APG|SGA programmatic advertising: zero in on target groups.

Michael Pevec heads the Programmatic & Automation division at APG|SGA. He is responsible for the strategy, concept and roll-out of new platforms, and develops solutions for sales of programmatic digital APG|SGA products. In this interview he explains why APG|SGA is so focused on programmatic and what he has planned for 2021.

Programmatic is a hot topic in the out of home market. It’s a term that, until now, was primarily used in online marketing. Can you explain how programmatic functions in the public arena and what advantages it offers?
Michael Pevec: ‘Programmatic advertising in out of home media essentially means the fully automated sale of digital advertising space on dedicated trading platforms. In our case, that’s a supply-side platform (SSP), or sales platform, called VIOOH, and various demand-side platforms (DSPs), or purchasing platforms. It is really only when an SSP and a DSP processes the transaction that it becomes what we call “programmatic”.Fully automated trading makes digital campaign planning even faster and more efficient. We are now in a position to programmatically offer one hour as the minimum bookable unit. That’s something you can’t do with traditional methods. The granularity (breakdown) of campaign management means we can respond to factors that have an influence on campaigns, such as the weather or people’s mobility behaviour, and target the campaign even more accurately.’

What is the wider ecosystem here?
‘APG|SGA is a partner of the supply side platform (SSP) VIOOH. This SSP, specifically developed for out of home media, offers a wide international range. It is linked to all the relevant demand side platforms (DSPs). This precision ecosystem means we can offer our advertisers efficient and data-driven international management of their campaigns.’

 

Having fully embraced this new area, what does APG|SGA hope to gain from it?
‘APG|SGA has made a huge investment in screens in recent years and is the Swiss leader for DOOH. As such, we see ourselves as the drivers of this pioneering digital development. Our entry into programmatic out of home advertising followed on from a clear strategic decision. We are currently in the midst of the implementation phase in programmatic advertising, having laid the foundation in 2019. Last summer, we rolled out the first national programmatic campaigns. There have been many more programmatic implementations since then. We are working on the assumption that 2021 will bring further significant growth here.’ 

The promise to advertisers is that they can direct digital campaigns at individual target groups with greater precision. What is the basis for that?
‘Location precision has always been one of the advantages of out of home advertising. With programmatic campaigns, advertisers and agencies can direct their messages using additional targeting opportunities. The key to this is precise data. The advantage we have is that our industry already has enormous amounts of data. We collect it at our own advertising panel sites, as well as from mobile target groups, who leave digital tracks in public spaces with their smartphones.’

Can you explain in broad terms how that works?
‘Our partner intervista collects data exclusively for APG|SGA from individual target groups using geofencing and beacons. That applies in particular to SBB railway stations, City ePanels and Zurich Airport. Using this research data, we can say with a high degree of probability which target group can be found in those places within defined timeframes over the course of the day.’

What about data protection?
‘Participants in the intervista panel are actively recruited and have given their consent for their data to be used for research purposes. The anonymity of participants is guaranteed at all times and it’s all done within the bounds of Swiss data protection legislation.’

Hand on heart – how relevant is the transmission? We are talking about a public space where you find many different types of people.
‘If you use it smartly, this new technology can achieve a very high relevance of transmission. Hard digital performance data from SPR+ is an additional foundation for using programmatic advertising on the basis of impressions. But of course we don’t and never will want to transmit to individuals – but by all means to defined target groups, who are known to move in front of a screen in disproportionate numbers at certain times.’

People often get confused between smart campaigns and programmatic. Can you explain the difference?
‘That’s a good question, and not that easy to answer. Unlike “programmatic”, “smart campaign” isn’t a defined term, so it can be interpreted and applied in different ways. The key characteristic is that a smart campaign works without SSPs or DSPs. Take weather-targeting – you can do it smartly by delivering different motifs for a weather-related campaign to match various forms of weather, and with flexible booking on a daily basis.’

APG|SGA has announced that it will continuously expand the number of its programmatically bookable screens. How is this working out?
‘We are on schedule. The goal for Q1 2020 was to achieve national coverage of 500 full HD screens and more than 770 million impressions per month. And we’ve done that. Now, our branding zones in the major Swiss railway stations can be programmatically booked as well.’

Will ePanels and eBoards only be available programmatically in the future?
‘No. Not at all. Our digital products are still a high-reach medium, one that can achieve great reach extension within a very short period. With the public’s media consumption becoming more fragmented all the time, I am sure that rapid reach extension within a target group will become even more important in the future. With programmatic, we are effectively offering our customers an additional tool for their setting that can take on special functions within a campaign.’
 

Left: Michael Pevec, Head of Programmatic & Automation, right: Sükrü Gökdemir, Junior Programmatic Campaign Manager