From transparency, to customer data, to campaign optimisation – what questions should you be asking to get the most out of your tech provider? In this piece, Paul Wright, CEO, iotec, offers a checklist for opening up the conversation and gathering actionable insight. 

There has been continuous debate about transparency in the advertising industry which has all come to a head in the last few months, being heavily debated at Ad Week Europe and the recent ISBA Conference, to name a few. But what does this mean in reality, especially when it comes to digital trading and programmatic?

These latest issues highlight the need for everyone involved to understand their supply chain. The term transparency has in itself been complicated by a range of interpretations, with those involved pushing the interpretation that suits their situation.

How can a brand get a good understanding of transparency? What should they ask their partners, agencies and vendors?

Here are ten questions to help media buyers select the most appropriate tech vendor for their digital advertising needs.

1. How do you interpret transparency?

Many partners will offer different definitions of transparency to suit their own business. Generally, there are four areas of business where a tech provider should be transparent; transparent pricing, transparent media placement, transparent use of data and transparent optimisation.

2. Do you declare your margin?

Your tech provider should be able to tell you what margin they take for providing their service. Ideally, the cash value of this margin should be listed on your invoice. Lack of detail may drive your media placements to maximise margin over effectiveness or context.

3. Do you make any payments to my agency or trading desk, or do you receive payments for spending my budget with any vendors?

Now we all are aware that these types of agreements are in place and in some cases they may be fully recognised by the client. However there can be some agreements that skew the choice of technology over another which is not part of a deal. Technology decisions need to be made in line with a client's KPI - that means in theory different tech platforms for different clients and these type of arrangements can get in the way of this objectivity.

Arbitrage of media, rebates, volume discounts and technology rebates are all issues that need assessing in light of your desired outcome. Some may be acceptable some may not but without knowing them it is difficult to make a clear judgment.

4. What additional supplier costs are deducted from my budget?

Your provider should be able to tell you what is being spent, and where. What portion of your spend is being used for actual media?

5. Do you buy media with your own technology stack?

A ‘tech’ provider using another provider’s technology is likely to only declare their own margin (if any), while their technology provider will also make a margin. This may again obscure the outcome you are looking for.

6. Are you transparent about media placement?

A provider should be able to show a list (or extract) of all ad placements to verify placement filtering and work with any ad verification service.

7. Do you trade media, or have interest in the supply of media?

Many tech providers turn to other providers to help fulfill media buys. This hands controls (and transparency) to a subcontractor with whom you have no relationship. Similarly, some suppliers might provide their owned or part-owned media, or have preferential relationships with other media, the true value of which may not be clear.

8. What do you do with my customer data?

Any platform that optimises will need to track your customers. Your provider should never store data that could potentially reveal the identity of your customer, and they should not use what they learn about your customers to help other clients’ campaigns.

9. Are you transparent about how you approach campaign data?

There are lots of tech providers, who will apparently buy the best inventory for your money, but learnings from that buy are kept and you have to buy from the same provider to benefit in future. Worse still, the learnings from your campaign could be used to assist a competitor. A truly transparent provider will provide full access to insights, allowing you to see what was optimised and ring-fence your campaign data for your use only.