KitchenScape vs LumaScape

Last week at the Adtech Digital Data Summit in Sydney, Erich Wasserman, Co-founder and General Manager of MediaMath spoke about Future of Media Buying.

If you’ve been in the display advertising space for some time, you’ve no doubt seen the Display Advertising Lumascape (which Gourmet Ads is on) created by Terence Kawaja from Luma Partners. The Lumascape endeavors to illustrate how complex the display advertising ecosystem is, as well as how many players are in the space.

As part of his presentation, Eric made reference to the KitchenScape, which ironically is a space we also play in, but from very much the sidelines. Eric’s point was that every industry is complex – even traditional industries like the kitchen and appliance space.

Anyway, I thought it was great and see if you can see where the MediaMath logo made an appearance. Oh and Eric, thanks for the lead list broken out by industry!

Click on the image above for a larger view.

KitchenScape by MediaMath is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.

Outdoor Advertising vs Gourmet Ads – which is more effective?

Advertising on billboards and advertising on the internet are obviously two completely different things, and although they can both mean that you can get more customers buying your products, it makes sense to know which is the more effective at producing revenue.

When it comes to outdoor advertising vs Gourmet Ads advertising, you will first need to know which is the more cost effective, which can get more consumers buying your product and where are the best places to put your adverts so a large amount of people can see.

Outdoor advertising comes in the form of posters and billboards. These can be found in city centres, on the side of bus stops and buildings, and on roadsides. Due to the nature of billboard advertising, billboards can obviously only be placed in certain areas, and although they might catch a person’s eye due to its sheer size, they can only reach the people who happen to walk or drive past them.

By using Gourmet Ads, you can not only place adverts that are relevant to your customers, but you can also save yourself a lot of money in comparison to billboard advertising. Although billboard advertising can target specific areas, advertising using Gourmet Ads network of sites means that you can reach specific audiences over a much wider area.

Other than the usual advantages that digital media advertising offers, Gourmet Ads an also provide more cost effective advertising campaigns and proposals for your company. Billboard advertising on the other hand can be very expensive and can cost hundreds per month with no guarantee that the billboard has much effect on its consumers.

Outdoor advertising vs Gourmet Ads can reach local people and yet online ads can reach a far higher number of people from right across the world. If you think about placing billboards all over the world to get the same amount of exposure as you would on the internet, outdoor advertising would come out as the far more expensive method of advertising.

Web analytics can prove the winner between outdoor advertising vs Gourmet Ads

Through the use of targeting and web analytics, banner advertising with Gourmet Ads means that you can expose your brand to reach your precise demographic, regardless of where they are in the world. By posting an ad on Gourmet Ads network of sites, you are also targeting relevant customers that would want to buy your product. Targeting means that you are not wasting your money on advertising to an irrelevant audience.

An average internet user spends approximately 25 hours a week online – that is a lot of time to reach out to them and create awareness of your brand! Banner ads etc can be placed on the network and will soon generate higher traffic to your site.So outdoor advertising vs Gourmet Ads doesn’t mean that billboards or print ads are totally ineffective, but if you are searching for the  most effective way of raising brand awareness, Gourmet Ads could be for you.

Outdoor Advertising vs Gourmet Ads is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.

Adtech New York 2012 at the Javitz Center on the 7th & 8th of November 2012

Gourmet Ads Founder and Managing Director, Benjamin Christie will be in visiting Adtech New York on the from the 7th to the 8th of November 2012 at the Javitz Center in Manhattan.

For those that don’t know Adtech held around the world is an interactive marketing conference and exhibition that delivers an up-close and informative look at digital media, marketing and advertising.

For those on Twitter, Follow Gourmet Ads for updates throughout Adtech New York. To follow everything that’s happening at Adtech use #adtech

Organise a Meeting at AdTech New York with Us

If you’re attending Adtech New York or are based in New York and would like to organize a meeting with Benjamin while he’s in town then contact us to setup a meeting time.

