GDPR Effects, Browser Changes, And Anonymous Targeting

GDPR Effects, Browser Changes, And Anonymous Targeting

June 07, 2019 |
Laura Bakopolus Goldstone

What will happen to the B2B advertising landscape in the US?

Not As Expected

GDPR is like the big brother that went off to college, and soon we’ll be following in his footsteps. The US is watching Europe to evaluate the impact GDPR has on digital advertising. According to a study conducted by Prohaska Consulting, publishers saw less than a 2% opt-out rate in the first 6 months of the regulation being in effect, and fewer than 95 fines have been levied, most at insignificant levels; this tells us that the impact is far less than was expected. GDPR was also very highly anticipated, giving companies and consumers alike over a year to fully prepare. But the effects, especially regarding changes in consumer behavior, were not as staggering as many would have thought. What does that mean for the US?

It’s Our Turn

It’s our turn to graduate and take on the big leagues. The California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA) is on its way, aiming to provide increased support and protection to consumers regarding their data and the way companies use it in their advertising strategies. But given the negligible changes consumers made in light of GDPR – a 2% opt-out rate shows minimal behavior change – we might be able to expect a similar reaction here in the US. Extrapolating the impact of GDPR in Europe to encompass the CCPA’s effect in the US is speculation that isn’t foolproof, but it is important to note that given the opportunity to take action, consumers were mostly okay with their current data relationships and didn’t opt out as often as we may have expected.

This doesn’t mean there’s nothing to worry about. Of course privacy matters – it always has and it always will. If consumers in the US opt out at a higher rate and take more action in preventing their data from being used in certain ways, then the US advertising market will see more ripples in the water. Some boats won’t survive the storm; others will. What will be the difference?

You Don’t Always Need a Bigger Boat

The size of the company won’t be the determining factor in who can survive and who can’t. The difference will lie in the technology, experience, and relationships already formed. For example, if a large company has spent years perfecting its technology, garnering experience on how to optimize campaigns, and nurturing relationships with data providers, but the foundation of the data is mostly or fully cookie-based, and the data includes personal identifiers, that company needs to start from scratch. Their technology will need to be altered greatly to incorporate different elements, their experience will have to shift, and new relationships will need to be formed. All of this will take time and will increase costs until they are able to figure out how to work around the regulations – if at all.

Instead of finding a company that is willing to work around the regulations, it would behoove agencies and brands to find one that is already complying, which could simply be the result of the nature of their operations. For example, B2B digital advertising doesn’t require personal data in order to achieve specificity OR scale. Deploying B2B digital ads does not have to involve manipulation of consumer data, nor does it have to set the end user up for risk. B2B digital advertisers with a comprehensive solution that incorporates business IP targeting with offline data and other opted-in first-party data can achieve scale that is not attainable purely with cookies. Relying solely on cookies is not the best approach in this landscape, especially with all of the changes being made to our browsers.

A Cookie Diet

Cookies and fingerprinting are both being attacked by regulations being implemented in new releases set forth by the US’s most popular browsers. Google Chrome is increasing the ease with which users can block or clear third-party cookies and is making it harder for third parties to identify individuals through browser fingerprinting, by which details that help the page appear in the browser appropriately (think the user’s OS, IP address, language, fonts, etc.) are instead by used to uniquely identify the user (source). Google’s cookie controls require opt-in, while the fingerprinting changes will be done by default. Additionally, Apple is planning to release Apple Safari ITP 2.2 later this year, which will limit the use of cookies. Firefox is also planning increased privacy protections to prevent fingerprinting techniques and perhaps limit cookie use. Chrome may not decide on the lifetime of a cookie in its privacy efforts, while Safari keeps shortening a cookie’s expiration date with each ITP release. Users will also be able to download a browser extension to see what data is being used to target ads they see.

Without being able to rely on cookies, how will ad companies target individuals?

