The marketing technology space is crowded with “zombie companies” that don't really do anything, and media agencies are becoming apathetic to it, according to Gravity4 Australia's first MD Joshua Rex. But the former MediaCom chief digital officer told AdNews how he plans to differentiate Gravity4 following its local launch last month.
Rex said when it comes to ad tech, the landscape is incredibly crowded, pointing to the media Lumascape diagram which has more than 2500 tech companies in the space. He said the issue for buyers and sellers is that this has made it a very fragmented and very complicated space to work in.
“The whole ecosystem is jam packed full of zombie companies that are offering the same stuff which is a big problem for buyers and for sellers,” Rex said.
“So we're very cautious to ensure that firstly, we understand where [a client's] requirements may lie and then how we can work them them specifically around their requirements rather than trying to get them to adapt to what we've got to offer.
“It's just easy and simple to use and there is a huge demand for that I think, which is what inspired me to join the company.
“I'm not suggesting it's perfect but its the first serious attempt I’ve seen at bringing elegance and simplicity to an industry that is largely manual.”
Gravity4 describes itself as the “world's first” high-frequency marketing operating system and allows a marketer to run search, native, and programmatic in an integrated system.
Rex said that it is currently speaking with all the major media agency holding companies across the world and that while it's in discussions here as well, its advent into the Australian market is a soft launch.
However he said one of the difficulties in the market is that with the number of players in the crowded marketing tech space, and the promises of programmatic that have been “bandied around as the next big thing for the last five years,” means agencies are sceptical about ad tech.
“There has been a lot of over promise and under delivery” Rex said.
“I think its fair to say that, generally speaking, there is a little bit of apathy around more technology in the market.”
Rex said that Gravity4 is “agnostic with respect to who uses it”, with media agencies, creative agencies, publishers and marketers all using it across the globe. However, he said his focus in the Australia market is to really build up the agency business.
“It is important to work with agencies because they have an important role to play in the overall marketing mix and the marketing spend of clients,” Rex said.
“My background is in agencies as well, so I understand that if we can provide solutions to agencies that help with their work flow, then it's a mutually beneficial arrangement, whereas if we were to go down the road of just talking to clients it's a much longer sales cycle.
“We're better off supporting agencies within the whole ecosystem rather than just trying to have the conversations with clients - that is certainly the strategy for the time being.”
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