Adtech New York 2012 is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.

Adtech San Francisco 2010 at the Moscone Center, April 3rd-4th, 2012

Gourmet Ads Founder and Managing Director, Benjamin Christie will be in visiting Adtech San Francisco from April 1st-4th, 2011 at Moscone Center in San Francisco.

For those that don’t know, Adtech is an interactive marketing conference and exhibition that delivers an up-close and informative look at the world of digital media and advertising.

For those on Twitter, Follow Gourmet Ads for updates throughout Adtech San Francisco. To follow everything thats happening at Adtech use #adtechsf or #adtech

Organize a Meetings at Adtech San Francisco with Us

If you’re attending Adtech San Francisco or are based in San Francisco, the Bay Area or Silicon Valley and would like to organize a meeting with Benjamin then contact us to setup a meeting time.

Adtech San Francisco 2012 is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.

Adtech Sydney 2012 at the Sydney Convention Centre – 14th & 15th of March

Gourmet Ads Founder and Managing Director, Benjamin Christie will be visiting AdTech Sydney on the 14th and 15th of March 2012 at the Sydney Convention Centre.

For those that don’t know Adtech held around the world is an interactive marketing conference and exhibition that delivers an up-close and informative look at digital media, marketing and advertising.

For those on Twitter, Follow Gourmet Ads for updates throughout Adtech Sydney. To follow everything that’s happening at Adtech use the hashtag #adtech

Organise a Meetings at AdTech Sydney with Us

If you’re attending Adtech Sydney or are based in Sydney and would like to organize a meeting with Benjamin then contact us to setup a meeting time.

Adtech Sydney 2012 is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.

First Look at Inventory gives buyers priority to buy

First Look at Inventory is basically a process which can help you win more inventory before other DSPs and agency trading desks in our Private Ad Exchange.  First Look means that you are given the opportunity to buy display inventory which a publisher (i.e. Gourmet Ads) offers to you, and if you have no use for it, it can be sold onto another ad network.

First Look at inventory is all about prioritisation. In the Gourmet Ads Private Exchange, First Look means that you (the advertiser) can get a first look at a user after our premium ad campaigns have been served.

How Important is First Look at Inventory?

• First Look at Inventory is important in establishing a mutual trust between publisher and advertiser.
• As the advertiser is treated with priority when it comes to buying this inventory, the concept offers a form of exclusiveness.
• First Look allows advertisers to get an advanced view of the inventory available before their competitors, which allows them better strategic control over other ad networks out there.
• By seeing inventory before anyone else you are given knowledge about data, its value, and bids before they have even taken place.

A Real Time Bidding (RTB) platform acts as a mediator for First Look at Inventory and many other digital media exchanges. Our ad exchange marketplace allows advertisers to buy inventory, but First Look ensures exclusivity to a select few.

As First Look at Inventory is exclusive to the buyer, we do charge a premium to use this service. Whereas standard RTB platforms offer inventory only to the highest bidder, First Look allows you to view the information before you decide to purchase. This means that you can have a heads up on the competition and could even mean that you save yourself from spending money on high bids in the bidding environment.

To keep track of impressions, we suggest capping your ad campaign’s frequency to 1/24 or 2/24. This means 1 or 2 views of an advert per visitor over the space of 24 hours. Capping the frequency of your ad also means that it can reach more people elsewhere rather than just reaching the same consumer over and over again, thus creating a much more productive ad campaign.

If you don’t find the inventory to be relevant or contextually right for your campaign, you don’t have to buy it. By adding these restrictions to your ad campaigns, you are able to make an informed decision about your First Look at Inventory.

First Look at Inventory is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.

Analysis of Third Party Data is vital in linking a brand with consumer

Where First Party Data is the data you collect about your own customers and target consumers usually through your own assets such as website, Third Party Data is the generic information that other firms collect.

