Last week, our VP of Business Operations, Levi Matkins, joined Moloco, Kolibri Games and GSN Games for MoPub’s final Programmatic Academy session. This expert panel of DSPs and performance marketers shared what they think is most important for activating a programmatic campaign.

As it turns out, they agree on a lot when it comes to setting up a campaign for success but a few noteworthy tips made it to our shortlist:

1. Align goals. Marketers and DSPs must align both on short-term and long-term goals. Short-term, each party should specify what is expected and what is possible of themselves and of the other in terms of optimization, campaign trajectory, access to data, and testing timeline.Long-term, a new programmatic opportunity should be approached with the intent on it becoming a long-standing partnership, not a one-time sale. A DSP should be an extension of a developer’s marketing team, so it’s important that marketers ask questions to make sure the capabilities of the DSP are understood so expectations can be aligned.
2. Share data. The more data an advertiser can send, the faster the learnings, the shorter the testing period and the quicker the campaign can scale. But the learning period for a campaign also depends on title, game genre and budget. When there are unforeseen circumstances, like a pandemic, it’s important for a DSP to intervene and adjust models as needed if there is new data to be accounted for that wasn’t part of training.
3. DSPs should communicate often. At the end of the day it is the responsibility of the DSP to communicate with the advertiser. It’s their money and a DSP’s role is to spend budget as effectively as possible. Communicating when and why there are changes to performance can prevent an advertiser from prematurely cutting off a campaign.
4. Creative optimization is a collaboration. Even when advertisers come with their own  creative formats, a DSPs creative team can still add value when it comes to the nuances of programmatic or playable production. It’s also important to remember that both the advertiser and DSP bring their own expertise to the table, for example, an advertiser knows best what works for its game but the DSP knows best what works across other games and the competition.

To hear more expert advice about how to make programmatic work, watch the full session now.