How Fyllo Activates Contextual Advertising
When Jeff Ragovin was promoted from Chief Commercial Officer to President of Fyllo, CEO Chad Bronstein positioned the move as acknowledgement of a job well done for an experienced digital advertising executive.
“Jeff is perfectly positioned for this new role, as he’s already been leading our revenue growth in the US and overseas,” Bronstein said in July. “His appointment as President represents the natural evolution of the company as we continue to grow the business and address new markets and opportunities.”
Fyllo started as a compliance solution for cannabis/CBD advertising. Along the way, the company accumulated troves of audience data about CBD/cannabis users, which it calls “progressive” audiences; people who tend to be politically and culturally open-minded, tech-savvy, and early adopters.
Fyllo is a contextual audience solution for digital advertising that combines its progressive audience data to increase reach, boost efficiency, and maximize ROI. Its technology is used by Fortune 500 brands and start-ups, ABInBev, Audi, Clorox, The Farmer’s Dog, among others.
Ragovin is probably best known for selling Buddy Media to Salesforce for $745 million. He sat down with StreetFight to talk more in-depth about the company.
Tell us about how Fyllo solves problems for its customers.
The way advertisers reach, connect with, and engage customers is changing dramatically. With third-party tracking cookies going away, advertisers of all descriptions, not to mention publishers, need a bridge to transition away from cookie-based targeting toward privacy-compliant methods of finding their customers. Fyllo gives them that bridge.
The foundational business model of the ad supported internet (free content for behavioral tracking) is crumbling. The future of targeted advertising sits at the crossroads of audience and AI-powered context.
We started out as a compliance platform for highly regulated industries, which we built into audience-targeting solutions that became indispensable for mainstream brands in categories like auto, CPG, pharma, QSR, and others. In 2022, as audience targeting became more privacy-regulated and digital marketing more omnichannel, we acquired Semasio, a provider of next-gen contextual targeting solutions. By combining contextual analytics with our trove of audience data, we are enabling brands and agencies to increase reach, boost efficiency and drive outsized performance in a privacy-first world.
We do it with products like Contextual Audience Extension, which predicts where brands are most likely to find their particular audiences, along with traditional contextual targeting and media services and activation.
How has Fyllo helped a brand advertiser?
A leading global supplier of ready-to-assemble furniture and housewares wanted to reach a home-improvement audience with a special focus on fathers. Since cookies are going away, they tested contextual segments against six providers to see who could deliver the best results.
Fyllo leveraged two semantic audiences: “home Improvement” and “fathers Interested in home improvement” to understand the unique behaviors of each desired audience. We then created a bespoke model for the semantic audiences as a proxy to identify the pages where the seed audience – and others like them – are most likely to be online and used a semantic approach to build both audience and contextual targeting strategies.
Our semantic targeting platform enabled the retailer to build audiences and data-driven contextual strategies based on shared user behavior. Fyllo’s approach delivered a 64% lift in “home improvement” audiences and an 88% lift in “father-DIY” audiences.
The results showcased the ability of the semantic platform to drive extraordinary results through Contextual Audience Extension. By identifying the target audience based on consumption of relevant, brand-specific content, we outperformed against the KPI with the #1 performing contextual segments that delivered significantly better results than all other competitors.
How can Contextual Audience Extension support local-market advertising or marketing?
In automotive digital advertising, dealership groups and individual dealers struggle to distinguish their brand and inventory. They need to drive local traffic without losing accuracy or consumer trust amidst a sea of options. Traditional methods of audience targeting like general, local geography can limit insights leading to missed local sales opportunities.
With Contextual Audience Extension, auto dealers can harness semantic auto targeting to extend local consumer reach. By using first-party dealership data and OEM “interest” data with Contextual Audience Extension, Fyllo can identify potential local buyers and supercharge digital advertising campaigns with cutting-edge semantic targeting.
Starting with dealership data or OEM loyalty and opt-in data for model interest, Contextual Audience Extension spots potential local car buyers and enthusiasts that mirror local dealers’ existing customer profiles. It enables us to navigate the genuine content preferences of local target audiences, utilizing granular, region-specific media for unmatched accuracy and outreach.
What is your company’s revenue model?
Our revenue model is multifaceted, with data assets monetized through direct sales and programmatic availability. The diversification not only adds to our financial stability, but it also ensures we are able to provide tailored solutions that cater to the unique needs of our customers.
