Ogilvy and Marmalade Digital Launch DSPs in India

DSPs are gaining traction in India with Neo@Ogilvy, the digital media planning and buying arm of OgilvyOne, and Marmalade Digital, a digital media trading technology and services provider, announcing the launch of their new DSPs in India. The model has been established globally for a few years, but is now finally gaining acceptance among advertisers India.

Neo@Ogilvy launched its DSP last week in partnership with Brandscreen, a leading DSP in the Asia-Pacific region, and has already done a couple of pilot campaigns for two of its clients in New Delhi and Mumbai, according to R. P. Singh, Vice President, Neo@Ogilvy.

Marmalade Digital, a relatively new digital technology company established in 2011, will launch its DSP on May 15.

Hemant Kumar, Founder and CEO, Marmalade Digital, comments: "DSPs use behavioural targeting data, collected from cookies and data exchanges, to identify audience segments. The advertiser then uses that targeting data to define the kind of audience it wants to target with its advertising and the amount it is willing to pay per impression. The DSP then bids on the ad impressions using that advertiser's criteria and budget, and serves the ads. At Marmalade Digital, we want to focus on control and transparency and provide agencies/advertisers/ad networks with a better, refined form of targeting through our DSP. Greater transparency would at least mean full disclosure about inventory sourcing, a basic understanding of the algorithms used to identify targets, and identification of the behavioural data that enhanced performance.”

While Neo@Ogilvy will use Brandscreen's technology in India, Marmalade Digital has tied up with multiple SSPs, such as Rubicon, PubMatic and AdMeld.

Singh adds: “DSPs have taken time to be established in India primarily due to the overall low acceptance of digital advertising here, as well as the fact that very few have the expertise to use the platform effectively. There is little awareness among advertisers and agencies about DSPs. For the pilot campaigns we’ve already executed, the model has allowed us to bring down significantly the cost of acquisition for both clients, compared to traditional display advertising,”

Being optimistic about DSPs' future in India, Singh says that constant education is a part of digital media anyway and the agency will continue to do so. The agency is betting on certain advertisers that it sees as being evolved enough and are more accepting than others.

Singh concludes: "Consolidation is already happening because of the sheer number of ad networks in the country. In a year's time, I see most ad networks transforming into DSPs, or at least launching their own DSP.”

Andhra High Court Approves Ybrant Digital/LGS Global Merger

The High Court of Andhra Pradesh approved last week Ybrant Digital’s merger with LGS Global Limited. The AP High Court has sanctioned the scheme of amalgamation of Ybrant Digital with LGS Global, the company said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The High Court orders will be filed with the offices of the registrar of companies, and the scheme will become effective with appointed date being April 1, 2011.

Earlier in 2011, the shareholders of both the companies had approved for a merger. As per the scheme, the combined entity will be referred to as “Ybrant Digital Limited”, in which Ybrant Digital will have 89% and LGS will have 11% shareholding.

Ybrant Chairman and CEO Suresh Reddy will be the Chairman and CEO of the combined entity and Subba Rao Karusula, Managing Director of LGS, will be the Business Head of the LGS Division of Ybrant. The new entity will offer digital marketing services for businesses, publishers and agencies.

Founded in 2000, and headquartered in India, Ybrant Digital holds offices in 20 countries, including U.S., Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Mexico, UK, France, Germany, Sweden, Ukraine, Serbia, Israel, China, India, Australia, and with representatives or partners in Spain, Greece and The Netherlands.

Besides proprietary media, Ybrant Digital partners with top global publishers such as Facebook, Google, MSN, Yahoo! and Viacom, and assists over 140 top Ad Agencies including OMD, Carat, MediaCom, Group M, Quasar, Razorfish, Mindshare, Maxus, OmniCom and Oglivy, spread across Europe, the Americas and Asia.

IAB Australia Online Advertising Report - Display Making a Massive Comeback

Display advertising is once again a hot commodity in the online advertising world, with the category recording its highest year-on-year growth since 2008. The results, which were announced this week by IAB Australia in its Online Advertising Expenditure Report (OAER) compiled by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), show total online advertising increased 19% year-on-year, with revenues for Q1 ending 31st March 2012 reaching $713m, an increase of $111.9m from Q1 2011.

