by Elizabeth Geor, director, experience (media), CHE Proximity.

The principles of advertising have remained largely unchanged since the Mad Men era. They were based on three fundamental notions that no longer ring true:

1. A captive audience
2. Ubiquitous distribution
3. High barriers to entry

That’s where addressability comes in. The rise of addressability in advertising is driven by the maturity of its two enablers: data and technology. It’s allowing us to construct a single experience across the entire journey. It’s bringing together the precision of CRM with the scale of mass media, and it’s also turning the ad buying model on its head.

Addressable advertising uses your first party data, often combined with second and third party data, to identify people and place advertising where they are – not just where they might be.

Adopting an addressable approach results in a much more robust and commercially orientated strategy and requires organisation wide cultural change – not just from within the CMO.

Addressable advertising is growing rapidly. International budgets have already shifted in this direction, and the Australian market must catch up. As technology matures, the capture and usability of data will follow.

Most importantly we’re likely to see a dramatic increase in the number of media partners and publishers offering addressable advertising as well as a consistent framework of application.

Addressability is far more than a niche fad, it’s the future of advertising.