Operative Blog

Did you miss DPAC on June 24 at the Millennium Hotel? Are you interested in some of the results of the Operative and DM2PRO State of the Industry survey? Do you want a sneak peak into Operative.One?

No problem.

Download the Operative presentation by clicking on the below link. 

Operative at DPAC Conference_6-24-10

Also, for access to our white paper, State of the Industry: Digital Operations, CLICK HERE. Read more…

A publisher has to decide:

1. All in- is it brand advertising? or

2. Are they optimizing for networks? 

A media company is based on the content and the sales force.  It is practically impossible to have a hybrid strategy and not lose value for your brand.  Most companies work with zero partners or more than 5 partners. 

86% of network impressions are brought in from the top 100 publishers.  This has a direct devaluation of publisher content.  If you are going to sell premium inventory, you have to know that your premium product won’t have the same value off your site.  Premium sites need large units, high reach, integrated advertising products.  There are a couple of ways to get reach: optimization, Tweeting, social media, possibly M&A, or aggregation.

In 2010, 25% of dollars will come from ad networks.  If publishers move to optimizing for ad networks, the trend will be to reduce of most of the premium sales force.

For more information, please click here.

The Internet is allowing people to report, read, comment and blog about the news.  The web has encouraged opinion editorial and not just facts.  This landscape is changing the way we consume content.  The Huffington Post averages 2 million comments a month.  Consumers want a chance to interact with the news and to allow people to share it and be social. 

For the Huffington Post, technology is allowing them to run a much smarter and more efficient business.   

If it is the golden age of news, why is Huffington Post more entertainment?  The answer is all about what the consumers want to read.  If they like pop culture, HuffPo can offer more of that. 

Quality journalism…is it in the eye of the beholder?

For more information, please click here.

Definition: Extrapolate- http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/extrapolate 

Still in the year 2010, Publishers lose sleep over inventory and how best to manage it to optimize revenue.  As we discuss this vexing conundrum with the publisher audience, the most common themes continue to be:

1. We have SICK excel formulas and tables that help us extrapolate our available/sell-able inventory.

2. We have clients that want us to dive deeper into our audience…in addition, the advertiser wants to geo-target. So, extrapolating the data and conveying the inventory is a PAIN.

3. Using charts and images to extrapolate the inventory data is pretty sweet.  But, again, creating this in excel is sub-optimal.

How do you extrapolate your web site inventory? What solutions have you come up with that other digital publishers could learn from?  Post a note and let us know.

Does this sound familiar?

Lack of data integration

Too much manual data entry

Mistakes and discrepancies are constant

Invoices do not match

Every RFP is different 

IAB is trying to create a standard RFP –> Proposal –>IO –>Invoice process.  In conjunction with the IAB, Operative is participating in the beta project .  Geoff Petkus,  Senior Director of Product for Operative, takes the stand to showcase the ‘standard’ communication process between Agencies and Publishers.

Step one, RFP receipt.  We will validate the incoming RFP for any errors and codes. The next step includes client-specific rules for what to do next. Each publisher will have the ability to define rules for any agency or account. 

Next we go to RFP management.  When an RFP comes in from an Agency, it will be assigned from a queue so that everyone is working on the most recent business.  After that, it will be organized into a RFP detail page. 

The last step is sending the proposal. 

Question of the day-  How does the new Ebusiness RFP platform play in a world that could be eliminating a major part of the RFP process?  

The whole process is meant to return RFP’s faster because they are in an agreed upon template to start with.  Operative can play a big role in the workflow- ask us how…email Sales@operative.com to hear about our work with Donovan Data Systems iDesk and innovations in streamlining agency/publisher communications.

Geoff Petkus

Right this moment, Operative’s Senior Director of Product, Geoff Petkus, is presenting at the IAB Ad Operations Summit on the IAB working group’s advancements in automating agency and publisher communications. 

Check out the session: The Power of Automation, E-Business Solutions!

