Over the last few years we have witnessed juxtaposing ideas that have created an interesting paradox in the world of media strategy. On one hand, targeting has allowed media strategists to get very granular with their creative messaging, and on the other hand, the veritable glut of media inventory has commoditized certain segments of the media marketplace, resulting in the same type of one size fits all creative that has always existed.
As top tier creative media strategies roll out left and right, there remains a significant amount of untouched inventory that is on the market for pennies on the dollar. This pool of inventory is so large; without effective ways to access these impressions en masse, it is likely that many of them will go untouched or suffer the fact of being significantly undervalued.
What is the solution for publishers seeking to unload these impressions for more than a few pennies; and for advertisers to effectively scale their targeted media buys—without sacrificing creativity? Are ad networks doing an adequate job of helping advertisers sift through sea of ad impressions, or are they simply creating a commoditized marketplace? These were a few of the questions that faced Moderator of Digiday’s Keynote Debate, Masha Geller and her esteemed panel
•    Brian Quinn, VP/General Manager, Digital Ad Sales, The Wall Street Journal
•    Darren Herman, Group Director, Head of Digital Media, The Media Kitchen
•    Joe Apprendi, CEO, Collective Media

Are we dealing with an hour glass marketplace where there is a top tier of inventory and a secondary tier?

Brian Quinn—Reluctant to get on board with ad networks
60% of WSJ sold across their own network
“We don’t want to be dinosaurs and not realize what is happening in the marketplace”
…but brands still want to be in well light environments
Masha asked, “do you consider yourself and ad network?” He did not say yes, but did not say yes
Lack of integration is a problem (multiple agencies working on creative versus media)

Darren Herman—When was the last time you saw a full page print walk into a store and make a purchase?
We don’t, audiences buy things.
We believe network inventory can be premium; although we don’t use the term premium non-premium—we use reserve, non-reserve
Different audiences allows for more creativity in the art of persuasion
What does higher impact mean for sales?
Vertical Networks are important

Joe Apprendi—

Applauds the OPA for its newest ad standards. Last time they issued standards was 2002
Hopefully the OPA will influence the IAB
A lot of people lump behavioral targeting into one bucket, but there are multiple types of behavioral—Top Funnel/Low Funnel
We have the who and the where—the big question is what (referring to creative)