Agency Skill Sets Most in Demand with Brand Advertisers
Developments in technology are accelerating at a huge rate. To deliver efficient and effective advertising, brands need to keep up with this pace; but how can they maintain the level of expertise required? Antti Pasila (pictured below), CCO and founder, Kiosked, tells ExchangeWire that, according to Kiosked’s research, agency skill sets are in great demand with brand marketers.
Flashing, blinking, desktop somersaulting and noisy ads are irritating and can raise the blood pressure of the calmest among us. Think about the last time you couldn’t reach for the ‘close tab’ button quickly enough to escape an intrusive ad for a video game you have never heard of, which is playing at the bottom of an article you are reading. In situations like these, ads can start playing before we’ve even seen them – it’s frustrating and can be quite embarrassing when, for example, you’re sitting in your office and trying to do research.
Not only are these ads annoying, they are also uncreative. But the horizon of the advertising industry is looking clear and sunny as brands wake up to the fact that mass-marketing is too impersonal and unimaginative to be effective. Kiosked’s latest research supports this turning point in the ad industry, revealing how many companies are bringing creative advertising agency expertise and associated skill sets in-house.
The figures are high, but not surprising, considering the push towards programmatic; with 100% of respondents from large organisations (500 people or more) stating that they had hired people with ad or media agency experience in the last three months, with over half predicting an even greater number of hires in 2016.
Andy Berndt, vice president and founder, Google Creative Lab, once said: “People who best learn how to use the tools of creativity will be at the leading edge of our industry. But you also need to learn to accelerate. The tools don’t stay the same for a decade.” As brands accelerate towards programmatic, hiring creative professionals and taking more control of their campaign process has become ever more important.
Bringing skills in-house 
As the push for programmatic builds, brands are becoming more aware of the creative potential to connect with customers on a one-to-one basis. That being said, Kiosked predicts that the advertising ecosystem will be close to fully automated by 2020 – what brand doesn’t want to connect with their customers better? By hiring individuals with skills developed in-agency, brands can take a hold of this huge opportunity. Think about ads that you have connected with; they are most likely relevant, tug a heartstring, and are timely. Knowing your customers is the basics of marketing, but programmatic allows brands to target the right customers in the right place, at the right time, to drive engagement and avoid costly ad waste.
Competition in advertising is tough; but brands can get ahead by ‘going programmatic’ and standing out; whether that’s on an online article or from within an app. Customers like to be understood – mass marketing is impersonal and can sometimes leave customers disgruntled and feeling like they’re being spammed.
Transparency is needed
The world of programmatic can be complex, murky and disjointed. An all-in-one platform simplifies the planning and buying process and helps brands precisely plan and target their campaign and adjust content to the reader.
Advertisers need to demand a ‘no waste’ solution, which also only fires ads when in-view – meaning the number of views will be ‘actual’ views – not like those noisy videos playing at the bottom of the online page you haven’t had a chance to scroll to yet! Currently the publisher makes just $0.40 from every $1 spent by advertisers. However, advertising automation provides an opportunity to change all that and make the whole advertising process more transparent and fair for the consumer, advertiser and publisher. Advertisers will have better performing ads, publishers will make more money, and consumers will have access to free, high-quality content by paying with ‘actual’ eyes.
The fact of the matter is, despite all the problems the industry is faced with (such as ad fraud and ad blocking), advertising is not going anywhere. If advertising were to stop, customers would have to pay for all the content they consume and would be ill-informed when making purchase decisions. However, behaviours and advertising tactics need to change for it to become a prosperous and enjoyable industry for everyone involved. Brands are now waking up to the idea of programmatic; we can see this from the number of large organisations choosing to hire professionals with ad and media agency experience. With a chance to be able to ‘clean up’ the complicated industry, which is currently full of fraud, it’s only logical for brands adopt this model in the years to come.
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