Ep915: The Godfather of Internet Advertising Standards — Rich LeFurgy What’s Happening with Data — Rich LeFurgy

TMI with Kevin Ryan

Rich LeFurgy has been bridging Silicon Valley and Madison Avenue for years, as a board member, advisor, or investor in over 60 online advertising companies. He joins us today for a talk on the key issues he has seen over his 17-year ad agency career, what’s happening with data and consumer protection, virtuosity and quality in data, and the importance of transparency and trustworthy relationships in all facets of an agency.

Takeaways:

[5:29] Consumers are now creating more and more economic value for a whole bunch of players in our ecosystem.

[6:30] It has created an open door for tech companies now that brands are responsible for the data that they use. This creates an imperative for brands to use that data, and Rich discusses a whole new category called 21st Century Direct-to-Consumer Brands.

[8:48] Data has somewhat been a dirty word for the publishing community because they see it as undermining the value of their audiences.

[11:02] Rich sees a need for online marketing to do a better job at creating new customers for companies. Direct-to-consumer has done a great job using branded content and social media, but now it’s up to the publishing community to figure out how to stay relevant.

[14:17] Rich sees it more incumbent upon publishers to embrace data as another way to make money. One key way to do this is to start tracking where they are within a consumer’s purchase journey.

[15:53] Much of what is driving the consumer world is deals, not just content.

[20:41] Rich discusses the future of single-sign-on entities and the way they differ from SpyWare and Gator. The single-sign-on is a thread to get us to up our standard for the quality of our data.

[23:17] The disclosure of a post that has been sponsored is very important to maintaining a sense of honesty in influencer platforms.

[25:56] The fact that we are now consuming more media and consuming it on our mobile devices, is a huge change from recent years.

[37:18] It’s important to provide transparency in data, so marketers know what information they are working with.

[39:39] Companies and marketers that are smart are going to get ahead of data quality and tackle transparency head on.

[47:10] There is a battle in every company with a technology arm and a media arm. The browser folks want to put in default adblocking, where the media folks feel that will lose the sign on, content, and personalization.

[58:48] Today, agencies are investing in technology, and Rich sees them very much still alive on the creative end.

[1:00:13] There is a tremendous about AI that is being applied to consumer and brand data to start to come up with campaigns.

[1:13:02] Rich discusses his role at Lotlinx and their ground-breaking technology that works to provide digital advertising technology to automotive dealers in the U.S.

Quotes:

• ? “Publishers have got to continue to have a great relationship with consumers and provide value to brands.”
• ? “It’s not just about content. It’s a lot about deals.”
• ? “Part of getting data fixed is giving consumers control over their own data.”
• ? “Technology is evolving faster than policy.”
• ? “We’ve got to go to that next level so we figure out data quality.”
• ? “The business that is transacted is still based on relationships.”
• Mentioned in This Episode:
• John Oliver — Facebook is a Toilet
• @Rich_LeFurgy
• California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018
• SpyWare / Gator
• Consumer Group Accuses Internet Search Engines of Deception
• Survata
• Justice Department Sues to Stop California Net Neutrality Law
• AdAge
• How Spotify Harnesses Data to Connect With Its 75 Million Users
• IAB
• Lotlinx
• Direct Brand Summit