Can "Ad Tech" and "Brand" Find a Common Language? ―The Present of Brand Strategy Transformed by Digital (Part 2)

Hello. Under the theme "The Present of Brand Strategy Transformed by Digital," we'd like to focus this time on the relationship between modern "ad tech" and "brand."

With the rise of digital marketing, ad tech terminology—symbolized by three-letter acronyms like DSP, SSP, RTB, and DMP—has emerged one after another, now dominating the advertising industry.

Meanwhile, as information saturates across various media, "brand"—which serves as a key reference point for customers choosing products and services—has become increasingly vital.

However, those in marketing roles focused on the "brand" perspective may feel a disconnect—have you ever sensed a disconnect between your viewpoint and how to effectively leverage the logic of "ad tech"?
Conversely, while the "ad tech" industry frequently emphasizes the importance of "brand," it often seems unable to access truly substantive discussions on the subject.

Today, as digital marketing expands into existing mass media and offline touchpoints, becoming central to brand building, integrating these elements—that is, establishing a common language between "ad tech" and "brand"—has never been more critical.

The Evolution of Ad Tech Approaching Brand Thinking

To put it bluntly, "ad tech" was often discussed primarily in terms of optimizing targeting efficiency for web ads or media utilization from a sales promotion perspective. Consequently, even when it mentioned "branding," the focus was mainly on "impressions" and "awareness acquisition."
Consequently, it often conflicted with objectives like building long-term brand equity (stock) and fostering customer relationships.

However, the direction of recent advancements in "ad tech" can be seen as moving closer to this "brand" perspective. The following are symbolic examples:

・Target
As programmatic advertising, which enables optimization of marketing investments aligned with brand goals, expands, it has become possible to continuously optimize ad delivery based on audience data at the individual customer level, moving beyond mere media slots.
・Rich Content Support
New formats for delivering rich content—such as social ads, video ads, and native ads (ads designed to resemble media content to better capture reader interest)—are rapidly expanding. These formats connect consumers' interests with brand narratives, stimulate latent demand, and convey stories and experiences.
・Real-Time
Programmatic advertising, which can dynamically change ad content based on specific individuals, timing, or situations and automatically deliver it in real time, began to gain widespread adoption.
・Quality & Trust (Verification)
Ad verification technology is also gaining traction, ensuring "quality effectiveness" where users reliably engage with ads within a safe media environment that doesn't damage brand reputation.

The major common trend here is a shift from selling media slots to people- and content-centric marketing. It represents the evolution of "ad tech" beyond direct response goals, aiming to enhance each individual's "brand" experience.

This creates opportunities to achieve branding results through richer, more useful experiences. It does so not merely by improving targeting efficiency, but by delivering ads and content aligned with each individual's interests, actions, and timing.

Integrating Brand Strategy and Ad Technology

However, this requires ad tech and brand to develop a more common language—that is, to share objectives, strategic frameworks, metrics, and values.

First, and fundamentally, there are limits to evaluating advertising and marketing effectiveness based solely on metrics measurable online.
It is essential to consider metrics related to "brand lift"—such as awareness, favorability, purchase intent, and loyalty—beyond just impressions, clicks, and conversions, by combining mass media and digital media.

Second, today's digital marketing is no longer confined to advertising methods on digital media alone.
The proliferation of smartphones, which seamlessly connect customer touchpoints both online and offline, and the convergence of television and digital platforms are becoming a reality.

Amidst this, the challenge lies in how to leverage and evolve the targeting techniques, data utilization, and PDCA processes advancing in digital marketing as a foundational, cross-cutting element for all marketing activities.

For example, the very concept of brand targeting has significantly evolved from traditional demographics and values-based approaches to interest/behavior-based targeting and concepts like social graphs. However, existing media marketing has not adapted to this shift.
Furthermore, the concept of the "customer journey" (which likens the process from brand awareness to purchase and usage experience to a journey), which is gaining traction, shows a significant gap between models from a brand perspective and those from a digital media perspective.

Third, and most crucially, for technology to move people emotionally and deepen brand-customer connections, it must be more closely aligned with human needs than ever before.

The pursuit of automation and efficiency from a sender-centric perspective has led to ads that chase customers or interrupt desired content. How such approaches function from a branding perspective—aimed at building trust and goodwill—requires renewed examination and validation.

For example, Brian Wong, founder of the mobile advertising company Kiip, created an ad technology that delivers messages or "rewards" at the moment customers achieve something in their lives (Achievement Moments), crafting experiences that transform the meaning of advertising.
The potential for new creative technology that connects with people's emotions and generates joy or excitement remains largely untapped.

When brand strategy for this new era truly merges with marketing technology, it may be time to graduate from the term "ad tech" as it's currently used.

(Continued in Part 3 and beyond)