Third Party Data is collected and then retailed for advertisers to use by a range of companies such as BlueKai or Eyeota. Third Party Data collectors come in different forms such as platforms, networks, ad exchanges and other advertisers, each with their own methods of collecting data and categories them into their own taxonomy.   These collectors or sometimes referred to as Data Exchanges can then sell you (the advertiser) the amount of data that you need to pair with your advertising  campaign to ensure you target the right audience.

The use of  Third Party Data can be vital in establishing a link with your potential consumer. However there are two downside of using Third Party Data.

a) Third Party Data is infamous for being expensive for what it is, compared to First Paty Data, however for some advertisers, the model of using Third Party Data with ad campaigns is highly effective.

b) Third Party Data is used by multiple buyers and thus may not give you the competitive edge the advertiser is after, compared to first party data.

c) Third Party Data tends to expire and is not always that “fresh”

Third Party Data always has greater reach than First Party Data

There are of course some positives. Advertisers are often forced to use Third Party Data because their First Party Data is not always enough. ie it doesnt have the reach required. Data collected by your own website or marketing programs might be able to target your current consumers, but third party data can help you reach  consumers from other locations on the internet.

With this information you can then personalize or “tailor-make” your ads to fit the demographic you are targeting. A combination of using First and Third Party Data is every advertiser’s dream – it is a collection of lots of different types of information about your consumers, leading to a more established brand which ultimately converts to more revenue.

Gourmet Ads Private Ad Exchange allows advertisers to use Third Party Data when media buying to target consumers.

Third Party Data is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.

Private Ad Exchange Business Continues to Grow

We launched the Gourmet Ads Marketplace (our Private Ad Exchange) back in early November and at the time RTB, DSP, SSP were all buzzwords for us as we embarked on this project. There was of course the fear of cannibalizing our premium revenue. With this specifically in mind, the plan from outset, was for me, as the Managing Director to be the project manager of the Private Ad Exchange business. I also from a personal level wanted to learn as much as I could about the RTB space.

It’s been really interesting journey so far for me and the team are learning more and more each day about working with Agency Trading Desks, DSP and Retargeters.

We’re now at the 4 month mark, so I thought I’d share a few points about my learnings so far about running a private ad exchange business.

So here are my thoughts;

Buyers are not competing with Premium Display Campaigns

Our initial concern which we shared with others was that by starting a private exchange we would be cannibalizing our premium display business. Well, I’m happy to say it just hasn’t happened. Both our premium and private exchange businesses are booming. RFPs and Insert Orders are up on the premium side and we’ve got some great partners in the exchange buying every day. We find on a while that the private exchange buyers are indeed very different from typical agency media buyers. Most campaigns in the exchange have wide brand reach requirement (we were never going to be RFP’d for the campaigns anyway as they are mostly non endemic) or they have a strong DR focus or finally they are simply retargeting using data. For all of these buyers, private ad exchange buying favours their own business models better than your typical fixed IO buying for the most part. Effectively they can dip in and test inventory pools very quickly, then stop if the campaign is not working or increase if conversations or engagement rates are positive.

11 partners Private Ad Exchange Buyers

We’ve got some absolutely great partners already.  The general makeup of the exchange is as such ;

• Agency Trading Desks
• Major DSPs
• Company Direct / Brand Advertisers
• Retargeters

We are actively seeking a few more partners right now as we are expanding the inventory available and growing the users.

Limited Food Buyers in RTB
We’ve noticed that across the board the largest exchange buyers on the exchange are non endemic food brands. There are of course a handful of food brands buying, most of which are major international food brands. Where we have noticed food brands buying we’ve reached out to suggest ways we can offer them more inventory or provide them a custom solution. To date we’ve not yet seen any supermarkets buying on RTB. However the majority of buyers are running campaigns aimed at women for lifestyle, travel, automotive, telecommunications, government (federal and state) or retail brands.

