Interact 2018: CEO Yohann Dupasquier of Programmatic platform Tradelab talks about his journey ahead of IAB Europe’s conference

Held in Milan on 23-24 May, IAB Europe’s Annual 2-day conference Interact 2018 will feature contributions from all stakeholders with a say in the future of the digital ecosystem, from advertisers to publishers, to ad tech businesses, politicians and regulators. Together they’ll examine the forces disrupting digital, how businesses can adapt to thrive, and how we can reinvent the digital ecosystem to provide a firm foundation for business growth in the future.

Tradelab is a programmatic platform, an augmented buying structure, allowing brands and agencies to access their audience thanks to individualised and tailor-made algorithm constructions of buying decisions (optimisation) and modelled data (targeting). Tradelab ranks within the top leading EMEA technologies for Deloitte Fast500. Now in its 7th year of operation, co-founder and CEO Yohann Dupasquier talks about his journey ahead of his Keynote speech at Interact 2018. Read more:

IAB Europe: You began your career as an internet entrepreneur at the early age of 15 – what advice do you have for the next generation of entrepreneurs who are starting out?

Yohann Dupasquier: We started this adventure with the strong desire to implement a different approach of digital marketing. Since then, we have been putting a lot of efforts in staying humble, keeping our minds clear on the goal we wanted to achieve. First off, we listen to the client’s needs from the beginning in order to provide them the best possible answer and shape the best tailor-made solution.

Then of course, all of this would not be possible without our team. When we started Tradelab, we could not have imagined that we would sum 200 employees seven years later, and we are keeping the same dynamic as at the early stage of the company. It is a priority for us to keep this spirit and make it grow at the same time as our teams keep on developing themselves. To achieve this, I would say that a key requirement is to have explicit goals and always know where you are heading to.

IAB Europe: There was a recent report from eMarketer that Programmatic digital Display Ad spending in France will rise to 81.5% of digital display ad spend by 2019 – how will this impact the digital media industry?

Yohann Dupasquier: These numbers highlight that programmatic advertising, meaning user-centric advertising in opposition to traditional process, is becoming the media buying norm. Today almost half of display ad spending in Europe is transacted programmatically and the trend is growing faster. Why? Simply because programmatic answers the double promise of increasing brands’ media productivity without harassing users with untargeted ads and over exposition. With more accurate targeting and optimised media buying process, an advertiser may save 30% of its ad buying budget while achieving similar outcomes, whereas unified capping and the ability to spot irritated clients avoids users to be shown house offers when they just bought a flat. As a result, programmatic buying helps advertisers achieve better media performance while fostering respect towards the users’ experience.

IAB Europe: Tradelab was founded in 2011 this is your 7th year in business. Tell us a bit more about your vision for the company.

Yohann Dupasquier: Tradelab is to keep on taking verticalization of programmatic assets for advertisers at a higher level in Europe. In 7 years, we have seen brands becoming considerably more aware of the performances of programmatic, and the constant progression of programmatic on all European markets proves it. Since advertisers have a better comprehension of programmatic as well as of the value of their data assets, they expect media buying to help them conquer new market shares within their industry as part of a global strategy. Our goal is then to keep on providing them with key differentiators assets, tailor-made technologies, dedicated expertise serving their media efficiency as well as their business intelligence.

IAB Europe: Recently you’ve talked about a development in your technologies to allow different businesses to access programmatic technology – rather than a “one size fits all” model. Can you expand on how this helps different vertical industries?

Yohann Dupasquier: Standardised buying algorithms tend to remain the mainstream model nowadays, whereas brands would use dedicated solutions. If a “one size fits all” algorithm may answer 70% of two different brands’ marketing needs, 30% of each brand’s issues will not be addressed, for a simple reason: different industries cannot be treated the exact same way since they have basic different marketing issues. An advertiser within the banking industry may aim to generate 50 contracts a day when an e-merchant is looking for thousands of daily conversions, how could they be addressed the same way? In order to achieve these missing 30%, brands expect dedicated solutions and data set which they will apply to their own industry, from acquisition to visibility or attribution issues. Advertisers who take the step of building tailor-made solutions are able to gain media efficiency, and take the market shares their competitors who rely on standardized solutions do not.

IAB Europe: What is your prediction for the next big thing for the digital advertising industry?

Yohann Dupasquier: First of all, personalisation is and will still be the big thing in the digital advertising industry. Part of it is being explored with the introduction of AI and deep learning processes. It is a path we are also taking with a strong R&D investment, in order to offer brands a better knowledge of their audience and users’ journey.

As a priority in the coming years, our industry also needs to regain its service-based utility, and we like to think that we, thanks to the development of tailor-made programmatic assets, are contributing to this goal. By offering better targeting, by influencing users’ behaviours thanks to proven visibility, by optimising media buying and by showing the users better respect – while others may overexpose them, and thus destroy value for the entire market – Tradelab searches to bring brands and users back together. This is why, speaking about the future of our industry, we consider GDPR as a great opportunity to redefine the contract between brands and users in a way that will foster a better trust.

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