The report comes as IAB Australia announced that in 2012 it will be releasing online video measurement data, delivering localised global standards, guidelines and best practices, along with new research, cases studies and new advertising formats to accelerate the shift in brand advertising online.

Paul Fisher, CEO of IAB Australia comments: “The continued growth of online advertising reflects the strengthening confidence of marketers and agencies that online is their medium of choice. In this challenging economic environment, they look to online to provide measurability, reach, frequency, brand and direct-response messaging – and they aren’t being disappointed.

“There is no doubt that online advertising in on track to surpass $3bn and take a 20% share of all advertising this calendar year, and it’s quite possible that we’ll reach that milestone this financial year thanks to increased consumer confidence sparked by further interest rate cuts, which we believe will support continued growth in online advertising in key sectors. We’ll be working hard this year, as always, to ensure that advertisers and agencies alike are armed with all the information, insights and tools they need to increase online in their advertising mix.”

All three categories reported strong year-on-year growth, with display advertising recording 18% growth, accounting for 21.6% of total revenue in Q1 2012, while classifieds grew 13% year-on-year to account for 22.9% in Q1 2012 and search and directories grew 21.4% year-on-year to account for 55.5% of the total online advertising expenditure for the three months ended 31st March 2012.

Search and directories continues to dominate the online advertising sector overall, growing its share to $395.7m, with directories growing at a faster rate than search during the period.

Classifieds continue to migrate from other media to reach $165.3m for the quarter, fuelled by strong growth in the real estate, automotive and recruitment sectors.

Display reached 18% year on year growth. Within the category, the FMCG sector posted significant year-on-year growth as brands looked to reach, engage and influence grocery buyers online. Video also reported strong year-on-year growth to reach $11.6m for Q1 2012. CPM based pricing continued as the dominant expenditure type with 74% of advertising expenditure and 26 per cent on a Direct Response basis.

Fisher concludes: “The retail and government sector of online spend continues to flat-line, which is surprising considering both are facing tough marketing and communications conditions. There is a real opportunity for these sectors to invest their advertising budgets online where they will reach, engage and influence their audiences most effectively and we’ll be working hard through this year to help them understand the potential that online offers them.”

VivaKi Appoints Jeffrey Seah SEA Country Chair

The VivaKi Board of Directors announced this week the appointment of Jeffrey Seah to the role of Country Chair for VivaKi Southeast Asia. Currently the CEO of Starcom MediaVest Group in Southeast Asia, Seah will dually report into VivaKi CEO Jack Klues and Laura Desmond, CEO of Starcom MediaVest Group.

Seah, who will retain his CEO role, will work collaboratively with the regional and local leadership of Digitas, Razorfish, Starcom MediaVest Group and ZenithOptimedia to strengthen the service offering and clout of all agencies in the region. Country Chairs support the brand leaders to drive cross-brand growth initiatives for VivaKi in market, as well as deliver against operational and financial goals.

Seah has spent more than a decade at SMG, which has paved the way for Starcom to become an established entity in Southeast Asia. Initially he was responsible for launching the Starcom brand in Asia and setting up its first office in Singapore in 1999. He also helped launch the Starcom IP Digital Marketing Unit across Asia in 2002; at an age when digital was still a pariah in the advertising fraternity. Jeffrey then spent three years with Group M before re-joining Starcom MediaVest Group in 2009 as CEO to helm the operations across the Southeast Asia region.

Jack Klues, VivaKi CEO, comments: “Jeffrey has a formidable track record of delivering growth and new thinking in this important region. With agencies and experts throughout Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and the Philippines, we have a powerful opportunity to have a stronger and more unified voice in the marketplace by combining forces, restructuring around VivaKi and aligning behind Jeffrey’s leadership.”

Seah adds: "The introduction of the VivaKi structure in SEA will help consolidate scale in the marketplace. It allows both ZenithOptimedia and Starcom MediaVest Group to align our focus and resources to future proof our operations. Today, the search for real-time accountability is a key requirement for success for many businesses, and ZO's 'Live ROI' promise is well-positioned to fulfil that. Similarly, the respect and sensitivity for the human consumer has never been given greater prominence than now, and SMG's 'Human Experience' vision will capture that space in the market.

Together, with VivaKi's shared domain and functional expertise in digital, branded content, trading, and talent management, we will organize our set-up in SEA to become a future proofed entity."