96% of top level marketers believe that tech is driving in-house. Why?

In our recent State of In-housing report, 96% of top-level marketers believed that tech was driving the in-house movement.

Yet what is it about advertising technology that has enabled the in-house revolution in marketing?

Well, we have it figured out.

Here are our top 3 reasons:

1. Efficiency is fuelling change 

Greater efficiency is a top 5 reason for brands moving their marketing in-house. 

In fact, efficiency is the ‘it’ word of ad tech. All providers promise streamlined workflows, efficient processes, and enhanced productivity – something that not all agencies can deliver. 

With improved workflows, brands are questioning why they should pay an external agency to do the same work they can do in-house, often a lower cost. For top-level decision makers, the adoption of ad tech is a natural choice for marketers looking to move their processes in-house.

This is not a feeling exclusive to Europe either. In a 2018 survey by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) 12% of US respondents claimed greater speed as a key reason for moving operation in-house. 

For Ville Heijari, CMO at Rovio (an early-adopter to the in-house movement) ad tech has been an essential addition: ‘We use workflow automation tools, campaign automation, and various tools that enable us to increase the speed of delivering more versions, variation and experiments with digital campaigns.’

How do you select ad tech for efficiency?

With so many solutions out there to choose from, it’s important you select the right product. A product that will not only solve existing inefficiencies but present opportunities for future growth.

Take Shutterstock for example. Their existing online production was too slow, taking weeks instead of days. Now, they not only produce advertising quickly, but they have also created some truly exceptional ads. Thanks to added analytics and optimisation features from the Bannerflow CMP.

Whatever aspect of your digital marketing you choose to make more efficient, it’s important you pick a product that will create efficiency throughout your campaign processes. Otherwise, why bother?

Scaling into different versions is easy with Bannerflow’s intuitive tool.

2. Creativity is driven by effective ad tech

For 51% of respondents, lack of time is ranked as the main blocker to creativity.

Therefore, it must follow that with increased efficiency there is greater creativity?

Nowhere is ad tech’s influence more obvious than with the introduction of Dynamic Creative Optimisation (DCO) into the online advertising space. This technology, when combined with a CMP, is the perfect combination of efficiency and creativity. Allowing you to produce the right ads, at the right time, for the right person.

Be warned though, for 22% of brands from the in-housing report believed technology to be a barrier to creativity. For Lara Izlan, Director of Programmatic Trading and Innovation at AutoTrader, the pressure to adopt ad tech too fast can lead to: ‘an ad tech infrastructure that is overly complex’.

How to choose the right ad tech for creativity?

With the right product, beautiful and eye-catching designs don’t have to take weeks off your designer’s life.

In fact, if you choose a platform with a workable interface, a comprehensive onboarding programme, and an engaged customer success team your ad tech will aid, not hinder your design team.

Indeed, for Icelandic telecommunications company NOVA, increased in-house efficiency has led to some truly innovative online advertising. With the widgets provided in the Bannerflow platform making their designers want to be creative.

3. Transparency comes as standard 

9 out of 10 marketers are concerned with the transparency level of media agencies.

Problems surrounding transparency have been plaguing agencies for a number of years, on a number of issues – particularly in regards to media buying. Programmatic media buying has frequently been labelled as the ‘black box’ of digital marketing. Agencies have been taking advantage of clients ignorance to take full control of clients budgets – with little or no accountability.

Ad tech has emerged as a solution to this problem. Allowing brands such as Electrolux, Philips, and Lucozade to take full control of their media buying strategy, in-house.

The right technology can provide accountability over budgets, analytics, and optimisation. As well as help tackle issues surrounding fraud, viewability, header bidding, and yield optimisation.

Although Raluca Efford, Head of Digital and Social Media Marketing at Direct Line, has her own opinion: ‘When trading desks were first set up in 2008/09 they were there to enhance transparency for clients. Since then, they have become more and more complex and have become the ‘black box’ technology that they wanted to mitigate against.’

What does transparency mean for ad tech?

In terms of media buying, it is important to choose a tool that doesn’t over complicate the process. Having your analytics in one place, and the ability to optimise in real-time will vastly improve your campaign performance.

The Bannerflow analyse and optimise feature.

Conclusion

Ad tech presents a great opportunity for brands looking to take control and bring marketing in-house.

Efficiency, creativity, and transparency are all clear benefits of an age where technology holds sway. Yet, in this oversaturated market it is important to choose a solution that will clearly deliver on these objections.

Bannerflow’s easy to use creative management platform (CMP) allows you to build, scale, publish, analyse and optimise in one. To discover more about our product get in touch with us.