Valor Digital Announces Industry-Leading Advisory Board Members & Team on Global Scale
Valor Digital announces advisory board additions of Vinny Rinaldi, Nikao Yang, Sam Goldberg, David Wiltshire, Jay Wolff & Sam Kim to the Valor advisory board. Along with additions of Denise Penagos & Nikki Maoz to the Valor team.
Valor Digital, a new breed of digital marketing partner, today announced the addition of six industry-leading members to its advisory board, who will further assist in innovating and expanding the company’s digital capabilities. The inaugural additions to the advisory board feature experienced leaders who have a track record of innovation.
“My mission has always been to assemble the brightest and most forward-thinking minds across our industry to guide Valor in our mission of innovating what it means to be a digital advertising partner,” said Valor founder David Nyurenberg. “These initial strategic additions to our advisory board and internal staff means that we have now assembled a team of industry leaders who can do just that.”
Valor Digital is proud to officially welcome the following industry leaders to its advisory board and team:
Vinny Rinaldi, Principal Programmatic Partner Manager, Amazon & Valor Advisor
As an Ad Age 40 under 40 selection, Vinny’s groundbreaking approach to marketing and addressable media is widely known throughout the industry. Vinny’s most notable successes came at The Hershey Company as Head of Addressable Media and Technology. He will serve as a valuable resource for Valor in guiding the company towards building a more sustainable and ethical digital future.
“I’m excited to be a part of the Valor advisory board, as David’s vision was presented to me, I could not help but feel inspired to be part of the transformation our entire media ecosystem is about to embark on,” said Vinny Rinaldi. “Valor is positioning itself at the core of the industry, data-informed and outcomes-based, by being a true partner in growing the bottom line for its clients.”
Sam Kim, CEO and Co-Founder of Lucidity & Valor Advisor
Sam Kim is responsible for a number of successful business ventures in both the United States and Vietnam. Among them: Edgepoint group, a trading firm, The Mobile Majority (now Gimbal), a mobile ad company, and ESDF Management, a video game production and finance firm. Currently, he is the CEO at advertising analytics company Lucidity, which was named Blockchain Startup of the Year in 2018.
Nikao Yang, COO of Lucidity & Valor Advisor
Nikao Yang most notably co-founded mobile video advertising platform AdColony. He also brings valuable experience from ad strategy roles at Toyota, Del Monte Foods, and the Walt Disney Company. Currently, he holds the Chief Operating Officer position at Lucidity, working closely alongside Sam Kim and Sam Goldberg to drive all aspects of the company’s operations.
Sam Goldberg, President and Co-Founder of Lucidity & Valor Advisor
Sam Goldberg brings extensive entrepreneurial experience to the team. His current role is as President of Lucidity. He also serves on multiple non-profit boards and the University of Southern California Blockchain Industry Advisory Group.
Jay Wolff, Growth Leader and Advisor
Jay Wolff is joining the Valor Digital advisory board as the Growth Advisor. Throughout his successful career, he has worked closely with advertising, marketing, and agency partners to drive revenue growth, and scale organizations to meet goals. He currently holds an advisory board position for Origin Media.
“We are at a pivotal time where actions speak louder than words, I am proud to be aligned with Valor Digital’s mission of delivering absolute transparency and transformation in a fragmented advertising world,” said Jay Wolff, Digital Growth Leader and Advisor. “Companies must move fast or die in the next 10 years; through trust and expertise Valor Digital will be at the forefront of positive change.”
David Wiltshire, Valor Head of Digital Strategy and Advisor
David’s career spans a multitude of leadership roles at industry-leading ad tech companies such as Affectv. Few possess the deep technical display knowledge he has, while also understanding the intricacies of the programmatic ecosystem.
Valor Team
Denise Penagos, Valor Head of Communications
Denise is passionate about mentoring the next generation of marketers and has spoken at universities and on panels to empower and inspire young women as they embark on their advertising and communications careers. She's worked out of major New York communications agencies including Ogilvy and M Booth, and most notably led agency teams for LG Electronics.
Nikki Maoz, Legal Counsel
Nikki spent the first half of her 15+ year career as internal counsel for pioneering adtech companies both large and small, leading programmatic, ad serving, search and publishing transactions before forming her own practice.
She now represents sophisticated clients navigating a myriad of commercial matters, including data and SaaS licensing, digital media, privacy and data governance.
5 Questions To Ask Your MAD Tech Vendors About Their Post Cookie Plans
5 Questions To Ask Your MAD Tech Vendors About Their Post Cookie Plans
As we near 2021 and the year the Privacy First Era truly starts marketers need to understand how prepared their vendors are for that future. Here are 5 questions Advertisers and Agencies alike should be asking their vendors.
