Programmatic Advertising in Action: 3 Examples of Successful Campaigns

Programmatic Advertising in Action: 3 Examples of Successful Campaigns

As of 2020, programmatic advertising accounted for 89% of cumulative digital display advertising spending. This translates to nearly $97 billion in total expenditures. Programmatic advertising expenditures have more than tripled since 2014. Talk about growing by leaps and bounds!

While crunching the numbers is a great way to outline the success of programmatic advertising, looking at individual success stories paints a clearer picture. Before you go out and hire a programmatic ad agency, it is important that you see this methodology in action.

In the article below, the experts at Insights ABM have identified three examples of programmatic advertising success stories. These are no fly-by-night companies. Our list includes the world’s largest search engine, a sports broadcasting giant, and a staple in the food industry.

How Does Programmatic Advertising Work?

Before we get into the campaigns, let’s take a closer look at the way that programmatic advertising works. Put simply, programmatic advertising campaigns rely on software algorithms to automatically purchase online advertisements with real-time bidding. The alternative is buying ad real estate from publishers directly.

Like other digital campaigns, programmatic ads include an abundance of content that is focused on a specific goal. However, it targets specific users based on a variety of factors including:

  • Browsing history
  • Search habits
  • Demographic information

For instance, pet owners that frequently surf the web looking for the latest and greatest dog toys are going to be targeted for related ads. 

While programmatic marketing typically consists of image-centric content, video and audio ads can also be delivered via these algorithms.

Notable Programmatic Advertising Campaigns

As promised, we will take a closer look at some of the most notable programmatic advertising campaigns.

Google

Of course, the world’s largest search engine also lays its claim to one of the greatest programmatic advertising campaigns in history. Google started marketing its search app with programmatic algorithms all the way back in 2014. This was one of the first large-scale programmatic ad campaigns used.

As an early adopter, Google achieved massive success with its marketing strategy. The company began by gathering extensive third-party and first-party user data. The great minds at Google used this data to build a comprehensive ad targeting algorithm. 

Google’s programmatic campaign boosted brand awareness, reached more users, and displayed ads to consumers more frequently.

Kellogg’s

Kellogg’s was another early adopter of programmatic advertising. They launched their campaign in 2014, as well. The corporation was focused on driving offline sales through targeted digital ads.

Kellogg’s is heavily dependent on offline sales. Think about it — when is the last time you ordered a box of cereal on Amazon? Kellogg’s had to overcome unique challenges when implementing its programmatic campaign.

Primarily, Kellogg’s focused on increasing viewability rates, which is an essential key performance indicator (KPI) for programmatic advertising. The company’s viewability rose by nearly 80% during its campaign, which is a dramatic increase.

Turner Sports

Turner Sports launched its programmatic ad campaign a few years after our other examples. Its mission was to increase brand awareness for the “NBA on TNT” prior to the 2016 “Season Tip-Off.”

Turner Sports conducted extensive research so that the company could gather key information about its target audience. This made its programmatic advertising efforts more efficient. The results were a substantial increase in brand awareness and great ratings for its new TV programming.

Programmatic Ad Agency in Dallas

Now that you have seen the results for yourself, it is time to get in on the action. If you want to take advantage of the many benefits of programmatic advertising, then you need an experienced digital marketing partner like Insights ABM.

Contact us and let’s make things happen for your brand! We offer free consultations and a body of work that speaks for itself. 

Joe Cantu

Joe is a digital marketing strategist and media buying/planning leader with 13+ years of expertise in marketing strategy and program management, omnichannel campaign delivery, brand building, data analytics, and customer experience/UX optimization. He has helped drive growth for industry-leading clients, including F500/F100 firms.