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More and more Web browsers are blocking the use of third-party cookies by default, a development which has sparked a fierce debate in the digital ad industry.

Firefox is the latest browser to make the announcement, forcing marketers, ad technology companies and ad agencies to discover another means for reaching consumers with targeted advertising.

This controversy began with Safari, but because Safari had a mere 5% market share, it didn’t ruffle many feathers. However, over time, other browsers have followed suit including Microsoft with “Do Not Track,” and now, Firefox.

Even more troubling is that on mobile – the fastest growing Internet access method — iOS/Safari has over 60% market share, and that number is just too high to ignore. It’s time to face the facts: cookies are being kicked to the curb.

Cookies Aren’t Used For Insidious Purposes

Digital advertising is a $40 billion industry in the U.S. alone, and about half of that spend requires using third-party cookies to locate and target relevant consumers. Third-party cookies aren’t used for anything particularly insidious. They are needed to target reach and frequency for online campaigns, for example. Without cookies, ads can’t properly be tracked for frequency and could accidentally be served to the same user hundreds upon hundreds of times. Basic stuff…

Cookies are fantastic largely because users can dump them and start anew. They are also great for advertisers because they effectively track the performance and targeting, providing the basis for campaign analytics.

What Happens When The Cookie Crumbles?

So what is going to happen when cookies go away? Do you remember the maxim, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch“? There is a tacit agreement between consumers and publishers: the Internet is free but you’ve got to watch our ads (or pay for our content).

As you may imagine, no advertiser wants to deliver you ads you don’t care about, so understanding what you are interested in is the tradeoff. And, with $40 billion dollars in spend at stake, and a compound growth rate that is the envy of the rest of the economy, the ability to target and measure digital ads simply isn’t going to go away.

According to a statement from Randall Rothenberg, president and CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, “Without third-party cookies, they (users) will not be able to participate in the existing industry system for privacy protection.”

The truth is that targeted advertising is too large of a business to be shut down because browsers ban third-party cookies. The end result will just put advertisers and the digital industry in a position to figure out other ways to reach consumers with relevant ad messages. In theory, if all third-party cookies were blocked, a huge portion of this industry would disappear overnight. But, that won’t happen.

Consumers Will Have Less Control With Cookie Alternatives

For a glimpse of the future, let’s look at mobile. Who was the first company to stop allowing third-party cookies? Apple, which owns Safari. Apple also blocked the Unique Identifier that enabled advertisers, vendors and others to identify mobile devices. What did Apple do next? It released its own proprietary version of the cookie: The Apple ID for Advertisers, which is persistent (unlike cookies).

As traffic continues to move away from the traditional desktop and laptops and onto tablets and other mobile devices, the industry will need to devise various ways to identify each of these devices to anonymously target relevant users. And, whatever this technology is, it will end up being adopted on “desktops” and all other devices that access the Internet.

However, there is one big difference: it will be more difficult for consumers to control. Each company will use their own method of identifying and targeting consumers, and those consumers will no longer be able to easily erase these identifiers like they can with cookies.

Achieving The Opposite Of What They Intend

While companies like Mozilla, Microsoft and Apple may think they have the user’s interest in mind when deciding to not accept third-party cookies by default, they are actually doing the opposite. A default setting says nothing about what consumers really want.

The growth of mobile computing will provide the publicity cover. With each browser setting different standards and approaches, combined with the growth of tablet and other smartphone usage, users will find themselves moving from a simple life where they knew what was going on and had control  in their hands, to having their control fractured into a myriad of inconsistent choices.

Some of us may think a gaming site like IGN is premium; others may disagree. Overall, the basic premise is that premium inventory is the media found on a well-known and well-respected publisher.

Clean, Well-Lit Inventory

Personally, I prefer “clean, well-lit” inventory as an expression of what’s good rather than “premium.” The popularity of sites can wax and wane so rapidly that it’s impossible to keep up with the top 20 in every vertical – let alone the subsequent 50 or 100.