1) How well are you doing today on Safari?
Third party cookies (3pc's) have been barely effective on Safari since 2018. Many Mad tech companies, particularly in display advertising have effectively turned off Safari targeting and measurement because its not effective. If you cannot operate on Safari then its doubtful you will be able to operate on Chrome once the curtain falls on the 3pc world. Those that are behind on this today need to demonstrate how they will catch up
2) Are you going for an integration policy or a build policy or both? Show me the details - roadmap.
Some companies have spent the last 18 months working hard on their on their future facing tracking and targeting products. Others have been working hard integrating with other leading vendors. Some have done both and others have done neither. How well prepared these companies are for the coming changes can really be highlighted with how well they answer this question. It should be transparent to you the buyer to what degree they are reliant on other third parties and how much they are building themselves. No solution is guaranteed to work as the space moves so quickly so a range of options and a nimble development team here is crucial. If they talk about the integrations with other companies then the spotlight for how well prepared they are depends on the fortunes of those vendors, not relying on one option is definitely preferable.
3) How well integrated are they with Google, Facebook and Amazon?
Its sad but true that the big three come with a fairly big guarantee of safety in 2021. Google is unlikely to make changes that stop its core products from working. All three vendors are protected by their logged in environments. For advertisers and agencies alike having tech stacks that integrate well with the core components of the big three insulates them from damage in 2021. Furthermore if you vendor is well integrated into these players then they are more likely to be able to make good use of cookie replacement technologies from these players (such as FLOC or the various big three owned clean rooms).
4) How will you help us operate with our strategic publishers outside the big 3?
For many advertisers there are highly strategic publishers outside the big 3. For it is outside the big 3 that most of the content is produced and syndicated. The highly growing world of Connected TV and broadcast media moving online, the national press and more all need buying options outside of Google, Amazon and Facebook. It is vital then to ask your MAD tech companies how they will help you buy and measure media in this space. It would help too to ask the publishers (or strategic consultants ;-) ) how they think you can best utilise their new and growing opportunities.
5) How will you deal with Cross Media Signals data?
To truly be ready for the future advertisers need to have control of the data that will work in almost any media platform. Understanding how location (not hyperlocal), context, Temporal (time of day, day of week) impact your advertising performance as well as meta data like weather, events, holidays and the economy and being able to forecast that can be utilised in every major online buying platform as well as in fast emerging media like connected TV and digital out of home. The most progressive advertisers and tech companies allow AI led data usage that feeds this world and seamlessly connects to buying platforms even when IDs are not available. Being very strong here truly protects advertisers in a post cookie world such that if all ID targeting stops they can still run effective data driven targeting and attribution.
Bringing it all together.
These are the 5 questions I ask of vendors and use to review the health of a advertisers setup as well as the potential impact of changes next year.
These questions also highlight the need for a stack of different components and technologies. Targeting and measurement may be handled by different components. How to operate with Google, Amazon, Facebook and the Connected TV world could be 4, 5 or more different pieces of technology. Provided that it is seamlessly integrated so that marketers can deliver great advertising experiences then this is a good thing, though it needs planning and expertise. This is a huge year for the systems integrator.
The Day The Cookie Died!
by Robert Webster
Yesterday was a big day in Ad Tech as it signaled the beginning of the end of the third party cookie (3PC). Google signaled that such cookies will be phased out by 2022. This has been coming for some time with 3pc's already massively restricted on about 30% of Browser impressions (Safari/Firefox among others).
For me this is a good thing and the advertising industry can now focus on moving on from the 3PC and into a better future with more respect for consumer privacy. With pending legislation and judgments this was only a matter of time and indeed we may see the decline of the 3PC accelerate faster than the 2 year timeline. If Google had not done this now it could have been forced upon them sooner rather than later.
So whats the impact. Well Ad Tech companies are going to have to adapt quickly. However for advertisers and marketers I think that we should view the future with optimism not fear. Provided you are flexible in approach and prepared advertisers and publishers can prosper in this new environment. That optimism comes with a caveat, those that keep their head in the sand and move slowly are going to struggle.
The biggest area of impact is on data buying and tracking. Advertisers and publishers need to use this period to get their house in order and control their data. Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) are going to be so important here as they will allow Brands to control their user data and gather consent. This control of data with relevant consent is going to be the bedrock of the future. Data will with permission still be available to used in walled gardens and logged in environments and results will be measurable. Expect to see publishers invest in single sign on and new walled gardens. Infosum are a company to watch in this space. Buying keywords on Google or consented users on Facebook will be relatively unaffected. Display will need to change quickly but I believe that will be to the benefit of better media environments and control, the trick here is to build publisher relationships and stay nimble.
