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 Isabelle Baas, Managing Partner, Digital, Data & Technology at Starcom.
What are the most exciting innovations in planning, buying and delivering digital advertising?
I’m most excited about data connectivity into historically more-traditional media such as TV, audio and OOH. We’re leveraging this connectivity to engage with clients’ first-party audiences and activating them in TV while observing really strong business outcomes. The digitisation of traditional channels is accelerating and brings with it really interesting developments in data connection, cross channel activation, commerce and outcome measurement.
What channels provide the most exciting opportunities for digital advertising in 2022?
Non-linear AV is continuing its growth and that’s exciting as the opportunities to connect with more targeted audiences is increasing and scaling. Bringing this all together with other channels in digital around and understanding of identity will be an exciting opportunity.
At the same time, the developments in retailer media are exciting allowing us to connect consumer media with retail media for consistent consumer experiences while being able to drive growth for clients. Social media and its foray into commerce also provide exciting innovations closing the gap between brand marketing and sales.
What challenges and opportunities are there in delivering a seamless buying experience for digital advertising?
The biggest challenge hitting marketing in a digital world will be the loss of the third-party cookie impacting audience targeting, audience insight development and performance measurement. Consumers want seamless journeys and experiences with brands, and these have so far relied on cookies as the main vehicle to identify a person and connect them with brands at the right frequency, with the right message and offer.
In future we will need to rely on identity and context as drivers with an increased layer of modelling in between to try and give us scale as well as accuracy.
How will the distinctions between brand and performance advertising evolve?
Performance marketing has benefited from data availability at a very granular level. In future performance marketing will have to learn how to rely on less deterministic and more modelled measurement, on which brand marketing has relied on for decades.
Additionally, brand marketing is moving to new spaces, particularly in retail marketing and becoming more performance driven. Retailer media is undergoing a spectacular transformation into performance marketing enabling brands that are impacted by HFSS to connect with consumers on and off retailer sites.
