The atmosphere at Advertising Week LATAM 2020 was electric. Industry leaders from all over the world flocked to Mexico City to share best practices, technology predictions and offer solutions to challenges within the advertising sector.
Over the three day event, I had the opportunity to listen, learn and discuss the industry’s most pressing issues. Some of the standout themes discussed were on identity in advertising, preparations for a cookie-less world and the exciting potential of programmatic technology in LATAM.
Here are my highlights and learnings from the festival:
Preparing for a cookieless world
In late January 2020, Google announced it would phase out the use of third-party cookies in Chrome within the next two years. This news shook the advertising industry and the topic was a focus area for seminar talks and workshops, one of which was presented by Iván Markman Chief Business Officer at Verizon Media. His presentation stood out as one of the particularly insightful talks of day one.
Iván rightfully highlighted that consumers are hungry for innovation and improved experiences. But how will brands and agencies deliver tailored ads and experiences without cookies? The solution he proposed was collaboration!
The industry has two years to prepare for the end of cookies, and in this time, brands, agencies, and publishers need to collaborate to help bridge the information gap previously filled by cookies.
Collaborating will ease the move to a cookieless Chrome and reduce information roadblocks. Partnering with an organization that has an established audience catalog will streamline activity and add context and value to audience targeting.
Audience mapping will be even more important and needs to be a priority for both publishers and advertisers, as they won’t be able to rely on cookies to identify and target users’ activity and behavior.
The trove of information cookies deliver will be difficult to replace with a single solution. In order to continue to deliver relevant ads at the right time to the right people, all those involved in the ad supply chain will have to collaborate to fill the gap. Collaboration will be the key to solving the cookieless conundrum.
The importance of identity
Another key theme highlighted during AdWeek LATAM was the importance of identity and knowing your audience, especially with information from cookies soon to be removed from the targeting equation.
During a panel discussion hosted by Daniel Czaplinski, CEO and Co-Founder of Retargetly on day two, it was highlighted that partnering with a credible exchange platform that has a cache of audience data can help brands build quality audience personas, which can be used to help improve targeting.
Ensuring ads reach the intended audience at the right time is paramount. Partnering with an established exchange platform enables brands to maximize their allocation spend.
Improving audience mapping and personas resonated with attendees, but adding another partner to the supply chain was met with some reservations. However, a strategic partnership does not have to complicate the supply chain, in fact, if done correctly, it will streamline supply path optimization.
When researching a potential exchange platform provider, brands and publishers need to make quality inventory access, transparency and audience knowledge key selection criteria. Partnering with a detail-oriented exchange platform, that is investing in supporting transactions across all formats and open to collaboration to build identity solutions, will simplify the allocation process to ensure working with the best partner.
Supply path optimization needs to happen now to ensure a smooth transition before the end of cookies. From my various discussions across the three days, it was clear that creating efficiencies was a key goal for many organizations and the appetite for technologies to achieve this was insatiable. Which leads me to the star theme of the week: programmatic.
How programmatic is shaping the future of advertising
Conversations about the potential of programmatic were happening across the event – at seminars, in breakout rooms and even in the beer garden. Attendees were keen to learn more about how the technology can be implemented to streamline activity and boost revenue.
The growing interest in the power of programmatic will inevitably lead to further investment and exploration of new and improved solutions for ad creatives. One example is how programmatic will change header bidding. Header bidding powered by programmatic will ensure direct transactions are more valuable as well as increase the reach for indirect transactions.
Display advertising will evolve into video, interactive and native formats with programmatic enabling companies to make faster, more accurate allocations. Specialized and private marketplaces will also grow as publishers and buyers work to ensure quality inventory is purchased at a premium.
Another factor that will fuel an increase in programmatic use in LATAM is that formats like connected TV (CTV) and digital out of home (DOOH) are being tested. CTV and DOOH are growing in LATAM markets and more and more organizations will turn to programmatic to help facilitate uptake and investment of new advertising avenues.
While still relatively new in many markets in LATAM, I expect these will grow exponentially over the coming years.
Adweek LATAM was a treasure chest of insight. From my interactions and meetings, it is clear to see the LATAM market is ripe for innovation and ready to adopt technology to fuel change.
I’m excited to see how the best practices highlighted at this year’s conference will be applied in our industry and am looking forward to seeing the results of these efforts at next year’s AdWeek LATAM.