A cookie diet is coming, and companies that want to survive must respond. Luckily for the B2B advertising market, if consumers choose to opt out of their cookies being captured and used to learn about their behaviors, there are other ways to deliver ad impressions to them without identifying their personal data. B2B digital advertising companies like AdDaptive have been doing it for years.

B2B Advertisers Can Target Anonymously at Scale

Consumers will be able to clear cookie data from their browsers after an increasingly shortened period of time. Hammering down on fingerprinting will prevent companies from using browser data to learn about the end user. And privacy laws like CCPA are trying to prevent companies from being able to tie a user’s name to his or her behaviors and personal data, especially when targeting with ads. So how will companies show the right people their advertisements at scale?

B2B Advertising can be done anonymously. Focusing on firmographics, companies can use business-related data – such as the location of an office, the IP address of computers tied to that office, the revenue and number of employees of that company, and more – to target a position at a particular company without ever knowing the name of the person filling that role. In that way, the business’s publicly available information is being leveraged, and digital identifiers are being mapped to opted-in or other legally collected data, in order to target the right people at the right business – protecting the personal behaviors and data of the user at that company.

The US B2B Digital Advertising Landscape

Privacy and digital regulations will affect us all – there’s no denying that. But the new rules of the game impose restrictions on certain practices that some companies already ruled out because a) there were other ways to be more successful or b) they identified safer ways of doing business. Companies like AdDaptive already have a competitive advantage because they don’t rely solely on the cookie data that may become obsolete or at least damaged in a way that will negatively impact scale. Instead, AdDaptive can achieve scale and accuracy in connecting advertisers to their target business accounts – and we can give you increased transparency about how those ads performed post-campaign. The data we use and provide is all business-centric and does not infringe on end users’ personal privacy, which protects us from the storm.

In taking a long-term view, the industry may consolidate. Companies may have to pivot or exit. Switching costs will rise. Buyers will become savvier in their approaches. Leadership will demand better analytics. Companies will need better scale in order to see positive results. And changes will continue to be made to protect individuals’ privacy. Agencies and brands that want to get ahead of the changes should evaluate their buying strategy and find companies that are already complying and thriving, succeeding in delivering B2B digital advertisements without compromising any personal data. Whether the changes in the industry are drastic or minimal, the best advice agencies and brands can get at this point in time is to work with a company that is already privacy-focused, already achieving success without infringing on personal data, and already experienced in adapting to environmental factors. Regardless of size or even brand equity, the company that is doing this for their current clients will be able to bring you similar success and help you survive the changes in the industry. AdDaptive is one such company is happy to talk with you about how we can bridge that gap and set you up for success.

Let’s talk.

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How B2B Advertising Can Protect Consumer Data

How B2B Advertising Can Protect Consumer Data

May 28, 2019 |
Laura Bakopolus Goldstone

B2B Advertising Technology Providers, Like AdDaptive, Can Reach Businesses Without Compromising Individuals’ Privacy

The Path to Privacy

As the digital media landscape has seen an increased focus on data privacy, consumers have become savvier and expect more transparency from their vendors and suppliers. Companies and legislations have responded with increased regulations, a practice which protects the consumer but hinders some advertising companies’ abilities to serve audience members with relevant ads.

Certain issues and risks must be mitigated in order for companies to survive in the industry: If a tech company experienced a data breach or abused the use of its platform, it must respond with an apology that recognizes the harm and stricter rules that show a change in behavior to benefit the consumer. It might seem as though these issues are becoming more frequent and that there’s no cap on the harm that can be done.

But the challenge is to find the needle in the haystack.

Environmental factors may affect all companies in the market, but there will be varying degrees of impact. Not all advertising companies are misusing consumers’ data. Not all vendors are struggling with privacy issues. And those who already have a solution that takes privacy and transparency into account while still achieving targeting success will emerge even stronger on the other side. Brands and agencies looking to prepare for the future should identify those companies now – before it becomes a necessity and switching costs rise.

