The global advertising industry reached a staggering $615.2 billion in 2022. This figure is projected to increase substantially and peak at $701.2 billion in 2023. Unfortunately, the industry is not immune from challenges that limit its potential. There are various solutions to these challenges. Some have been tried and tested while others are novel.
Built on the principles of decentralization, immutability, and transparency, blockchain technology could be the remedy for all the ills that have grappled with the advertising industry.
How Blockchain Impacts Digital and Physical Advertising
The best way to understand the value proposition of blockchain in the advertising industry is to take a look at some of the challenges that the nascent technology is tipped to solve.
- Data management – Data has become one of the most important currencies in the digital world. Advertisers collect personal data, which they can use targeted advertising, which is effective at driving sales. The data is collected (and sometimes) stored by centralized systems, making the data vulnerable to breaches and hacks. With blockchain, the data collected can be stored anonymously and privately. Blockchains are also more secure due to their decentralized nature, making them a safe option to store user data without revealing their identities.
- Fraud prevention – the cost of ad fraud reached $81 billion in 2022, up from $65 billion the previous year. Fighting ad fraud is a very difficult and complicated battle that requires all hands to be on deck. Blockchain technology can play a crucial role as it can be used to create robust verification offerings for the ad industry. Non-fraudulent actors can be stored in a blockchain where their information cannot be altered. This enables advertisers to deal with trusted and vetted publishers.
- Media transactions – There are several intermediaries involved when buying or selling ads. With blockchain, third-party intermediaries can be eliminated. This lowers the bill for advertisers, allowing them to reach a wider audience on the same budget.
- Trust and transparency – the blockchain is known for its transparency and ability to introduce trust between transacting parties. It can do the same for the advertising industry. I
- Loyalty programs – a loyalty program is a rewards program used by businesses and brands to encourage customer retention and bring new ones to the fold. Its working principle is simple. Customers earn points or rewards for the purchase of goods or services. The points can be redeemed for cash, discounts, or anything of value. Blockchain can add transparency, immutability, and security to a loyalty rewards program. It helps to secure customer data and can offer a better incentive system through tokens or NFTs.
Who is Pushing for Blockchain Innovation in Digital and Physical Advertising?
Several traditional and crypto-centric are racing to unlock the full potential of blockchain tech in advertising. Here are a few examples of such companies and what they are doing or have achieved.
The Reserve Label
The Reserve Label is a creative studio that brings media, marketing, and technology under one roof. With today’s fast-paced innovation, The Reserve Label has learned an important lesson that businesses must adapt or die.
For this reason, The Reserve Label has become one of the original founding validators and UI developers of the ReserveBlock (RBX) network.
The ReserveBlock network is an NFT-centric, open-source, fully autonomous, and decentralized peer-to-peer (P2P) layer 1 blockchain. The ReserveBlock’s native token, RBX, has its value determined on open markets on exchanges such as BitMart, Bitrue, and Deepcoin.
While The Reserve Label is breaking new ground in the blockchain space, its creative work in the advertising industry is bearing results and should not go unnoticed.
The Reserve Label has an exciting portfolio of projects in the media and advertising space, ranging from Super Bowl commercials to a slew of digital and physical experiences. The platform recently got a taste of the Super Bowl commercials with ‘Drive-Thru,’ the first-ever Super Bowl ad for Dunkin’ Donuts LLC, a coffee and donut quick service restaurant with more than 12,900 locations in 42 countries.
Ben Affleck, a renowned actor and recipient of the Golden Globe and Academy awards, directed and starred in the commercial that also featured a cameo by Jennifer Lopez, one of the biggest names in the music and acting industries.
The ad’s success is there for all to see as it generated billions of viral media impressions and was ranked fourth on USA Today’s Super Bowl Ad meter. Dunkin’ President Scott Murphy appreciated the ad campaign as he talked about it on CNBC.
The Reserve Label holds its head high as it unveils its latest project – King of CrabWalk – Part 2 – for Hummer. Jacob Rosenberg, in conjunction with industry-leading advertising agency Leo Burnett, directed The Reserve Block’s latest ad campaign which features NBA’s living legend Lebron James and his icon Crab co-stars.
Enhanced by the latest and best in visual effects (VFX), the ad campaign places a special emphasis on the impressive power and performance of the 2023 Hummer.
This project marks the sixth time that The Reserve Label, Rosenberg, and Lebron James have successfully worked together.
As the world slowly makes the transition from Web2 to Web3, The Reserve Label will utilize the tools provided by The Reserve Block to help celebrities, brands, and content creators connect directly with their audiences.
The Reserve Block blockchain has features such as self-executing smart contracts and on-chain governance, which make it one of the best networks for creatives. The working partnership between The Reserve Label and The Reserve Block could truly usher in the next chapter of digital and physical advertising.
IBM
International Business Machines, or IBM for short, is a multinational tech company founded in 1911 and headquartered in New York. IBM is building blockchain solutions that aim to reduce the lack of transparency and ad fraud, among others in the advertising industry.
What the Future Holds
The future of blockchain technology in the advertising industry looks very promising. Blockchain technology has already made waves in several industries, and it is not surprising that it will improve transparency, reduce costs by cutting middlemen, and eliminate ad fraud in the advertising industry.
The Reserve Label, using the tools provided by The Reserve Block, will bridge the gap between possibility and reality in the advertising industry.
The Reserve Label has shown what it is capable of doing through its previous ad campaigns. The future looks exciting and in the hands of companies such as The Reserve Block that are agile enough to adapt and embrace emerging technologies.
IBM has also thrown its hut into the ring, and for such a major tech company to cast its lot in the blockchain advertising space signifies the potential impact blockchain technology could bring to the advertising space.