IBM’s Rangaiah on Moving Beyond Advertising to Customer Experiences

ORLANDO – Think of the last best experience you’ve had. According to Babs Rangaiah, executive partner of marketing solutions for the Interactive Experiences unit of IBM, this last-best becomes the minimum expectation for future experiences of a similar kind. Rangaiah uses E-ZPass as an example of how quickly customers’ expectations can change. “Once E-ZPass was […]

 
 

Could Blockchain Track TV Content? IBM’s Rangaiah Thinks So

We already know that IBM is building a blockchain for media buying. But could the technology also help companies understand the truth and the reach of content? At Cannes Lions, IBM and Mediaocean announced “a blockchain consortium for the digital media supply chain,” along with Unilever, Kellogg and Kimberly-Clark. A blockchain is a public, distributed, […]

 
 

Blockchain ‘Will Improve Quality Of Agency Life’: Cannes Panel

CANNES — A lot of industry insiders are talking these days about how the traditional ad agency is dying. That may or may not be true, depending on your persuasion. But a 2018 intervention by new blockchain technology could at least improve the quality of agencies’ lives in the foreseeable future. That was the hope […]

 
 

Blockchain Will Be Fast Enough To Manage Digital Ads: IBM’s Rangaiah

The technology used to process cryptocurrency doesn’t need to be particularly fast. At peak, there were barely 500,000 global Bitcoin transactions per day. When you think about using the same technology for digital ad management, however, it becomes clear that the infrastructure would need to cope with tens of millions of transactions per second. Many people […]

 
 

New Blockchain Ad Consortium Debates An End To Ad ‘Inertia’

CANNES — Worries from ad buyers and sellers over how portions of their money get siphoned off by ad-tech platforms have prompted an “inertia” in which players have become reticent to try new tools. But a panel of industry executives convened by Beet.TV debated how blockchain technology could usher in a new era of transparency […]

 
 

IBM, Mediaocean Scale Blockchain Offering For Unilever, Other Brands

CANNES – This week, we have already seen how blockchain infrastructure can help ensure the integrity of pork and mango supply chains. Now what could it do for advertising? A lot, according to ad-tech firm Mediaocean and IBM’s iX agency. They have partnered to launch what they are calling “a blockchain consortium for the digital […]

 
 

How Pork & Mangos Beckon Advertisers To Blockchain: IBM’s Rangaiah

Blockchain is still early in its life cycle of development – but could soon help advertisers and others track the provenance and history of what they buy. That is the new idea bubbling in some sections of ad-land, as technology companies look for ways to take the new infrastructure to new customer categories beside crypto-currency. […]

 
 

Unilever Will Use Blockchain To Cleanse Digital Supply Chain: IBM iX’s Babs Rangaiah

PALM SPRINGS, Calif – Behind Unilever’s public demand for greater trust on digital platforms is an ambitious plan by the global marketer to embrace blockchain technology. Its first step is to build a private blockchain to begin cleaning up the digital media supply chain, with its preponderance of middlemen and conflicting numbers. “Blockchain was built […]

 
 

Could Blockchain Improve Advertising Transparency? IBM’s Rangaiah Thinks So

CANNES – Who would ever have thought that the world’s biggest festival for celebrating creativity in marketing would have ended up discussing artificial intelligence, blockchain and cognitive technologies? Those were some of the trends on the lips of ad execs as Cannes Lions got underway early this week – but how could they help advertisers? […]

 
 

Advanced TV Offers Better Targeting, More Consumer Choices: IBM iX’s Rangaiah

How does “advanced” television in all of its forms—OTT, VOD, online—come to resemble good old-fashioned network TV? When its ad inventory and viewers are concentrated among a few big players. To be sure, the advantages of advanced TV include the ability to use data for better audience targeting and results measurement, Babs Rangaiah, Partner for […]

 
 

IBM iX’s Rangaiah On Holding Companies, The Internet Of Things

Whereas an advertising agency used to be the “right hand” to chief marketing officers, now it’s one of many fingers typically owned by a holding company. “The way the holding companies work is they buy a bunch of agencies, but they don’t really work together,” says Babs Rangaiah, Partner for Global Marketing Solutions at IBM […]