As we have mentioned in blogs past, Genius Monkey is proud to be a member of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), which is the national trade association for the digital media and marketing industries. As such, we take great interest in any legislation that deals with the privacy and protection of our nation’s digital Internet users. We are behind the efforts of the IAB in their recent appeal to Congress for federal privacy legislation to prohibit harmful data practices, and encourage compliance programs.

In the last blog (Part 3) we discussed the sources from which we gather data here at Genius Monkey. From credit card companies to grocery stores, they are collecting data in order to better serve you the ads and discounts you may be looking for. Monitoring your credit through Experian offers the same thing, and when we look at things like free email providers, within the terms and conditions of you signing up for that free email, you’re saying, “I agree to allow you to market to me, for products or services, for yourself, Google, AOL what have you.

In the last Genius Monkey blog, we covered brand interaction and examined where our clients’ ads show up. In this blog we’ll look at the power of tracking via email, as well as the costs of effective, relevant advertising. Not only is this an intriguing subject, it’s revelatory to anyone who is exploring the possibilities of adopting a programmatic platform of their own, and how many ways we have to place content in front of their targeted consumers at the right place and time.

As our readers may or may not know, March 1st, 2019 is the first annual National Digital Programmatic Humor Day (known as NDPH Day). To get your ad humor started in the right direction, the digital programmatic specialists at Genius Monkey are throwing some chuckles your way! We are Geniuses At Genius Monkey we are all monkeys. That’s because we share our Amazon Account with one another. That makes us prime-mates, right?

The first thing that people usually ask about Generation Z is how old they are, and between what years would they have been born in order qualify as Gen Z members. As in most areas of life, the lines between each generation are usually blurred, but generally, Gen Z members are made up of anyone who was born between 1996, right up to present-day. A good reasoning to follow is that if someone remembers the change from the 20th century to the 21st century, then they are not Gen Z, they are probably Millennials or Baby Boomers.

Customers respond in a positive fashion when they feel special and important to the brand. In this quest for personalization, marketers are faced with a myriad of marketing technology choices. And while there is a wide selection of tools available for improving customer interactions, there is one essential ingredient to achieve personalization – one underlying tool in the toolbox that can act as a force multiplier across all personalization efforts – unified customer data.

As many of our readers know, Genius Monkey is a regular participant in the Digital Summits held around the nation, where we share our philosophies and best practices in the field of digital programmatic in today’s marketing. Digital Summit attendees are the movers and shakers that influence the growth and success of their company’s digital marketing efforts, as well as the future landscape of the digital economy. They hail from a broad variety of companies and organizations including national brands, CPG, agencies, service providers, technology pioneers, B&B providers, associations and nonprofits, startups and much more.

Today’s customers are getting tough to keep up with! They no longer buy things based on impulse or first impressions; they do their homework for just about all of their purchases. They also want to be supported throughout their purchase journey – at each stage – in a relevant way, by the brand. This same technology that keeps these consumers in the know, can also help marketers. One of these tools that advertisers can use to meet the high expectations of their customers is machine learning (the scientific study of algorithms and statistical models that computer systems use to progressively improve their performance on a specific task).

Now that we have turned the corner onto 2019 Street, Genius Monkey will take this time to reflect on the outstanding year we’ve had, and rev up for an even bigger, better year for the constant growth and improvement of the programmatic digital ecosystem! According to recent research by Zenith Media, the boom of programmatic advertising will continue its momentum for years to come. As an example, they forecast these programmatic trends in 2019:

Any emerging technology inevitably enters the ring of advertising. Augmented and virtual reality, visual search, chatbots and voice commerce have all been on the radar of retailers as the next big possibility of marketing. Let’s take a look at one of the newest kids on the block – Voice Assistants. Smart speakers, like Amazon Echo and Google Home have exploded onto the scene with a velocity and a pervasiveness that is pretty much unprecedented in the history of consumer electronics.