The rise of data management platforms (DMPs) in the past few years is a reflection of the huge amounts of information now available to us as marketers.
Forrester Wave recently released its first update into DMP technologies since 2013 and the fact that this feels overdue is a reflection of how quickly this technology has been moving. As the big players: Google, AOL, Oracle, Adobe, Facebook, add DMPs to their offering, they also add their own barriers, creating ‘walled gardens’.
These closed ecosystems, which restrict third party ad tech companies from operating on their networks, come with the enticement of a one-stop shop for marketing executives. However, opaque media siloes come with their own set of problems.
1. There is no ‘I’ in team
Wayne Rooney is the best paid UK player on 13 million pounds a year, but it is the collective might of his team that keeps Manchester United in the Premier League. In the sporting arena, as in the business world, it is the team effort rather than the individual that brings in the bacon.
Unfortunately, walled gardens do not follow this analogy. By controlling or limiting access to data, the big media players responsible for these closed ecosystems are not acting as an ally to marketing teams.
Instead, they are making it impossible for marketers to gain a 360-degree view and access to prospects and customers. Any brand imputing valuable first-party data into a platform should expect to receive in return impression-level data at the very least.
However, with walled gardens your data ends up going down a one-way street. Media giants then profit from CRM data at marketers’ expense.
2. Players shouldn’t write their own pay cheques
Rooney might be the Premier League’s most highly paid star but even with all this earning power, it is still his club which dictates his salary. In fact, if anyone was given the chance to write their own pay cheque the sky would probably be the limit.
Yet the closed ecosystems of the walled gardens mean these same companies can effectively influence how much they get paid. By preserving the capacity to limit inventory, they can by default command higher prices, leaving marketers at risk of declining ad effectiveness and rising media costs.
Marketers should consider broadening their reach rather than investing their entire budget into a single media silo or DMP, as this only leaves them vulnerable to potentially paying a premium price.
3. Players cannot also be referees
Not so long ago one of the greatest names in football, Real Madrid FC player Christiano Ronaldo, struck his 500th career goal during a clash with Malmo FC – an achievement reached by just 23 mercurial talents before him. In sport, this sort of competitive edge is taken as a given. But equally as important is the sports fans’ notion of fair play and an objective eye to police the action on the field. Players cannot take the unbiased position of the referee when they have financial incentives to win.
The same should be the case within the advertising world. But by their very nature walled garden systems restrict or completely block a nonpartisan third-party measurement needed for fair reporting. Last year brands such as Kellogg’s pulled out of deals with big publishers over viewability issues.
Ad Age disclosed that the cereal giant was not happy about the lack of neutral companies to check whether their ads were actually being seen. Just as a player cannot be expected to police his own play, media owners shouldn’t be expected to set the rules of reporting their inventory performance.
The long game
It’s no secret that markets will always remain vulnerable to the control of sellers. But as we progress into 2016 it is becoming clear that there is a continued need for transparency in our industry. Now is the perfect time for independent parties to sit within the industry to prevent opaque media siloes from dictating how media is sold.
A neutral industry body or a dedicated organisation would fill these seats well. But a technology capable of measuring the most equitable KPI of all – sales revenue – is well-placed as the autonomous mediator suited to unlocking the secrets of these (walled) gardens.
By Merrily McGugan, Director of Corporate Marketing at DataXu
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