MarTech Interview with Laurel Rossi, CMO at Infillion

Should CTV be on the radar of every digital advertiser? Laurel Rossi, CMO at Infillion weighs in:

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Welcome to this MarTech Series chat Laurel, tell us about your marketing journey so far and what excites you today about marketing and advertising? What are some of the top trends you’ve been more focused on in today’s digital advertising niche and in what ways do you feel the marketplace for digital ads is set to shift and why?

My journey has always been a combination of building brands and building companies. Marketing and advertising are great ingredients but understanding the economics and the financial opportunities define success or failure. The convergence of media driven by the acceleration of digital has transformed the marketplace and has made all media accessible to all kinds of advertisers. That trend has created a bit of a golden age in media. The marketplace is ripe for innovation as “streaming everything” is consumers’ pastime of choice.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on the growing importance and use of CTV in today’s ad mix and how that is set to impact the way advertisers plan their projects?

The majority of U.S. adults spend most of their time consuming video on streaming services (eMarketer). This has made connected television (CTV) the most influential device in the house. With limited amount of budget to subscribe to streaming services, many consumers look towards free or ad supported content. Marketers are very aware of this consumer shift to streaming. For marketers who want to engage more deeply with consumers, with the most relevant content and executions, CTV and streaming finally provides the platform to honor consumers’ time, attention and privacy with relevant communications that also deliver great business results.

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In a crowded product marketplace what are some of the things that marketers and advertisers can do to build better ad experiences and ad journeys for their audience?

Using data to deliver messaging with greater relevancy is the most important aspect of this renaissance in media, brought on by digital-everywhere—especially CTV. The new data imperative drives targeting but it can also drive total brand experiences. We built Infillion on the premise that opt-in gives us the first indication that the consumer is already engaged and interested—allowing us to start our journey one degree closer to brand salience and brand loyalty.

Can you share a few examples of the most innovative ad experiences you’ve come across in the recent past?

We know that video across all devices is an accessible and engaging medium that consumers prefer. Our consumer study fielded in December told us that the majority of consumers expect personalization in exchange for their data and prefer to receive relevant messaging in exchange for their information. It’s been exciting to see how video advertising can evolve with new features like direct to product links. We have begun to create shoppable advertising that cannot be mistaken with old fashioned direct response “buy now” advertising. It honors consumers’ time and attention by allowing them to put a product in their carts in a few clicks, and provides engaging brand messages that also celebrates the brand. In my book this is a win-win-win.

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A few adtech tools that you feel should be a part of every digital advertiser’s radar?

CTV with highly-produced, relevant creative, via Infillion’s TrueX product which we offer on a guaranteed, cost-per-engagement basis. Other adtech tools that are “must have” include data sets that provide a dynamic view of the consumer. We are very engaged with location data for example via our Gimbal business which provides an innovative data set that focus on consumer patterns before a sale or transaction. Combining that data with additional data sets gives the advertiser a more frictionless path to relevance that honors consumers’ time.

Some last thoughts, takeaways, digital marketing and martech-adtech tips and best practices before we wrap up!

The industry should be focused on using technology to deliver a more modern approach to marketing—one that respects the fact that whether it’s AVOD, TVOD or SVOD in video for example—that consumers have an expectation that in exchange for their time, attention and privacy we will deliver relevant, fewer non-interruptive experiences of value to them. Addressability will place more responsibility on digital, martech and adtech players to innovate against this principle.