6年了，为什么呢？我是怎么过来的，怎么想的呢？

2005年 8月 4日，像很多年轻人一样，抱着朝圣的心态，我来到奥美，服务于 IBM 广告团队。开始，工作很简单，我负责接收美国总部发送过来的英文广告翻译成中文，并确认各种广告物料的制作和媒体送递。

其实光鲜的广告背后是每天周而复始的看似枯燥而重复的翻译和校对。中文必须要准确表达英文原意。文字，板式，画面，全部需要美国确认；电视台，平面媒体，网络媒体，每一个成品的每一个尺寸和画面都要跟美国设计总部沟通，不能出分毫差错。不夸张的说，真的是走到哪里，除了文字是不同国家的之外，广告看似都一模一样。所以，一段时间内，我把工作戏称为“大家来找茬”:)

后来，在组内培训中我知道了这就是著名的 IBM One Voice 全球品牌战略。

在 20世纪 90年代的时候，IBM 曾经濒临倒闭，郭士纳临危受命成为力挽狂澜的一个 CEO。 他在《谁说大象不能跳舞》一书中提到，那时的 IBM 广告系统一片混乱，几乎每个分公司都有自己的代理商。一度，人们可以在一份杂志内看到 18种版本的 IBM 广告，这些广告的设计、用词甚至是标识都各不相同。而且，公司内部普遍认为“市场营销”就意味着“销售”。尽管 IBM 必须是销售大于产量，但是，公司确实需要重新塑造自己的形象和市场地位。调研发现，客户愿意和 IBM 做生意是因为他们相信购买 IBM 的产品都是好的，IBM 最大的优势是拥有一个过硬的整体公司品牌。奥美因为其专业性和丰富的经验最终成为 IBM 全球 160多个国家的整体品牌广告代理商。

虽然，今天的我们普遍认为整合统一的声音是“想当然”的事情，但在当时，《纽约时报》在头版报道了合并活动，《广告时代》评价 IBM One Voice 全球品牌战略为“全世界为之动容的市场营销之弹”。 后来就是我们大家都很熟悉的“四海一家的解决之道”、“电子商务”、“随需应变”，一个个全球整合如一的市场活动让 IBM 品牌清晰深刻的烙印在人们心中。

现在很多人提及奥美必然会说到 IBM，因为 IBM，奥美成就了 360度品牌管家，以至于奥美人，都说自己的 OIBMer， Ogilvy-IBMer；当然，每每谈及品牌，人们也都习惯了 IBM 和奥美的绑定，因为奥美，IBM 实现了 One Voice 全球品牌战略。在之后，两个公司成功开创了整合行销的新时代。

没想到，不知不觉中，我好像被一个很有意义的“组合”吸纳了，成为了一个很伟大的战略中的一个部分。我正被周边的人羡慕着可以亲身体验那些商业学中标榜的经典案例和理论，呵呵。经过半年的历练，熟读各类 guidebook，我终究炼得一双火眼晶晶。开口就是，风格和内容不是IBM的tone；闭嘴就是，LOGO 的设计和布局不符合全球规则。

这一年，我觉得自己是幸运的。

2006年开始，除了负责公司广告，我还负责针对高级管理层的市场直销行销活动。

IBM的市场和广告人员都被冠名 IMC，Integrated Marketing Communication，整合行销传播。在奥美所有的 O-IBMer 不分 discipline 大家都坐在 9层。公司说，这是为了方便工作，更好的整合。开始不明白，后来从自己的工作中发现，IBM 的广告内容和市场战略确实密不可分，广告其实是公司对于市场的“有感而发”，是公司发展策略的一种诉说。

用我自己在奥美亲身经历的那些 campaign 来数数：

电子商务 — 任谁都不会把 IBM 提出“电子商务”只是看做一个广告活动，它根本就是一个划时代的科技催生的新的生产力。IBM 洞察到这点，并且把自己的对“电子商务”的认知传递到世界。

随需应变 — 这是一个随需应变的电子商务时代。IBM 提出这个概念是想说明新的时代，面对的是客户多变的需求，企业需要处理和合作伙伴、供应商及客户间端对端的协作处理，需要能够对客户需求、市场机会和外部威胁作出快速的反应和高效的处理。

什么使您与众不同 — 还记得 2007年托马斯·弗里德曼 那本《世界是平的》在国内发刊么？书中论述 21世纪初期全球化，世界正被抹平。什么才能让企业脱颖而出，唯有创新使您与众不同。

