Complete Story
03/01/2018
The moment of truth has come for digital advertising’s transparency problem
The lack of transparency in the world of online media—which has led some to describe today’s content landscape as the “Wild Wild West”—has long been an elephant in the room. But for brand marketers, 2018 is the year that it becomes the focal point of conversation.
At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, I had the privilege of leading a panel featuring three power players on the brand side of content marketing: Bank of America svp of enterprise Lou Paskalis, Belkin CMO Kieran Hannon and Heineken head of media Ron Amram. For three professionals from vastly different verticals and backgrounds, they had a strikingly congruous focus.
To understand why transparency is imperative, we must first understand who “makes” the internet that we as consumers know. Much of the content that we consume—both passively and actively—online is a result of paid collaborations between the trifecta of brands (who hold the purse strings), agencies (who own much of the strategy and creative) and publishers (who sell exposure to their audiences).