A Viable Solution

There are some recent developments that are essential to heed: Consumers need to be able to decide to opt out from data collection if they so choose; those who allow their data to be collected need to know it won’t be abused and will instead be used to their benefit. B2B advertising companies that are able to target business accounts without keeping personal data on individuals are well-poised to provide this value and survive the “ad-mageddon.”

A happy medium does exist. Advertising technology companies with a B2B focus, like AdDaptive, tend to thrive in a privacy-centric environment. This approach does not focus on collecting or managing personal data; instead, it focuses on building a solution that analyzes publicly available business data and job function data at the aggregate level which, when combined, is powerful enough to hone in on the appropriate job function at a particular company – all while protecting the individual behind that role.

For example, this B2B advertising approach stresses digital identifiers, not personal identifiers; in other words, we are able to reach the right person at the right company by leveraging:

  • The business title, not the individual’s name
  • The business location, not anyone’s household address
  • The business revenue, not one individual salary
  • The business IP address, not personal digital behavior

Therefore, targeting is personally anonymous, but specific on a business level. In that way, B2B ad tech companies such as AdDaptive are able to reach key accounts without compromising individuals’ privacy. This gives us a competitive edge, as we are already accomplishing what companies will need to pivot towards in order to stay alive in the coming years. In addition, we are able to provide a level of post-campaign analytical insight that is unprecedented in the industry – a development that would take other companies years to catch up to.

Ready When You Are

Ultimately, if agencies and brands are worried about data practices but still see digital advertising as a valuable and essential part of their overall marketing strategy, switching to a company like AdDaptive, whose operations are not compromised by the influx of regulation and are not subject to risks surrounding personal data, is the smartest way to be proactive. We’re already successful in doing what everyone else will try to figure out how to do; rather than working with a tech vendor that will be in transition and trying to hone a new skill, why not run with a company that has been doing it for years?

Let’s talk about how we can achieve your B2B digital advertising goals with increased data protection.

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Discover Transparency In B2B Ad Tech

Discover Transparency In B2B Ad Tech

June 28, 2018 |
Laura Bakopolus Goldstone

Can you name the specific business professionals that see your ads in terms of their companies, titles, and locations? Unfortunately, the answer is probably “no.” The norm in ad tech today is for a company to say, “Yes, we served your ads as planned.” And that’s it.

But that shouldn’t be it. It’s time to care a little bit more about transparency in ad tech.

Feedback across the entire ad tech industry dictates that marketers and advertisers would like a better sense of targeting clarity. They want to see tangible results to justify their budget spend, particularly at a time when competition is high and every dollar matters. The industry as it stands right now has a standard where companies provide a list of the sites where your ads are placed, but that may not be the right metric. Especially in a B2B environment where companies are wise to leverage account-based marketing, companies are more relevant metrics than sites.

Previously, data captured how many times someone saw an ad on a site, but the ad wasn’t necessarily relevant to that person. Without being part of a more comprehensive strategy, the third-party cookie data could only interpret that a person on a certain site should be seeing a certain ad based on their visit to that site. But that data was not accurate. So even though an ad was shown to someone, adding to the total tally, the ad was not shown to a person who cared enough about it to take action. As a result, the ad was viewed, but that view was not high quality, since it didn’t represent someone interested in engaging with your content.

Previously, data captured how many times someone saw an ad on a site, but the ad wasn’t necessarily relevant to that person. Without being part of a more comprehensive strategy, the third-party cookie data could only interpret that a person on a certain site should be seeing a certain ad based on their visit to that site. But that data was not accurate. So even though an ad was shown to someone, adding to the total tally, the ad was not shown to a person who cared enough about it to take action. As a result, the ad was viewed, but that view was not high quality, since it didn’t represent someone interested in engaging with your content.

For marketers who care about analytics, getting narrower and narrower is key.

 

Instead of seeing a list of websites where your ads were placed and not knowing where on the site they were featured or who visited that site to view them, wouldn’t it be ideal if you could see a list of the actual companies targeted, the number of impressions each company saw, and the firmographic data around each company?

