Adweek Executive Lab Rundown

Last month, Pixability and Adweek co-hosted an Executive Lab,”YouTube and Facebook in the Media Mix,” for 100+ media planners and buyers in NYC. The event focused on the evolving video ad landscape, and the issues that media planners face when planning and executing video ad campaigns for their clients.
The lineup included a dynamic panel of agency leaders: OMD Chief Digital Officer Ben Winkler, UM Chief Investment Officer David Cohen, and DigitasLBi Chief Investment Officer Adam Shlachter; a Q&A with YouTube’s Head of Agency Marketing Cenk Bulbul, and CEO of Digital Content Next Jason Kint; and insight from brand marketers at L’Oreal, Volvo, and Reebok. Before networking and drinks, the audience put their video advertising learnings to the test in an interactive media challenge.
Pixability CTO Andreas Goeldi and Reebok Director of US Media and Digital Planning Jessica Ruscito unveiled results of the first apples to apples comparison of YouTube and Facebook Video advertising, to answer the question: what offers a better return, YouTube or Facebook, and when should each be used in the media mix? Explaining Reebok’s cross-platform video ad strategy to the audience, Ruscito said “you want to meet the needs of the consumer. It depends on the time, where they’re going to be able to watch it, when they watch it.” She stressed the need to go in with a test, learn and buy approach as you may be surprised by findings mid-campaigns, and said the ability to shift budgets based on what’s resonating is key.

The agency execs shared their advice on video ad buying strategies, and the challenges facing agency media professionals industry-wide. Winkler recommended agencies use 3rd party ad serving for brand safety, clearer metrics, and transparent placements. “You can see where your ads are showing up, which some clients are concerned about. You can add on these brand safety pieces and be a real and legitimate overseer of your client’s advertising,” he said.
Cohen advised the audience to leverage data to create an advantage for their agency. “It allows us to know something more than the publisher side knows, so that we can re-calibrate value based on impressions as we go to market,” he said. “It’s critically important. It’s how we retain, grow, and attract new clients. It’s that disproportionate value that we’re able to unlock, that other folks don’t know about, that clients find very attractive.”
Schlachter emphasized the importance of partnering with creative people, stating “You have to find a way to work together and share ideas, because there’s a lot of perspectives and there’s a lot of past experiences that you can build off of, and collectively come up with better solutions.”
Conversations like these are vital in the evolving world of advertising. Here at Pixability, we’re looking forward to hosting more educational events with media agencies in the future.
Find more insights on the changing video ad landscape at Pixability’s blog.