So 2 ECDs walked into a bar full of people talking bout programmatic…

So yes. I’ve been meaning to go to Digital Wednesdays since forever. But today’s lineup was too crazy to not attend. I mean you’ve got PK, Rene, Henry, Abhi, Ham, Sulin and Andrew in the ring, strapped onto lie detectors, I mean… WTF… I’ve not been this excited since watching Royal Rumble when WWE was still named after people who save pandas.

pictured above: the image in my mind when i saw the invite poster

DISCLAIMER – we are creative guys. We're noobs. We might’ve missed out on a million other important points. So if you disagree, would like to chime in and/or correct our POV just feel free to troll us in the comment box.

SCENE 1 Pre-event. Late evening. Advertising-types mingling and small-talking

SULIN, "WOW! I think this is the first time I’ve seen 2 ECDs at a Digital Wednesday! Do you guys even know what programmatic is?"

Key takeout #1

SEE! SEE! The struggle is REAL.

This shouldn’t be something surprising. This should be the norm. I see the Malaysian Advertiser’s Association (clients) here. I see the Malaysian Digital Association (media, search, platforms) here. I don’t see more than a handful of creatives, and they kinda don't count cause they're from our own team. And that’s cause we were there to cheer Abhi on anyway.

My point is… creatives (individuals, agencies, associations) are not doing enough to unstereotype ourselves.

Counterpoint - data-driven media types are spending too much time emphasising their tools of the trade themselves without acknowledging that creativity still counts.

Scene 2 - Spotify dude gives a pre-amble about the benefits of spotify as a platform. He talks about the way music is changing. He cracks a thinly veiled angsty half-joke about how his slides and his preso is unexciting but the least we can do is pay attention. Ok i kind of paid attention.

Key takeout #2

Music is changing. People are looking for playlists based on mood. Curation is key. Context is important – they even have a playlist tailor made to the rhythm of your running footsteps. And beer isn’t free until 30 mins later.

Scene 3 - Matchup one. On the moderator panel – Sulin and Andrew. You can tell they’re enjoying themselves as we see the participants getting strapped with lie detectors. So in the ring we have…

Prashant Kumar, Rene Menezes, Harmandar Singh (Halal Ham), Abhi IPG’s very own Executive Director of Digital. All the names here are search engine optimised so just stalk them on linkedin or google if you don't know them already.

Key questions asked

@SandeepJoseph – “Prashant: how do you feel about the response from Bala and Girish to your statements?”

Wow. Talk about opening punches. Context. So this happened http://www.marketing-interactive.com/entropia-promises-malaysia-based-clients-100-viewability/

And then this happened http://www.marketingmagazine.com.my/breaking-news/letter-to-editor-groupm-questions-entropia-s-100-viewability

And then this happened http://www.marketingmagazine.com.my/breaking-news/viewability-viewpoint-what-does-bala-have-to-say

Key Takeout #3

Ok. So I don’t have much apart from this imagery apart from Prashant talking about how http://www.mumbrella.asia/2016/10/maxus-global-ceo-admits-media-agency-standards-not-good-enough/#more-76126

I think it’s great we are having this conversation. Firstly, I know nuts about viewability. Which is a good start. I mean, if I drive past a billboard every day to work, that’s 100% viewability too right?

So now I have more questions. I’m interested in who viewed, how long, how often, where the viewability happened. I want to know why it wasn’t viewed. I want to know how we can scale and learn and do better for this campaign and the next.

Which led me to tweet – “#truthwed does programmatic advertising mean you'll need programmewriters instead of copywriters? Is there a need for a change in discipline”

So general consensus was yes, there’s a place for storytellers and creative in programmatic communications.

Reality, there are 3 main scenarios:

1. Scaling comms to the right sizes. Scripting the right language, pricepoint, location to specific comms before it goes out.

2. Creatives for programmatic are at the tail end of the campaign equivalent of the human centipede.

3. There’s a caste system mindset when it comes to creativity and programmatically deployed comms.

Key Takeout #4

So like, what if we rephrased the word 'programmatic'. What if we went all ‘old-school/new-school’ and called it ‘data-driven direct marketing’.

What if we told creatives that creativity = you are a ninja. programmatic = robot. Therefore programmatic creativity = you in a jaeger fighting kaijus ala Pacific Rim?

Would that attract more creative talent to dabble and collaborate with our media bros? Maybe we should spend more time figuring out how to get the best ideas and strategies out of programmatic? I dunno.

@mambojays tweeted - #truthwed What's your current programmatic dream team vs the next 1-3 years time? Will it create more or less jobs opportunities ?

Key Takeout #5

I felt it was a great question. The answers were a flurry of positively optimistic outlook on job prospects in the industry. Personally, I just can’t wait to see how programmatic TVs would play out, but that's besides the point. As for job opportunities. I think there are more jobs and not enough talent. Thanks google/grab/sexystartupideals/china.

Scene 4

TIMEOUT. OK. Now for the clients to take the stage.

In the ring! - Henry Tan of Astro. Sulin Lau of Maxis. Andrew Gnananantham of Lazada.

Again. Googlestalk them if you don't know who they are already.

QUESTION OF THE DAY (And obviously it had to be from someone who just downloaded twitter just for this session and called himself @anonguyhere )

Do you know if your agencies are selling the data from your campaigns to other clients? #TruthWed

Sulin: No. (i don't believe that my agencies are selling my data)

There was an air of awkwardness all round as i scanned the room for reactions. Everyone felt a little uncomfortable. Probably because adfraud is popular enough a statement to warrant an entire conference. Although this isn't exactly adfraud per-se, but a pretty sharp question for sure.

And by the way Mr. @anonguyhere i find you asking the above question while hiding behind a new twitter account very ironic.

Key takeout #6

Trust. With a pinch of salt. And to Maxis’ credit, they hold and manage a lot of their own data. Something which I feel logically, is all too precious to leave to any partner. I mean let’s be honest here. Sure, you have savings, investments, mutual funds, insurances etc etc. You have your financial partners. They manage your investments ‘programmatically’ through their investment managers, and software and expertise and blabla.

But you are the one who’s ultimately responsible for the investments and therefore should be the most aware of your financial data. Same goes for your marketing.

QUOTES OF THE DAY

“Machines follow rules. Who writes the rules are more important” – Sulin Lau

Key takeout #7

Back to the financial planner metaphor. You can trust your financial planner to do the right thing. But if you don’t set your objectives, learn about the people who you are investing with and be actively involved in writing the rules, then you’re back to gambling with your marketing money.

Actually marketing is always a gamble, but if you like gambling you should love data and statistics and probability no?  

“How can you distribute persuasion?” – Henry Tan

Key takeout #8

Henry’s exasperation at the industry’s debate about the use of programmatic was honestly very refreshing and reassuring. Apart from results on a spreadsheet, nothing can replace a smile that you can put on someone’s face. So how can we programmatically deploy a smile?

SUMMARY

So 2 ECDs walked into a bar full of people talking programmatic. We walked out with more questions than answers. That’s a good start I guess.

Anyone else who was there and/or interested in chiming in please feel free below!