How Flexibility & Control Is Helping Marketers Turn Uncertainty Into Opportunity This Festive Season

In this guest post, Esther Carlsen (main photo), general manager at Bench Media, says marketers across programmatic will have the edge this festive season…

With the critical holiday season ahead, it is the perfect time for brands to go big with programmatic advertising and drive impactful results. The expected rise in consumer spending, easing of pandemic restrictions and the green shoots of economic recovery, means abundant opportunities for marketers to harness.

The uncertainty marketers have been grappling with has created the need for a dynamic approach that programmatic buying is perfectly positioned to support. Programmatic is primed to enable marketers to execute speedy delivery to market, with popular favourite channels in a better way.

Marketers can enjoy increased flexibility, real-time reporting, and optimisation. Programmatic also provides the ability to pivot without penalty, which proved to be a critical strength during the last 18 months of disruption.  But there will be challenges such as speed to market and siloed buying that may be concerning marketers as there is still so much scope for change.

The changing role of digital channels across all demographics

Digital media consumption across the board has undoubtedly increased. Smart TVs, games consoles, and streaming services like Netflix have helped nearly everyone get through the last two years. Audiences across all demographics now consume more video, music, podcasts, and online content. One study revealed that online content consumption over this pandemic period doubled from 3 hours 17 minutes a day to 6 hours 59 minutes. Some 26 per cent of respondents purchased a new screen device, be it a laptop, smartphone, TV, game console or tablet, as a result of spending time at home.

People are also shopping and spending more online than ever before. In 2021, an incredible 2.14 billion consumers are expected to buy items online, with global e-commerce sales expected to hit $4.891 trillion. 17 million Australian consumers visited online retailers monthly this year, with consumer retail spending up by 35 per cent year-on-year.

There is no doubt that addressable media such as TV, out-of-home (OOH), and audio will also play an essential part in any plan over this recovery period. They will play a significant role in helping to supercharge more traditional performance channels and driving consumers in-store where possible.

All of this, combined with the upcoming festive season, is a prime time for marketers to be leveraging these channels programmatically in order to increase their awareness and share of voice within their target audiences.

Programmatic advertising enables isolating audiences or locations at speed and in real-time.

Programmatic digital-out-of-home (DOOH) will reach 93 per cent of all Australians. More than 63 per cent of Australian adults listen to at least one music streaming service once a week, and more than 29 per cent of them listen to a podcast. A whopping 4.1 million Australians own a smart speaker. With reach and time spent on these channels higher than ever, programmatic advertising provides a layer of sophistication to beloved traditional channels that have driven proven results for businesses. Marketers can plan and buy these channels with increased agility, precision, and flexibility by doing so programmatically.

The benefits to advertisers include not only the speed to market, and the ability to pivot easily without penalty, but also the ability to gain real-time results and thus make real-time decisions. This increased flexibility enables marketers to harness business challenges whenever they arise, provides access to quality content and improved targeting, and therefore leads to reduction in wastage. All of which create the ability to link branding to actions online, in app and in store.

Programmatic enables teams to reap the real benefits of being able to move budgets fluidly between channels. Real-time, consolidated reporting also delivers actionable insights to optimise your media investment in real-time, whether from a broader reach brand perspective through to a more performance-heavy outcome.

In harnessing the opportunity that programmatic provides, marketers can organically unlock the ability to give customers what they want on the right channel, device, and most importantly, at the precise moment they are open to the communication.

Knowing when to do it alone and when to collaborate

We are in a crucial time  for businesses to leverage their brand building channels to increase awareness and share their authentic voice to their consumers. Although the past 18 months have already transformed the industry, innovative marketers need the flexibility to pivot further and continuously evolve with further advancements.

In navigating uncertainty, choosing the right partner will help marketers roll with the punches and optimise seamlessly across channels, platforms, and strategies. But ultimately, it’s about having a team of experts by your side that understand the rapid pace and nuances of media, technology, data, and performance.

Working with a partner to consolidate efforts across all channels can provide brands with benefits and advantages for delivering consolidated real-time insights and outcomes. In addition, a partner will enable marketers to react quickly to changes and make intelligent decisions about where they can capitalize and maximize their opportunities.

There will be challenges for traditional delivery methods such as speed to market and siloed buying. The good news for concerned marketers is that programmatic is beautifully placed to leverage traditional channels in an elevated way. Choosing to collaborate with the right partner is the missing piece of the jigsaw that will help bring it all together.