停止空谈，开始行动 — 当大家都在感叹创新力、渴望变革的时候，当苹果的传奇被世人所称颂的时候，IBM 提出“让我们开始行动，着手创新实践吧。IBM 是您最佳的创新伙伴，我们致力于为创新者提供创新动力”。

智慧的地球— 时间到了 2008年底，我第一次见到“智慧地球”提案，记得当时 Leader Team 感叹“这真的不是简单的一个广告活动。智慧地球是 IBM 的战略和理念。”后来的事情，地球人都知道。

由于 IBM 广告是有感而发，是对 IBM 发展理念的诠释。我们必须了解客户业务，整合媒体渠道，帮助第三方媒体理解 IBM 的理念和广告内容；同时我们也需要同公关部的同事保持良好的沟通，确保受众接受到统一的声音，One Voice。当然，这也很简单和方便，奥美的我们都坐在 9层。

整合，让我和更多不同部门的人合作。我听到周边很多媒体人聊天时提及，IBM 的传播做的很好，广告很好，能巧妙的整合运营各种手段。我想说，也许丰富多彩的传播手段容易被人所关注，琳琅满目的广告技巧和美丽的画面容易被人所记忆，但请更多注意那个公司背后的故事，因为理念是支持传播和广告的灵魂，整合使品牌形象统一起来，准确的传播、送递给受众。还是那句话，IBM 和奥美相互支持和成就了对方，我们是伙伴，共同将整合进行到底。

2006年到 2009年的日子里，因为 IBM，我们开始得到传说中的广告和媒体大奖。当然，还有一个重大的改变，2009年，我跨界到公关了。总结那些日子里，我的感觉是“成长”。

2011年，时间过的真快。今天是 IBM 的百年华诞。100年，可以见证四到五代人的人生；100年，可以见证一个国家从诞生到富强；对于一个企业来说，100年，几乎是梦幻般难以达到的年龄。在百年的沧桑历史中，IBM 经历了多次转型。经历过生死劫后的 IBM 这样论述着自己的不败秘籍：创新，企业发展的生命之源；转型，公司长久适应不断变化的社会经济需求的关键；企业文化则是一个组织成功永葆活力的秘密。

IBM 几乎没有做任何广告在自己的生日上，但是，很多媒体找到 IBM 希望能展现一个百年老店的前世·今生。我呢，到现在才发现，从 IBM 这个巨人身上，原来要学习的还很多、很多。

本文来源：IBM IT客

如今，这种方法只在电视剧《广告狂人》（Mad Men）里有用。现在，信息都是多向流动的，消费者接触点成倍增加，普适性的传统做法也已让位于精确营销和一对一传播。或许，随之而来的最重要改变就是，消费者能够创建与品牌有关的内容，并通过网络和其他渠道进行分享。在这一切的影响下，作为可口可乐公司（Coca-Cola）的首席营销商务官，我的角色发生了变化。同样发生变化的还有公司的消费者互动策略。我们要在2020年实现业务翻番的目标。

短期内，“消费者印象”仍会是我们主要的广告衡量标准，因为广告主普遍使用这个指标来比较各种媒体上的受众。但是，消费者印象只反映了受众的原始规模。消费者获得印象是一种被动的接受，并非真正意义上的参与。而我们的最终目标是让消费者参与品牌互动。知晓品牌是一回事，而让消费者去推广你的品牌，则可以将公司业务提升到一个新的水平。（我以前一直认为忠诚度是消费者金字塔的最高目标，直到我成为好事达保险公司（Allstate）首席营销官，才发现并非如此。在好事达，我看到许多业务都是顾客推介和口碑宣传带来的）

于是，除了“消费者印象”，我们越来越注重“消费者表达”。这里的表达是指消费者个人或团体与我们品牌之间的互动，如评论、一个“关注”、上传照片或视频、将相关内容转发到自己的社群等。我们在衡量这些表达，并将了解到的信息运用到全球品牌建设以及全球2,700名营销人员实施的当地品牌建设中去。例如，我们与魔力红乐队（Maroon 5）合作推出的24小时现场直播活动，不仅加深了消费者印象（网络视频浏览量就能说明这一点），更从消费者的表达中——他们的评论、对歌曲创作的意见，以及与自己社群进行的交流——获得了大量有价值的信息。