For tracking session based analytics will likely still work for the foreseeable future. Post view tracking and attribution has a more unclear path but I believe some combination of first party consented data, panels, geolocation level expose and control groups and predictive statistics will actually improve the standard of measurement across the industry. Most simple current cookie based measurement systems are poorly used and flawed with only a minority of brands doing enough in attribution and modelling. I hope this announcement forces change here.
As for Ad tech there will be huge disruption. Much like when RTB killed off the old school ad networks in 2008-2012 there will be some casualties here. Yet good firms will adapt and prosper and the new opportunities can drive the industry forward. We can look forward to an era in the 20's of innovation and re inventing best practice. I can't wait. We should all celebrate the impact the 3PC has had, but like the cassette tape or the Compact Disk its time to move on.
Rob Webster: Five trends since lockdown marketers need to know about
It all begins with an idea.
by Valor Head of Data & Tech, Robert Webster
September 2020 may go down in history as one of the most exciting and important in the roughly 25 year history of online marketing. My contact network are all reporting a big uptake in activity from advertisers who are looking to improve their readiness for a post-Covid world.
The evolution of working conditions from home may dominate a lot of discussions and rightly so. Yet a huge part will also be about changing marketing planning, technology and operational structures to fit the need of the time. On a personal level I am looking forward to spending time with clients, partner company and friends in the industry to plan a way through a period of huge change and uncertainty.
I am sure the same many marketers will be in the same boat and for them it is important to understand the following trends that make the challenges today quite different to 6 months ago.
Content is King
Since lockdown it goes without saying that more and more purchase journeys start and end online. Adobe reported a 55% increase in online sales from the same point in 2019 to now. The consequential fight for attention online has been fierce with prices for many keywords in search and rates in social networks climbing as can be seen by the increased market share Google, Facebook and Amazon are reporting and the performance of their share price.
Simultaneously these same giants have been putting ever more emphasis on quality content (in the form of search page ranking and access to traffic). Consequently it is more important than ever for brands to have a successful content strategy to be able to compete for valuable online attention controlled by these giants.
Consent is Queen
Publishers were definitely faster than advertisers in Europe to install consent management platforms. This is because failure to do so could lead to them being unable to monetise their advertising. Advertisers have put more effort into gaining consent this year and these efforts are about to become turbocharged.
On the other side of the pond, in response to the CCPA policy in California, Facebook will only allow advertisers to use data from their sites if they can show consent. There are 30 states in the US looking to follow the CCPA and where Facebook leads more platforms will surely follow. This is happening at the same time as regulators in Europe are looking to more stringently impose GDPR regulations and the latest version of the consent framework is launched aiding consent controls.
Where previously consent platforms could be a liability for ecommerce sites, threatening usability and onsite conversion rate suddenly they can become a massive asset allowing advertisers to use more data than their competitors if they can get the consent process and value exchange right. Suddenly then gaining consent is a key part of the marketers armoury.
Publishers continue to lose Traditional IDs
On September 15th the latest Apple iOS update will bring the much talked about changes to IDFA essentially forcing both Advertiser and Publisher apps to have user consent for targeting and measurement. Quite how momentous this is was revealed last week when Facebook announced this would hit Facebook Audience Network (FAN) revenue 50% on iOS and may even cause Facebook to stop their data being used on other publishers’ apps.
This comes after publishers are already not able to use traditional IDs (cookies) effectively on Safari and Firefox browsers and many publishers are struggling to find a replacement for these IDs as has been widely reported this week. Publishers need to urgently start looking at some of the new options (see Connected TV) if they are to compete with the giants.
This change has less impact on Google, Facebook and Amazon as they use login-based first party data for targeting and attribution. Indeed such changes will likely only accelerate the dominance of the three walled gardens as well as snapchat, twitter and TikTok over traditional publishers.
Some publishers are fighting back by building out first party ecosystem of their own as we shall see in the next section.
Connected TV has become the most progressive channel
Anyone on furlough for the last months may have missed the transformation in how TVOD ad campaigns are run. Using first party data platforms (see my column last month) TVOD is the most ready part of the ecosystem for a cookie less future.
What is more Broadcast VOD also shows publishers that solutions are possible that do not touch the silicon valley giants. By operating off logged in users and on networks that whilst connected to RTB are effectively walled gardens Channel 4 and ITV particularly are able to lead the way, forming their own cookieless ecosystems allowing Audience Targeting and Measurement.
Where these companies start you can be sure the other TVOD publishers will follow. This is also a template for how large publishers can operate on the Web and In App too. I encourage marketers to reach out to the players in this space and get ready because this could be the model all data driven marketing operates from in years to come. Clearly the financial markets agree as the technology companies in this space are able to make successful raises in this trying time and are right now the darlings of the industry.
