The 2018 IAB Annual Leadership Meeting in many ways felt like a direct follow-up to last year’s summit, in which the main focus of the presentations was that publishers, brands and partners all need to focus on trust and transparency as vital tools for quality storytelling.
Overall, the presentation from Keith Weed was softer in tone than the comments made a year earlier from Mark Pritchard (P&G), who specifically demanded a commitment to Trust and Transparency along every stop in the media supply chain. Mr. Pritchard called on partners to make a commitment to full transparency by the end of 2017, to include terms requiring funds to be used for media payment only, all rebates to be disclosed and returned, and all transactions subject to audit. Mr. Weed chose to focus on Trust as a key thematic as well, threading it through all businesses in the media supply chain, which ultimately connect marketers, and their brands, to consumers. His comments included the following message,
“A brand without trust is just a product.”
He went on to ask that brand marketers, along with their agency and technology partners, work together, to establish trust at all points in the media supply chain. Though the adoption of these new rules has gained momentum over the last 12 months, it appears as though the industry still has a way to go.
Naturally, and perhaps cynically, these themes were also echoed by all of the large video suppliers at the conference (Google, Oath, Teads, AppNexus, Beachfront, Hulu). Many of their conversations began with discussion specifically about trust and transparency, and these themes remained in the spotlight throughout the entire event.
In conclusion, the biggest takeaway from the event was that many of SundaySky’s supply partners’ big initiatives for 2018 align closely with our objectives. These include:
- Trust and Transparency
- Video
- Privacy (including GDPR) Compliance
- Single Identity Solutions
If you want to learn more about SmartVideo advertising, head on over to our personalized video advertising solutions page.
