The YellowHammer Blog

Be Nimble, Grasshopper

Mon, 14 Nov 2016 11:16:14 -0500

Olivia Rosen, Business Development Manager

My first job out of college was as an inside sales rep where the sales cycle was quick and the turnover was high. When I made the leap into ad tech, I knew I would have to adopt a more sophisticated consultative approach. I read up on all things programmatic and never hesitated to ask questions, delve deeper, and sift through the ubiquitous and baffling buzzwords (so. many. buzzwords).

I soon learned of the plasticity of the industry, and how crossover between roles is the norm, not the exception. In a number of business development positions, I’ve taken on countless responsibilities outside what was originally listed in my job description: JSVPAID optimization, tag troubleshooting, client relations…the list goes on and on.

This was one of the most valuable assets I could add to my company–and to my clients. It’s critical to be more than just an account manager, an ad optimizer, or a sales representative. The beauty of our industry is that it’s always changing, and if you’re not afraid to extend yourself outside of your comfort zone, you’ll be well-prepared to tackle the wild west of ad tech.

Regardless of your position, incorporate the following into your every day and you’ll differentiate yourself enough to help you move up the ladder.

1. Ad Optimizing

There’s real value in looking at your accounts and knowing how to prioritize them within a demand stack. Effective optimization calls for an understanding of what inventory your tags should be associated with and investigating how your clients source their inventory (and to consider prioritizing tags based on the most premium/direct campaigns).

Additionally, figure out if there’s a need to optimize against certain KPIs. Think outside the box: if a particular buyer is running a political campaign, target the geos that make the most sense. If the campaign is based on scale, consider running on a whitelist or blacklist. This type of critical thinking coupled with the ability to analyze data more granularly is–at least for me–not as intuitive as it may be for others, but is necessary for making sure accounts are performing as well as possible. Added bonus: you also gain credibility with your clients if you can appropriately speak to their numbers.

2. Client Reporting

Put yourself in a brand’s shoes. They know that programmatic advertising can increase scale and better target their audience, but what exactly is going on behind the scenes? Where are the ads being served? What percentage of them are viewable? Is there an actual ROAS here? In utilizing third-party verification tools like MOAT, White Ops, or in-house reporting, brands and advertisers can better gauge what works, what doesn’t, and where the clients’ money is best spent. Transparency is key and if you have the tools to provide real-time reporting, it’s silly not to.

3. Ask The Right Questions

Push yourself to find out everything you can about your brand, your agency, or your client. Know when to figure things out yourself and problem solve, but don’t be afraid to ask about what potential verticals they’re looking to target, where they’ve seen the most success in the past, and what they need in order to move forward.

We all share the same goal of responsibly executing campaigns at scale in brand-safe environments. As such, we must do as much as we can to prescribe an effective solution. In pushing one another to work within each moving stage of the video lifecycle, we then–in turn–become an intrinsic part of the ad tech space.

Don't Worry Vendor, It's Not You; It's Me

Fri, 04 Nov 2016 14:13:02 -0400

Ed Shannon, Chief Revenue Officer

Today, one of the hardest things to do in adtech is break into a brand’s trusted ecosystem of partners. Some brands have been with their agencies in some form or another for over 80 years. Think about that…do you have an offering that can even compete with 80 years of trust? In digital, there is a continued push for responsibilities to go in-house. Suggesting that brands should “move away” from the agency or “take control” are all perspectives I agree with, to a point. I also live in the real world and accept that daily reality. For every Netflix, there are 10 brands locked into their agencies and not taking that leap of faith. At least not today. So, the question is, what do you do? Is every effort hopeless?

No, it’s not hopeless, so don’t go all Don Draper Season 7 on us and run off to a commune.

You need to remember that agencies are a bit defensive these days; they know if they allow a vendor to work direct, it sometimes exposes their shortcomings. All agencies have their trusted providers, and working with those partners never got anyone fired! Even though everyone knows the games that are played in our ecosystem and in some cases, the agency-to-vendor relationship can be the biggest star of those games. It doesn’t matter that the people in that inner circle turn a blind eye because these relationships are non-threatening and show all of them in a good light.

