Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, (April 09, 2015)
Search marketers familiar with auction-based advertising could have a new opportunity if the trend continues. Picture this: One ad budget, five advertising channels, and an automated auction-based platform that works similar to those focused on search like Bing Ads and Google AdWords. It can allocate budgets across channels, in addition to search engine marketing, depending on the need. Some might call this search-social-display-video platform programmatic, but at the purest sense think of automation. The complete picture’s a vision. The self-service platform is only partially built.
Accomplice is working to build more channels into its platform, such as Twitter, to automate auction-based bidding based on specific objectives or key performance indicators set up in advance. It already automates and makes recommendations for paid and organic advertising on search and some social sites, supported by analytics to support the goals and objectives.
Auction-based budgeting can vary from hour to hour, and in theory, the platform will adjust based on performance levels. “Typically, a human will go in to a platform to push money around based on what they see, but it doesn’t automate that allocation,” said Brian Lewis, Accomplice co-founder and chief data scientist.
Lewis said an increase in CPA could cause the platform to automatically move funds from one media to another based on short-term volatility or long-term trends. If a campaign performs so badly that it should be automatically paused, it doesn’t turn off forever, because it only means that it’s not performing well compared with others at that moment. The platform could reactivate an ad campaign that was previously paused.
Platforms like this will cause the industry to rethink organizational structures and appoint one person or team to oversee budgets and teams focused on search, social, display, video and other media. Display is not a media that the platform optimizes today, but Lewis said it could in the future.
This automated engine is the reason that companies like Intel, LUNABar, and Red Frog Events have or continue to use Accomplice’s platform. It’s also a reason why talent and literary agency WME | IMG recently contributed to a Series A funding investment. It brings total funding in the company to $7 million since being founded in 2013.
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