AD TECH AND MARTECH
Smartly.io | March 17, 2023
Smartly.io, one of the world’s largest SaaS digital advertising platforms, today announces significant company advancements, stemming from months of strategic moves—including two acquisitions, a new platform release and strategic hires to senior leadership—under the guidance and vision of industry veteran Laura Desmond. The company, which holds certified partnerships with media leaders Meta, TikTok and Google, among others, brings dynamic integrations to the digital and social space, successfully “redefining social and creativity,” according to Nikhil Lai, Senior Analyst at Forrester.
Desmond, the former Global CEO of Starcom Mediavest Group and senior executive of Publicis Groupe, has a seasoned track record for creating symbiotic relationships between advertising and technology—influencing opportunities that reshape entire industry categories. As was the case in 2021, where Desmond, a member of DoubleVerify’s Board of Directors and operating partner at Providence Equity, played an integral role in leading its IPO—one of the most successful in the media and technology sector that year.
“When Providence acquired Smartly in 2019 and I became Chair of The Board, the company’s potential was clear from the start. Smartly is uniquely solving real problems that brands and marketers need to have solved: agile creative and media management at the same time; rapid intelligence around performance—what's working and what's not; the ability to execute personalization at scale. The steady updates we’ve been making are unlocking a depth and breadth to the technology that’s affording brands the ability to move across channels as fluidly as the consumers they aim to engage do,” commented Desmond. “Coupled with the additions of Brett Wein as Chief Sales Officer, and Oli Marlow-Thomas as Chief Innovation Officer, I am confident that our vision for Smartly.io will effectively redefine the future of digital advertising for brands and marketers alike.”
Smartly.io’s continuous releases to Workspaces has created a unique full-funnel, multi-channel approach to social advertising, integrating creative, media buying and intelligence at scale, in one platform. Specifically, the company’s creative-focused adtech enables marketers to:
Reach Smartly: Automate campaign workflows across all major platforms, reaching audiences quickly, easily and cost effectively.
Engage Smartly: Create beautiful, cohesive, and effective creative across the funnel that drives action.
Learn Smartly: Extract consolidated actionable insights to respond to audience behaviors in real-time to maximize return on investment (ROI).
"The depth of knowledge [Smartly.io] brings across verticals is really impressive,” said Merry Morud, Lead, Global Creative Optimization for Consumer Products at Uber. “On top of that, they have a fantastic creative team, which is very mobile-first, which is what we, as digital marketers, in a mobile space and mobile-first world look for.” Uber, a longtime client of Smartly.io, has used the company’s platform to execute iterative creative approaches at scale as part of their global media buying practice.
Smartly.io, now managing upwards of $5B in media spend, is unlocking the ability for true multi-platform brand building that exceeds both customer expectations and drives engagement across platforms, at scale. As a result, platform partners like Meta have leveraged Smartly’s Advantage+ Shopping solution to deliver upwards of 150 creative variations across all creative placements, expanding consistent brand reach and personalization in a privacy-safe way.
“Reinvention tends not to come from large scale companies, so we are using our nimble size and strong influence to create real movement in the industry,” said Oli Marlow-Thomas, Chief Innovation Officer, Smartly.io.
ABOUT YOU, one of Europe’s fastest growing fashion platforms, leverages Smartly’s TikTok Shopping Ads across markets. Since implementation, it's seen a near 30% uplift in ROAS for catalog sales, compared to the business-as-usual catalog sales campaigns, and greater than 100% uplift for "add to cart” actions compared to TikTok’s data.
“The Smartly Digital Advertising Platform is the result of years of collaborations, acquisitions and continuous innovation that’s allowing us the ability to really push the limits of what’s been possible, up until now that is. We’re working on some exciting new builds with partners that will hit the market in the coming months, that will take dynamic creative and media optimization to new heights,” continued Marlow-Thomas.
To learn more about the Smartly Digital Advertising Platform and how it’s revolutionizing the industry, please go to https://www.smartly.io.
About Smartly.io
Smartly.io is one of the world’s largest SaaS digital advertising platforms, managing nearly $5B in ad spend with 700+ brands worldwide. Our leading end-to-end technology and outstanding customer service help brands such as Walmart, FanDuel, L’Oreal, Warner Bros. Discovery, Nestle, and Disney/ESPN to better reach audiences, engage creatives and learn what performs best—consistently driving scale for brand and performance across the largest media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Snap, Pinterest, TikTok, and Google. Visit Smartly.io to learn more.
