Calling out the jargon that mystify the world of the new age marketer.

If that word cloud caught your attention, I'm sure you're reading this because you either know all the words there or maybe none at all. 

Let’s begin with Programmatic Advertising. Let’s decode the word “programmatic” it in simple terms means- “of the nature of or according to a programme, schedule, or method.” That’s exactly what it is. It’s a great way of marrying the supply side of available inventory of publishers to the demand side of advertisers. This to my mind in the near future may not be a term restricted to digital and can be applicable for the entire gamut of available advertising inventory.

So if you have identified a certain audience/geography/keywords/etc to target. – basically a set of rules/guidelines/framework for your advertising and want to serve ads basis that plan, then you can advertise on inventory that will deliver on that plan by helping you streamline your buying and serving of ads basis that across a set of publishers who deliver on the set criteria. There are advantages and disadvantages but that discussion we can have another day. My point of view is that if you have a budget constraint and want to experiment with a larger base/universe of publishers that cater to your target audience for example – this would be a good bet, as it would also be when you have the really meaty budgets which allow you to extract the true value of scale of this network. For more read this: https://www.iab.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/IAB_Digital_Simplified_Programmatic_Sept_2013.pdf

Is it only RTB? That’s the other term – real time bidding which simply means bidding for something in real time. The answer is no. All programmatic advertising is not necessarily RTB, though it can be basis what you require to deliver on.

What about native advertising? Let’s then decode the word “native” which means "associated with the place or circumstances of a person's birth". So native advertising then would just be the seamless integration of ads with the environment in which they are hosted in a clever yet subtle way to help them blend in, in a way where the association doesn’t seem forced. So be it image, video or content or even product placement it’s been happening from a long time and the term to my mind has only picked up steam because it sounds so good :) It actually works as well as it sounds too, esp. since good content will garner good eyeballs and seamless integration of marketing messages into an environment like that is and always has been a winning card !

Another term that plagues our world is “Big Data”. Big Data is a term for data sets that are so large or complex that traditional data processing applications are inadequate. The term often refers simply to the use of predictive analytics or certain other advanced methods to extract value from data, and seldom to a particular size of data set. While accuracy in big data may lead to more confident decision making, and better decisions can result in greater operational efficiency, cost reduction and reduced risk, it almost seems like suddenly the world has become over-burdened with this word, and Atlas is soon going to shrug it off!

Like they say, all data is a liability till it becomes an asset. So while we may have lots of old data that is now available online and lots of new data coming our way – the Big question is how are we making it into smaller bite sized pieces of insights and leveraging them while still staying focused on the larger picture and not getting carried away with disjointed data pieces that come our way.

So where is all this Big Data? Heard of Cloud Storage? What about Cloud Solutions, Cloud Computing and other terms that may make Atlas not only shrug but also want to stand up and just look at the sky! So here’s the silver lining on this one – the Cloud refers to – hold your breath….it refers to the “internet”. Yes, you read that right :) Cloud Storage is networked storage, or disk space, available over a specific network - the Internet and accessible is from multiple distributed and connected resources that comprise a cloud.

Speaking of the Internet, I’m sure you’ve come across the three famous letters and the rock stars of this decade – IOT, a.k.a the Internet of Things. I like to call it connected devices, where the web and the physical world meet. The Internet of Things (IoT) is a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines, objects, animals or people that are provided with unique identifiers and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction. Information technology coming together with operational technology and allowing unstructured machine-generated data to be analyzed for insights that will drive improvements. It’s an interesting space and will redefine our physical environments. Know more here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=7&v=QaTIt1C5R-M

 How about AI, VR and AR? Heard those yet?

Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality. Artificial intelligence (AI) is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chances of success. John McCarthy, who coined the term in 1956, defines it as "the science and engineering of making intelligent machines." 

Virtual reality is the creation of a virtual world through which users can interact. It takes in to account real objects and places them in such a way that they give a better physical appearance. It replicates and recreates real-life sensory experiences like sound, touch, smell, sight and taste.

Augmented reality is the advanced concept of virtual reality and blends real life with virtual reality to create an interactive environment. It helps further augment everyday objects and enhance every detail.

How about terms like DCO, GMV, One View of the Customer, et al.? Dynamic creative optimization refers to creatives which can be changed/altered in real-time basis a set of rules/filters to appeal better or become more personalized for a customer at different stages of the person interacting/being served.

Gross merchandise value is just total sales monetary value for merchandise sold through a particular marketplace over a certain time frame.

One view of the customer is just a unified view of a customer across channels and transactions across the customer lifecycle in the Omni-channel environment, to help cater to a market of one.

So while the purpose of advancement is to help uncomplicate and simplify, guess the onslaught of jargon has managed to do the exact opposite :)

Sanchita Johri

(The views expressed by the author are solely those of the author in personal capacity)