Prepared by Brunner, a 2024 Strategic Partner of HIRI. Learn more about HIRI's Strategic Partners.
No matter the industry, data drives valuable marketing results. Whether it is gathering insights into the residential pro’s buying behavior or appropriately allocating marketing resources during peak construction season, the right data can help make good marketing decisions. However, obtaining that data has become a challenge for many, including those advertising in the home improvement industry.
In a 2023 study, the Association of National Advertisers found that of $88 billion spent in open web advertising, a staggering $22 billion is wasteful or unproductive. Much of that waste comes from data transparency issues, such as unregulated industry standards, new and unproven platforms, and advertising fraud.
A lot of ad dollars flow through big tech companies, who often change their platforms and policies. These changes can disrupt how home improvement brands collect and use data, making it harder to get consistent and reliable information. Because what one channel may call a specific KPI or measurement another similar media channel can use a different term. This lack of standardization leads to issues in budget reallocation and a limited view of the whole data picture.
When a new media channel enters the ad industry, many flock to get in on the ground floor. Only to later discover concerns about return on investment, performance, and data transparency.
Retail media networks are one of those newer channels. However, the advertising industry has recently turned its attention to the lack of transparency. In order to take in more ad dollars, these networks have expanded offerings to off-site channels, such as search or social. The data offered is lacking, making it difficult to determine an accurate return on investment.
Digital advertising is a hugely popular part of marketing campaigns. It gets home improvement brand messaging in front of millions of eyeballs daily, making it an extremely valuable tool. But it has become apparent that digital ad fraud has become a prevalent transparency problem.
Ad fraud can be seen prominently in programmatic advertising, which is a data-driven, automated process for buying, selling, delivering, and measuring digital advertising. It operates on real-time bidding, where ad impressions are bought and sold in milliseconds. This means thousands of transactions can occur in a short time, making it difficult to verify each one.
Fraudsters take advantage of this scenario, masking low-quality websites or apps to trick brands into buying ad space on platforms that may not exist or have overinflated audience claims. Fraudsters will also use advanced bots and human-operated fraud farms that can mimic legitimate user behavior. All these fraudulent activities can slip through basic ad fraud detection solutions, highlighting the need for dynamic and adaptive defense mechanisms.
It’s imperative to get the right data. With it, correlations can be made, insights can be drawn, and residential construction and home improvement audiences can be reached.
The best way to combat the lack of understanding, visibility, or transparency, is to demand the information needed. That means asking the right questions, digging a bit deeper, and relying on trusted partners to provide brands with the necessary information to make informed decisions.
Whether a retailer, manufacturer, or others serving the home improvement industry, internal buying teams or outside agencies must have processes to prevent and respond to the lack of data transparency effectively. A few best practices include:
To make the supply chain safer while still allowing innovative media and advertising solutions to flourish, ensure all internal teams and ad agencies are members of organizations that fight for data transparency, including The American Association of Advertising Agencies (4As), Association of National Advertisers (ANA), and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), who collectively created the Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG)—a global initiative that seeks to build trust, increase transparency, and fight fraud in the advertising industry.
Join Brunner's webinar, "Should Marketers Demand Greater Visibility" on Thursday, February 13th @ 1:00 PM EST to learn more. Register today!
Brunner, a 2024 strategic partner of HIRI and a sponsor of the HIRI Summit, is a leading independent integrated marketing agency that’s proud to have Good People, Creating Great Work for Our Clients. Brunner simplifies the complexities of marketing by leveraging data insights to develop creative solutions for clients’ marketing challenges. Brunner’s client portfolio includes notable national brands like The Home Depot Rental, Great Southern Wood Preserving, Mitsubishi North America, Owens Corning, and Rinnai, among others. Brunner is headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, with additional offices in Atlanta, GA.