Follow Operative Founder and VP Sales, Lorne Brown on Twitter- http://twitter.com/LorneBrown

Follow the IAB on Twitter- http://twitter.com/IAB

The question is not WHO owns the data but who CAN USE the data.  So the truth is that more data leads to more complexity in our business. The vast majority of publishers are still trading on content and not audiences.  But staying ahead of the technology curve allows a publisher to be more aggressive in the innovative marketplace. 

One big problem within digital advertising is that the cost of doing business is 2x or 3x the amount of other mediums (such as print, radio, TV, etc).  We need one electronic system to handle the workflow and inventory…  The fundamental problem is that companies like Procter and Gamble cannot spend $1 billion online without a better understanding of audience measurement. 

Think about search.  Google is successful because they gave the advertiser control.  This is a concept of what needs to change in the display market- let the market decide what it wants to buy.  Display has 95% of all inventory but provides very little control for advertisers. 

Predictions – if you are looking at demand side platforms and buyers are looking to find value, then you will see audience based buys through open marketplaces and there will be less integrated sponsorships (Yahoo).  Data will either liberate us or crush us (WPP). There will be two different planners: the ones in the marketplace and the other will be integration (WPP).  Real time bidding (like a clearing house) will control 60% of the business in 2 years (WPP).

The knowledge is where the data is.  How can Operative become a force and help publishers use this data?  Let us know your thoughts…

Dan Murphy, SVP at Univision Interactive Media and LONG TIME supporter of the IAB, gave an update on the IAB Ad Operations Council.

The joke of the day is that Ad Ops has become a REAL job- where everyone is wearing suits and leaving the jeans and sneakers at home.  According to Dan, both the agency and the publishing sides have value to bring to the table.  6 years ago, the industry was talking about all of the same problems we continue to address today (late creative, intrusive ads, audience measurement, rich media specs and discrepancies).  6 years ago, Ben Reid (when working for About.com) spearheaded the “OARS- Online Ad Reporting Standards” project (ebusiness).  Today, Operative still has a stake in the eBusiness initiative: Geoff Petkus has continued to work with the IAB committees on standards and specs to unite both publisher and agency processes and data models.    

The new IAB audit will go a long way to standardize the industry.  An overwhelming amount of impressions are audited throughout the web, and verification systems will need to help the ecosystem and not hurt the process.  According to a survey Dan initiated, “Ad Ops is 50% more complex than it was 3 years ago”.  Fragmentation is out of control right now because of the different sites and structure in the marketplace.  While innovation and growth are not slowing down, the largest concern for media companies is “Inventory and Yield Management”.  A close second is “Billing Discrepancies.”

What does TRUE operational efficiency look like?   Buying, selling and executing digital advertising should be a transaction similar to eating out at a restaurant- you don’t HAVE to think about too hard.  As an industry, publishers and agencies spend too much time in petty details and legal issues and THIS needs to change. 

David Cohen of Universal McCann asked 3.5 Questions:

1. Characterize ad ops?  We NEED good people but we LOSE good people.  Others talked about challenging times with too many demands.  There are common sentiments about how this portion of business is perceived. 

2. Greatest improvements?  Better collaboration every day. 

3. Could discrepancies start going down?  Is this one of media’s greatest pains?  Consider the amount of time it takes to analyze the data, the manual processes and paper STILL involved the process.  We still need mutual trust, collaboration and transparency among publishers and agencies.

David shows a chart called the Road to Nirvana (not the band), and all of the pieces that need to change to make the system run a lot smoother.  It starts with something as easy as RFP standardization, and continues to T&C’s.  Late creative is another big issue that needs to be solved. 

2010 is our year.  Simple dialogue can go a long way.  The only constant right now is that the rate of innovation is fast.

David’s prediction for 2015 is that there will be two different camps: High volume vs Premium publishers. 

Total commercial websites will drop dramatically.  In 2015, MSA’s will be signed at the beginning of the year in order to make life much easier.

IAB Ad Ops Summit - Operative Booth

We are announcing a NEW PRODUCT today at the IAB Ad Operations Summit, so come visit our booth OR CLICK HERE to read about it!