mediasmart’s Nikhil Kumar & Noelia Amoedo on gains from programmatic DOOH advertising

mediasmart, an Affle company, is a unified programmatic platform which provides advertisers, trading desks, and agencies ways to integrate consumer journeys across screens. Unique strengths such as omni-channel audience management and incremental measurement together with measurable and high impact CTV advertising (through its proprietary Household Sync technology), make mediasmart the platform of choice for marketers looking for an Intuitive and powerful programmatic solution, whether they choose to use mediasmart’s console or build their own solutions on top of its open APIs.

In conversation with Adgully, Nikhil Kumar, Vice President, India & SEA, mediasmart, Affle, and Noelia Amoedo, CEO, mediasmart, Affle, talk about the integration of Mobile, CTV, and DOOH campaigns, challenges faced while planning for DOOH, and much more. Excerpts:

What is the objective behind the newly launched Omnichannel programmatic ad platform?

Nikhil Kumar: We are living in an increasingly hyper-connected world, where consumers are engaging with multiple devices and across touchpoints – both online and offline. We launched our latest omnichannel programmatic advertising platform with the aim of delivering a consistent and integrated brand experience to customers across various channels such as mobile, CTV, and DOOH. Our platform integrates connected consumer journeys beyond traditional channels, allowing advertisers to optimise their campaigns effectively and deliver maximum impact and desired results. By offering a unified approach, marketers can enhance the overall brand experience. This new technology represents a significant milestone in our ongoing commitment to providing cutting-edge solutions to our clients.

What challenges have you come across while planning for DOOH?

Noelia Amoedo: The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted our planning for the DOOH campaigns as there was a sudden shift in consumer behaviour towards remote work and decreased exposure to outdoor advertising and in-store visits. The imposed lockdown and social distancing measures meant fewer people were exposed to outdoor ads, making it challenging to reach our target audience through traditional DOOH channels. We had to adjust our strategies to reach consumers in new locations, such as residential areas, and on online channels.

The pandemic has also resulted in economic uncertainty and budget cuts, forcing us to find more cost-effective ways to implement DOOH campaigns that would still deliver a strong ROI. We were able to leverage the evolution of DOOH inventory towards programmatic trading during the pandemic, which allowed us to implement more targeted and data-driven strategies that maximise impact while minimising costs.

By synchronising campaigns across multiple channels, we were able to implement omnichannel campaigns that offer a more comprehensive and personalised consumer journey. This required a deep understanding of the target user’s behaviour across different channels. We leveraged data insights and analytics to develop more targeted campaigns that resonate with our audience and drive engagement.

I would say the COVID-19 pandemic has brought about several challenges for marketers in planning for DOOH campaigns, but it has also highlighted the importance of programmatic omnichannel marketing.

What solutions does it offer to advertisers to bridge the gap between the physical and digital worlds?

Noelia Amoedo: Programmatic DOOH advertising provides advertisers with unprecedented precision, targeting, and real-time measurability. We are taking it a step further by leveraging not only the location-based features of DOOH, but also our revolutionary Household Sync Technology on Connected TV (CTV). By doing this, we are enabling advertisers to tap into the big screens in people’s homes, drive engagement, and maximise impact.

We are bridging the gap between out-of-home and mobile advertising by synchronising the two and closing the loop for advertisers. With our cutting-edge technology, advertisers can reach their target audience like never before and measure the impact of their campaigns in real-time.

Could you share some insights on the integration of mobile, CTV, and DOOH campaigns?

Nikhil Kumar: We offer a powerful omnichannel approach to advertising, revolutionising consumer journeys across multiple screens with cutting-edge technologies. Our comprehensive product line-up provides a one-stop solution for our clients’ advertising needs, combining highly immersive CTV advertising, real-world impactful targeting through DOOH, and relevant and targeted mobile advertising.

Our latest technologies, including Household Sync, Engagement Sync, and Offline Sync, allow brands to effectively target evolved consumer journeys with personalized ads across multiple screens, target multiple users within a single household, and drive footfalls to physical stores. By integrating CTV, Mobile, and DOOH advertising, brands can create immersive and engaging advertising experiences that deliver a cohesive brand message across all devices. Moreover, our Footfall measurement feature enables clients to ascertain the incremental impact of DOOH campaigns by running proximity campaigns on mobile devices targeted at a DOOH audience.

This new world of advertising targets users on CTV, re-engages them on mobiles, and delivers measurable results. With our focus on innovation and effectiveness, we are committed to providing our clients with the best possible advertising experience across all screens and devices.

How does mediasmart provide a seamless and synchronised experience for consumers, enhancing brand engagement and delivering a unified consumer journey?

Noelia Amoedo: As a leader in cross-screen storytelling and measurement, mediasmart is dedicated to driving innovation in programmatic advertising. Our cutting-edge technology is designed to meet the evolving needs of advertisers and consumers, delivering valuable solutions and results. We are also committed to improve user engagement and not just ad exposure by developing tech that improves ad awareness. One of the features we have developed boosts user engagement, strengthens customer experience and improves the ad viewing experience to offer more value to the advertisers as well as the users who consume the ads.

With the launch of our new omnichannel solutions, we are further integrating the consumer journeys across screens. We do this through our various solutions that work in tandem to offer a powerful advertising experience. Let’s take CTV for instance, where we have gone deeper into understanding how ads on CTV can engage customers on mobile. Our proprietary Household Sync Technology reaches multiple devices in the same household. In fact, our 2022 study of CTV in India revealed that nudging the users on their connected mobile devices within 24 hours helps to improve the purchase intent for users who have seen ads on the CTV. The study also revealed that 9 in 10 viewers of CTV recall being exposed to ads. We enable campaign tracking across the user funnel from exposure to action.

Nikhil Kumar: Further to what Noelia mentioned, this is highly relevant in the current post-pandemic digital world. Brands are looking for ways to drive footfalls back to their retail stores, boost their online engagement/ commerce or in most cases finding an optimal balance to maintain both. Here our solutions around proximity marketing, location-based advertising and footfall tracking help to not just increase brand awareness, but also in incremental lift. In one of our top campaigns for a QSR chain, our location precision targeting technology helped identify and engage a high-intent audience, resulting in increased footfalls to the nearest store. Our DOOH solution revolutionises the way advertisers can reach and engage with their target audience by offering unparalleled footfall attribution tracking, real-time audience reach, and highly personalized targeting capabilities. For instance, one of our creative’s feature is based on real-time weather conditions that can personalise ads based on the user’s weather. This ensures campaigns remain personalised, timely and highly relevant to enhance brand engagement.

In addition, our patent-pending ad fatigue targeting technology, called Maximize User Awareness, targets users who have been exposed to less advertising, helping to boost user engagement, drive greater conversions, and ultimately lead to a higher level of awareness and impact for our clients’ advertising campaigns. With this technology, we help our clients avoid ad fatigue and ensure that their advertising campaigns are always fresh and impactful.

Going beyond the solution, what also sets us apart from competitors is the granularity of reporting we offer. Our clients are empowered with integrated dashboards, granular reports, open APIs to get complete visibility into their campaigns and optimize for better results.