To break through to a brand, you have to identify yourself as a complement and contributor to your client’s self-preservation and career advancement. CMOs, VPs of Digital, and AMDs at agencies aren’t going to risk their jobs for your PowerPoint, and I wouldn’t either. Work within your relationship first and if the product says what you say it does, your efficiencies will naturally emerge. Like any friendship, you have to build a little trust before you can have deeper conversations.

Finally, remember this quote from when Mad Men were cool? “If you don’t like what’s being said, change the conversation.” (Sorry, too much Don? I do miss that show.)

Keep your eye out for the “Change Agent.” They can exist on media teams, procurement teams, or technical teams–anywhere in the organization really–and it’s your job to identify this person. Change Agents are like the perfect friend in that they can change your fortune and are hard to find, but they exist.

If you live in this reality, remember these two keys:

Agencies are not going away. They are also not the enemy.
Relationship building is a critical part of your job, and there is always one person who wants to institute change.

Following these two ideas will help you reach success in converting new business into recurring business into long-term relationships.

To Compete With Amazon, Don’t Ruin A Targeted Campaign With Generic Creative

Mon, 31 Oct 2016 15:46:07 -0400

Joe Hirsch, CEO

There are two times each year when brands’ advertising strategies are scrutinized by the general public: the Super Bowl and the kickoff of the Christmas shopping season – formerly known as Black Friday and, more recently, Cyber Monday.

While Super Bowl commercials are all about the brand, Cyber Monday campaigns are all about the deal. Q4 2015 saw more than an 18% increase (PDF) from Q3 in spending on digital ads, a channel many brands turn to when performance is the name of the game.

But is digital working for brands during the holidays? Amazon accounted for more than one-third of all online sales during Cyber Monday last year. Brands may salivate over Amazon’s sales wizardry, but it’s the company’s unique approach to advertising that helps get their sales numbers sky-high.

During the holiday season in particular, advertisers often try to wedge a traditional advertising campaign into a targeted, performance-based slot, but it doesn’t always connect with consumers. To compete with Amazon, advertisers must focus on targeting real people based on real behaviors, prioritize performance goals over other metrics and embrace more dynamic creative strategies.

Last week, the IAB unveiled an initiative to create standards for dynamic creative for programmatic advertising. The fact that we are only getting to this element of digital advertising now shows how important and intertwined targeted advertising and dynamic creative should be, but they often aren’t due to rigid logistical issues.

Marketers’ creative agencies are usually completely decoupled from their media buying agencies. The creative brief is poured into some expensive creative assets with few variants. Compare this approach with Amazon, where nearly every targeted message suggests specific products and prices based directly on very recent behavior. Even this somewhat standard version of creative optimization works really well.

What’s more, with an inflexible lump of creative assets, advertisers stop the creative agency from participating in a virtuous cycle of testing, learning and optimizing. Creative optimization is not just about relying on an algorithm to cycle through a catalog of images and taglines. Well-designed creative still works better than bad creative, especially when it’s targeted.

While some people might respond to sales prices, others might require a softer sell, highlighting the fact that a product is organic or very durable, for example. The organic creative likely needs a different look and feel than the durable creative. Companies like Etsy and One Kings Lane create beautiful creative that stays true to consumers’ taste – be it for modern furniture or kids’ crafts – as well as their past shopping behaviors.

To get the most out of dynamic creative, advertisers need to target consumers as granularly as possible. Amazon uses its own real-time search and purchase data to target its campaigns. Most advertisers are still stuck with demographic-centered briefs to determine who sees what message.

But this strategy is hopeless on Cyber Monday. Come holiday season, old ladies are suddenly buying skateboards and young men are buying purple cardigan sweaters. People break out of their normal habits to purchase gifts for other people, something for which Amazon’s real-time shopper data strategy works wonders. Recent unique shopper data can also make sure that once that grandmother buys her grandson a skateboard, she’s no longer stalked by outdated creative.

A more targeted approach will also help advertisers avoid wasted advertising spend. When they focus on targeting purchase and search behaviors, advertisers can ensure that they’re targeting real people. This is why Amazon’s own branded advertising network is so popular with its vendor partners – they know they’re getting their ads in front of real people. A focus on recent shopper and search data also allows advertisers to turn down unrealistic conditional quality metrics like 100% viewability goals, which can work against performance-based goals.

