Adtech veteran Wayne Blodwell launches The Programmatic Advisory to meet growing demand for transparency
Wayne Blodwell, an adtech veteran with years of experience leading major agencies’ adoption of such technologies, has today (5 September) announced his exit from Dentsu Aegis Network to launch a new consultancy dubbed The Programmatic Advisory.
Wayne Blodwell
Blodwell has served as head of programmatic product activation at Dentsu trading desk Amplifi (following earlier stints as the same network’s iProspect, and before that GroupM’s Xaxis) and begun the roll out with transparency as the consultancy's USP.
The execution of online advertising campaigns using automated, or ‘programmatic’, technologies is fast becoming ‘the new normal’, with approximately nine-in-ten stakeholders in the media business using such wares, according to the latest numbers from the IAB.
However, with the rapid development and adoption of such technologies (resulting in a complex ecosystem) there is now a knowledge-gap in the market; and when paired with growing wariness over issues such as click fraud, ad viewability, etc., there is also a need for greater transparency in the market, according to Blodwell.
This was recently evidenced in the US with the recent row over the ANA report into media rebates, with media agencies there indignant at the findings, claiming that the trade body’s report is based on hearsay, etc.
Blodwell told The Drum that his outfit aimed to meet demand commercial and operational transparency by leveraging his experience of being one of the earliest adopters of such technology to provide.
He added: “The Programmatic Advisory exists to provide non conflicted advice on how the application of programmatic can transform businesses on a case by case basis. Today there are far too many blanket recommendations made by non-experts that are connected to commercial models based on media spend, this creates a major lack of objectivity which can result in poor practice and which clouds the longevity and growth of the marketing industry”.
Blodwell is supported by advertising industry veteran Barrie Cree who brings over 30 years of experience ranging from TV buying at the UK’s largest agencies through to global marketing strategy for some of the world’s leading brands.
Dentsu Aegis Network was unable to provide The Drum with the name of Blodwell’s successor at Amplifi by time of publication (although it is expected to name a successor in the near future).
However, news of his departure comes the same day as the network agency named Stefan Bardega as the UK CEO of its performance-based marketing outfit iProspect (where Blodwell served as head of programmatic until April this year).