那么，在这个由拥有权力、积极参与、网络化的消费者构成的新时代，企业要想成功，有哪些关键因素呢？以下是我们学到的有关“消费者表达”的一些重要经验：

认识到消费者创造信息的能力要远大于你。不要试图遏制这种表达浪潮，而应该提供体育、音乐、流行文化等内容来激发消费者的讨论热情。我们估计在YouTube上大约有1.46亿次浏览量的内容与可口可乐公司有关。但是，其中只有2,600万次浏览量的内容是我们创建的，余下1.2亿次浏览量的内容则是由其他人创建的。虽然我们无法在创意产出上与消费者相提并论，但我们可以利用合适的内容来激发他们的创意。

创建“流动的、有关联的”内容。流动的内容是指那些吸引人、真实并具有文化相关性的创意内容，它们能够在任何媒体渠道传播。流动的内容包括具有情绪感染力的故事，能够迅速传播开来。同样，关联的内容是指内容与品牌战略和业务目标相关。无论消费者在何处碰到这些内容，它们都支持公司的总体战略。当内容既“流动”又“有关联”时，它就会激发消费者表达，并能够迅速传播。可口可乐公司的2010年FIFA世界杯宣传活动就是“流动的、有关联的”内容的一个例子。这是公司有史以来规模最大的一次宣传活动。160多个国家都使用统一的世界杯视觉识别系统（Visual Identity System）、系列电视广告和统一的数字平台。所有内容都以“庆祝世界杯”这一主题贯穿起来。

认识到消费者才是公司品牌的真正主人。可口可乐公司首次认识到这一点是在1985年推出新可乐的时候。后来，随着社交媒体的发展，这一点就愈发重要了。在我撰写此文时，可口可乐公司的Facebook网页有超过2,500万的粉丝。不过，我们的粉丝专页并不是由亚特兰大总部的员工创建的，而是由洛杉矶的两个消费者开设的，用来表达他们对可口可乐的真实想法。要是放到10年前，公司可能就发出律师函要求他们“停止此类活动”。不过现在，我们则是与他们合作，创建新的内容。如今，我们的Facebook网页粉丝每周以10万的速度增长着。

在公司内部建立一个快速分享成败经验的流程。推动消费者表达需要进行很多的尝试，而尝试当然会有失败。建立一个分享机制，你就可以快速在其他市场推广成功范例，分享失败教训。例如，我们制作的“幸福机器”（Happiness Machine）视频在YouTube上非常受欢迎，于是我们索性把它做成了一个电视广告。而且，我们还把这种低成本、传播快的宣传理念推广到了其他市场。

成为管理社群的推动者，而不是试图控制他们的指挥者。2009年，我们启动了“征途206”（Expedition 206）活动，由消费者投票选出三位可口可乐形象大使。他们的任务是走访销售可口可乐产品的206个国家中的大部分地区，牵头网络对话，探讨是什么让全世界的人们感到幸福。在27.3万英里的旅途中，大使们每到一站，都会发布博文，创建新的内容。公司的角色是帮助他们圆满完成征途，这个任务可一点不算小。我们不能控制内容，所以大使们可以自由分享自己的体验。在消费者表达的时代，企业要学会推动和融入社群，而不是控制他们。

公开澄清事实，不过先把机会留给粉丝。当然，并非每条消费者表达都是正面的。你必须参与对话，这样在必要的时候你才能拨乱反正。甚至更好的是，我们发现粉丝们会在网络社群中进行自我管制。有一次，我们的Facebook网页遭到激进分子的负面抨击，我们的粉丝做出回应，发表言论支持公司，并对将社群用于激进目的的做法提出了质疑。

自1886年彭伯顿医生倒出世界上第一杯可口可乐以来，市场营销早已发生了翻天覆地的变化。2011年5月8日，可口可乐公司和世界各地的粉丝们共同庆祝了公司125周岁生日。尽管我仍关注庆典活动产生了多少消费者印象，但我更关注消费者的表达，因为它能更好地衡量出在下一个125年里我们能否继续成为世界上最有价值的品牌。

乔·特里波迪，可口可乐公司执行副总裁兼首席营销商务官，负责公司的全球营销、客户管理和商务领导工作。

1. 广告设计相关专业，有独特的想法和见解
2. 英语语言能力强
3. 熟练操作各类专业软件
4. 大三或大四在读学生，工作四天以上者优先
5. 热衷从事广告行业者优先
6. 标题请使用“姓名+学校（专业）+年级+每周可工作天数”

mail to:ken@iot-online.com

According to a recent MarketingSherpa.com survey, 40% of email marketers said testing changes to just their subject line had a high impact on their return on investment (ROI). 45% said subject line changes accounted for a medium ROI and only 15% said that testing changes to their subject line results in a low ROI.

