NDA, in partnership with Xandr, is collecting the views of some of our industry’s leading figures for their predictions on 2022 and beyond. Next up is Dean Weaving, Head of Display, Video & Social at Deliveroo.
What are the most exciting innovations in planning, buying and delivering digital advertising?
We are starting to see formerly-closed ecosystems become more open and operable from a data perspective. Usually, the first thought is, “how do we make these ecosystems ‘addressable” for buying media but actually we can do a lot more data matching and get a better view of media consumption for planning.
This means we can now make decisions on whether we should be focusing on buying based on content or on people, then run tests and trade or even optimise based on these insights. The more these ecosystems open up and empower themselves through independent tech the more value they can offer advertisers.
What channels provide the most exciting opportunities for digital advertising in 2022?
This year digital broadcasting should become a very powerful tool as we move away from it being just a tip up to TV. With TV inflation continuing and consumers continuing to migrate away from linear to digital, inventory is now scalable and available for purchase mpre than ever.
With new technology now available for measurement in this space empowered through the likes of Infosum, it’s going to be a real game changer.
What challenges and opportunities are there in delivering a seamless buying experience for digital advertising?
Having a good, robust data setup for activation or measurement has been and challenge for a long time but most advertisers are now fully aware of the value once done correctly.
Having a skilled martech team (or consultant) is going to be the answer to both solving any data/tech challenge advertisers might have but also the solution to creating opportunity. Never before has it been so obvious how important it is to have good, skilled data and tech practitioners at your fingertips.
What new formats will deliver better results for advertisers and better experiences for consumers in 2022?
Most would say CTV but I’m not sure the supply is there yet.
So I think retail media is going to be the experience that changes the advertising for consumers this year. it’s such an interesting space generally and if it’s truly powered by good data across unique inventory then what’s not to like?
How will the distinctions between brand and performance advertising evolve?
As we see more ATL media being consumed through digital devices, we are starting to see digital brand become a really strong offering, this will pull other formats along with it and I think digital won’t just be ‘the thing you can (well could) measure’, it will become a very important part of your brand building toolkit.
We will also see more of these ‘hybrid’ brand performance media buys such as guaranteed viewability which marketers need to decide if or how important they are to them.
I also think as measurement changes, advertisers need to decide if they should move historical performance budgets into brand (and what value that adds) or if they want to double down and invest time and effort in making good (realistic) solutions work for performance.
How will the role of the creative agency evolve in 2022?
Integrated strategy and planning has been a thing for a while, most don’t get it right but i foresee more focus on bringing them more together and more aligned than they have been before.
We can optimise media through people or machines but without the right creative it’s all a waste of time, I hear that more than I ever have. That thought process is now becoming very prominent and front of mind for marketers in general and marketing teams will push harder for it in 2022 than ever before.
What new format, medium and channels hold the biggest new creative potential for 2022?
I don’t think it’s actually going to be a format or media ‘type’ that brings value on 2022 I thinks it’s going to be the drive for consistency and clear consumer messaging.
For a long time clients briefed brand templates to different creative shops and platforms did their own thing. You had a different video add for YouTube, another for Facebook, and cut down for pre rolls, and something for display….
It all looked a bit similar but not consistent for the consumer. Clients and agencies merged teams to create ‘biddable’ shops so the creative merge needs to follow. People want to start to tackle that. The tech will go first to help drive enablement (Adlib & Smartly leading the way I think) and then everything else will follow.