And, what if you are buying ads on an exchange? The reason we do that is so we can target individuals no matter what content they are looking at.

If you see that customer who’s about to convert and he’s on a safe site that has good media placements, isn’t that “premium”? It certainly seems a shame to call that sort of inventory “remnant” or “unsold” or even worse, “cheap.”

Inventory That Lifts Brand Metrics & ROI

Kellogg recently reported that more than half of their media now runs through programmatic buying with an increased focus on private exchanges. For Kellogg’s, premium inventory is simply defined as “inventory that lifts brand metrics and ROI.” Their representative even went on to share that “ironically, that could be the cheapest CPMs out there.”

We spoke with a couple of agency executives, and they shared their thoughts on how they define “premium” inventory.

Traditionalization Of Digital

According to Rob Griffin, EVP, Product Development at Havas, “Everyone wants to talk about the digitization of all media, but no one discusses the traditionalization of digital.”

Griffin adds that this is an important distinction when you look at the future of programmatic and media buying in general. Griffin’s perspective sheds light on the fact that all media will be programmatically bought, but that not all media will have an algorithm applied to it.

Griffin explains that premium inventory will still remain sold via upfronts, where the price is set with the publisher. However, the trading desks will handle the executions. The non-guaranteed media (RTB) will represent a digital spot buy, and then you have your performance agencies that represent a digital version of a DRTV shop.

In closing, Griffin states, “in this traditionalized model for digital, premium is defined advertiser-by-advertiser and publisher-by-publisher, and then purchased accordingly.”

Limited Inventory In Short Supply

Joel Nierman, Marketing and Media Director at Critical Mass takes a slightly different approach to defining “premium.”

“In digital, premium inventory denotes severely limited supply; limited in such small quantities as to actually drive the price up, given the size of the digital ad opportunity.

With that definition, this leads digital premium to be ads that are supply-limited in at least one of the four following ways: 1) context, 2) user groups, 3) performance, 4) ad format.

The common bond here is limited supply – there are limited opportunities to be next to the best content, to reach truly high ROI user groups and tightly-focused groups, and limited opportunities for immersive, innovative creative executions.”

However, just like Griffin, Nierman goes back to the notion that advertisers define value, stating, “Advertisers are willing to pay more for something that performs well over the normal performance band.”

Inventory Defined By Value

It seems like the overall takeaway here is that inventory is defined by its value and comes down to what an advertiser is prepared to pay. Data has emerged as the key contributor to the change in buying and inventory channels.

The days where there is a clear-cut line between premium and remnant inventory sources is gone. Simply put, it’s subjective and means different things to different people.

To some advertisers, premium can still be defined as the major publishers with direct sales channels; while on the flip side, some exchange-based inventory can be defined as premium by marketers’ standards. Let’s delete the pejorative “premium” and “remnant” and go with “clean, well-lit.” If it isn’t clean and well-lit, we don’t want to buy it.

Image via iStockphoto used under license

According to a recent comScore study of a dozen major brands, including Allstate, Ford and Kellogg’s, 31 percent of online ads go unseen by consumers.

Recently, I moderated a panel of experts in the field, and they all said they’d seen typical rates of unseen ads coming in at over 50%, and, in the worst cases, up to 80% of ads are going unseen.

How can this be? Perhaps because of where an ad is placed (below the fold, in another window, etc.), page load times, or in the case of a few bad actors, downright fraud. Consequently, many of us in the industry are engaged in an ongoing debate about creating a new “viewable impression metric.”

What Exactly Is A Viewable Ad Impression?

If the entire page was only loaded for one-second before it was closed, can marketers claim the ad on the page was seen? If all of the ads are refreshed on a screen after inactivity for five minutes or more – were any users there to see them? If there are 20 ads on a page that was designed just to lure consumers to it – did visitors actually see an ad on that page?