For every email you send you’ve got room for about 50 characters in your subject line so use them wisely to improve your open rates. Below are some tips to help improve your subject lines:

1. Test the subject line – Take a look at email campaigns you’ve sent in the past. Which subject lines worked the best and gave you the highest open and conversion rates? You might find that for a particular topic there’s a general trend or subject style that resulted in higher open rates.
2. The subject of importance – Try and put as much important and relevant information into your subject lines as possible. For example, if you’re sending out an email about a special offer make sure the product name and details on the offer appear in the subject line in a clear and concise format such as “$40 off ACME Widget Until – Today Only”.
3. Personalize the subject line – If you have details about your contacts then you can use them in your subject line to get their attention. A subject line containing the contacts first name can sometimes out-pull one that doesn’t.
4. Avoid spam keywords – Most email servers automatically filter out any emails that contain spam keywords in their subject line – Words such as free, stock, ebay, password, mortgage, etc all trigger spam detection software so keep them out of your subject lines at all times.
5. Trigger curiosity – The best way to improve your open rates is to pique the interest of your contacts. A compelling headline that entices them to open and read the contents of your email can do wonders for your conversion rate. Headlines that trigger curiosity can sometimes work well for example: “Hi [First Name] – I have a question for you.”.
6. Make the offer clear – If you’re making a special offer to your contact then be upfront and include it as part of your subject line. People love bargains and special offers so let them know about it before anything else.
7. Emphasize the benefits – We use this technique for our newsletters. We always use the format of “Newsletter – [Benefit]“. In our case, benefit is always the title of an article contained in the newsletter, such as “Company Newsletter – 10 Tips for Better Subject Lines”. It works every time
8. Easy identification – Make sure your contacts know the email is coming from you. Deceptive subject lines can confuse people so always try and including your company name in the subject line. Also, make sure you set the “From” attribute of your email to include your name and your companies name, such as “From: John Smith <john@acme.com>”.
9. Exclaim nothing – Avoid using excessive punctuation at the end of your subject lines. Google bans punctuation from AdWords ad’s for a reason – too much hype can annoy and confuse people.

Article Highlights:

• Nearly half of surveyed marketers admit their loyalty programs result in erratic or immeasurable results, with most programs becoming merely short-term retention tactics
• Marketers must develop a well-designed and holistic loyalty marketing initiative in order to optimize communication and promotion at all touch points
• Brand loyalty strategies must be in sync with brand identity, attributes, and associations

随着媒体环境及形式“多样化”、“碎片化”日趋复杂，门户一统江湖正在破碎，互联网呈现多元生态结构，垂直网站、网络游戏、聊天工具、视频、论坛、博客、SNS、微博等等新鲜形式层出不穷、百花齐放，共荣共生。而用户多项活动共行（Multi-tasking）已成为特别是网络一族的生活常态，不同形式变化出无数媒体数列组合：一千个哈姆雷特，就有一千个cookies和用户行为历史。

如果是打猎，猎物已经分散到了各个山头，聪明的猎人应该怎么办？如果是钓鱼，鱼儿已经游向各个小池塘，聪明的垂钓者应该怎么办？ok，回到我们的话题，面对媒体碎片化，用户分众化，聪明的网络营销人该怎么办？消费者在哪里，我们就要把广告投放到哪里！网络整合营销是唯一的解药！于是单一网络营销涅磐，网络整合营销新生。网络营销市场将基督再临。针对每一种网络生态形式，都施以营销魔法，对网民形成360 digital influence！譬如说《网络整合营销兵器谱》中列出了10种营销形式。

网络硬广，七星碧玉刀；网络视频营销，风火流星锤；IM营销，绵绵多情环；Widget营销，多彩孔雀翎；博客营销，清秋如意钩；IGA，六脉神剑；搜索引擎营销，生死判官笔；网络社区营销，达摩五指；网站建设，不老霸王枪；无线营销，锁人柔情鞭。

Article Highlights:

• Exchanges are a great way for advertisers to have control
• Exchanges allow data-savvy media buyers to optimize campaigns and improve their buys
• Exchanges offer complete transparency

There are many ways advertisers can buy ad inventory: publishers, self-service platforms like Facebook, ad networks, ad exchanges, and demand-side platforms. Until now, many agencies preferred buying from ad networks, but there are advantages to buying directly from ad exchanges, and many industry observers believe these exchanges will eventually dominate the future. At first I was unsure if advertisers saw value in ad exchanges, but based on many detailed conversations, it became evident that they do. Here are seven advantages to using ad exchanges:

No more chasing network sales reps
When buying, agencies call several sales reps and ask for proposals. The media buyers often have to chase sales reps to submit their proposals quickly. This is frustrating for them. They don’t enjoy all the emails, calls, and presentations. With an ad exchange, the buying process is online, quick, and easy. The agencies log in and do it all without depending on sales reps, meetings, calls, or emails.

