‘I put all my skin in the game’: Ebiquity CEO Ruben Schreurs on overseeing the world’s top brands
Meta could surprise the world by buying an agency holdco or integrating with streamers like Disney or Netflix, according to the CEO of global performance consultancy Ebiquity.
Ruben Schreurs sat down with Mumbrella for a wide-ranging interview that ran the gamut from agency disruption, to advertiser news avoidance, Elon Musk, outdoor, the rise of Publicis and a personal attack on Schreurs that almost cost him his life.
The full interview is available to listen to on the Mumbrellacast. Sign up to the Mumbrella daily newsletter to be notified when an episode drops, subscribe (for free) through any podcast service (Spotify, Apple, iHeart), or listen right here on Mumbrella using the online player (below).
Ebiquity, which is publicly listed in London, is employed by big brands to ensure the effectiveness of their advertising investment. It says it works with 75 of the world’s top 100 brands, overseeing around US$160 billion (A$246b) in marketing spend.
Schreurs, a Dutchman who spends his time between his house in The Netherlands and London, rejects the image of the 28-year-old organisation as a kind of “agency cop”.
Ruben Schreurs (Mumbrella)
”If I look back at Ebiquity maybe 10 years ago, for example, around the time there was an ANA [the US Association of National Advertisers] report into transparency in the US market that focussed on rebates and transparency issues in the programmatic supply chain, I think there was more of a narrative back then that Ebiquity was a necessity because there was so much non-compliance or so much malignant activity.
“I don’t buy into that. I see agencies as a key stakeholder group. I think they add real value. But I do believe, and we have the evidence for that, that things go wrong inadvertently.”
However, Ebiquity’s overview position and independence does give it the ability to call out bad behaviour.
”We’re never out there to stir the pot or in an unwarranted way, bring forward issues. But when there are issues that are fundamental and that should be addressed and that is in the interest of our clients, then we will unapologetically say that publicly.
“I think we are one of the few companies that has continued to speak out against Elon Musk’s vindictive lawsuit against the advertisers and the WFA’s Global Alliance for Responsible Media. It’s unacceptable. It’s unwarranted, it’s false, and it’s using litigation in a weaponized way, to stifle progress in the industry.”
Schreurs has a big ownership stake in the company, with 13% of the voting rights. He explains he sold the company he had founded, Digital Decisions, to Ebiquity in 2020 on “an almost entirely risk-based model”.
“Look, I’m a Ebiquity geek,” he says. “I put all my skin in the game. I said if it doesn’t work, you know it doesn’t work and I won’t make any money. If it does work, both of us will be very happy.”
Ruben Schreurs addressing his team in Sydney
Schreurs sees growth for Ebiquity – it does around A$150m in revenue annually – coming from a forward looking approach rather than only analysing past spend.
“The fastest growing parts of our business are our marketing effectiveness practice, our contract compliance practice, [and] the work we do around digital governance. And all of these share in terms of the underlying principles that they’re based on improving the value and removing wastage or excessive unwelcome spend.”
In terms of effectiveness, Schreurs is an advocate for news content, and argues strongly against news avoidance.
”The notion that if a subject on which the editorial team reports is somehow sensitive or ‘hard news’, that is then making the content environment unsafe for brands, is absolutely untrue.
“It’s not just about brands doing like the responsible thing. Brands aren’t charities. We don’t expect them to just fund journalism because society needs it, which it does. It is a huge opportunity from an effective high quality media point of view.
“Advertising on trusted news builds brand trust, and that’s one of the most powerful drivers of effectiveness and brand equity and the halo effect of high quality journalism is massive and it’s proven in endless studies. So there is a real business opportunity that’s missed out on as a result. The relative price to advertise on news has deflated. So just from an economic point of view, a brand would be foolish not to invest a significant amount of money in a quality trusted journalism.”
Schreurs puts a great deal of emphasis on leadership: for example, he says people often overlook the importance of CEO Arthur Sadoun in the success of the Publicis Groupe.
Arthur Sadoun
”He manages to represent the company in a way that is appealing to brands, that is appealing to the people working at Publicis.
“I think also they went through significant transformation five, six, seven years ago. They’re in much more calm waters, seemingly, and that has appeal. Brands want that kind of stability. They’re also just on a hot streak, and momentum creates momentum, right? That compounds.”
Schreurs seems to have thought deeply about not only social responsibility but also the macro-level trends behind movements in marketing and tech.
“Whenever I talk about advertising with friends or people that are not in the industry it’s somewhat looked down … but it’s a powerhouse economic driver that has so much impact across culture across our content, across our daily lives, across consumerism, you name it.”
He says that while the digital giants Meta and Google started out with that same aversion to advertising, they had become the biggest advertising platforms in the world.
“Advertising is the core of that model, and having access to users/consumers, and having control over their feeds and their attention essentially is incredibly powerful If you can then monetize it with advertising.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if we see a lot more integrations. So Meta, for example, integrating with, I don’t know, let’s say Disney plus or Netflix, in order to be able to use Meta data across external, non-Meta owned inventory.
“We saw Facebook Audience Extension Network 10 years ago, and that then went away, but I think we’ll see that kind of thing coming back … almost how retail media platforms are working with their retail data. I think that’s what we’ll see happen with the large platforms that own the consumer’s behavior and interests.”
There is a great deal more in the interview — sign up to the Mumbrellacast to hear the whole conversation.
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