data modelWorldwide almost one-third of digital media budgets are programmatically invested. While these numbers may sound promising, let me ask you: “How do you really know if your programmatic ad campaign is successful?” Yes, the answer is “with attribution models”, that show you on which channels your campaigns are most successful.

The times of John Wanamaker, the "pioneer in marketing" are over, who said in the early 20th century: "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half." With Programmatic Advertising, Wanamaker most probably would have been able to analyze and increase his success today. With smart attribution models - such as lookalikes - brands find the right audience easily and appeal to consumers who are interested in the products and services.

With Advanced Data Modeling, reaching new target groups is going on top one step further: although consumers switch between their Internet-enabled devices several times a day, successful brands should still be able to follow their path, in order to finally find out which ad placement has led to the purchase and which was punished only with disinterest.

Clearly, attribution models are essential for any successful programmatic campaign, since they help measuring ad placements to the fullest. However, programmatic technology runs the risk of marketers losing themselves in the small-scale and paying only attention to the daily and weekly numbers and the growth of ongoing campaigns. Instead, they should have a clear vision for the long-term goals and plan for the quarterly or annual growth. Again, this is where the right attribution model comes into play, that allows marketers to fully focus on understanding the relationships between consumers and their mobile devices.

Support comes from real-time cross-device identity management: with the right technology, cookies can be associate with the appropriate device IDs. Even before the cookie is deleted again, they connected the consumer to his/her other devices and can be addressed consistently. In a time when consumers jump from device to device, real-time cross-device identity management is key.

With Advanced TV, programmatic advertising and attribution are already going hand in hand, as programmatic advertising is constantly evolving and getting more and more important for Connected TV and OTT. Thanks to the Internet-enabled TV devices, marketers can access new measurement data that closes the circle between advertising and sales. Ultimately, it is about tracking the consumer's path to the buying decision - and influencing it by pleasing the customer.

Thanks to the wealth of data, marketers are not only aware of which mobile phone, laptop and tablet belong to the respective consumer - the Connected TV is now also in the customer profile. All this is possible thanks to Unique Device ID. With the help of the IP connection or the mobile network, brands can clearly assign all consumer activities. Television used to be a problem area for data analysis, but Advanced TV allows targeted television advertising to be programmatically broadcasted and effectively measured, strongly supporting the attribution models.

The way through the data labyrinth may initially be rocky, but with a technology expert on the side, brands can figure out which channels deliver the desired results for their campaign and how they build on them to make the right decisions long term. Ultimately, it's about focusing on the metrics that matter most.

By Daniela La Marca