Kerstin Clessienne is Director of Digital Strategy at Havas Media with over a decade’s experience in digital media planning. adsquare sat down with Kerstin to discuss the role of mobile data and the future of programmatic advertising.

As one of the leading media agencies, Havas Media were early adopters of programmatic advertising. What role with automated buying play at Havas in 2015?

In Germany and beyond all signs point to a user-centric approach, the basis of which is accurate data from reliable platforms. Technology at Havas has surpassed infancy; Programmatic offers superior opportunities for clients to reach their target group, thus we’re working with automated buying every day. Havas will continue to leverage this solution, increasing proficiency throughout the year.

What exactly are the advertiser assets enabled through programmatic advertising?

Firstly, programmatic advertising puts the advertiser in control. They’re able to buy relevant ad impressions only, reducing wasted impressions. In addition to this, advertisers now have the option to model tailored audiences, something that isn’t available with traditional advertising. With real-world data, advertisers are able to contact people in exactly the right context, effectively eliminating the old spray-and-pray methods. There is one setback from the publisher side, many still confuse programmatic with real-time bidding. We need publishers to be more open to programmatic buying.

Mobile spendings are continuously growing, but there’s still an imbalance when it comes to time spend. What are the reasons for that?

A lot of classical display advertising has transitioned to mobile, yet there are still so many companies that still aren’t mobile ready, not wanting to invest in mobile optimized sites or landing pages. It reminds me of back in 2000, when companies were deliberating over whether they needed a website! Mobile should be as prominent in campaign planning as it is in people’s lives. Slowly but surely, the gap is closing.

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