While it remains clear that a viewable ad impression metric is needed within the industry – exactly what that means is still being debated.

Where Does Data Come Into Play?

Another factor that influences viewability, at least viewability by the right audience, is the accuracy of data — this is because viewability really only comes into play if you are buying ads in real time (RTB) or via aggregators/networks.

If you want to be sure your ad is seen, just buy from a site directly. Although even the biggest and best publishers are occasionally tricked by fraudsters, this is rare, and if you are buying a full-page take-over or other custom placement, according to experts I’ve talked to, it is very likely that your viewability rating will be in excess of 90%.

This approach will actually not work for most marketers because their budgets are not big enough to buy media in that way (it’s expensive to buy large custom units from big publishers), or because like so many people, the marketer is buying the ad placement because s/he has data on the person viewing the page – demographic, customer data, psychographic data or search history.

Some of this data is well known and verifiable – for example, if you are re-targeting people who have visited your site — but if you are buying third-party data, there’s lots of information around to suggest that much of it is inaccurate.

If so, how are you going to verify that you really reached the segment you were targeting? Put another way, if your ad was seen by someone outside your targeted segment, do you want to count it is seen or “viewed”?  So, just as we move forward with standards in viewability, we’re going to have to start thinking hard about standards for data, as well.

Will Viewability Affect The Value Of Display Ads?

The true evil of unseen ads is that they flood the market with inventory, thus lowering prices for publishers. Lower publisher prices means less investment in content, which inevitably means worse ad placement and thus, worse ad performance, which starts a downward spiral of lower quality and pricing for everyone.

Of course, it’s terrible that an advertiser pays for an ad that is never seen, but the effect on pricing in the ecosystem is potentially much worse and more dramatic.

Most People See Most Ads, Isn’t That Good Enough?

I’ve heard some digerati disparage the entire viewability debate by suggesting that we are being held to too high a standard. After all, we all know that not all 30-second spots are viewed on TV, and yet, that industry still dwarfs the digital world.

This is a spurious argument. Just because something is broken somewhere else doesn’t mean it should be broken in the digital world. We have the ability to know exactly who has seen what ad and where, and while an error rate of 5-10% is probably acceptable, anything much beyond that is not.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m still striving to be the best I can be regardless of what everyone else is doing.

It’s not far off to say that big data has forever changed the advertising industry. Data touches every channel – TV, social, mobile, video, display, search and so on. And as it’s produced on an ongoing basis, marketers should look to big data to help to determine what a target demographic cares about, as well as how to use data across channels.

Using Data Across Channels

Aaron Fetters, director of insights and analytics solutions at Kellogg, recently stated “The digital strategy group uses the data to figure out how social media should play a role with Kellogg’s other digital touch-points.” Fetters’ comment shows that knowing what data to use is critical. In this case, the Kellogg team seems to focus on how information derived from social media can influence other digital channels.

The ability to track everything down to an individual, product, sale and behavior is something that was not available prior to the growth of big data. However, the one thing we all must realize is that you don’t necessarily need to track everything. Today, marketers need to focus on what data matters to your own brand and business. Relying too much on data is never a good thing.

Ad Targeting Fail

For example, a Notre Dame fan recently visited the sports site ndnation.com to read up on the hard loss of the national title. Upon his visit, he was welcomed by ads for Alabama featuring, “Congrats Alabama State Champs.” As he clicked through the adchoices icon, he found that Google was behind the ad targeting.

In this case, there was too much reliance on automation and data, and therefore, the information was not mined correctly. Sure, the content of the page included Alabama and Notre Dame, and the user probably was identified as a football fan and may have even searched for information about football. But, in the end, thanks to relying solely on data and machines, the Alabama ad was targeted to a Notre Dame fan on a Notre Dame site-specific page.

The key takeaway here is that we don’t want to end up relying on data for all decisions and great ideas. The human eye and big ideas are still needed today, and sometimes, they can’t be driven by data alone.

