Media Two Interactive

human element

The Human Element of Advertising

Has advertising evolved to the point where all decisions are automated? Not at Media Two.

Automation has completely changed the advertising ecosystem – from programmatic buying to artificial intelligence, the technological accomplishments are staggering. Most ads are bought programmatically using increasingly complex algorithms, and it is great for maximizing efficiency and effectiveness, which means saving time and money. We are able to make faster media buying decisions, smarter data-driven optimizations and provide a deeper level of analysis than ever before. It’s pretty incredible.

It may even seem that as technology carries more and more weight, there is less reliance on the people behind the technology. While we certainly embrace automation in all its splendor, this could not be further from the truth. In fact, leaning on tech more actually increases the need for human oversight. 

There is substantial brainpower that goes into executing strong media campaigns. The good news is that it’s a shift in brainpower from mundane tasks of sending insertion orders and downloading spreadsheets to managing the technology and analyzing the performance to continually improve upon the outcome for the advertiser.

Humans understand what it means to improvise, anticipate and take risks. Sometimes risk is required for great reward, as seen in some of the most successful marketing campaigns.  

The algorithms are only as good as the data that feeds them, and the data is only as good as the strategy it informs. A programmatic platform could not perform without the people involved who are constantly monitoring and optimizing the campaigns. We set the boundaries to guide the technology and anticipate where the tech could potentially go.

We can bring context to the execution. No, I don’t mean contextual targeting. Context for the user’s intention and other factors at play. Context for extrapolating meaningful insights from the numbers.

If a platform is set to use an automated bidding strategy to maximize conversions, but there are not enough conversions to model against then the platform will essentially just spend the budget without working towards conversions. It is not informed enough to create a different goal while building the conversion model.

When media teams aren’t burdened with the tasks that a technology platform can do more efficiently, it frees up time to apply our expertise to more challenging issues. We can spend time on broader thinking and more strategic cross-platform utilization.

Technology doesn’t replace people. Technology needs people to activate it and is only as good as the people behind the technology. We use automation for the things it’s really good at, while ensuring we keep the human element in the driver’s seat as we execute our campaigns.

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