Sam Barnett is CEO of Struq, a behavioural retargeting specialist based out of London. Here Barnett dsicusses the ADPAD, the European directive, and the Teracent threat in the new look Google buy-side stack.

Can you give an overview of the new ADPAD offering – particularly around the personalised customisation of online banner ads?

Struq’s ADPAD revolutionizes the way a user can control their display ad experience. The ADPAD gives users real controls within the ad – users can “like” or “remove” products, remove brands they don’t want to see ads from, and opt out of personalised ads all within the ad itself.

For advertisers this delivers a positive brand experience and deeper brand engagement. Advertisers using the Struq ADPAD can be certain that their online advertising is creating the best possible brand experience with their audience.

You say that this new format addresses some of the user privacy concerns in the EU?

61% of users who opt-out of Struq ads, cite ‘lack of control’ as the reason as to why they opt out. 75% cite ‘more control’ as one of the key desires they have of online advertising.

Struq solves the users lack of control through the ADPAD’s meaningful in-ad controls. Within the ad, users now can control their online ad experience through the ADPAD:

• A user doesn’t want to see shoes, but still wants to see swimwear from an advertiser – now they can remove shoes in their ADPAD so the user no longer sees the shoes.
• A user has been on holiday and doesn’t want to see travel ads but wants to still see garden furniture – now they can remove the travel brands from the ADPAD

Do you think the industry has doing enough around the privacy issue?

The IAB has done an exceptional job in regard to the self regulartory framework which the UK government openly supports. We feel it is our job as a pioneering company to continually push the boundaries of innovation. Struq released the ADPAD to instill trust in the user with personalised retargeted ads. The future of this industry lies in delivering positive brand experiences through relevancy and user control. The Struq ADPAD is the next phase of delivering positive brand experiences for users, and driving innovation of the display ad format, and ultimately delivering continued unmatched performance for advertisers.

Let’s focus on the new European directive. How is this directive going to affect the Struq business – given your reliance on third party cookie tracking?

For Struq, the new law cleared up some critical things, the result of which is great for us as a business. Here are the key points and how it has clarified the situation for Struq: prior consent is not required; while informed consent is now a requisite. This consent can be given after or during processing

The open letter says that this enables and supports the OBA Framework developed by the industry which Struq is a already signatory of. That browser settings can constitute consent.

Re-targeting has been incredibly popular among display buyers over the past three years – and there is more competition than ever in this space? How is Struq differentiating itself from the likes of Criteo and Fetchback?

Struq’s core algorithm, the Struq Who Engine, is able to predict to 95% accuracy which users will be profitable for an advertiser. The result is Struq delivers on average 31% greater Post Click ROI than any other Retargeting provider.

Struq’s unmatched performance for advertisers has resulted in us working exclusively with the largest advertisers in each sector (e.g. Travel – EasyJet, Retail – Play.com, Finance – MoneySupermarket)

Are you concerned about the Teracent integration into Invite/DFA? Is Google about to commoditise re-targeting?

Struq prides itself on two things:

1. A personal approach: We build bespoke creatives per advertiser and offer a fully managed solution
2. Unmatched advertiser performance: Struq’s "Who Engine" enables us to deliver on average 31% greater post-click ROI than any other retargeting provider.

Our approach doesn’t meet the needs of all marketers. Those advertisers looking for unrivalled performance, with creative designed specifically for the brand and a fully managed service are a good fit for us.

A lot of advertisers have benefited from personalised re-targeting offered by Struq? Surely, there are going to want to move up the sales funnel and prospect for new customers. What is Struq doing in this area?

Struq’s PRE:TARGETING product is in beta and live with advertisers now. Struq’s "Who Engine" builds a profile of an advertiser’s most profitable users, finding new prospects with similar characteristics to the profile and identifying profitable social connections of that user.

Compared to standard behavioural targeting, Struq´s Pre:Targeting product is achieving 9x times better CTR. with a 10.5% greater post click ROI compared to Standard BT.

How does Struq buy inventory? Are you buying via RTB? Do you use a DSP?

All Struq’s technology is proprietary and we have our own DSP. We buy inventory via RTB in over 10 territories.

Outside of dynamic inventory, is Struq – like other re-targeters – building relationships with premium publishers?

Struq has relationships with every major premium publisher not using RTB. As there is no exclusive inventory in the UK, the key challenge Struq solves is to only target predictable profitable users, and give those users meaningful controls so they have the best possible experience with the advertisers brand.

What pricing model does Struq currently offer? CPC? Post-view CPA? Post-click CPA?

We offer a CPC business model, but automated optimisation occurs towards a post click CPA target

Struq has recently opened an office in Paris. Can you give some insight into the Struq European strategy? Are we likely to see more moves into new markets?

We are expanding rapidly and is actively looking for new team members to join in all European territories as well as the US. Please get in touch if you would like to join the Struq team