Doug Boccia
Title: Vice President, Network Strategy and Sales
Areas of expertise: Network, targeting, real-time bidding
How long have you been with Ad.com?
April 2010 will be my ten-year anniversary with the company.
Give an example of an interesting deal you worked on.
We were challenged by an advertiser to develop a highly impactful campaign with a short flight to support the launch of a major new product, so we came up with the idea of a Billion Block: serve one billion ads for one advertiser in 24 hours. When I thought about the scale of the campaign, I imagined serving an ad to a least one person in every town in the country. Now that we have run several Billion Blocks, it’s time to think of how we can make it bigger.
Where do you see display advertising in five years?
I think we’ll see the acceleration of media dollars move online from traditional outlets; more of a dramatic acceleration than the steady ramp we’ve seen in recent years. I also believe the lines that currently separate digital media such as web, mobile and television advertising will blur and “display” will come to mean ad formats on any of these delivery vehicles, all of which an advertiser will be able to purchase through one provider.
Also, access to inventory, data and analytics is going to become fairly liquid in the marketplace. This will lead to automation advancements in platforms and media planning tools that advertisers leverage to place campaigns. Automation will reduce manual dependencies and increase overall productivity and results for advertisers.
Automation will also impact the publishing side of the equation. Content will be created based on demand by users, and advertisers will align themselves with that content as it is created.
Lastly, web usage will increase significantly for a few reasons. Broadband speeds will get faster and the number of people that have wireless devices like smartphones and tablets (that let you access the internet) will become more commonplace.
Every impression in the future will be data-driven – we won’t serve run-of-network campaigns any longer. You will know something about the user before you serve an ad and every creative will be dynamically-generated.
In this new marketplace it will be critical that companies adhere to privacy standards – and really set the tone for consumers trust and acceptance. We will need to self-regulate.
What are the most common mistakes advertisers make?
Advertisers that want to achieve scale should move away from testing narrow audiences segments or small populations. These types of test often produce results that are not replicable across multiple inventory sources or at larger volumes. In many instances it’s beneficial to start with a broad base and narrow down your focus as this will lead to larger populations, more sustainable results and potentially some unexpected positive returns against audiences you would have never found if you targeted too heavily from the beginning.
If you could give one piece of advice to advertisers, what would it be?
We live in a dynamic and complex industry so take the time to educate yourself regularly. Knowledge is power, and the more you know about the industry, the functionality of service providers and your ad campaigns, the better decisions you can make.
What is your favorite Ad.com product?
We have such a long history of building and developing client-focused products, I don’t think I could pick just one as a favorite. However, I’ve probably never been more excited about our product development pipeline than I am now. We’ll be releasing products this year built in conjunction with our customers, that are going to change the game – again. So I guess my favorite is the next one.
What are you working on right now?
I’ll give you a sneak peek, although it hasn’t been released yet. I’m working on the next generation of full and self-service ad management systems. These systems will allow greater flexibility and functionality to clients and agencies. Stay tuned for more.
What’s something we don’t know about you?
One day I want to be a farmer. It would be a refreshing change of pace.
Find out more about Advertising.com’s solutions for advertisers here.
