Requirement 3: an open mind

Introduction
BT today: hit or miss
Paradise found: targeting without waste
Requirement 1: an open marketplace
Requirement 2: an open technology platform
Requirement 3: an open mind

When you enter a marketplace, you see all the vendor stands and know who's offering what. You enter with an idea of what you want to buy, how much you're willing to pay, and how and from whom you're most comfortable buying. You go in armed with data, ready to bargain, and the more you know the better able you are to strike the best deal possible.

You know you're in a true community-based online media exchange when you can identify your counterparts, select the ones you'll do business with, and know that they'll play by the same rules as you. All participants start with equivalent information and on equal footing.

Just as many marketers have begun to embrace consumer-led conversations about their brands, so networks, advertisers and publishers are learning that there's much to gain from opening up their supply and demand to a huge community. Add a dynamic pricing mechanism and now you have access to inventory, multiple technologies, and prices set by market supply and demand, not by third parties that hide their inventory sources and pricing formulas.

Advertisers expect to be able to incorporate behavioral targeting in one form or another in their media plans. The only thing holding BT back from realizing its full potential is a new target range: one that provides access to extraordinary scale on a common platform with selectable partners and transparent pricing.

Bennett Zucker is vice president of the Publisher Media Exchange (PMX) for Right Media, Inc. Read full bio.