Data For Optimization

At the end of day, the main use of the data is to help marketers to identity what is working and what isn’t worth dedicating a marketing budget to moving forward. Data help adjust, refine and optimize campaigns and complete strategies in a way that benefits both the brands and the consumers. These benefits help foster a deeper relationship between the advertiser and their audiences.

When it comes to search retargeting, big data is a major part of how retargeters reach their target consumer. From keyword lists to word optimization and creative, search retargeting uses tremendous amounts of big data to first identify a brand’s target audience and then determine where the audience is located across the Web. As a result, the best ads are served to the right audiences at the correct time.

Marketers are sitting on a gold mine of information that’s just waiting to be unearthed. The amount of data we have access to is going to grow exponentially for the foreseeable future. Use it or lose.

It’s been an explosive year for the ad industry, particularly in the online sector. From ad targeting’s important role in the presidential election, to Facebook’s recent IPO, online advertising is continuing to grow and evolve in our ever-expanding digital world.

As 2012 winds down and we head into the New Year, I have included a few predictions below as to what we might expect to see in the industry over the next year.

1. Facebook Will Allow You To Serve Ads Using Your Own Ad Server

Although Facebook began to allow other ad servers on its platform in certain circumstances in 2012, I expect that momentum will continue to build throughout 2013.

Third-party ad servers are the most basic platform for measuring performance across ad buys, and the lack of this ability is holding dollars back from Facebook. So, for the social networking giant to continue its success into 2013, Facebook will likely invite more ad servers to join its growing network.

Technically, this means that companies will be able to drop a cookie when serving a Facebook ad. Functionally, this means marketers will be able to measure reach, frequency and performance across their entire digital ad spend, including Facebook.

2. Google Will Continue To Restrict Access To Data

Google has an unprecedented amount of data about online users, which makes the company the best place for brands to advertise to their target consumers through online ads. Currently, Google has no viable competition in this space since they own the majority of the data, and I expect that this will likely remain the case in 2013.

In 2011, Google shut down open access to the “referring URL” (the search term that brought someone to your site). In 2012, Google unified its privacy policy so that whenever you are on Google, the company has the right to use your input and track you for advertising purposes.

If in the past Google has planted thousands of flowers and allowed us all to use them, in 2013 they are going to try to pull these together into a coordinated bouquet so that you are encouraged to stay connected to Google all the time. We should all expect the company to pull all of its products together in the coming year.

3. Apple Will Move To A Six-Month Product Rollout Strategy

And, in doing so will actually continue to boost company revenues and cash reserves. Expect some whining from Apple’s True Believers as the company takes more and more money from your pocketbook.

However, there is such a huge demand for Apple’s sexy devices that increasing the product rollout from one upgrade per year to two will increase the total number of units shipped for the company. So, as a few consumers whine, Apple shareholders will continue to smile as the firm maintains its position as the world’s largest company.

4. Microsoft Will Fail In Attempt To Become The “Third Mobile Platform”

Apple (iOS) and Google (Android) have incredible momentum within the mobile market and both companies continue to release upgrades with increased frequency.

While Microsoft has launched its own platform, it’s hard to imagine that it will be able to offer the same performance, reliability, breadth of offering and, most importantly, number of supported apps as Apple and Google currently offer.

5. Consumers Will Continue Trending Toward Tablets Vs. Laptops

Desktop computers have been on the decline for a while now, but are laptops next? With the explosive growth of tablets and the new iPad Mini, consumers are starting to choose tablets over laptops.

A combination of lower price point and higher portability makes them more attractive to many consumers. As a matter of fact, Forrester predicts that tablets will eventually replace laptops entirely as soon as 2016.

6. Increase In Mobile Will Continue To Erode Time Spent On Other Media

I’m an avid reader of The Economist, and once upon a time, I even read the print edition. Then, for a while, I read it online on my computer. But, when the tablet and mobile versions were released, I found that I was no longer reading the print or online versions.

