Think pragmatic, not programmatic

With programmatic advertising, you might get some short-term results, sure. But, in such days of fake news, clickbaiting and drop shipping brands, is this enough?

A shift from programmatic advertising to pragmatic advertising means caring about both results and consequences.

Keep in mind: pragmatic is the opposite of idealistic. Being practical is essential.

Advertising as a force for good might be a stretch, but working towards great results and consequences, while not doing the wrong thing, goes a long way.

How to be pragmatic?

A brand that carefully chooses credible news and content publishers for its ads, rather than trusting the church of programmatic, might achieve positive results by:

• Delivering the brand message to real people (reasonable ones at that, most likely).
• Protecting the brand reputation, by avoiding placement alongside toxic, hateful or deceptive content.
• Strengthening the brand with positive associations to established media brands.
• Circumventing adblocking: credible media portals are more likely to be whitelisted by readers.

Furthermore, there are positive consequences  -  larger scale benefits  -  to be had:

• Supporting real journalism and content creators.
• Balancing the game between media companies and the 3-headed monster (Facebook, Google, Amazon).
• Preventing fake news to thrive even further, by depriving it from financial incentives.

The conclusion

This is so much more than just paying for eyeballs; it is about how your brand is perceived. What you have to have to say is just half of the story  - the other is where. Medium and message, you know?

More: it is about suppressing the oxygen of the current cesspool of fake news and clickbaits. A healthy media landscape is a much better habitat for brands to advertise.

On the same note, direct support to publishers, instead of focusing on ad spending on social media, balances the game. Give even more power to Facebook and they might kill journalism and be unfettered to increase ad pricing. No need for dropping social media platforms, though:  this is about moderation (A rule of thumb? Publishers for mass, social media for microtargeting).

The CPM numbers on your report might not look as good, but your brand and, dare I say, society will.

P.S.: Make sure your ads don’t suck.