Mediaocean and IBM iX form blockchain consortium for digital ads

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Advertising software provider Mediaocean and IBM iX announced the launch of a blockchain consortium for the digital media supply chain.

Bringing together big-name advertisers, agencies and publishers, including Kellogg, Kimberly-Clark, Pfizer, Unilever and IBM Watson Advertising, the solution aims to provide transparency and build trust and accountability in the advertising ecosystem.

The new blockchain solution, powered by the IBM Blockchain platform, will provide a comprehensive, timely and actionable view of the supply chain and tackle supply chain opacity from the rapid proliferation of intermediaries, which makes it difficult for advertisers and agencies to identify exactly how much spend is going towards “working media.”

“We must innovate our approach to the market by looking for new technologies like blockchain to help solve complex business challenges,” said Mukund Kaushik, VP of digital capabilities and innovation for Kimberly-Clark.

Built on top of Mediaocean’s end-to-end campaign management platform, which today processes over $140 billion in ad spend, the Mediaocean/IBM blockchain solution aims to provide visibility into the entire lifecycle of an advertiser’s media dollar flow. From issuing of the purchase order, to the execution of media and payment, a blockchain is used to record all media transactions in a secure, immutable, standardized and comprehensive manner.

The program will launch in July.

Mediaocean CEO Bill Wise commented that in recent years, the advertising industry has been plagued with unsustainable economics and transparency issues that hinder progress – particularly around intermediary fees and non-working media.

“By partnering with IBM, we’re able to launch the first advertising blockchain solution that will improve spend transparency – at scale. This will help us come together as an industry under a single source of truth and rebuild trust to push us into a new era of advertising transformation.” Wise said.

“As it relates to media, we expect blockchain to be able to provide a single source of truth to any given media buy, eliminating the doubt and uncertainty that is common today,” said Babs Rangaiah, executive partner for global marketing at IBM iX. “Measurement and transparency require new solutions across the programmatic supply chain, and blockchain is a technology strategically used to create an environment of trust.”

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