Programmatic buying is future of all media, says Mondelez VP of media
Programmatic buying will become the dominant method of purchase across all media channels including TV in the near future, according to FMCG giant Mondelez’s VP of media and consumer engagement Bonin Bough.
Speaking to The Drum at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity Bough said the whole world will become “digital exchange based” and that brands must ensure they have smart data strategies in place to reap the benefits.
“TV is probably going to be traded on digital exchanges sooner and more rapidly than digital itself was – everything will be programmatic buying.
“If you see that as the future then data becomes very important to you as an organisation – just like a stock exchange – the last thing you want to do is be a dumb buyer and trade on a stock exchange with no data – the same goes for us,” he said.
However, it can only be fully capitalised on with the use of smart data, according to Bonin.
“It’s one thing to have the agencies to be able to do it, but if we as an organisation are not set up with the kind of consumer data management we need then we’re losing a lot of the value. We want to be able to retarget customers we know represent the top 20 per cent of buyers, or loyalists – so getting the data strategy right here is crucial.
“Also the data that mobile throws off – the telcos for example can provide on aggregate – what the average shopper does after they leave a retailer – do they walk by a billboard for example – the next thing we can do is look at tying purchase data, historical customer data, loyalty data to that. The people who will win in data strategy will be those that can bring together mobile data and broader customer data,” he said.
Mondelez is eyeing the creation of single customer views across its brand portfolio, which includes Cadbury and Oreo, as it continues to focus on data and mobile to boost competitive edge.
Bough said that creating unified customer profiles is part of its long-term road map. “We are aware we need to not look at our calendars but at our watches, and be even faster…We want to be able to take all the rich customer data, whether it be cookie or sales information, and tie it all together, so yes it’s on our road map,” he said.
In the short term it will focus on other initiatives including its mobile-only deal with Google, which will see them co-develop mobile commerce tools to drive in-store purchases across its brands.
Bonin said the aim is to have its entire brand portfolio mobile-enabled by the end of this year. “If I put a piece of creative into the mobile space and have nowhere to direct people from it what’s the point? The Google deal helps us do this so we can build mobile-specific sites for all our properties,” he said.
Mobile and data forms the bedrock of the majority of its activity, having revealed it is dedicating 10 per cent of its entire budget to mobile earlier this year. This will see it focus investment on four core areas: using mobile as a vehicle to extend video reach, social TV, impulse-driven media , including how it uses geo location and daypart targeting, and in-store and loyalty.
“Mobile has meant that for the first time we are able to have a relationship directly with the consumer at the point of purchase. We’ve been able to have a relationship with them via a retailer with loyalty cards, but never directly until now.
“We continue to see big gains here. We have seen that the people who do use their mobile phones in store are more likely to buy an impulse product in the shop – they also usually have twice the basket size and come back to the shop and are between 24 and 36 years old, which is a core demographic,” he said.
Mondelez favours in-house customer data management to ensure it can unlock the full potential of customer data, according to Bonin.
“We have learned a lot from the real time marketing we have done with Oreo for example, learning how to create creative in real time. The next stage is to analyse data insight and then buy in real time based on that data set,” he added.
Earlier this year Mondelez revealed a major initiative to work with emerging start-ups to “identify technologies that could create disproportionate advantage for us”, according to Bonin - a project it now refers to as Mobile Futures.
This saw more than 300 start-ups present to the group’s US teams, and it has since whittled the short list to 22 start-ups. It chose nine pilots to run, all of which will deliver within 90 days.
“Our US teams have therefore seen the technologists that are shaping the future. We are focusing on delivering all things within 90 days – so operating at the speed of a start-up – then we will identify what works and what to scale.
“The next stage is to take those technologies and either scale them or find replica technologies – so find other technologies around the world that do the same, so that we can stitch them together to create a network and then buy at scale,” he said.
It is extending the Mobile Futures initiative to Brazil, and two other countries this year which it is yet to reveal.
Mondelez international was previously the chocolate and confectionery arm of Kraft.