Opinion

Ad tech marketers have valid opinions too

Ca PrestopinoIn this guest post Cat Prestipino says she is fed up of being marginalised by other marketers and publications just because she works in ad tech.

Warning: I’m about to get up on my soapbox.

There’s a divide brewing in the marketing industry in the B2B marketing sector. On one side, marketers who work for ad tech vendors. On the other side, all the other B2B marketers. The most unfortunate thing is that it’s not the marketers who have drawn these lines in the sand but the people who they work with.

In the past, I’ve been told by an event organiser that I couldn’t attend an event because I worked for an ad tech vendor. It didn’t matter that I work for a display advertising vendor, it was a search marketing event and I was in-market for a new PPC platform. Ad tech is ad tech. The worst part for me was the event organiser actually hit me with “well you’re not really a marketer, are you?”

I felt that my entire career meant nothing because I’d chosen to work in ad tech rather than another B2B sub-vertical.

This week I’ve been told by two different publications that they will no longer be accepting content from ad tech vendors regardless of the theme or format. Blanket rule, no exceptions.

In one case they have decided to reserve content for the ad tech vendors who advertise with them, effectively turning their publication into a pay-to-play model. This represents a very dangerous shift in the trade publication landscape. The reach to educate the market is now falling to the people with the budget – and the agenda. [Note: Mumbrella does not operate this policy]

Reviewing their site, there was nothing to indicate what was paid-for or sponsored content or what was earned media. There has been a lot of debate in the marketing community about the best way to indicate native advertising placement but the overarching agreement is that there should be something to indicate when content is paid for. Without that definition, publications run the risk of losing the trust of their audience. Once that happens, it will be very difficult for publications to continue to operate.

The second publication believed that ad tech vendors have nothing to offer their readership. While I know there are a number of ad tech vendors out there who have been guilty of turning a thought leadership slot in print and at live events into a sales event, it’s short sighted to blanket believe there is nothing that ad tech vendors could offer that is of interest to marketers.

Ad tech is one of the newest but also the most dynamic areas of marketing. There is constantly a new algorithm, a new platform, a new play on doing things. Ad tech vendors are living and breathing in a development environment. Not only do they have access to a lot of these changes before the rest of the market, they also have a much deeper understanding of the technology, how to apply and manipulate it to run some pretty amazing marketing campaigns and where the advertising industry is headed as a result.

Ad tech is also home to some of the most intelligent and creative B2B marketers I’ve met. They need to understand their technology and explain it in terms that everyday people will understand and make brands, usually centred around data and code, accessible to the broader marketing community. This isn’t an easy feat as anyone who’s tried to explain to an older relative why they saw the ad for The Sydney Dance Company just after they were looking at the 2016 season online knows.

And ad tech marketers are judged by the best marketers in the industry. They are trying to capture the attention of the teams behind the Air New Zealand safety videos and Old Spice Guy. Their customers know their stuff and, therefore, their advertising campaigns need to be stand out. The creative concept has to be spot on and the execution needs to be flawless. Why would the wider marketing community not want to hear about how these ad tech marketing teams are attracting the toughest marketing critics through their campaigns?

At the end of the day, I am a marketer. If you want to buy display ads, I can introduce you to one of my sales team but if you want to geek out about Adobe’s latest advertising campaign then let’s grab a drink. I don’t want to see a sales pitch at an event or in a trade publication as I drink my morning coffee but I do want to hear about the latest changes to mobile ad formats and how B2B marketers are driving ROI using them – and I don’t care if that comes from an ad tech vendor or not.

  • Cat Prestipino is head of marketing APAC, AdRoll
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