Buyers and their buying volumes vary daily
Trying to predict who will buy and how much they will buy each day has been really difficult. A senior manager at another Vertical Ad Network ( ie like Gourmet Ads ) told me last year that he felt the hardest part of running a private ad exchange was managing demand from buyers. This has been the greatest learning curve for our team. For now we seem to have this managed the daily buying flow well. Right now seasonality does plan a large role.

Interest outside of the USA
It was always our intention of growing the private ad exchange outside of the USA. However we didn’t really imagine that demand would be all that strong out of the USA. We were wrong. As such we’ve slowly started to open up the Gourmet Ads Marketplace to Australian, UK and Canadian buyers, with a few other countries not too far behind… Australia seems to be the most active right now for us, but watch this space as I think Europe will become very strong next quarter from conversations I’ve had recently.

Technical hurdles
Initially we had some hiccups getting started, but like with most things in the digital ad space, these are now sorted out. That said most buyers now are able to get going in less than 48 hours. We do sometimes have issues when our buyers are not buying us through our SSP directly but we can usually find an integration partner or 3rd Party DSP that can make the connection work.

70% + of buyers are using data
When talking to our partners, the majority of them are using some sort of data when buying which is around what we had forecasted. They are either using simple demographic (age and gender) targeting or they are doing heavy up targeting using first party data or third party data. I think this is the greatest fundamental difference between the IO side of the business and the RTB side of the business. Buyers can use First Party Data or Third Party Data easily and in a protected environment buying the audience they actually want, opposed to the entire audience.

Start a Conversation about our Private Ad Exchange

Finally, if you’d like to have a conversation about becoming a buyer or becoming involved with the Gourmet Ads Marketplace, then please contact me through our Contact Page and let’s start a conversation.

Private Ad Exchange Update is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.

Advertising Trends for 2012 from Gourmet Ads

For the past 4 years, and as the year comes to a close, I’ve looked forward to the future trying to predict what the Advertising Trends for the year ahead will be. Looking back I think for the most part I’ve predicted the advertising trends rather well. That said I’ll be the first to say that we’ve got some predictions wrong, but for the most part I think I’ve been on the money. My advertising trend predictions are simply derived from what we as a company are seeing in-market.

So here are our Advertising Trends for 2012

1. Real Time Bidding Budgets to Increase
Real Time Bidding Budgets was something I predicted last year and again it’s my number 1 advertising trend prediction for 2012. Why? Well late in 2011, Gourmet Ads launched our private ad exchange called the Gourmet Ads Marketplace. Since then we’ve had an amazing response to real time bidding and if anything we’ve started to see many more advertisers start buying media like this. As the year came to a close, we spoke to all our major media buying partners and not one of them said that budgets were going backwards. Nearly all of them said they will have many more advertising clients in 2012.

2. Media Buying with Data
Just like Real Time Bidding, we also mentioned Data in last year’s advertising trends. In 2011 the buzz term by Q2 was DMP (data management platform), now if you believe everything you read in the digital press, DMPs will be no longer around in 2012. Then there is the debate of 1st Party Data vs 3rd Party Data and I’m not going anywhere near that.

Our prediction is that digital media buying using some sort of data will grow significantly in 2012. I think it’s the sole motivation for advertisers contemplating a move to real time bidding platforms, i.e. the fact they can pair the media buy up with data and then buy the impressions they actually want at scale. Once advertisers have developed a clear use of their own 1st Party Data sets and can begin to only buy the impressions they want we will see continued growth in data.

3. Mobile Advertising to Grow
During Q3 in 2011 we started seeing questions on both the advertiser and publisher sides regarding mobile advertising. We had advertisers asking about inventory and publishers asking about demand ( which is always great). When publishers in the food space are asking our publisher team about mobile advertising because their building an App or dedicated mobile site, then 2012 will be all about mobile. We saw during 2012 a number of supermarkets launch iPhone and Android apps which have been highly successful with consumers. See Woolworths in Australia which have a great mobile app. As a company we too have invested in mobile. Our development team is currently working on the RecipeBridge Mobile site which is scheduled to be launched in January 2012. Mobile content aside, I wonder if we’ll see better quality mobile advertising from advertisers in 2012. It does seem that text ads are still the main type of creative used on mobile devices.

