Commentary

PulsePoint CEO Sloan Gaon Says 'Sequential Storyselling' Will Emerge

Sloan Gaon is the CEO of PulsePoint, a programmatic technology company. Gaon has been thinking about how sequential storyselling -- yes, that’s right “storyselling,” not storytelling -- will evolve in 2017. RTBlog asked him to explain storyselling, among other things.

RTBlog: You say 2017 will be the year of "sequential storyselling.” What is that?

Sloan Gaon: In a world where customization is more critical, marketers will increasingly look to sequential storyselling as a way of delivering relevant and appealing content to consumers. What I mean is that by telling a sequenced story to a consumer across multiple forms of advertising over time, marketers can more effectively target consumers during specific life events that take a longer amount of time, such as a pregnancy, purchasing a home, or buying a car. These events go through stages, generating a lot of signals for an advertiser to use to form a bond with consumers. The main concept behind sequential storyselling is telling a time-bound story to consumers across multiple forms of advertising that ultimately leads to a sale.

RTBlog: You predict that content marketing will become a core programmatic offering.

Gaon: Programmatic ad spend has risen exponentially, and as marketers’ comfort level with automation increases, they’re going to pay more attention to the broader opportunities afforded by programmatic. This is especially true for content marketing initiatives, where programmatic offers the potential to achieve greater reach and scale to existing content marketing campaigns. I anticipate this market to double in size over the next few years.

RTBlog: You think that outstream will be key to addressing video demand for both publishers and advertisers.

Gaon: As more consumers shift their viewing from traditional outlets to digital options, marketers have an ongoing need to connect with this audience in meaningful environments. Fortunately, outstream video technology offers a way for publishers to add more video inventory to their sites to generate new revenue streams without a lot of investment. This will enable publishers and marketers to deliver viewable brand messages to larger audiences.

RTBlog: You say “one-trick ad-tech ponies” will be swallowed up. Many people project industry consolidation, and it’s already begun.

Gaon: I anticipate several acquisitions in the martech and ad-tech industries, with single product vendors that can boast a decent-sized customer base as the most likely targets. This area of the market is a potential hotbed for consolidation in 2017. It’s important for ad-tech providers to be able to offer a full suite of products to their customers so they simplify the process for marketers and actual partners.

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