Mobile has truly cannibalized all other media. In some cases, it expands the amount of time we spend online. Showrooming, the practice of looking for cheaper prices via a mobile device while in a retail store, is an example of being online at a time when we formerly were not. And, this trend is only going to continue to grow, as brands and marketers learn to take advantage of the new phenomenon.

All of these predictions relate to the online advertising space, which many predict will trump TV advertising in 2013. In 2011, TV was 42% of advertisers’ media spend, and digital was 37% — so, I look forward to seeing how this changes in 2013.

Here’s to an exciting year ahead!

While 2012 isn’t entirely behind us just yet, many exciting things have happened in the digital space over the last twelve months that will have an impact on advertising in the New Year. Ad targeting has played a tremendous role in online advertising, and we have the abundance of available data to thank for this.

Let’s take a closer look at some examples of what might have added to this momentum:

Facebook Went Public

In an effort to expand its reach and drum up additional revenue, the social networking giant went public in May. And what is Facebook comprised of? That’s right, data and inventory. These two advertising commodities have become the talk of 2012.

The recent introduction of the Facebook Ad Exchange (FBX) represents a huge opportunity for advertisers to apply their own audience data to a huge selection of inventory that was previously not available. Display advertising is broadly made up of equal parts (in terms of time spent on sites) e-commerce, social and content. Therefore, being able to bid on Facebook inventory using your own data effectively adds 50% to the available biddable impressions.

Viewability

In 2012, ad buyers paid close attention to ads that were not seen by consumers. When companies are purchasing through ad exchanges, they aren’t sure of the exact ad placement. This means ads could be above the fold or below the fold, seen or not seen.

There’s talk of making viewable impressions the new metric for display. This would mean a shift from impressions served to impressions seen. It has been reported that the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) will replace the current impressions served-based metric with viewability in early 2013.

It will be interesting to watch how publishers react to this change. At the end of the day, the digital industry should do what they can to increase confidence with the brands – they want to know that their ad is served on safe sites, and that it is seen by their target consumer.

Attribution

What caused someone to search for a product in the first place? Since a customer views ads multiple times before making a purchase, which ad should be credited with the eventual purchase? And, as importantly, did any of the other ads assist in the conversion?

In a digital world where every ad channel is measurable, determining what the data says about the causes of conversion is at the top of every marketer’s mind. An increasing number of both agencies and brands are now tapping search and site retargeting, along with booming ad channels across social, mobile and video.

With all of these new ways to advertise a product or service, it’s no wonder that attribution is such a hot topic.

The Presidential Election

This year, the biggest event in the U.S. has been November’s presidential election. New strategies were used to reach voters, and ad targeting was at the forefront. Both candidates were able to target voters based on a wide variety of factors including voting record and party affiliation, as well as other demographics.

The Obama administration ultimately used targeting most effectively by sharing the right message with the right voters, and leaving the Romney camp unable to capitalize on the President’s weaknesses. There has not been a president re-elected in such a weak economy with such high unemployment since FDR.

As marketers plan to finalize budgets and strategies for 2013, they should keep in mind the reasons for which ad targeting has been so successful in 2012.

There has been tremendous growth in the volume and breadth of data and quality inventory available across ad channels. As a result, ad targeting is a popular tool that is likely here to stay. I’m looking forward to watching how the digital space will continue to evolve in 2013, and how ad targeting will continue to affect the industry.

Media Linked As One

But as separate as these three media once were, they are now linked as one. The media industry consumes more computing power than any other industry in the world, and it continues to explode exponentially. Media dominates every conversation that is powered by more than just the human voice, and the industry is forever being cut into smaller and smaller pieces.

These trends will only continue – and interestingly, the vast majority of the human race does not seem to care.

