They’re calling it “the great resignation.”
Employees are leaving their jobs at record rates, and companies are having a hard time retaining their talent. Publishers heavily rely on their ad ops teams, and as we all know, personnel turnover can be rather disruptive, especially when it happens in ad ops.
Publisher ad ops teams handle and manage various critical tasks within their organizations, such as trafficking, programmatic management, inventory management, technical campaign and ad tag troubleshooting, and so much more.
The digital media industry is constantly innovating, growing, and changing. If employees are resigning, the key to stability for publishers is working with an ad ops partner who will help them through these challenging times and for the long term.
“An ad ops partner can provide the white-glove client services that companies need; the same level of service they’d want and require from their employees. A partner can help with daily tasks such as direct campaign, programmatic, ad technology management, and broader items such as strategic consulting and departmental leadership,” said Craig Leshen, President and Founder of OAO (www.adops.com).
“Companies can rely on their ad ops partner to handle day-to-day tasks and guide them in their ad ops endeavors. They will have all the necessary tools to get the job done, either handling everything on their own or complementing a publisher’s internal ad ops team.”
An Ad Ops Partner can help Publishers with:
- Managed Ad Ops Services
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- Direct Sold Campaign Management
- Programmatic Platform & Partner Management
Revenue from direct-sold campaigns and programmatic advertising are key revenue generators for publishers. The programmatic landscape continues to increase in complexity. Managing and working with all of the above is key while retaining talent who possess internal knowledge about the publisher’s organization. With an ad ops vendor in place, publishers can be confident working with a knowledgeable team with solid skill sets, covering everything from daily ad ops tasks, to vendor management, to billing and technical operations. Over time, they will gain strong internal knowledge about the publisher, making the relationship even more valuable.
“In the ever-changing world of digital media, OAO has been a constant. The leadership and support teams we met in 2011 continue to work hard for and with us. The managed services and technical services teams have guided us through a site launch and two redesigns. Business development and managed services delivered and continue to navigate programmatic on our behalf. As a complex business in a niche industry, outsourcing ad operations is the best solution for our brand.” – Laura Rush, Sales Development Director, Digital & Television, BASS, LLC.
In addition to stability, an ad ops partner will be able to provide publishers with the ability to scale without worrying about capacity. Beyond that, there’s no need to spend time training and managing new employees, allowing the publisher to spend more time on senior-level tasks, like focusing on strategic endeavors such as launching in-app ad formats, how to work in a cookieless world, or how to best jump into CTV and OTT.
2. Technology Offerings and Services
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- Ad Serving Platforms
- Order Management Systems
- 3rd Party Reporting Platforms
- Programmatic Reporting Platforms
- Screenshot/Tearsheet Technology
Publishers who work with their ad ops partner’s technology vendors allow them to manage multiple relationships under one contract (note: your legal team says, “thank you”). The ad ops partner will have structured relationships with their technology vendors, which open doors to platform roadmaps and access to the vendor’s senior staff or other groups within the organization.
Publishers may see reduced vendor technology pricing with the right ad ops partner, thanks to the scale that the ad ops partner can bring to the vendor. An ad ops partner will also have specialized technical support for their technology vendors. What some may consider one of the best perks, publishers won’t be locked into long-term contracts with these technology vendors.
One example covering all of the benefits mentioned above is OAO’s partnership with Google, part of which allows OAO to provide AM360 to their publisher clients.
OAO has been a Google Partner since 2008 and, before Google’s DoubleClick acquisition, a DoubleClick Partner since 2006. When Google launched the “Google Certified Partner Program” (“GCPP”), they structured it so that partners would be able to provide services, technical support, and ad platform reselling capabilities to publishers of all sizes. Fast forward to the present day, OAO is one of a select few AM360 providers for Google in North America and the only partner who can provide additional services such as OAO EAC and OAO AV; custom products that OAO built to work with AM360 as additional benefits for publishers (more info on that as you read on).
3. Partner Specific Proprietary Technology and Services
If a publisher is having trouble retaining their ad ops personnel, they’ll scramble to replace obvious needs, but they can’t forget about things that don’t always appear and/or jump out on a balance sheet. Ad ops partners know this and can handle many, if not all, of these tasks. Part of what a publisher ad ops team does is work on streamlining workflow and enhancing their business via ad ops improvements. Publisher ad tech stacks could get a boost from one or a few technical add-ons to guarantee that they’re filling their inventory, optimizing yield, achieving the requirements of their advertisers’ campaigns, and maximizing productivity.
Products such as OAO EAC, a technology that seamlessly sits between Google Ad Manager and the publisher’s newsletter platform, allows the publisher’s ad ops team to use Google Ad Manager to deliver and report on email ad campaigns instead of having to use a separate system/platform; a major time saver for the publisher’s ad ops team. It also allows the publisher to utilize many of Google Ad Manager’s targeting functionality and includes OAO’s programmatic partners to fill its unsold newsletter inventory.
OAO’s custom video programmatic product, OAO AV, is a solution created by an ad ops team for an ad ops team. It’s easy to implement, and it generates additional revenue while giving the publisher’s other video programmatic sources and platforms a new product to compete with. Publishers deploy OAO AV directly via their ad server, as the entire product is trafficked like a standard campaign; no need for extensive publisher dev work.
4. Additional Services and Offerings
Ad ops partners will also be able to work with their publishers on various custom projects, such as ad server implementations, ad server migrations, and custom reporting. They’ll also provide consulting services, ranging from planning and strategy to identifying new revenue opportunities to workflow optimization.
Leshen says that “A true ad ops partner should feel more like an extension of a publisher’s business than someone they’re just farming work out to. They become a part of the publisher’s company. A key component of their business. Someone they grow with and rely on to handle daily tasks, and provide knowledge, expertise, and vision to help define and navigate the road ahead. The ‘great resignation’ as they’re calling it, is spotlighting how critical ad ops is to a publisher’s business, and stability in ad ops is a major factor in a publisher’s success.” We wholeheartedly agree.
Contact OAO for more information.