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Digilant’s Ed Montes: “We don’t see any connection to local media buying and the adoption of Data Management Platforms LatAm”

Content

Advertising technology providers have been present in the the Latin American market, particularly  in Brazil and Mexico for quite some time. Digilant, a global data management platform (DMP) headquartered in Boston is one of them. We talked to Ed Montes, CEO and co-founder of Digilant, about the opportunities and challenges his company faces. Montes is responsible for planning and implementing the company’s strategic direction, overseeing international operations, and delivering on the company’s vision. Prior to becoming the CEO at Digilant, Ed served as the Managing Director for Havas Digital.

The Highlights

The Interview

Ed MontesPortada: How difficult is it educating agencies and clients about the efficiency of Data Management Platforms and RTB?

Ed Montes, CEO Digilant.: “There is tremendous demand from agencies and clients for education about the real-time market and data driven media applications. In that regard it is not difficult to provide education or evangelism. The difficulty arises in moving from the education phase to the testing phase and from testing to full stream adoption. It is hard for marketers to take risks and be aggressive with new technologies but if they don’t they can find themselves behind competitors who have been more aggressive. The concept of “efficiency” is also one that can be widely abused or misrepresented. Efficiency is too often used as a proxy for “low cost” in the media world and that misses the opportunity that data driven marketing provides. Efficiency can also be defined as “productive without waste”, we really focus on that definition and determining the most effective media to purchase for our clients and the right valuation of that media. We emphasize data and media valuation and the positive results a client can obtain by thinking strategically about marketing effectiveness rather than in cheap media tonnage.

Particularly in Latin America, do you see a certain opposition from agencies to embrace DMP’s as the whole “kick back” model does not apply to digital media buying (or does it?).

Ed Montes, CEO Digilant.: “We don’t see any connection to local media buying practices and the adoption of Data Management Platforms in Lat Am.  I think the bigger impediments are the lack of available data in LatAm and the low cost of digital media relative to markets like the US.  Low media prices promote volume based buying as the short-term cost of data and advanced optimization can exceed media CPMs.  Unfortunately it’s a short sighted approach that runs the risk of exposing brands to some low quality environments, burnout of creative message and in some cases fraudulent or un-viewable impressions.

What ad categories , in terms of clients using your services have you made the most forays in when it comes to Mexico and Brazil?

Ed Montes, CEO Digilant.: “We see a wide range of clients including CPG, TELCO, AUTO, QSR, Insurance, Retail, Cosmetics, Travel.”

 

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