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As transparency and media quality continue to frustrate programmatic buyers, consumer packaged goods giant Kimberly-Clark is tackling these challenges directly by in-housing its ad-tech contracts.
Hidden ad-tech fees and ads inadvertently ending up on low-quality media are spurring buyers to use a bevy of tactics to improve their programmatic buying, often by simplifying the path between buyer and seller. In-housing ad-tech contracts is one tactic that gives advertisers more control, which comes with the added benefit of letting brands, and not their agencies, own the data that flows through ad campaigns.
“When you own the data … you can turn it into a reusable asset,” said Mairi Fogle, global media tech product owner at Kimberly-Clark, adding that when the company didn’t own ad-tech contracts, it would get reports in Excel or PowerPoint documents.
Kimberly-Clark started in-housing its ad-tech contracts in 2022, first taking ownership of an ad verification contract. Later that year, the company brought contracts with two demand-side platforms in-house, and in 2023, it in-housed a deal with a paid search vendor. The company is planning on in-housing its ad server and dynamic content optimization next.
Fogle said that with the increased visibility that in-housing has given Kimberly-Clark, the company has been able to divert money to higher-quality media and find inventory for which it was overpaying. It has since reduced CPMs (cost per thousand impressions) by 47%. The company wouldn’t share further specifics.
In-housing ad-tech contracts has been in the spotlight lately. In December, the Association of National Advertisers found that 52% of 67 respondents owned direct DSP data access via contracts, while a separate ANA survey found that over 70% of brand marketers that don’t already own direct contracts with DSPs and ad verification firms plan to strike these deals over the next year.
