Mapping The Power Of Adtech In Modern Marketing

In the age of screenagers', one of the biggest challenges that marketers face is how to hold the attention of their target audience. In the age of short-form content, there is too little window available for them to catch the eyeballs of their potential customers.

Deliberating on ‘The power of ad tech in modern marketing' at the BW Momentum Conference 2024, Tom Stany, Senior Brand & Category Marketing Manager, Boult Audio, highlighted how marketing looked a decade ago when billboards and TV were in focus and marketers shot their advertisements in places and hoped that a certain proportion of their target audience would notice it. With the digital age, marketing techniques have also drastically evolved. In this, the role of ad tech tools ensures that every penny that marketers spend gives them the optimum return.

He credited this massive shift to the internet revolution and smartphone penetration and thanked telecom providers. He said, “When the screen time increases, it is a good time for marketers out there.”

This digital revolution provides the opportunity to target the same customers through multiple channels. The most important aspect of ad tech tools is that they steal time from customers's daily lives and help marketers place their products in that chunk of time.

To this, Akhil Sethi, Head of Digital Marketing, Harman/JBL shared that to reach their TG, marketers needed a mediator in earlier times. “It could be a print publisher or an electronic broadcaster. But now, digital has disrupted all conventional barriers. With the help of ad tech tools, marketers can directly reach their target audience," he noted. 

Kapil Thukral, General Manager, Digital Marketing, Tally Solutions, pointed out that one of the significant changes that modern ad tech makes is ‘the dependence on human intervention or dependence on the capability of a person executing that media plan has reduced’. For him, ad tech quickens the speed of campaign planning and execution as well.

On Privacy Concerns

We are all aware that ad tech tools hold the power to collect vast amounts of data from users to deliver customised ads. However, the experts mentioned this as a pushback from the customers, owing to data theft. The panel suggested that the best practice is to build the repository of a first-party database. It may make targeting a bit more difficult, but still, it’s a much-needed corrective measure, they emphasised.

On The Growing Power Of AI

What artificial intelligence brings to the table is known to all. Convinced that it has moved beyond merely being a buzzword, the experts expressed that it will continue to trend in the next few years as well. AI will not just simplify targeting but also make the entire marketing process end-to-end much easier, they added.

Abhinav Kumar Jha

BW Reporters The author is a trainee correspondent at BW Businessworld.