At the roundtable event we had Ryan Kangisser, Digital Partner at MediaSense join us, looking into current attitudes and trends around programmatic in-housing. Here is his debrief from the session:
The event involved several leading global brands at different stages of their in-housing journey.
There were those who are now taking greater control of their supply chain, those working much more directly and independently with specialist agencies, and those who had transitioned towards a fully owned and operated in-house model.
The debate revolved around the challenges of talent (both recruitment and retention), operating model (what to buy vs rent) and ways of working (who reports into who).
The key takeouts from the event were:
1. The lack of control and transparency in current agency models has driven a consideration of the in-house model
2. In-house in programmatic doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone, it can be best defined by a hybrid of internal vs external ownership of technology and process
3. There is no one “right model” in programmatic, as recently highlighted by the WFA, stating there might be “as many different models as there are company-specific requirements”
4. Model selection should be driven by a brands’ business goals and should determine what needs to be owned in-house vs. agency requirement
5. Most brands who are are taking control of programmatic already have a track record of in-housing, having previously transitioned channels such as SEO and paid search in-house
From what they read in the trade press, many marketers could be forgiven for thinking everyone is in-housing their programmatic capabilities. However, based on the research conducted by Infectious Media and our own experience, there are only a small number of brands who have executed a fully programmatic in-house model, and have done so with a thorough assessment of their capabilities with expert advice.
Most advertisers we work with are increasingly looking to take control of the supply-chain so they can more confidently and transparently navigate the ecosystem, and ensure their interests (and importantly data) are protected.