Future Media Trends

What trends will  form in the future? The following are a few predictions for the future, some of which also happen to be contradictions in their own right:

1. Virtually no one will personalize their advertising experience. Yet, as a consumer, everything that you do will be tracked, and your advertising experience will become highly targeted (and be heavily linked to data).

2. No one wants to see advertisements . Yet, it will become increasingly impossible to go through 60 seconds of any day without viewing some sort of advertisement (this may have happened already).

3. The world is increasingly global. Yet, advertising is increasingly local.

4. Consumers will help shape the future. How consumers utilize the various forms of technology available is what ultimately will affect the future of media. People seek immediate gratification and engagement, and need to trust that the brands they love and understand what they are looking for. Consumers are constantly connected to one another, to brands, etc., and are now in a place to help craft a brand’s story along with the brand or ad agency. Marketers must learn to adapt to this and take into account the voice of the target consumer.

The more advertising there is in the world, the less advertising consumers see — because senses are dulled by overexposure. The media business, as crowded as it may be, has always been data-driven, whether we’re talking about GRPs and CTRs, or psychographics and demographics. The ability to unbundle media from audiences has barely begun. New innovations in digital and advertising technology will continue to change the media landscape for both consumers and brands.

In my opinion, most forms of media will gravitate toward a subscription model. People simply don’t want to pay each time that they listen to a piece of music or watch a movie or television show. The true winners will be Amazon, Netflix and iTunes. Losers will include television stations, cable companies, newspapers, book publishers and music labels.

Moving forward, it will be interesting to see the true winners that emerge from this evolution – and the brands that are left behind in the dust.

Since Google has been credited as an ad-free (or, at least, display-ad-free) search engine, the animated banner ad for the Nexus 7 Android tablet came as a bit of a shock to both Google users and the wider industry. While this wasn’t the first time Google used its homepage to showcase products, was it a smart move by Google?

In today’s shareholder-value-centric paradigm, companies are principally run by profitability. Whenever a company says that it will never do something, that never ultimately restricts its ability to generate revenue and increase profits.

Google’s Change Of Heart

In Google’s case, its promise to put user experience above profitability was broken long ago. Good examples of Google’s change of heart include when the search engine included Google+ within search results, at the expense of other social networks, and when it decided to feature Zagat results at the expense of Yelp or other local search providers.

Search for the term [tablet] and there’s a chance Google will include a sponsored section at the top of each search page, which features its products alongside those of RIM but excludes Apple, presumably because Apple doesn’t pay to be included. As a result, when one searches on Google for [tablet,] results related to Apple’s iPad are barely visible at the very bottom of the screen. Given Apple’s huge market share in the tablet market, its products should really be showing up at the top of any search screen.

But this whole strategy isn’t entirely wrong. Despite its famous Don’t Be Evil slogan, Google is ultimately a major, publicly-traded company – albeit one that brings immense utility and pleasure to its users.

Return Of The Portal?

Like any other big company, Google is trying to make as much money as possible for its shareholders, and sometimes accomplishing this requires the application of a degree of strategy. Here, the strategy requires locking users within Google’s platform to as great a degree as possible.

Google is not alone in pursuing this strategy. Each of the big media players (Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft) are doing everything within their power to keep consumers within their publisher network and away from their competitors’ sites.

The real trend here is that these companies are all attempting to win the war by monetizing eyeballs, clicks, shares and recommendations, creating a virtuous circle of user engagement and revenue generation.

So how will Google’s move to animated banner ads on search pages affect the industry? One thing to remember is that this isn’t the first time that Google has done something of this nature, and it certainly won’t be the last.

Less Is More

While Google is generally held to higher standards than other search engines, consumers and the industry should expect that the company will move forward with plans that promote its own products. However, Google’s strategy to use display ads rarely is key; pushing ads out on a regular basis would hurt both its reputation and its products. Google is tactical when placing ads on its prime white real estate and is aware that people wouldn’t use Google as often if it were bursting with ads.

