SANTA BARBARA, CA – With the rebranding of AT&T’s Xandr on the heels of the acquisition of AppNexus, brand engagement can become more of a reality in the eyes of programmatic veteran Art Muldoon. “Having worked with AppNexus since 2010, we’ve really seen the evolution of programmatic turn into a people-based marketing endeavor,” says Muldoon, who co-founded Accordant Media and is now Co-CEO of Amnet Group US.
In this interview with Beet.TV at the recent Xandr Relevance Conference, Muldoon says that after hearing talk about consumers, data, technology, reach, engagement and quality content “it’s really coming together more than it’s ever have before.”
Accordant became part of Amnet Group following Accordant’s 2016 acquisition by Dentsu Aegis Group. Amnet is Dentsu Aegis’s global programmatic unit.
Muldoon says the “exciting challenges” ahead are on the creative side, the engagement side and also on the consumer side. “We realize that consumers are more educated than ever about advertising and how they engage with advertising.”
With entities like Xandr taking shape, the industry has “more options than we ever had to really make that mission of brand engagement to be a reality.”
Having cut his teeth on the digital side, Muldoon sees the immersive storytelling properties of television intersecting with engagement. “It’s really coming into play that the programmatic capabilities and TV immersion are at an intersection and a crossroads.
Asked about Xandr’s stated desire to be a catalyst for change on both the buy-side and sell-side of advertising, he says the company is emerging at a time when there’s a track record to the evolution of DSP’s and DMP’s.
“It’s pretty exciting if you’re Xandr I’m sure right now to see all the ingredients you have and the opportunities to do things right from the start. So it’s a great time for them.”
This video is part of a series leading up to, and covering the Xandr Relevance Conference in Santa Barbara. For more videos from the series, please visit this page. This Beet.TV program is sponsored by Xandr, a unit of AT&T.
