Last week Joel Book, Principal of Marketing Research & Education at Exact Target wished Email a very happy 30th Birthday. As it is for most 30 year olds, the age sneaks up quickly, and though you may think you are old, you’re really just getting to know yourself. Why email fell out of favor with digital marketers is an easy question to answer. It simply was too clumsy to manage. Sales teams responsible for filling inventory lost confidence in the product the first time a campaign didn’t flight correctly and advertisers lost faith when email wasn’t able to keep up with the targeting and segmentation available in display. 

In his article Book writes, “As we look toward the next 30 years, email is only going to continue to evolve. Smart marketers are realizing that to effectively engage and retain today’s hyper-connected consumer, they need to replace the one-size-fits-all, blanket marketing strategies of the past with highly-personalized, data-driven communication strategies across all the channels consumers use most…” Gone is the Wanamaker mentality, Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half. With today’s digital advertising tools you know exactly what is working and you’re able to make course corrections well before you start falling behind your KPI’s. Book rightly asserts that there will be a shift towards highly-personalized, data-driven communication strategies. 

LiveIntent’s technology gives advertisers the ability to create the highly personalized, data driven communication strategies Book is talking about. Publishers can use our purpose built platform, LFP, to flight direct sold campaigns or when their inventory goes unsold, accept demand from DSP’s, Trading Desks or our own Ad Sales team. When you can’t sell your inventory we will, but I bet dollars to doughnuts when your sales teams see the tools LiveIntent is bringing to the market, those days will be numbered. 

So, Happy Birthday from LiveIntent, Email. As you grow into it’s your 30′s we’ll be here to introduce you to RTB, the Trading Desks, DSP’s and SSP’s and the world full of sales teams ready to reacquaint themselves with you. Like Joel, we’re excited to see what you do in the next 30 years.