In online advertising, focus on results more than process: MainAd execs

India is a promising country, with high Internet penetration and transactions, said Marino Gualano

Attribution is the difference between working in a proper way or messing up in programmatic, Marino Gualano and Larraine Criss tell Ritwik Sharma.

How has been your journey in India?

Marino Gualano: We have been in India for 10 since and have two offices here, in Trivandrum and Gurugram. Our core business is retargeting, with our technology built together in the last two years with a team of Google who’s developing machine learning (ML). We are now for the second year in a row with Google’s ML technology when it comes to adtech industry.

India is a promising country, with high Internet penetration and transactions. And the population is really young and educated. Compared to China, the other population giant, you do not have government restrictions. As a fast developing country India is very interesting.

Could you tell us about MainAd’s programmatic product Logico, which you have now launched in India?

MG: Logico, which is both Italian and understandable worldwide as a name, means you have the logic to target every single user and every single ad space to fit the requirement of every client and merchant in a gentle way to retarget items in 100 milliseconds. Behind the product we have drivers who are specialists in artificial intelligence who are building the logic to train the algorithm. So, one year ago it was us with a team of business analysts to understand the behaviour and build different algorithms according to the will of the client. Today it’s the machine itself through a logic which allows the machine to learn by and by, so it’s not just one action but a long process of learning. This helps us and the client to build a long-term strategy of investment.

Logico was launched in June and it’s active worldwide because we are present in 40 different countries. Google supplies the platform, the cables so to say, but it has to build the product in their environment. We chose Google as a cloud provider because it has its own cable going down the ocean, so it’s possible for us to make queries around the world and everything can be answered in milliseconds.

Larraine Criss: Logico is different because it was developed by advertisers for advertisers. We need to think like advertisers, so we developed Logico based on our requirement as advertisers, investing for them on their behalf. It’s not that we want to earn from you but we want you to earn from using this. So, that’s how Logico is a differentiator.

What are the challenges for adtech companies such as your, including from the security aspect?

MG: We have been working a lot on security in the last few years, providing internal solution. Through the deep understanding of the traffic, we are able to detect and we cherry-pick the impression which is relevant to us. So we understand from the quality if there is a fraud or not.

LC: If you are too big or too commercialised, you are more process-oriented than result-oriented. We take advantage of it, because we can find the balance between process and results. And in a fast paced industry like online advertising it is more rewarding to be result-oriented. Too much process can slow you down.

How do you view the adoption of programmatic advertising by Indian brands?

MG: They are very attentive. All it takes is a bit more education on the aspect of attribution. They understand how the technology works. Attribution is really the difference that helps you to work in a proper way or mess it up. The category tends to gather together and do what we do also in Europe and America at a lobby level, gather around an organisation (Interactive Advertising Bureau) at the government level to set new rules on attribution. Nowadays it’s the last click that is considered when it comes to attribution and it doesn’t work.

How critical is infrastructure when it comes to operating in different nations in a digital space?

MG: Working globally you need to have the kind of cloud solution which is delivering exactly in the area of the world where you are, because milliseconds for us are very important. You are bidding, right? Even if your price is good, if you are late it’s too late. We decided to shift everything to a Google cloud solution. So if we deliver an ad in the US, it depends also which part of the US we are in. We spend a fortune for that, but it works.

Programmatic is of great relevance in digital. But do you help in ad buying offline as well?

Yes, it’s always a matter of aligning with your client request. We personally do not touch the offline market, but then we are on the same page with the agencies in the offline space for our clients.