4. Branded Recipes
During 2011 we saw a major advertising trend from food manufactures and some supermarkets seeking to integrate their branded recipes on our network publisher sites. I would say nearly every RFP we received requested some sort of recipe integration as part of the media plan. We believe this is only the beginning for Branded Recipes. Observing this trend, Gourmet Ads developed our own platform for branded recipes on RecipeBridge.com, where we add all the recipes of a brand into the RecipeBridge site. Then when people search for a recipe such as “fondant recipe” then brands with fondant recipes will be displayed alongside other recipe sites, where consumers can then click through to the brands website for the ingredients, cooking method and presentations.
Early in 2012, Gourmet Ads will be announcing the launch of our Brand Solutions on RecipeBridge to help brands get more exposure for their branded recipes to household grocery buyer.

5. Video Advertising
Video Advertising for the digital advertising industry in 2011 was huge. If you don’t think it was you’ve been on another planet. I recall sitting @ Digiday New York in November and watching the “State of the Industry on Digital Video” report and being amazed by nearly every statistic being presented. This is why I’m adding it as an Advertising Trend in 2012.

Why the huge recent growth in Video Advertising? There are a number of answers why. It’s so very similar to buying television and advertisers (and their advertising agencies) understand how to buy TV media. Engagement rates are consistently solid (notice I didn’t mention click through rates). Creative is rather standard now. Most video advertisers are using a 15 or 30 second pre roll video together with a 300×250 Companion Ad using either VAST or VPAID formats. We’ve also seen in 2011 more non linear advertising solutions come to market.

For Gourmet Ads, Video Advertising was the fastest growing section of our business in 2011. We’ve seen huge demand from advertisers and we don’t think this will subside anytime soon. We believe that video based revenue will increase significantly for the company over the next year or so. That said, there are still lots of challenges for video. Lack of quality video inventory is one. We’ve worked hard to build a large collection of Cooking Videos on Tastydays. The second is the technical requirements needed to setup a publisher to accept video pre roll ads. We have made some great progress with our own video hosting platform for publishers, but more education is required.

6. The 300×600 Ad Size
There is something to say for big things and the 300×600 is one the largest display ad sizes available with many calling it the “half page ad unit” Not only from a creative aspect is there lots of room to get the message across, but in our testing we’ve seen engagement rates from 3 to 10 times better than regular display sizes.
Over the past 6 months we’ve slowly started to see more advertisers ask for the 300×600 size and given the great performance of the unit, we believe that in 2012 will see more advertisers using this size.

7. Vertical Ad Networks will Continue to Grow
As I had predicted last year, there was plenty of consolidation across the digital advertising ecosystem. We saw video companies acquire other video advertising companies, we saw ad networks acquire other ad networks and major web portals continue buying investment that make sense them. What we didn’t see was any acquisitions of Vertical Ad Networks in 2012.
Many in the Digital Press predicted that Vertical Ad Networks will die a slow death, which really cracks me up. Gourmet Ads which just focus on Food Advertising are very much alive and kicking. We’ve seen amazing growth again this year and are looking forward to continued growth in 2012. I’m often talking to my peers at other vertical ad networks and all report solid growth and revenues. Gourmet Ads in 2011 strengthened our inventory by investing in RecipeBridge and I know other networks have been quietly acquiring more web properties and inventory which they can call their own.
So yes, I’m predicting that Vertical Networks will continue to grow in 2012.

7. CPG Brands to Increase Budgets

Again an advertising trend we mentioned last year and the year before. We saw a number of new advertisers in the CPG space in 2011 and we’re already seen new brands at major CPGs advertising for the first time. That said we would like all CPGs to start using online. In 2011 we started to see CPGs run longer campaigns, compare to previous years where they were just concentrating on Q4, then going dark for the rest of the year.