I am willing to bet that Amazon judges quality based almost exclusively on conversion metrics. Q4 is a good time for brands to review the complex quality metrics that govern today’s campaigns. Quality is extremely important, but it’s much more effective to enact a white list and a minimum viewability threshold, and then concentrate on optimizing to performance goals.

Only a creative team that’s involved in analyzing performance can produce high quality new assets quickly to take advantage of learning what works in real time. While digital media has long been called the domain of the Math Men, data will always only be half of the story. A targeted campaign with solid metrics won’t succeed if no one pays attention to the ads.

Using data to produce relevant ad creative is a great start. Adding a touch of well-considered design to boost the appeal is even better.

Brands Should Learn From Their Cousins, Direct Marketers

Mon, 24 Oct 2016 14:21:14 -0400

Ed Shannon, Chief Revenue Officer

Growing up in a family that owned a small business, I learned a number of valuable lessons about targeting customers that translate well over time and across any industry. For example, when I was a kid, my dad would have me ride my bike around the surrounding neighborhoods, identify where our regular customers lived, and then canvas the neighborhood with promotional flyers. It may not have been as sophisticated as look-alike modeling, but it reflects the same principles at its core: identify your customers and then build a data set that looks and feels as close to them as possible. The problem is once that work is complete–after I peddled countless miles mapping the area–we all make the same mistake of expecting the same messaging to work across the entire data set because the constituents look-alike, or live in the same neighborhood.

If I compare this primitive look-alike modeling with my 18+ years working in both digital direct marketing and brand marketing, there are a few concepts that stick out. The biggest one is that direct marketers tend to set the pace of innovative marketing, while brands lag behind.

When brand marketers were worried about Share Of Voice (SOV) and eCPMs, direct marketers were applying validations on the front end of consumer engagements to prevent Invalid Traffic (IVT) and fraud. Their tactics may seem unsophisticated today, but they helped solve an enormous problem burgeoning in the digital space. This is just one example of how big brands could have followed the example set by their online cousins, direct marketers.

Targeting consumers who display the same behavior as your desired consumer is not a new marketing strategy. Over a decade ago, direct marketers were buying email lists, or generic leads from aggregators, essentially triggering the birth of third-party data. From these rudimentary tactics evolved the modern practice of tagging sites and collecting data to create a preset of segmented users. The only question is, what are you doing with that data?

Here are three steps brands can take today to catch up with their direct marketing cousins:

1. Lead with creative

You can slice and dice data all day long, but it’s all about the messaging. If you do not understand what your target audience responds to, you are wasting your marketing budget. Just because I fit a demographic (40-year old male, lives in the tri-state area, soccer dad), that does not mean I will respond to the same message and creative served to a soccer mom or even another user in my exact segment. What we are doing today reminds me of why my childhood bike rides did not have a fruitful outcome. The person that opened the door to my dad’s flyer may not have had the same need as his neighbor, a current customer. Brands need to invest in innovative technology or partners that can help them understand what message, creative elements, or variation of ad layouts return the best results.

2. ROAS matters all the time

As marketers grow and become more brand-centric, consumers do not drastically change, but the positioning becomes more “advanced.” Marketers are looking to have greater impact and develop a connection with their customers that drives not just online transactions but offline transactions as well. The ability to move product offline via online marketing is the Rosetta stone for most major brands. Working with marketing mix modeling studies has become the norm, but these are costly, time-consuming, and can make it difficult to introduce new partners. Instead, it’s easier to work with partners who understand attribution and track meaningful metrics in real-time and in-campaign. This will result in better consumers both online and offline.

3, Consolidation of partners

Originally direct marketers outsourced their lead generation and cost-per-acquisition opportunities to 10-15 different partners per campaign. Initially, this seemed like they were getting a great SOV, but it was a mirage. Over time, it was clear that most of their relationships were brokering the opportunity downhill, creating more intermediaries. The partners caused massive markups and the end advertiser was pushed further and further away from the actual inventory. Sound familiar?

Consolidating to a single partner with real technology enables marketers to supervise and control their marketing dollar. By focusing on partners who offer multiple services, brands are able to reduce the mess of the LUMAscape. The less widespread the responsibilities, the less latency and operational fees brands will have to pay to execute their media. This approach puts more marketing dollars to work and encourages meaningful partnerships for long-term growth.