That’s why AdDaptive rolled out a new business analytics report. We can now list out all the companies we targeted on your behalf. Our approach is more accurate than anywhere else in the industry and shows the ads to the right people based on their behaviors and preferences. Then, post-campaign, instead of simply stating that the ads were served, we can provide you with proof that key influencers at companies that matter to your business strategy saw your ad.

That’s why AdDaptive rolled out a new business analytics report. We can now list out all the companies we targeted on your behalf. Our approach is more accurate than anywhere else in the industry and shows the ads to the right people based on their behaviors and preferences. Then, post-campaign, instead of simply stating that the ads were served, we can provide you with proof that key influencers at companies that matter to your business strategy saw your ad.

 

Our new business analytics report is revolutionizing ad reporting by increasing transparency and taking the guesswork out of advertising. It’s proactive, it’s tangible, and it’s relevant. We know how important transparency is to you, so we developed this capability to illustrate how accurate our technology is and how specific our targeting can be – in turn showing you exactly who is seeing your ads and where your money is going.

Interested in learning more? Talk with our sales team to receive a demo and experience our technology’s power for yourself.

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1st Party, 2nd Party & 3rd Party Data Differences

1st Party, 2nd Party & 3rd Party Data Differences

December 26, 2016 |
Addaptive Intelligence

1st party data, 2nd party data, and 3rd party data are common classifications used to target or identify audiences. We’re often asked about the differences between these, specifically with 1st party data vs 3rd party data. Here’s a quick overview along with a few basic examples of each.

1st Party Data

1st-party data is data that you own or directly collect from your audience.

Simple examples of 1st-party data that you may already have include newsletter subscription lists, contact form submissions, product registrations, CRM records, and other international databases that store information about your customers.

Ad Age describes it well in a bit more detail:

“First-party data is information collected directly and stored by website publishers, retailers and other types of companies about their site visitors or customers.” –Ad Age

With 1st party data there’s no intermediary between the source and audience. 1st-party can often include customer names, addresses, phone numbers, analytics data, product purchases and product usage. This data is often collected and stored in CRM systems, email newsletters, and other customer subscriptions and memberships.

1st-party Networks

2nd Party Data

2nd-party data is data that users didn’t give you directly, instead you’re obtaining from a direct relationship with a 1st-party data owner.

Next is line is secondary-party data. 2nd-party data is data consolidated and aggregated from external sources. 2nd-party data is also provided by multiple sources. Data management platform’s (DMP’s) use second-party data to generate broad segments that pull in information from many different anonymous data sources. Working with 2nd-party data often involves working with a trusted and relevant external source of first-party data that is not your own.

3rd Party Data

3rd-party data is data about users that you’ve obtaining from unknown or partially defined external sources.

3rd-party data is similar to 2nd-party data: it is consolidated and aggregated from multiple external sources and is provided by numerous providers. The primary difference is that third-party data is often highly scalable, but lacks transparency. Without a full understanding of where the data was sourced from, it’s harder to determine the accuracy. For this reason third-party data sources may often have a higher margin for error.

 

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Offline Data Improves Online Results

Offline Data Improves Online Results

June 15, 2016 |
Addaptive Intelligence

In an ironic twist, the latest trend in improving online advertising results is leveraging offline data that has been used since the dawn of the direct marketing industry.

As cookie pools continue to expand, and their effectiveness and accuracy questioned, online marketers are beginning to appreciate the value of validated offline data from sources like business filings, census data, registration forms, etc. to precisely target digital campaigns.

Unlike inferred cookie data that relies on questionable criteria to place users into bloated targeting segments, offline data comes from information reported when opening a business, buying a house, filling out a census form, buying a car etc. The data is real; it’s not based on assumptions and reduces waste when used to target online campaigns.

The bridge between offline data and online targeting is the IP address. By overlaying offline data to filter a list of IP addresses, online marketers can reach the exact household or business that meet their criteria.