We have two predictions as an advertising trend in 2012, is that we’re going to see smaller to mid sized companies move to online in 2012 where they can easily compete with large FMCG / CPG companies, possibly more so on a localized / geo targeted basis.

8. Contextual Advertising for Food Advertisers 

Another advertising trend we’ve seen from food advertisers in 2011 is the request to advertise on pages where recipe content is closely related or is contextually relevant. We’re predicting this will continue into 2012 as some advertisers want to only reach the exact target each and every time.

An example of contextual advertising for foods would be say a seafood company running a campaign for salmon and they only wanted to advertise on pages where salmon was being mentioned. Pages might be smoked salmon recipes or grilled salmon recipes. Now this is relatively easy for a single site to provide this type of targeting and Gourmet Ads has a few sites where this is possible. We’re working on contextually being able to target against videos with pre roll video advertising. The challenge has always been one around how much inventory is there.

Rolling in 2012, we predict that companies will use Contextual Advertising for part of their media plan, it might be in two ways. 1. They will allocate 10-20% of the media plan’s budget to contextual to ensure the plan remains relevant, then use retargeting and then general run of food. 2. They will book a 6 or 12 month media plan to “own” the term. I.e. they will own “salmon recipes” in very much like a sponsorship type investment, changing the ad creative when required.

What do you think about my Advertising Trends 2012 Predictions ?

If you’re curious to see what I wrote in previous years they can be seen here ;
Advertising Trends 2011, Advertising Trends 2010, Advertising Trends 2009

Advertising Trends 2012 is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.

Global Media Buying through Gourmet Ads

For today’s multinational companies,  implementing a global media buying process is just part of doing business. Finding trusted advertising vendors around the world is the next challenge, then you have multiple partners to manage. That’s why Gourmet Ads has simplified the process of global media buying, offering you one-stop-shopping for running digital advertising campaigns around the world. If you’re tasked with reaching the grocery buyer around the globe, then we can help.

Gourmet Ads works with food bloggers, cooking sites and recipe portals (as well as our owned properties) around the world to create a global media network. The benefit of our network is that we understand our customers, and we understand the needs of the companies that advertise with us. Global media buying with Gourmet Ads allows you to continue marketing to a targeted audience that is interested in the same items that you are selling. Our network reaches across continents to appeal to consumers interested in food, entertaining, and caring for their home. And in many ways, few things are more universal than the love of good food.  While cuisines may vary from country to country, the search for delicious food that will feed a family is something that most customers can relate to. That’s why even non-food manufacturers have chosen to use Gourmet Ads for global media buying. Industries ranging from health and beauty to appliance manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies have paired up with Gourmet Ads to help launch their online marketing campaigns.

Receive increased efficiencies when undertaking Global Media Buying

Business, no matter what industry you are in, has grown increasingly competitive. The internet has created the ability for even very small companies to have an international presence, and the differentiators is online advertising. Customers who are browsing online are often unable to tell which companies have a large physical presence and which ones operate out of little more than a basement, which is why building your brand name through global media buying efforts is more important than ever.

For businesses who have or are planning to launch a global marketing campaign, Gourmet Ads allows you to leverage the strength of a single media partner for an around the world campaign. When it comes to global media buying, you would have to hire a team of marketing experts to provide what Gourmet Ads can offer you right away.  Not only do we have an established network of sites on which to advertise your product, we have already done the research it takes to understand our audience. Companies of all sizes can take advantage of the benefits of global media buying under the Gourmet Ads umbrella by allowing us to place your ad on our multinational suite of sites. Not only will this get your product in front of viewers in countries where you plan to market your product, it will also allow you to enter the world wide market place more quickly than traditional media buying techniques. Talk to our team to find out how we can help market your product to a world wide audience thanks to our global media buying capabilities.

Global Media Buying is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.