RTB 2.0: Real-Time Bathroom Updates

Mon, 02 Jun 2014 14:38:00 -0400

At YellowHammer HQ, we’ve been hard at work trying to figure out how to improve our RTB systems. Last quarter, management gave our engineers a directive: use our internal data and insights to take RTB to the next level for our internal teams. Unfortunately, we should have specified that RTB stands for real-time bidding because they have spent the last 90 days using our internal data to develop a complex, data-driven real-time bathroom system.

The pilot program officially launched today with the unveiling of a magnet-based, “cloud” technology that notifies employees (and the web-at-large) about the availability of one of our office bathrooms.

When the bathroom door is closed, LED bulbs throughout the office change colors from green to red, a wireless speaker announces the unfortunate news that the bathroom is occupied, and the bathroom’s Artificial Intelligence tweets that it is in use and also uses the Twitter API to change the account profile picture to match.

We are not kidding.

How it works:

The system involved the installation of a magnetic contact switch on the bathroom door, which is wirelessly connected to a locally-hosted hardware hub. Thanks to a firmware modification of the Philips Hue lighting system, the server is able to control the status of the LED light fixtures throughout the office. When the door opens or closes, the system triggers an audio announcement over a speaker outside of the the bathroom and simultaneously adjusts the Hue bulb to red or green. Finally, an IFTTT recipe connects to the Twitter API to Tweet the current occupancy status and as well as change the page’s cover photo.

If all of this sounds very complex, that’s because it is. Now that we’ve tackled the real-time bathroom problem, it’s time to move onto real-time bidding. Wish us luck.

If you’re interested, you can follow our bathroom on Twitter @yh_bathroom (https://twitter.com/yh_bathroom)

Tweets by @YH_Bathroom

Possible Reactions to the YellowHammer Team at the Uncubed Conference

Thu, 17 Apr 2014 16:19:00 -0400

We’re participating once again in our favorite hiring conference, Uncubed. Here are a few mildly-exaggerated reactions from our fellow attendees:

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“YellowHammer shot up our booth with some sort of automatic nerf gun. When we asked why, they gave us a list called "Top Ten UNBELIEVABLE Reasons Why We Jealously Attacked Your Booth” - Buzzfeed

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“One of the YellowHammer people came by our booth, examined the dog we brought with us and said ‘That dog isn’t furry enough to attract a real crowd. I think they also slipped him some bacon…’” - Bark & Co

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“Those guys have been monopolizing the ping-pong table we brought since the conference opened. They won’t let anyone else play.” - Splash

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“Some guys from YHMG strolled up to our table wearing leather jackets & snapping their fingers and asked if we wanted to have an optimization throw-down. We declined.” - MediaMath

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“One of the YellowHammer people got huffy and told me that the bird in their logo looks 'way tougher’ than the birds in our logo.” - Chloe & Isabel

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That’s about it! Come join in on the fun for the next two hours at NYC Uncubed.

Signs inside the YH office

Wed, 01 May 2013 16:58:19 -0400

The Yellowhammer office is a freewheeling, creative environment, but like any workplace, we have rules that need to be gently reinforced and announcements that need to be posted.

Passive-aggressive signage has evolved into an artistic medium inside of our office. Some choice examples can be found below.

Outside of restroom #1:

Exit door of restroom #2:

On the refrigerator:

Beside the television:

In the break-room:

YH COO Hagan Major to Speak at the AppNexus Summit

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 14:10:48 -0400

The annual AppNexus Summit will be taking place next Wednesday in San Francisco and will feature product announcements, new exchange innovations, and industry speakers (including Yellowhammer co-founder Hagan Major).

Hagan will be taking the stage with AppNexus’s Director of Product Management, Dave Himrod, to discuss RTB optimization for campaigns and placements. He requests that Yellowhammer well-wishers and his “fans” (read: family members) show up to laugh loudly at his jokes and riot in the streets immediately following his presentation. Please, no autograph requests.

If you can’t make the summit in person, the live video will be streamed on the AppNexus website.

The speaker listing and a mugshot of Hagan can be found here: http://summit.appnexus.com/speakers

Ryan Hubbard Speaking at a Meeting

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 12:20:53 -0400

By Tyler J.