B2B marketers can target IPs by NAICS Codes, employee size, revenue etc. Consumer marketers can apply offline data to narrow down household IPs by income, number of children, ethnicity, spending patterns, and thousands of other criteria. IP targeting has the added benefits of scaling better across Mobile (since most Mobile devices don’t accept cookies), and being less susceptible to fraudulent traffic.

The solution to combating bots, fraud, and privacy concerns surrounding cookies has been around for over 50 years. Traditional direct marketers have always known the value of accurate, verified offline data to drive measurable results. In our industry’s relentless quest for innovation and new targeting techniques we’ve lost sight of the fundamental principle that the success of a campaign is determined before the first impression is delivered. The more accurate the targeting data, the better the campaign will perform. Using offline data to target IP addresses is the most effective way to improve performance of digital campaigns. Sometimes the best place to look for new ideas is in the past!

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Geofencing Series: Part 2

Geofencing Series: Part 2

May 25, 2016 |
Mike Lu

Last week’s post delved into the common factors that affect programmatic inventory reach and scale. Part Two of this series will outline an effective strategy for running a successful mobile geofencing campaign when inventory is scarce.

Mobile geofencing campaigns, especially those with tight radius requirements are fickle in terms of reach and scale but there are tactics to mitigate delivery issues in most cases. According to AppNexus, a leading DSP, about 70 to 85 percent of all mobile impressions do not contain the critical lat-long coordinates required for building a geofence. What to do in this case when there is low inventory availability in the target area?

Leveraging traditional geo-targeting on Mobile

While lat-long radius targeting provides the most precise targeting for mobile geofencing campaigns, scale oftentimes becomes an issue due to low population density or lack of location share-happy mobile users in the target area. Traditional geo-targeting on mobile can be a viable alternative when utilized properly to build a facsimile geofence. The key is the location data from the much more readily available IP address assigned to each mobile device. Once connected to a WIFI for example, a user’s general location information (none personally identifiable) such as the State, City or ZIP code can be retrieved for targeting.

Mimicking a Radius

The ZIP code will most likely be the second most granular level of geolocation information available for targeting behind lat-long coordinates. Leveraging this more readily available data point a radius can be built around a target area by utilizing neighboring ZIP codes. This effectively builds a geo-fence similar to what you would see lat-long coordinates and a radius.

To create this type of geo-fence, the first step is to identify the ZIP code of the target lat-long location. This can be done easily by inputting a set of coordinates into a mapping service such as Google Maps and triggering the on page ‘What’s Here?’ mechanism (e.g. in Chrome on a Windows machine, right click the pin icon to toggle the sub menu).

Once the ZIP code is determined, all ZIP codes within the target area can be retrieved using a tool such as ZIPCODEAPI.com. The radius can be controlled in either miles or kilometers and the tool will return a list of ZIP codes that fall within the defined radius.

One thing to keep in mind is that geographic areas that define a ZIP code are not entirely symmetrical and can vary pretty widely in terms of coverage and population density. One way to mitigate targeting beyond an advertiser’s boundary limits with this method is to start with a much more restrictive radius value when generating the surrounding ZIP code list. 30% of the original targeting radius would be a good starting point. For example, if the initial radius targeting requirement is 15 miles, retrieve ZIP codes within a 10.5-mile radius. If a campaign is not hitting budget, slowly increase the radius to include additional ZIP codes until the max boundary limit has been reached.

This method while not perfect, is the closest alternative to pure geo-fencing except with much better scale and reach. There are certainly exceptions where geofecing campaigns with lat-long coordinates have scaled perfectly fine without the need to implement a strategy such as this one.

As mobile adoption and user’s comfort level with sharing personal information such as location with devices and apps increase, there should be much greater inventory availability in the near future. Until that time comes, it is always wise to have an alternative strategy to deliver to advertiser budgets in your back pocket.

