Agencies and DMP campaigns

13 Mar 2016 » AAM

Before I started working with Adobe Audience Manager, I had a very limited knowledge of the on-line advertising market. In the past, I had managed Google AdWords campaigns, but that was all I knew. Now that I have been working for some time with a few AAM customers, I have realised that the market for on-line campaigns is huge. There are many actors involved: agencies, trading desks, DMPs, DSPs, SSPs… I still have to learn more about this market.

Many companies, and my customers have not been an exception, prefer to run their on-line campaigns through agencies. This makes sense, as it requires a very good knowledge of the on-line advertising industry to create successful campaigns.So, if your company has started using a DMP and you rely on an agency (or many), here you have some tips I have been gathering from my experience:

  • Make sure the agency understands the DMP. It is important that the agency is familiar with the DMP, what are your plans to use it for, the advantages of this tool… Their tendency will be to bypass it and rely on what they already know, DSPs, which will make your investment in the DMP useless. I have even seen some opposition to use DMPs, so you may need some persuasion.
  • Do not give the agency access to the DMP. One of my clients, initially, wanted their agency to run the DMP; however, after pondering the pros and cons, they immediately changed their mind and decided that the DMP would be run internally. Remember that most agencies have never worked with a DMP and probably will not have the right training. Only you know well enough your own business, the web analytics implementation, the website, the naming convention… If you think you need to provide credentials to the agency, do not let them create the segments and only give them read-only access. If you are using many agencies, then I would definitely recommend to keep all of them away of the DMP, as they will see all segments, not only those intended to them.
  • Have your own distinctive account in the DSPs. Some agencies have just one global account with each DSP. This makes it easier to manage the campaigns, as the agency employees do not need to switch from one account to another, when working for various advertisers. However, now that you have a DMP sending segments to the DSP, using a shared account, nothing prevents the agency from using your segments with your competitors. You should get proof, or request it yourself to the DSP, that the segments sent from the DMP are only going to be used for your campaigns.
  • Include the agency in relevant communications regarding the DMP. Even if the agency is not going to manage the DMP, invite them to all DMP related conversations or meetings where campaigns are going to be discussed. You might not need to include them in the implementation details, but they should be part of the strategy decisions.


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