So this is what goes on in the back of the room during all-hands company meetings…

Yellowhammer Press Round-up

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 09:35:00 -0400

We have not been blogging much lately, but we’ve been keeping busy generating content for outside publications. Below are some of the most recent Yellowhammer press mentions.

Ryan Hubbard was featured in Mapping Where the Tech Titans Call Home in NYC (Real Estate Weekly)

Hub was also quoted in a press release by VoltDB Yellowhammer Selects VoltDB for New Advertising Platform (Yahoo Finance)

Hagan Major was cited for his hatred of a ridiculous viral marketing fad in the article Harlem Shake Still Draws Some Marketers (Clickz)

Jared Christopherson offered phone advice in an article about the Most Essential Office Technology (MSN Business)

Speaking of Jared, he also offered advice about effective ways to hire tech talent in 15 Ideas for Testing Your New Hires Before You Commit (Huffington Post)

And finally, a Yellowhammer ad for One Kings Lane was featured in an episode of the new Comedy Central show Nathan For You.

The loneliest birthday

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 09:32:36 -0500

By Tyler J.

Senior AdOps exec Alex Blazer’s birthday went completely overlooked yesterday. While we usually throw a nice party for birthdays, someone overlooked Alex’s.

By the time 3pm rolled around, he realized that the surprise pizza party he was anticipating was never going to happen - he proceeded to order himself a large pie with everything on it and sat at his desk stuffing his face, listening to Mad World by Gary Jules. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N3N1MlvVc4

YellowHammer Celebrity Look-Alikes

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 16:46:00 -0500

It’s well known that the members of team YH are ridiculously good looking, but did you know that a handful of us have spot-on celebrity look-alikes?

Here are just a few of them:

Tyler Johnson - Ron Weasley, Harry Potter

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Jeremy Elbaum - Steve Harwell, Smashmouth

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Ryan Hubbard’s Mad Hatter - Johnny Depp’s Mad Hatter

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Ben Wilson - Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO

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Austin Cornelio - Pop Stars Evan and Jaron

The Neighborhood Condo Board Has Rejected Our Sign

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 11:36:00 -0500

Forgetting the holiday spirit, the neighborhood board has officially rejected our proposal for a beautiful sign above our office entrance:

As you can see, it would have been unobtrusive and pleasing to look at, but the board apparently thought otherwise. Our emissary that was sent for approval was told that opposition to our bird sign was the first thing the board agreed on unanimously since 1983.

Apparently, though, it’s okay for our neighbors to have eye-sores like these tattered old remnants. We’re not naming names (nevermind, we are), but Elisha Framed Pictures and tattered sign company that looks like a garage, you should be ashamed of yourselves.

For shame.

YellowHammer is the 18th out of 2,095,294 Best Place to Work

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 08:50:56 -0500

The Crain’s list is out, and YellowHammer was the 18th best place to work in New York City. Our condolences go out to the 2,095,266 businesses that we beat out. Metlife, we’re looking at you.

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/gallery/20121202/FEATURES/120209870/33

YellowHammer Appears on the Huffington Post

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 13:35:02 -0500

Great interview in the Huffington Post with Jared Christopherson… We’ll take it.

Hagan Major is a Guest Blogger on AppNexus Today

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 10:27:14 -0400

Blog post: Set it and Forget it Optimization

Also check out the YellowHammer optimization case study

YellowHammer Named One of NYC's Best Places to Work

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 11:21:00 -0400

Apparently the productivity loss from the foosball table, table tennis setup, video game consoles, and custom-built beerpong table has paid off.

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20121008/FEATURES/121009910

Are You Saying We're Not Sexy?

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 14:25:00 -0400

Business Insider has published a list of the 50 Sexiest Advertising Executives Alive, and we were appalled no one from team YellowHammer was listed.

After we dried our collective tears, we decided to commission our own list of beautiful advertising executives. Have a look at this slideshow of a few great-looking people who 9-5 at the ‘Hammer:

Summer Friday at the Beer Garden

Fri, 27 Jul 2012 16:23:00 -0400

Summer Fridays at the beer garden

Fri, 27 Jul 2012 16:22:26 -0400

Summer Fridays at the beer garden