lesser boasted, ticking off strategic relationships premium publishers loath to sell through exchanges, such as The New York Times, CNN and the FT.

“A lot of our business is actually one-to-one relationships with publishers,” he asserted, adding, “We distinguish ourselves by not only buying impressions at auction.”

In fact, Lesser even placed RTB at the bottom of the chart he used used to illustrate Xaxis’ structure to WPP’s audience, and instead played up things like exclusive access to media inventory, as well as data, including proprietary data pooled from clients in WPP’s “Data Alliance” or directly from the GroupM agencies.

Lastly, he talked about Xaxis diversification strategy, including its moves into out-of-home (Xaxis Places), audio streaming (Xaxis Radio), and of course, video. He even showed two case studies -- one for a CPG marketer and another for a new credit card -- that shifted a big chunk of TV ad budgets into online video to greater success. Interestingly, Lesser said nothing about moving directly into TV, even though parent GroupM has a strategic investmetn in addressable TV ad developer Invidi Technologies. Hey, gotta save something for WPP’s next Digital Day, right?

But if you really want to know what differentiates Xaxis, it is its focus on direct premium relationships with media suppliers, not real-time bidding.

“This is one of our fastest growing products and, in fact, makes up a larger portion of our business than our real-time buying,” Lesser disclosed.

Which makes me wonder what all the fuss over Xaxis role as an arbitrager actually is. But you know, Lesser didn’t bring that role up.