Comparing media from different proposals is difficult
When the ad agency gets the proposals back from the ad network sales reps, they are submitted in different formats and show different data per site. However, agencies need to create a media plan in a single format for the entire buy. Creating this from disparate data sets is a pain. An exchange makes this much easier with data for every site in one format. So it is much easier for an agency to compare and quickly choose what it wants.

Exchanges offer complete transparency
Agencies find it tough to get a clear picture of where their ads will run. Often they don’t trust what the ad networks tell them. Agencies, therefore, like exchanges because they are more transparent. They can choose to buy from only brand-safe sites, which cost more, or add some lower-cost sites to reduce the average price.

Exchanges offer more control
Ad network sales reps do a lot of work for agencies, such as finding sites to advertise on, comparing prices, and researching availability. Curiously, it turns out that agencies actually want to do these things themselves because they want control. Exchanges are a great way for advertisers to have control and easily do all these things themselves in no time at all.

Ads go live faster on exchanges
Agencies say that clients give them approval and then want their ads to be live instantly. Since exchanges are based on technology and not people manually controlling ads, buys go live instantly. Agencies love that.

Exchanges allow the buyer to optimize
Agencies want to see data per site. They want to choose the sites they retain and optimize. Most ad networks do not provide detailed or real-time reporting, but ad exchanges do. They allow data-savvy media buyers to optimize campaigns and improve their buys.

Real-time reporting
Agencies like real-time data. They want to see what is happening now. The huge technology platforms of exchanges allow this.

After engaging in many conversations, it’s clear that ad exchanges can offer true value to advertisers and ad agencies. This list of seven advantages is only the beginning. Ad exchanges can enable advertisers to have more control, more transparency, and the ability to buy targeted ad placements at the click of a button. There is no doubt in my mind that exchange systems will soon be used by all top-tier agencies.

Roy de Souza is the CEO and co-founder for Zedo Inc.

Despite marketers’ knowledge of the value in personalized campaigns, they are not going far enough to actually make their campaigns individually applicable to consumers. Response rates to campaigns are inexorably declining, and direct marketing effectiveness is waning. CEOs are — quite rightly — putting their marketing directors under pressure to deliver more value from marketing investments.

The antidote to marketing fatigue
Consumers are fed up with being bombarded by overwhelming quantities of irrelevant marketing material — through email, mobile, direct mail, phone, or other channels — and their attitude is reflected in the declining response rates.

In 2009, Forrester Research conducted a report entitled, “Marketers: Stop the Abuse! Adopt Preference Management.” It found that two-thirds of U.S. consumers believe there is too much advertising today. In addition, 62 percent say they get too much direct mail, 66 percent responded that they get too much email marketing, and 67 percent get too much telemarketing.

These results suggest that people are suffering from a bad case of marketing fatigue. If marketers are truly attempting to personalize customer and prospect communications, then the unfortunate conclusion is that their methods aren’t working.

Typically, when marketers talk of personalization, what they mean is segmentation-based personalization, meaning that all the customers belonging to a segment selected by the marketer will receive the same message and offer. Sure, the customer’s name might appear at the top, but that’s where the personalization ends. Customers demand more than that to be enticed to engage with a brand.

Marketers who do not pay heed to the customers’ appeals and continue to target them with extraneous messages and campaigns do so at their peril; campaigns carried out in that manner are counter-productive and unlikely to pay back. Pushy sales pitches turn customers off; personal, interactive conversations draw them in.

The one-to-one personalization era begins today
One-to-one personalization has long been designated as marketing nirvana — an idyllic state where a brand can hold rewarding, long-term relationships with millions of customers. In this utopia, targeted offers are presented as a part of natural customer marketing conversations. One-to-one campaigns align with the customer’s current situation, as well as their expressed — and implied — wants and needs. Messages are timely and applicable to the customer, and they deliver the desired results for the marketer. But just how far away are marketers from this Holy Grail?

