Camilla McInnes, founder and director of Cameron McInnes Ltd, reflects on why more big brands are seeking out ad tech experts to join their ranks, and how advertisers are making bold moves to gain more control over their digital media spend.  

What a client wants from its agency is to deliver the best results possible from their advertising campaigns. How they measure these results is widely discussed and often it is the agency doing the reporting.

So, how can a client be sure that their agency is operating in their absolute best interest without having an in-house expert to track and analyse the results, or in fact translate their digital strategy to the agency? Having an in-house digital expert is not a new concept, but within the ever-changing advertising technology world, it becomes a challenge for a company to keep up with advances and innovation.

Having in-house ability to know a DMP from a DSP…

Although most of us have been fully immersed in the ‘ad tech revolution’ for the past four years, and can all be guilty of talking about the different acronyms and abbreviations – such as DMP (data management platform) and DSP (demand-side platform) – like it’s second nature; to some advertisers, it is still a minefield. The digital transformation keeps transforming and some more medieval businesses are struggling to keep up.

However, at the same time, some advertisers are left asking the questions: 'What is a DMP and how is it related to DSP?'; 'Is real-time bidding (RTB) an online advertising acronym or a military command to ‘return to base’?'

Having more control…

Hiring an in-house expert, in any department, typically makes sense to larger companies. However, when we are talking about ad tech, this person needs to have more than a marketing degree, with experience in a digital marketing department.

This person should be someone who can navigate the fragmented industry that our world has become, or someone who goes to bed reading the latest Lumascape and enjoys running around conferences to make sure they get to every relevant panel.

They need to be able to speak fluently about programmatic, RTB and how tech and data can work together. They need to understand the major players – leverage their existing knowledge and relationships to pull together a cutting-edge digital marketing strategy.

By creating and identifying the right digital media strategy for the company, they can make sure digital spend is being optimised through the right channels utilising the best technology for the business strategy. The first step would be to make some changes internally; centralising the CRM system is one obvious first step.

Sharing the information internally and allowing a company to understand their digital touch points and data is crucial to the success of a campaign. Having all the tools in place is great but not having the intelligence behind the tools will affect the end result.

According to a study by White Ops and the Association of National Advertisers, marketers will waste $6.3bn on internet ads that aren’t even delivered to humans!

A company must know their own data is the most valuable, however being able to extract the value in that data will provide the competitive advantage; so why rely just on trends or market data? An in-house expert would build this into their strategy and make sure all marketing departments are ‘talking’ to each other.

A measurement framework is critical to ensure that brands maximise the potential that data presents in the media, marketing, strategy, and planning. This person would seamlessly build that into their plan.

Some companies have been really successful in hiring an ad tech expert. They have almost created their own agency/trading desk, picking the best-in-breed technology across all areas of digital advertising. This person will forge out the relationships based on a rolodex of contacts and deep knowledge of the space. As a respected leader in the market they can ensure collaboration between all companies, creating their own internal tech and data stack, which can be tracked and managed.

Whilst some companies claim that their solution can manage the full stack, some will be experts in one specific area or targeting method; this person can navigate these companies and hopefully can then see the forest for the trees.

Having said all this, I’m not a believer that the role of the agency is dead or of no use. As a company that is an external agency to clients, I completely appreciate that external expertise is needed and would form part of the overall strategy.

I often work with the in-house expert (the internal recruiter) with huge success and more than often with greater speed and efficiency, particularly on more challenging or senior roles where the in-house teams’ time is better spent elsewhere.

Where does this talent come from?

Having an in-house expert often makes sense for a company, but where to get this person from is often the challenge.

An agency?

Agencies have probably spoken to a large portion of the technology companies, being pitched new products all the time. They have a great general view of the market and are well connected. They are used to working with clients on building strategy and building tech partnerships.

Advertiser?

Unless you are taking someone who has had a similar role before, they could be facing the same challenges they had before this person joined. However, they understand the complexities of working internally and being accountable for the success of a digital media strategy.

Ad tech?

Finding someone inside these organisations who fits the skill set would be the challenge. However, they would be very knowledgeable on trends and innovation, following competitors and having a strong presence at the events/ conferences.

Management consultancy?

As a large focus is on building a strategy and looking at a company’s performance, there is a natural fit. Looking at a company from an analytical and business perspective is a requirement, solid people could be found here if they have the right industry experience.
Having someone with a mix of all of these would be the ideal, but might be a challenge particularly when cultural fit is ultimately the biggest consideration for a company.

Finding good talent is often the biggest challenge for a company, so this might seem like another headache for a company (which is where we come in handy) but companies see real results – and fast.