Of course, from my point of view, there is a little bit of irony in this most recent example: the search giant reverting to display ads to push its products. Because that’s what search retargeting is: remembering what consumers search for and then serving display ads based on those searches as consumers move around the web. Now, whom should I call to buy inventory on the Google home page?

Today, brands have the opportunity to capitalize on the abundance of inventory and data available to plan their marketing initiatives. When combined with media, these ingredients create the perfect recipe to apply targeted advertising to seasonal events.

From the Super Bowl to holiday shopping and political events, there are a multitude of seasonal opportunities for marketers to strategize against. Below, I have highlighted the most effective times during the year for marketers to add data to their media plans.

1. Seasonal Shopping Periods

Consumers spent more than $35.3 billion online in 2011 between November 1^st and December 26^th alone. Marketers planning a holiday retail strategy must look closely at consumer behavior from the previous year. This will help to determine the most optimal time to reach their intended audience and which strategies to implement.

While big picture marketing strategies differ by brand, all retail brands share a common goal in this seasonal period: to drive conversions and sell products.

Retargeting is the best method to drive sales because it leverages display advertising for performance marketing in two effective ways:

1. Site retargeting enables brands to reach consumers who have indicated interest through website behavior.
2. Search retargeting helps brands to scale their display targeting strategies by focusing on consumers who have searched for specific keywords. These keywords might be specific brand terms, lifestyle terms or even competitive terms that signal a consumer is in-market for a product.

Retail brands should also consider additional online marketing opportunities such as Valentine’s Day, back-to-school, President’s Day sales and more.

2. Entertainment/Lifestyle Activities

The 2012 Summer Olympics was a great example of a global event where a variety of brands had the opportunity to apply data to their media buys. In the case of the Olympics, and other major, live events such as the World Series, Super Bowl, Grammys and Oscars, brands can utilize data to amplify their branding campaigns and forge deeper connections with their audiences.

According to David Elms, head of media at KPMG, “The demand from the public for online coverage and other digital offerings during the Games (Olympics) was overwhelming. It has given a huge boost to advertisers in this area and shows that the various growth predictions we have seen over the last few months are probably not far off the mark.”

Data-driven marketing can also be extended across seasonal campaigns during sports seasons. An example of this was seen in last year’s Jack in the Box promotion, which incorporated a Twitter hashtag #marrybacon and a display campaign encouraging consumers to visit a dedicated microsite, www.Marrybacon.com.

Mobile and tablet components were also part of the quick service restaurant’s digital strategy. John Gross, strategist and account director at StruckAxiom, said Jack in The Box’s digital campaign “focuses on extending the TV ad’s story line,” to drive users to other platforms. Of course, all of this digital activity produced additional data points for Jack in the Box to optimize against and leverage for future multi-channel campaigns.

3. Other Notable Seasonal Events: Tax Season & Political Events

We all know that April is an important month for Americans preparing tax returns and budgeting for the forthcoming fiscal year. Brands such as Turbo Tax and H&R Block should incorporate targeting strategies, such as retargeting, demographic targeting and even behavioral targeting into their marketing campaigns. This will allow them to build consumer awareness and locate those customers in need of tax assistance.

For instance, a brand might choose to target consumers who have searched for specific terms like “online tax prep.” To further leverage the data points available to marketers, they should personalize these messages according to additional data relevant to income and geographic location.

These techniques are equally powerful in the political sphere. Applying data to online campaigns is a great way for politicians to tap into areas of the country that need additional exposure. For instance, candidates can apply additional ad dollars to target a specific demographic in particular swing states.

Candidates can also choose to target voters based on their interest in a particular campaign issue. For instance, fiscal voters could be targeted with banner ads advertising a candidate’s tax plans, while social-based voters would receive similarly appropriate ads. By applying a variety of data-driven advertising to these particular events, brands can cost-effectively drive response and increase brand visibility amongst specific, yet highly relevant, audiences.

