This post is for the purpose of calling for a debate on the points made in the WFA’s Guide to Programmatic Media: What Every Advertiser Needs to Know About Media Markets, published on the 5th of September 2014 and widely commented in the press.
My motivation to become involved in this paper was two fold:
- To inform the advertisers about the media markets as honestly as possible
- To support the growth of the programmatic media investment opportunity for all
I believe that only by the power of debate, as public and thorough as possible, we can cement those ideas that can not be sensibly denied, in to the DNA of our eco-system and to way we operate as an industry.
At the same time, we should not debate based on if the information is pleasing to us, but on the base of its relevance, the way it is articulated and ultimately its material accuracy.
Based on the feedback I’ve already received from a few dozen industry friends, the eco-system is welcoming our message with open arms. These friends include respected CEOs, founders and investors, all of whom sing the praise of our work together with trade media. It seems that the ideas we’ve presented are more or less the thoughts many of us had already been thinking for a long time.
Therefore I claim no novelty whatsoever but instead have helped to write this guide in order for myself, while working with advertiser and the various vendors, not to forget what I believe is for the best of the industry.
Also at this point I want to apologise for any mistakes, any omissions or any unnecessary additions that you may find in the paper. Time and great care has gone in to ensuring that no such things could be found, and I would be the first one to want to know if any such were there.
The Thanks Go To…
Before anything else, I want to thank Matt, Rob and Stephan from WFA who made it possible for me to work with the WFA Programmatic Task-force and co-author this paper. Huge thanks go to the members, whose input was what made the paper what it is.
On a more personal note, I want to thank Matt Harty who tirelessly answered all my questions over the years, sometimes multiple times for the same question. For providing guidance, advisory and ideas when I asked for it and sometimes when I didn’t but he know that I needed it.
In addition to Matt, I want to thank Barry Adams of Experian, Nic Hodges of Blonde3, Tom Simpson of mediaQuark and Patrick Crivelli, all of whom provided invaluable insights that helped clarifying my thinking.
Finally, I want to thank all the media for picking up the paper and the topics key topics articulated in the paper, especially for the good friends at FT for covering this in a half-page print.
The Call for Debate
I sincerely and humbly invite everyone who disagrees with the points made in the paper, to engage in an open debate about those particular points. I promise that all questions, comments and criticism will be thoroughly commented on by myself personally. Where needed, I will do my best to consult the WFA programmatic task-force to include their views as well.
I have started a new post which answers to the three pieces of criticism that I’ve come across so far. I will keep updating the post as new comments arise. You can find it here: http://bit.ly/1Br5kye