Programmatic in India- Where are we now in 2018?

This is a sequel to my last article published in 2015 on the same subject.Some of you will wonder as to why I am still discussing roadblocks to Programmatic when the entire digital/advertising fraternity has been busy discussing mostly the good things about it. May I say that just because I love it so much (as its really worth) I would want the entire community (read Programmatic ecosystem) to be more discerning by pragmatically focusing on real issues (rather than just eulogizing it) and help it grow into a healthy adult by addressing current challenges.

Having been in this space for over years now, I have tried to put down some of my observations. The noise around programmatic has always been more than its actual growth and may be that’s the trend around any new emerging technologies whether its AR|VR|AI|ML|BLOCK CHAIN. I feel that though Programmatic has grown in India over the last six-seven years, it has not been commensurate with the high decibel noise created around its benefits. For me, growth in Programmatic does not only mean increased spends towards the same but the real programmatic maturity can be assessed in the way/manner/extent it is being deployed for brands to achieve their business objectives.

I see that not all brands have embraced it completely the way it should have been. The adoption is skewed and is not uniform across all brands. While few of them are engaged in high end programmatic stuff, most of them are just contented with basic strategies like retargeting in the name of Programmatic . ''Pareto Principal'' is in full play here with 20% of top Global brands accounting for 80% of the Programmatic revenues or billings. While this might be a case in all emerging markets, but I feel it’s time that given the talent and education/training imparted over the years, we have all the ingredients to make it even bigger only if we only focused on few strategic areas which normally get missed.

Programmatic is the ''New Mindfulness''

Let me approach and study this new trend a little differently. Just as ‘’Meditation / Mindfulness’’ helps you to be present in the moments that matter,empowers you with a high degree of self-awareness, increase focus and productivity by being relevant to your goals, programmatic also helps Brands to garner undivided attention, high engagement by customized communication at scale and connected experiences made possible by being present and relevant in the moments that matter to every consumer.

As I was trying to analyze the nature and psyche of our industry towards Programmatic adoption, I realized that there is a lot of similarity between Programmatic and the adoption of Mindfulness. Mindfulness helps you to rewire your brain, promote divergent thinking, be present in the moment, take a pause, introspect, gather energy and bounce back with new vigor to bring about a balance in the quality of our lives.

The only attribute that differentiates the two is that while one is ‘’Fast Paced’’ the other is ‘’Slow’’ though both aid in meeting similar objectives for its practitioners.

Today the digital space is stressed out because of more data,complexity, more platforms,technologies coupled with lower attention span of users. Programmatic helps brands by being present in moments that matter, promote creativity through usage of data and deliver balanced and quality output. The only attribute that differentiates the two is that while one is ‘’Fast Paced’’ the other is ‘’Slow’’ though both aid in meeting similar objectives for its practitioners.

A closer look at the current scenario

The above is self-explanatory. Mindfulness has basically 3 stages of adoption :

·        Seeker

·        Beginner/Practitioner

·        Expert.

Programmatic adoption has also been very akin to this with advertisers and marketers spread across these 3 stages with many being in a distracted and an autopilot mode on one end to few being aware and focused at the other spectrum.

Let’s not defy nature!

Just as it takes nine months for a human baby to finally come out of the mother’s womb, Programmatic alignment also needs to go through various stages to finally deliver value for the brands. Often, wrong expectations mar the success of a programmatic campaign thereby labeling it inefficient.

Marketers need to move from an ‘’Unconscious Incompetence’’ Stage to ‘’Conscious Incompetence’’ and finally transcend the ‘’Conscious Competence’’ step to reach the final ‘’Unconscious Competence’’ phase where ‘’Programmatic’’ becomes a ‘’Habit’’ or a ‘’Way of Life’’.

''Programmatic Challenges'' Quadrant

After meeting so many advertisers and people across the agencies for over so many years, I have tried and compiled the challenges into a quadrant below:

Let me state upfront that these may not be an exhaustive list of challenges. I feel it is high time that we stop looking at Programmatic as just ‘’Automation’’. Programmatic, today, is a data enabler for all data driven advertising. It has cut across almost all channels of advertising and is poised to redefine the digital advertising industry. Programmatic coupled with new AI and Blockchain technology is another frontier where a lot of global brands and tech players have started creating solutions to address some of the challenges of Programmatic especially lack of ‘’Trust’’ and “Transparency’’.

Lack of right measurement and attribution often snatch programmatic’s rightful credit. The real challenge to Programmatic is often the half-baked and ill-conceived manner in which we deploy it.

While the above model depicts some very obvious challenges (Lower Left) which the industry is quite vocal about, there are some not so obvious ones (Lower Right) which normally does not surface in most conversations but play a crucial role in implementing it the right way. Both are equally important to be addressed to set the right basic infrastructure for the success of programmatic. Lack of right measurement and attribution often snatch programmatic’s rightful credit. The real challenge to Programmatic is often the half-baked and ill-conceived manner in which we deploy it.

The top two quadrants play even a critical role which focusses on ‘’People’’ and ‘’Organization Re Orientation’’ for players (Agencies and Publishers alike) to become leaders in the space. Its time when we should be asking ‘’What is the business, media planners are in today?’’ instead of ‘'What is Media Planning?’’. The time is ripe for a complete restructure of the agency set up where focus is more towards developing the necessary skill set required to strategize, think, plan, execute and analyze a data driven advertising which has now almost become an omnichannel one with multiple touch points.

We should be looking to grow and inspire next set of the talent pool in digital advertising. Programmatic has multiple roles in media buying, business development, yield optimization, customer success, and operations. We must not forget that programmatic requires certain skill sets, cross-functional team culture and aptitude to grasp the latest developments in this dynamic industry. Brands and agencies that lack internal expertise in programmatic will struggle to deliver effective and competitive campaigns. The same goes for the publishers where the team needs to be adequately skilled and be more data savvy to establish the right value proposition for the advertisers. (Not just sell impressions).

Last but not the least, a true leader will be the one who has been successful in re orienting the organization with respect to ‘’Programmatic’’. Programmatic should be adopted as a ‘’Way of Life’’ within agencies and Brands and not just as a product, service or technology. The lines between programmatic, analytics and data-driven ads are blurring. Instead, its finding its way into all forms of ad buying, regardless of channel. Let this philosophy be the fulcrum on which the entire team/organisation is aligned. This is not so apparent (often overlooked) but a critical dimension in any market impacting its success.In India, while a lot of focus is being given on programmatic execution not much effort is being made in overhauling the traditional set up and processes which calls for a more integrated participation from all stakeholders.

 The true success of programmatic depends not on tools and technology ( which no doubt have evolved multifold over the last few years ) but in realigning ourselves, our organizations towards a ‘’Programmatic Mindfulness’’ approach. Let our intentions be clear and correct.The future is bright.

Our intention creates our reality- Wyne Dyer

Let us adopt a testing culture. Let us be Agile! Let us be Nimble!

Anil Pandit

National Lead- OMG Programmatic, India