As the Digital Marketing industry grapples with issues of data inflation, consumer privacy and the death of Cookies, could Blockchain technology be the silver bullet to fix the industry's woes? Beyond disrupting the stock market, changing the face of real estate and revolutionizing the music industry, Blockchain tech has the potential to change the way brands, ad buyers and consumers interact online. 

Here are Three Ways Blockchain can change Digital Advertising for the Better

Transparency

In an era where ad buyers and brands are placing less trust in the metrics and data provided by major Internet players, Blockchain has the potential to provide a solution that offers greater transparency. The decentralized nature of the tech empowers Blockchain to conduct trusted transactions, whilst providing greater accountability when needed. Blockchain could for instance provide a digital dashboard for ad buyers, who are given the opportunity to assess and review in real time the specifics of how well various ads are performing. The tech addresses the marketing industry's current problem concerning trust and accountability, ensuring brands are receiving the ROI they’re promised. This new technology could even spark the end of Bots, infamous for inflating campaign metrics and infuriating brands and campaign managers alike. To every bot that’s skewed a campaign, we bid a fond farewell! And we offer an apology to those Bots who were just trying to make the world a better place.

Targeting

A 5 minute scroll through a user's social feed often offers intriguing, enlightening and sometimes bewildering examples of poor ad targeting. Since the invention of Cookies, brands have long struggled to walk a digital tight-rope ensuring their messaging reaches the right consumer at the right time. By using Blockchain technology, marketers have the potential to target consumers using a wider, more legitimate data set.

For example, currently if a Web user is regularly searching for news stories about the English Premier League, they may become the target for ads for football boots or playing equipment. The current systematic programming makes this assumption based on browsing habits and does not realise that the consumer (60+, Male) has no interest in actually playing the sport, but is instead a casual fan of the game. 

In comparison, Blockchain technology has the potential to identify consumers with a proven payment history of purchasing boots and sporting equipment and as such target ads accordingly. 

In essence, the introduction of Blockchain technology enables brands to no longer target ads based on consumers' casual browsing habits, but on hard sets of data with a proven conversion to purchase. With stronger data sets, Blockchain is able to reach the right customers with laser-target precision. The technology will also ultimately provide a benefit to the consumer, who will no longer feel their web experience is disrupted by random advertisements that have no personal relevance. Blockchain may signal the end of consumers feeling bemused at the sight of an advertisement for football boots, whilst they patiently wait for an incoming hip replacement.

Empower Consumers

The introduction of BlockChain technology also marks the beginning of a great power shift between media vs consumers. As Google currently controls 90% of the search engine market, some tech leaders liken Google to a tollbooth where ‘producers of information have to abide by certain rules or directly pay to be reachable’. We are now beginning to see the rise of purpose driven search engines to compete with the major internet players. A prime example is Brave, an online search engine touted for shifting power back into the hands of web users. The site allows users to block programmatic ad sets, opt in to view more personalised ads and in return receive 15% of the ad revenue. Essentially the new browser opens up a ‘Paid to Play’ system, which incentivises consumers willing to offer up their data. There are a number of key benefits to the system, not only do consumers begin to view more personalised ads, they are openly encouraged to share their data for reward. The browser places a monetary value on consumers' browsing habits and provides greater transparency to users concerned about the value of their personal data set.

In conclusion, we’re only beginning to see the impacts of Blockchain technology within the digital advertising space. As the rise of Bitcoin continues and consumers begin to become more familiar with the capability of Blockchain, we expect the technology will continue to change our daily phone scroll and web browsing experience.