Rob Cukierman, Previous Head of Global Sales Strategy and Strategic Partnerships for Vevo and Daniel Oakins, Former Global Director at Grapeshot, Fill Key Roles as the Content Targeting Technology Leader Gives Programmatic Buyers the Ability to Directly Control Their Content Alignment and Generate Even Better Results with Their YouTube Ad Buys

Zefr, a technology company that provides precise content targeting solutions for brands advertising on YouTube, announced the rollout of a new and robust suite of content filters for YouTube that will give programmatic buyers direct control over the placement of their advertisements on the platform for the first time. Designed in response to advertisers mounting concerns over content alignment and adjacency in video, Zefr’s enhanced kids and English-only content filters will give programmatic buyers the immediate assurance they need that their video advertisements will appear in front of the precise video content they deem appropriate, while driving efficiencies and campaign effectiveness in the process.

In a recent Beta test, Omnicom Media Group media agency OMD utilized Zefr’s platform to target key consumers. The agency accessed Zefr’s new kids content filters to eliminate inappropriate videos from its campaigns and hone in on specific content that matched its brand preferences. As a result of this approach,  OMD drove better performance than expected on YouTube, generating a 45 percent View-Thru Rate at a very efficient cost per view.

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“Tools like Zefr’s targeting platform provide the precision and controls we need to mitigate risk of content adjacency, and to curate inventory that delivers on brand safety, quality and scale requirements,”  said George Manas, who leads performance marketing for Omnicom Media Group.

In order to ensure every brand’s video advertisement is adjacent to the right content on YouTube, Zefr utilizes a detailed combination of machine learning and human review to examine content and deploy campaigns at scale. The company has built an advanced data science featurization system and uses it to contextualize thousands of important characteristics per video creating unique labeling for each video it sees. To keep up with the speed of the platform, Zefr also captures the daily changes and nuances of videos in real-time to ensure brands can increase their ad’s impact and efficiency at scale.

To help meet demand from brands, Zefr is also expanding its leadership team with the appointments of Rob Cukierman as SVP of Strategy and Measurement, and Daniel Oakins as VP of Platform Commercialization. The addition of these two leaders with deep experience in data, contextual targeting, programmatic buying, measurement, and global sales bolsters the Company’s ability to scale to meet the need of programmatic buyers.

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“Rob and Daniel are both admired in the industry for their ability to scale and evolve technology solutions for advertisers,” said Toby Byrne, President of ZEFR. “While at Grapeshot, Daniel spearheaded the company’s Global strategy around its contextual intelligence product, and Rob led measurement and strategic solutions for Vevo and Nielsen. In both cases, their efforts directly impacted brands and advertisers looking to more effectively activate and measure their video targeting campaigns. We’re thrilled to bring these accomplished executives to Zefr as we expand our products and continue our growth.”

As the company’s SVP, Strategy and Measurement, Cukierman will lead Zefr’s measurement-driven brand solutions for the content targeting platform.  During his time as Head of Global Sales Strategy and Strategic Partnerships at Vevo, Cukierman developed an entirely new approach to data driven sales, programmatic and measurement to help the music video site achieve exponential growth. Prior to joining Vevo, Cukierman held several senior leadership roles at Nielsen, including Vice President, Digital Publisher Sales and Vice President, Business Development as well as at IAC, where he spent two years in business development and strategy.

As Zefr’s VP of Platform Commercialization, Oakins will be charged with leading the development of video targeting technology across the data buying spectrum.  Reporting into Zefr’s CTO, Oded Noy, he will be tasked with productizing new commercial opportunities, expanding product relationships with platforms and building out Zefr’s offerings to include more demand partners globally.

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