• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, October 21, 2014

Heather Dumford, That’s the Hobson’s Choice for many brand marketers considering how to handle their programmatic media-buying, ConAgra Foods Media Director-Global Marketing Heather Dumford said during the “Programmatic Branding” panel at OMMA Chicago this morning.

“Do we stick with our managed service model,” she posited, or does a client move more toward a self-service model. She didn’t go so far as to utter the IH word, you know, “in-house,” but she certainly implied it is part of the thought process.

“I think that’s really where advertisers need to think on which is the best side,” she said, adding later that the issues go beyond simply who services the programmatic buys to include what types of programmatic buys are made.

She said it is the job of agency partners to “prove it out,” meaning to run tests and organize data that shows which audience inventory yield the best results for the brand’s goals.

Interestingly, it’s not always the most efficient buys at the cheapest costs, but is really about the overall ROI.

“Our belief is we will pay a higher CPM for a validated consumer,” she said, assuming the brand gets the results it’s looking for.

CPMs aside, she said, “We are a lot more efficient when we get the right kind of inventory.”