Almost two-thirds of marketers (62%) are using programmatic advertising for brand campaigns as opposed to direct response, according to the findings from our newProgrammatic Branding Report.
The results also show that, on average, 40% of programmatic spending goes towards branding campaigns, with marketers expecting a 37% increase in their programmatic ad spend by 2017.
This represents a huge opportunity for the industry to build targeting and measurement solutions that deliver greater effectiveness and efficiency for upper-funnel campaigns.
The report, which is published in partnership with Quantcast, looks at the extent to which brands are embracing programmatic advertising technology to drive upper-funnel consumer engagement.
It is based on a survey of more than 100 senior marketers in the UK and the US, as well as interviews with influential digital professionals working for brands, agencies and vendors.
The data shows that not all marketers have made the leap into branded programmatic, however.
Bonnie Jackson, who runs digital display at home improvement retailer B&Q, sees programmatic direct response campaigns as a natural complement to the upper-funnel branding efforts in traditional media.
We’re combining [the programmatic] approach with traditional media buys that are more upper-funnel and… testing [some buys] against programmatic alternatives.The reason why we haven’t used [programmatic] for branding to date is that we’re still very early on in our programmatic journey and have been focusing on the key benefits of optimising towards KPIs such as ROI and leads in our early tests.
This was a common issue among the marketers interviewed as part of the report.
Until the establishment of clear measurement and ROI metrics, most brands are unwilling to dedicate large amounts of branding investment into the digital channel, citing lack of visibility into performance.
Benefits of programmatic branding
So what are the perceived benefits of using programmatic for branding campaigns?
Marketers identified efficiency, reduced ad costs and improved targeting as the key benefits, though it’s important to note the small base size for this question.
