Advertisers and agencies. They are the start of the entire digital ad buying process. The brands want to buy ad space to promote their brand and its products, and in many cases they hire an ad agency to do so.
Advertisers
The very start an impression journey in the long and arduous programmatic chain. the goal of advertisers is to utilize their ad budgets effectively to drive as much of a certain action as possible.
- Procter & Gamble (P&G)
- Samsung
- Nestle
- Unilever
- L’Oreal
- Volkswagen
- Comcast
- General Motors
- Amazon
- Coca-Cola Company
- Walmart
- PepsiCo
- Johnson and Johnson
- Target
- Intel
Top 6 Holding Companies
These large holding companies each contain ad agencies within them.
- WPP
- Omnicom Group
- Publicis Groupe
- Interpublic
- Dentsu
- Havas
Ad Agencies
For our intents and purposes we will be focusing on the agencies that are tasked with media planning and media buying, not media creation. These agencies need to plan where the ads will appear and then negotiate with publishers on a competitive rate.
- OMD – Omnicom Group
- Mindshare – WPP
- Mediacom – WPP
- Carat – Dentsu (Big presence in Europe)
- Starcom – Publicis Groupe
- MEC Global – WPP
- ZenithOptimedia – Publicis
- UM – Interpublic
- Havas Media – Havas
- Spark Foundry – Publicis Groupe (Previously Mediavest)
Consulting Firms
These days, the role of agencies is being increasing threatened by consulting firms such as Accenture and the Boston Consulting Group. The more the big consultancies move from their current focus on digital technology performance into the brand and advertising space, the greater the threat to marketers and agencies. This [creativity] has been core to the relationship, and having the consulting firms operate here, even under the guise of acquiring agencies, the greater the threat and potential conflict. You are already seeing conflicts between consulting firms and agencies both trying to influence marketers on their choice of ad tech and competing against each other for the big, juicy commissions offered by the large tech firms.
Whereas ad agencies focus on low cpms to drive as many impressions as possible for their ad spend, consulting firms are traditionally performance based. They focus on driving as many actual conversions with as little as spend as possible, and this makes all the difference to advertisers.
- Accenture
- Deloitte Touche Consulting
- Ernst & Young
- KPMG Consulting
- PriceWaterhouseCoopers
- Boston Consulting Group
- McKinsey & Co.
Sources
- https://www.adbrands.net/agencies-index.htm
- https://www.adbrands.net/top-global-advertisers.htm
- https://digiday.com/marketing/consulting-firms-will-decimate-ad-agencies-confessions-marketing-consultant/
Advertising is based on one thing: happiness. And do you know what happiness is? Happiness is the smell of a new car. It’s freedom from fear. It’s a billboard on the side of a road that screams with reassurance that whatever you’re doing is OK. You are OK.
— Don Draper (Jon Hamm)
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