VIEQUES, PR — It’s one of the few brands to operate its own private programmatic ad exchange. But that doesn’t mean US supermarket giant Target agrees with predictions, from some quarters, that all media will be sold on this automated basis.
Target operates its own Bullseye Exchange, a marketplace in which Target pulls the strings.
“I don’t think everything is (going to be) programmatic,” Target digital marketing and media senior group manager Patrick Reiter tells Beet.TV in this panel interview. “There are relationships that transcend programmatic.
“Think about the (upcoming) Olympics. That could have a programmatic layer – but maybe there are unique content elements that can’t be achieved programmatically. I don’t envisage a world that’s 100% programmatic, but a lot more can be programmatic.”
For a brand with such a strong commitment to programmatic, Reiter’s comments may seem surprising.
Reiter did not disagree when panel interviewer Ashley J. Swartz, the Furious Corp CEO and founder, told him: “You’re spending mid $150mn to $200mn, it’s not an experiment anymore.”
But Reiter says he neither uses the “p” word anymore nor is focused on spending.
“I know how much we spend,” he replied. “For me, that’s not necessarily a focus. I’m more concerned with the return than the investment. I don’t think about investment all that often, it’s not all that important.
“It’s broader than just RTB media. It’s about leveraging automation to deliver the right message to the right customer at the right time. It’s creative, targeting, measurement, economics… all these factors come together in a discipline we like to call ‘automated marketing’.”
This video was produced at the Beet.TV executive retreat presented by Videology. You can find more videos from the session here.