Here are the five degrees of personalization that exist today within marketing organizations:

Mass emailing is where the same message is sent to everyone.
Name-based personalization (or light personalization) is where the customer’s name is placed at the top of the same message sent to all recipients.
Segment-based personalization (or medium personalization) goes one step further: It creates one message for large, pre-selected target groups.
One-to-one personalization (or heavy personalization) is comprised of content drawn from a dynamic up-to-date customer profile. As a result, the message is pertinent to the individual receiving it.
Interactive one-to-one personalization applies the one-to-one concept to interactive channels. This enables content to be delivered through web pages and online assistants (avatars), for example, to be personalized in real-time while being consistent with messages delivered through other channels.

The reality is that when marketers say they are practicing personalization, they are usually referring to light or medium personalization. Yet, again and again it’s been shown that as personalization increases, marketing fatigue falls and conversion rates increase. One 2008 study by the Aberdeen Group found that a move from segmentation-based marketing to one-to-one personalization can make a tangible difference. The survey found that, when shifting from segmentation-based personalization to one-to-one, conversion rates improve by 22 percent and customer retention rates improve by 60 percent.

The way ahead
We’ve established what many of you might already know: To reach customers in ways that prompt positive responses, campaigns must be relevant. Still, we have a long way to go before we can reach the pinnacle of interactive one-to-one personalization. The good news is that it is possible, but companies must be willing to implement the processes, best practices, and marketing automation technology to ensure content is well-timed and targeted to each customer’s circumstances. Once consistent and coherent marketing dialogues are established across all channels, conversion rates will leap, and the summit will be reached.

Stephan Dietrich is president of Neolane Inc.

Author and venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki spoke at ad:tech SF on how to impress everyone in your professional life. Watch as Daisy Whitney points out his biggest tips from the presentation.

Time for a change
For years, online display advertising companies have been able to take advantage of low hanging fruit. Ad networks have easily delivered impressive results through relatively simple and one-off techniques like retargeting or content targeting. By blending these optimization techniques with other “filler” tactics such as broad geographic targeting, ad networks can meet customer performance objectives and maintain high margins.

When reviewing the actual price bid by our competitors in the real-time exchanges, tricks such as manual bidding and buying become clear. Very frequently, we see the same rounded prices coming up: $1, $1.50, $2, $2.50 CPM. These prices reflect a strikingly unsophisticated buyer moving through the marketplace in a ham-handed way and making optimization adjustments on a gross scale.

How AI is changing real-time bidding
The field of AI has a storied history. Since 1960, researchers have made steady progress at creating software that can perceive patterns in data better than humans can. The idea is simple enough: A person scheduling ads can look into the interactions of one or two variables at a time whereas smart software can simultaneously consider thousands of variables. A machine learning algorithm learns from all the attributes of each impression, treating each impression as data that contributes evidence toward thousands of simultaneous hypotheses. Instead of focusing on either behavioral or contextual targeting alone, machine learning predicts the value of an impression using all of these techniques together.

Equally important with machine learning are smart control systems. Sophisticated ad buying software excels by adjusting bids automatically in response to the changing competitive landscape. For example, rather than achieve even pacing throughout the day by buying an equal number of impressions each hour, smarter modern ad buying software adjusts pacing based on the availability of traffic, as well as its predicted conversion rate. This sophisticated software will vary bids based on the predicted probability of success (a click or conversion) instead of using the same bid for any impression that matches its hardcoded criteria. In the new world of real time bidding for exchange inventory, opportunities for smarter ad buying become even more viable because the software enables both cherry-picking the best impressions and the ability to stop campaigns on a dime.

Machine learning models also enable ad buying decisions to be extremely personalized. For example, the optimal frequency cap per day, or for a whole campaign, may not be a fixed value for every campaign or for every user. By including frequency along with other attributes in the model, an intelligent network can determine the exact value of showing an incremental impression to a given user, on a given page, at a given point in time.

What’s next
What nourishment does this software need? Artificial intelligence software is hungry for data. Billions of impressions, each of which can be coupled with prior user history that may be relevant to ad serving decisions, flow through the open mouth of large ad network databases each month. Taking advantage of this much data necessitates an experienced software development team to design and operate the large scale data processing clusters which manage it all. The impact of it all, though, is significant for users. Ads are increasingly relevant and can be uncannily accurate in presenting an appealing and timely call to action.

Reaching consumers with relevant and targeted ads is no longer a job for companies with a single trick. Ad networks are now emerging with a full bag of tricks to ready to capitalize on all that AI, smart controls, and large scale systems bring to table. The future of online advertising means using “artificial intelligence” to drive real results.

Mark Torrance is CTO at Rocket Fuel.