Advertising intelligence
Every year at this time, the crystal balls start to appear and predict the next big trends in digital marketing. Anyone want to place a bet on how many times we read about "11 trends for 2011"? Well, I have just one: more informed ads.
That's it -- the key trend for 2011. And it's not really even a trend. It's what will define any and all successful digital marketing campaigns from now on, plain and simple. No matter what media or channels comprise your digital strategy -- video, mobile, display, social, etc. -- marketers must embrace more intelligent advertising.
First, let me define what I mean by "more intelligent advertising." It means leveraging data to drive your creative, message, and ultimately campaign performance and the value of each impression served. It's the ability to ingest location, behavioral data, activity, audience information, and ad performance -- basically any information you can get your hands on -- to dynamically generate a display ad that is hyper-relevant to each audience at the moment of delivery.
Whether delivering a display ad with video, on a mobile device or tablet, within the non-guaranteed space, or across the PC web, 2011 is the year for intelligent dynamic ad generation and delivery. Think of it as artificial intelligence for your brand -- advertising intelligence, if you will.
One of the trends we saw in 2010 was targeting creative to reach your audience based on location, demographic media buying, creative versioning of multiple ads, behavioral information, and as of late, ad optimization. The brands that did this did it well. But targeting only based on a single element or pivot point just didn't go far enough. Now, data can be used to influence your creative, ad functionality, ad delivery, and so much more, based on the aforementioned standard characteristics and some exciting new categories including audience characteristics, product or offer preference, and more predictive optimization.
If marketers are able to understand their audiences, find them wherever they are across the digital landscape, and serve them relevant, targeted creative -- not just targeted placements of the same ad -- based on multiple data points, they will absolutely create the kind of engagement that maximizes the value of every ad served and every media dollar spent.
With dynamic ad generation, there are a number of elements within an ad campaign that can incorporate real-time advertising intelligence in order to deliver engagement and results every time. This article will explore those elements.