The bottom line is that to remain competitive, brands must plan their campaigns with seasonal opportunities in mind to drive conversions and increase brand awareness.

Search retargeting and site retargeting are two powerful strategies that can be augmented by other data-driven opportunities within digital advertising, and even other areas of display media such as mobile, social and video.

To capitalize on the endless opportunities available, marketers must utilize strategies that balance precision with scale. With the largest shopping season around the corner, as well as other huge events like Halloween, Valentine’s Day and the Super Bowl, the most successful brands will be those that tap into big data and media in the digital space.

However, where do data and ad targeting fit into the branding equation? Is there a place for branding campaigns within the world of ad targeting and real-time media buying? The answer is yes.

Large brands such as Proctor & Gamble (P&G) and Unilever have already commented publicly about moving brand dollars to digital — crediting their shift in ad spend to the cost savings and ability to have more 1:1 conversations with target consumers.

Other brands, both large and small, will likely follow suit and spend more of their advertising budgets on digital. We have already started to see this trend come alive in search retargeting — especially as more brands begin to couple data with more engaging ad formats, such as rich media and online video.

The truth is, branding campaigns have an opportunity to tap into digital channels and take advantage of the data revolution, which we typically refer to as “targeted awareness.”

Let’s first begin by clearly defining the online world of branding, targeted awareness and direct response:

There are two distinct catalysts for brands choosing to integrate ad targeting into their online advertising strategy:

1. Data: The rise of data has created an opportunity for marketers to couple data and media together. With an improved access to data, brands can now leverage search retargeting and behavioral ad targeting for their branding campaigns.
2. Digital Innovation: The innovation behind digital display allows brands to reach consumers with high-impact advertising in real time. This includes the integration of online video, rich media and interactive ad formats with data intelligence.

How To Tame Targeted Advertising For A Brand Campaign

So, how can advertisers leverage targeted awareness for their branding campaigns? Targeted awareness is all about using data to complement branding initiatives.

For starters, there is a lot of content being consumed beyond the large publishers. With this in mind, when brands purchase site buys or sponsorships, it’s imperative that they also immediately consider ways to amplify their reach.

For example, a brand may choose to align with ESPN.com for sporting content. However, the same consumers who read and visit ESPN.com may also be found cruising sites such as nbcsports.com, allsports.com or menshealth.com.

To extend the scale beyond what a single publisher can offer, brands should consider purchasing access to audiences through ad exchanges in real-time. Doing so allows brands to reach and target consumers throughout their experiences across a multitude of publisher channels, and at a lower price.

Let’s take our example one step further and consider that Under Armour is running a large ad buy on ESPN.com. To augment their reach, Under Armour should consider additional ways to increase its media exposure amongst relevant audiences.

By leveraging data, Under Armour could target consumers who have previously searched for sports-related keywords or who have indicated interest in key categories such as sports and fitness.

One way to accomplish this strategy would be to purchase audiences and ad placements on remnant inventory via the ad exchanges. Such ads might be video, standard banners or rich media — and could re-direct consumers to Under Armour’s larger media buy on ESPN.com or to a specific landing page for the brand.

Measuring Branding Success

Another key component to consider when running a targeted awareness campaign is measurement. Measurement for branding campaigns might be based on clicks, driving new traffic to the brand’s website, site activity or ad engagement.

Before testing targeted awareness, marketers must define their goals and work with their partner on the best targeting strategy for the campaign. A great way to test if a campaign has performed well in the targeted awareness bucket is to conduct a short-term brand study, through which you are able to measure brand lift. Companies like Vizu and comScore are great partners to consider for brand studies.

Ultimately, times are changing and brands now have many more options when moving ad dollars to digital. Ad targeting, real-time media buying and data are no longer just for performance campaigns — brands do have a place within the targeting arena.

With this in mind, consider how ad targeting can magnify your brand’s exposure and strengthen reach amongst relevant audiences for your next branding campaign.