Speaking about transparency, an agency director admitted that one thing that drives him crazy is when it takes him 10 minutes to understand what category of potential client he's talking to. "They're trying to signal differentiation by obfuscating what they really do.

"It's like going to buy a suit," said Ben Hovaness, Managing Director, Marketplace Intelligence & Innovation, Omnicom, "and I'm offered an integrated men's lifestyle solution. It's about where you fit in the landscape."

He spoke on a panel at Thursday's Data & Programmatic Insider Summit with moderator James Mullany, Group Director, Agency Media, Beeby Clark+Meyler, and Ahmed Al-Waili, Director, Programmatic, Data & Insights, Active International.

Al-Waili agreed, advising vendors to "use less buzzwords and talk to me straight. Get to the point about your product. What is really different that you can offer that no one else can. Everyone has their own data sets. What makes you different." He said he prefers to see case studies and real-life examples than what he called the "shiny stuff."

"Brands are nervous," he admitted. "There's so much fraud out there. I don't blame them but we can't supply everything. Focus on 
one goal that means a lot to you. Is it driving sales? Driving traffic to your site? Let's do that. Move them away from metrics like CTR, it's so 2014 or '13."