The president and CEO of Undertone Networks describes how having a good understanding of the network marketplace can make a significant difference for a brand marketer.

Over the past several weeks I have been working with our marketing department preparing for the upcoming iMedia Brand Summit. We presented to the agency community in May and are scheduled to present to the brand marketers attending the September Summit.

Our May presentation focused on network differentiation along with the current and future vision of the marketplace. Agencies are on the front lines when it comes to meeting and determining which network partners make sense as well as when and how they should use these partners. I have been told by many of my agency friends and clients that selecting a network is oftentimes the most challenging part of their job due to the crowded and fragmented marketplace. So for someone working at an agency, these network education and differentiation sessions are incredibly important. 

However, brand marketers are different as their responsibilities go well beyond managing their agency and their involvement in media. They are a mix of strategist, advocate and even internal salesperson when it comes to digital.

So, why should a brand marketer care about ad networks when they pay their agency for this type of work? What's the need to meet or even know about the various companies that buy and sell media across dozens or thousands of websites?

Years ago the answer to this question was "you don't." But the landscape has changed dramatically and a good understanding of the network marketplace can make a significant difference for a brand marketer when it comes to both the planning and execution of an online media strategy.

Many brand marketers maintain direct relationships with the major portals and search engines, including Google, Yahoo!, MSN and AOL. They also typically maintain relationships with key content sites that reach their target audience, such as ESPN, WebMD and MTV to name a few. Yet, for many, networks are an afterthought. While networks may have a line item in a media plan, they are not necessarily approached as strategically as the individual sites are.

Yahoo has received plenty of press regarding its new Smart Ad program. While valuable, these types of programs have been and continue to be available to marketers through many of the leading networks as well. If you just waited for the portals to roll out a new product or technology, you could be six to 12 months behind some of your competitors.

We are seeing more major marketers approach the ad network landscape differently, and the results have been incredibly positive. Smart marketers are leveraging networks for their innovation, as well as for their potential research capabilities. In addition to all the positive results that are achieved, data-driven marketers are finding that the potential to gather and analyze data is becoming another benefit of a network relationship. While many networks are just beginning to scratch the surface, the ability to more fully integrate with a network to learn, leverage and optimize goes well beyond the abilities most sites and even the portals have to offer.

One of the best meetings I have participated in occurred a few months ago when I went to visit a Fortune 500 company (measured media spend of more than $1 billion) along with its agency. This leading advertiser requested that its agency invite four to six major networks in to present. However, this wasn't a sales pitch, but rather a conversation around network best practices, how to leverage the network platform, what the product pipeline looks like and how to scale the business effectively. This company works with the major portals but has seen firsthand how networks are not only driving response, but are also being used successfully for brand awareness and are giving this company an advantage over its competition. Its marketing principals wanted to get more comfortable with the category and I give them credit for taking the initiative.

When networks make up more than 25 percent of your digital media spend, as they do for a major auto marketer, you can rest assured this relationship goes beyond the agency. However, you do not have to wait for that spending percentage to begin the process. As a marketer, insist that your agency brings networks and their capabilities to you to learn about them first hand. Conduct a mini 'network summit' and invite some of the various players to come in and give their take on the marketplace. Leverage their client experiences as well as their knowledge of the fundamentals driving the market (including pricing and supply/demand dynamic) that can have an overall impact on your digital strategy while leading to better execution.

Michael Cassidy is president and CEO, Undertone Networks. Read full bio.