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AD NETWORKS
Veritonic, Audacy | February 14, 2023
On February 13, 2023, Veritonic, the industry's most comprehensive audio research and analytics platform, announced a partnership with Audacy, and the results of a ground-breaking audio study concluding that in audio advertisements, four key elements—sonic branding, music, voice, and message, that maximize intent to purchase, recall, and brand favorability.
Sonic branding is a highly successful marketing method to increase brand identification and sales. It is an essential part of a brand's arsenal and a constant factor in advertising success. It is fundamental to how we perceive and recognize brands. A regularly used logo may strengthen a business's visual and vocal identity and increase brand recall. Sound branding accomplishes the following:
Increases Radio and Podcast purchase intent by 6% and 2%, respectively.
Radio ad recall increased by 17%, and podcast advertisements by 14%.
Sonic branding makes radio advertisements +7% more trustworthy, +6% more pleasant, +5% more powerful, and +4% more relevant.
The idea is to pick music that matches a business's fundamental values and brand identity, whether you're curating unique compositions or choosing essential tunes. Music may support a brand's values, attract attention inside advertisements, and connect with target consumers. Adding music to advertisements increases buying intent by 5%. Additionally, music helps commercials remain top-of-mind, drives buy intent, and ads with music were more remembered, achieving 4% greater recall.
About Veritonic
Veritonic is a marketing intelligence platform specializing in the use of music in advertising campaigns. The platform uses machine learning to measure the effectiveness of music, voiceovers, jingles, and mnemonics. The business was established in 2015 in Killingworth, Connecticut. Global brands use Veritonic's complete audio research and analytics platform, agencies, publishers, and platforms to study, test, and assess the ROI of their audio assets and campaigns in-market, pre-market, and post-campaign. The ensuing knowledge helps customers to gain confidence in their audio investment, manage risk via optimization, and boost their return by engaging consumers in exciting audio experiences.
About Audacy
Audacy, Inc. is a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based American broadcasting company. It was founded in 1968 as Entercom Communications Corporation and is the second-largest radio corporation in the United States, with 235 radio stations in 48 media markets. In November 2017, the firm and CBS Radio combined. The deal was structured as an exchange offer, allowing CBS Corporation shareholders at the time of the merger to swap their shares for Entercom shares, representing a 72 percent ownership in the merged business.
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ADVERTISER CAMPAIGN MANAGEMENT
Marin Software | February 06, 2023
Marin Software has recently announced its integration with Yahoo's platform to enhance its ad campaign optimization and purchase for advertisers, offering Yahoo DSP campaigns inside its MarinOne platform.
This integration will make it easier for advertisers to measure, manage, and optimize channel campaigns in one place. Yahoo's demand-side platform (DSP) offers access to premium inventory from the industry's top publishers, ad exchanges, supply-side platforms (SSP), and Yahoo's SSP authorizing advertisers for programmatic advertising. So, brands can learn what customers want and reach them on their preferred device and medium, such as mobile, desktop, digital platforms, out-of-home, connected TV, video, and immersive experiences.
CEO of Marin Software, Chris Lien, said, "We are excited to renew our partnership with Yahoo and continue providing our customers with best-in-class advertising solutions that enable them to reach their target audiences more efficiently and effectively than ever before." He added, "Our goal is always to provide brands and their agencies with industry-leading technology to manage and optimize their digital marketing programmes on a single platform and give them a competitive edge in today's digital marketplace. Working closely with Yahoo, we will be able to jointly develop even more innovative products that deliver on this goal."
(Source – Business Wire)
About Marin Software
Marine Software, one of the leading software development companies, is focused on authorizing digital agencies and advertisers for optimization, enhanced efficiency, and transparency of paid marketing programs. MarinOne is a unified software as a service (SaaS) advertising management platform of Marin Software that offers advertising optimization for search, social, and eCommerce programs to convert audiences into valued customers, enhance finances, and help digital marketers make better decisions. Its MarineOne Budget Optimizer maximizes the return on investment from advertising. In addition, it automates key workflows to save time and relieve the team's workload, allowing them to focus more on advertising strategies.
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