A revolution in Web Analytics
Traditional Google (and Adobe) setups no longer own Web Analytics. This may come as a surprise to many marketers who see them everywhere but a quiet revolution is under way. Part of the challenge has been that such systems are being blocked by browsers and ad blockers meaning they no longer report on all a clients data. Another is the need for server to server and first party tracking in order for clients to get ready for a first party data driven world.
I realise there are a lot of buzzwords here and there is a lot of nuance in this space. However the net result has been advertisers upgrading their setups using Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) and new technologies such as SnowFlake (a cloud data platform) and SnowPlow (a open source analytics system). Despite sharing the first half of the name these growing technologies are not related though they do both enable Advertisers much more control of their log level user and customer data.
This upgrade in technology and methodology has seen progressive advertisers take a quantum leap in how they understand their users and their data. It also opens the door for more advanced machine learning and AI systems to be used controlled by the advertiser directly for tasks such as personalisation, media optimisation and attribution.
Marketers will quickly need to look at how to take advantage of this and ensure their brands are not left behind – which will likely involve closer collaboration with IT and legal (a subject for another post).
What does it all mean
These trends whilst all different have a few common themes. Firstly that tough times have only made Google, Facebook, Amazon and Apple more powerful. Secondly, TVOD is highlighting that publishers and the independent ad tech sector need to look beyond these giants to survive and thrive.
Far from fighting against walled gardens, publishers and ad tech need to ape them and use the power of their own content and audience to create their own powerful ecosystems. That will mean many of them collaborating to attract users, scale and ad liquidity.
Marketers meanwhile need to adjust rapidly to the fourth era of online marketing. A privacy first world or connected ecosystems in which content and consent are Kind and Queen and data the ecosystems/kingdoms gold.
Perhaps gone a bit over board with the analogy there but its an exciting time to be working in marketing. Hopefully see you all in Soho soon.
5 Steps Advertisers can take right now to prepare for a Cookieless future.
It all begins with an idea.
by Robert Webster
The Cookie really started to crumble in 2018 with Apples ITP 2.0 and similar moves from Firefox making the cookie much less effective as it had been. In January Google fired the starting gun for the end of third-party cookies completely. I and others have written articles speculating on how the digital advertising world will change without the third-party cookie however much of this is still opinion rather than fact. One thing we do know is that big change is coming. With that being said what should all brands do right now to prepare for the coming change.
1) Consider the Customer at all times. We are entering a privacy first world and customers today and increasingly expect their data to be used with respect. From asking for consent to the campaigns that are run more consideration needs to be put about how that interaction makes the customer feel. This can sound a little nebulous but actually is a vital step, for too long we have not considered what the customer feels about marketing activity. Poor measurement has masked the fact that actually much digital marketing has actually alienated customers.
2) Organise your own first party data. From website data, app, offline, CRM, Channel data and consent brands need to control their own first party data. This is both becoming a legal requirement from a privacy and consent point of view but also is needed to be effectively able to run data driven marketing. Furthermore, Marketing will be much more effective for brands who have control of all their first party data sources as it will allow seamless communication and personalisation. The customer will thank you as their data is respected, consent complied with and communication improved.
3) Understand your core publishers and form relationships with them. The state of the web with the cookie has been very heavily about audience buying, be that retargeting, customer or prospecting audiences. As this world ends advertisers need to go back to basics and understand on which big publishers their customers and prospects live. This can be done by pulling URL reports (particularly on retargeting campaigns), looking at sales and assist, Web vs app and indexing performance against reach. This is also a chance to evaluate the media quality of the media environment manually or automatically. This will provide a list of publishers who have great audiences for the advertiser whom they should consider forming relationships with. These brands (including the giants at GAFA) will not only be important publishers moving forward but also be part of your 2nd party data network. Talk to your customers where they live in quality enviroments.
4) Look for more relevant data partners. As well as your publishers there will be many other data companies that have data relevant to your organisation. Those that have their own first party data will be particularly relevant. Equally relevant is there plans to activate in a cookieless world. By engaging with them it will be possible to understand what data is of interest and what options there are on activation both today and in the future. Provided this is done transparency with consent customers will be grateful for the improved targeting and personalisation.
5) Build out your skills. The privacy by design world requires brands to work very much like data companies. This can require specialist skills that advertisers have not always had before. As the world changes its important that brands up-skill. This can take the form of training for current staff, looking to hire in specialist skills and working with partners to identify and fill in any gaps.
For those looking for help or advice with any of this please get in touch.