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Geofencing Series Introduction

Geofencing Series Introduction

May 18, 2016 |
Addaptive Intelligence

A successful mobile geofencing strategy starts with understanding inventory availability and how to plan around it. While that may sound cliché, it is important to use the dynamics surrounding mobile inventory reach to develop the strategies that will eventually produce meaningful impressions.

Not every mobile device, and more specifically mobile applications with ad serving capabilities, is accessible to programmatic inventory pools. According to 2016 Pew Research study, over 72% of Americans now own a smartphone. While on the surface that might seem like a vast pool of available mobile inventory for advertisers to dip into, in reality the accessible pool that pertains to mobile geofencing is only a fraction of that.

SERIES:

Part One: Location Sharing & App Content
outlines some of the key factors that affect inventory and reach when it comes to running mobile campaigns with geofencing requirements.

Part Two: Increased Reach explores some effective strategies to increase reach while adhering to advertiser demands around geofencing.

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Geofencing Series: Part 1

Geofencing Series: Part 1

May 18, 2016 |
Mike Lu

The first installment of the Geofencing Series will discuss sharing settings, capabilities, and adoption. All of these factors sharpen the application of geofencing with the growth of mobile popularity adding value by utilizing location as a key indicator of decision making behavior.

Location Sharing Settings

There must be a high confluence of technical, behavioral and timing factors before a user’s mobile device and apps are available to receive mobile programmatic advertising conducive to geofencing.

The catalyst before a single impression can be made available to programmatic inventory pools is based on the user’s initiative to download a compatible app where the geo location feature is activated.

Boston based Skyhook Wireless, who was the original Geolocation technology provider for the early iterations of the iPhone, conducted a study in Q4 of 2015 pegging the number of users who were comfortable sharing their geo-location with an app at 60% (depending on the app).

Out of those willing to share their geolocation with an app, the app must also contain capabilities to log and broadcast its location in the form of lat and long coordinates before a radius can be drawn for geofence targeting. Devices typically utilize a combination of GPS and WIFI signals to triangulate a user’s location with the former being the most accurate when there are unobstructed views to the sky. Mapping, social media “check-in” and weather apps are the most popular apps that utilize a device’s geolocation capabilities where users are most willing to share their locations.

App Capabilities

Beyond an app’s location sharing status, another important factor in determining mobile inventory availability is whether an app contains programmatic ad-serving capabilities. This is largely determined by the individual app developer and whether they have an SDK (software development kit) embedded within the app that will be conducive to serving mobile ads in a real-time bidding environment.

Currently in the Google Play App Store an app like ‘Words with Friends’ has 10 million – 50 million installs compared to the most popular contracting app ‘Joist’ which only has 100,000 – 500,000 (and is not ad-supported!). While an app that is geared towards contracting professional would be highly desirable for advertisers seeking pro contractors, in this case the most popular app in the category is not even available to programmatic advertising inventory pools.

Popular free apps with ad serving capabilities typically offer the most available impressions due to their cross-platform popularity. Niche apps that might fit an advertiser’s targeting criteria oftentimes don’t offer enough meaningful impressions to fill a typical campaign assuming it contains the prerequisite programmatic ad serving capabilities.

Mobile Adoption and Population Density

Lastly, population demographics and density of the target area will be the largest determining factor when it comes to mobile programmatic advertising inventory reach. As with traditional display advertising, geofencing campaigns tend to scale best in more densely populated areas. The difference with mobile is that the demographics of smartphone adopters tend to skew much younger than desktop. For example, the 18-29 age group saw an 83% smartphone adoption rate compared to 58% for the 50-64 age group according to the Pew Research Group in a Q4-2015 study on Technology Device Ownership in the U.S. Advertisers running geofencing campaigns should expect to see a healthy dose of students or new college graduates regardless of the location due to their proclivity to not only own smartphones in higher numbers but to also download the most mobile apps.

Next week, Part Two: Going over the Geofence explores an alternative targeting strategy when scale becomes a problem.

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