Programmatic is not Problematic: Simple Advice to Get You Started

Programmatic. Does it sound too complicated? Maybe. Because there are many components, formula, and targeting in it that not everyone knows. But don’t worry, programmatic is not a big problem. As a client you just need to know the key things about programmatic and talk to the right people, the specialist!
Ethenia Novianty Windaningrum
June 3, 2015

Rasmus Friis from CARAT Denmark defined Programmatic as the data-defined automation of manual media buying and selling decisions & processes. Programmatic is still a new thing, but many companies are using it already as a strategy. If we do not understand it, there might be a chance that our enemies will do it better.


“With programmatic, instead of buying sport sites, regardless of audience, we can now buy sports audience”, Staffan Lidén, Head of Insights at Delta Projects said. He further advised that instead of buying ads on sites that interest your target group, it is best to buy placements where your target group is interested in your ad.


How do we get started in Programmatic? Do we need to understand algorithm or something? No no. We could just start small, but scale it, and think big on what we want to achieve in the campaign. Make sure that specialist that will handle the account, for instance a media agency. And since there are some components in programmatic, we can just get it going or learning by doing.
Delta Projects who brought two speakers in this talk mentioned that to be able to do programmatic, we need to understand what is programmatic, how to reach your audience, why profiles, why is data gold, how to see branding vs performance, and measuring viewability vs click fraud.


Delta Projects advised us to imagine if programmatic is like driving a car. When we started driving car, it was complex, the same like programmatic, that it was complex many years ago, but now, the best targeting for the best result is possible.


They further added the basic things we need to know on how to design programmatic as below:
1. How to get the car moving
See the campaign, is there any sign in the data that we have spent our money wiser?
2. Where to drive to
Look into the profile, know who the target by seeing the data, which devices to target - is it mobile or app?, and where to geotarget the campaign
3. Know the traffic law
In programmatic the examples are like seeing the rules in video ads, the length of the video ads and which format we are going to use?


All in all, just keep it simple!