Basic tech questions for agencies

Bob Hoffman asks,

Why are we so obsessed with the delivery systems when they offer so little leverage, and so complacent with mediocrity in the product when it offers such a large upside?

Good question. Brands are paying a lot of attention to technical infrastructure, when a creative ad can make a much bigger difference than getting a little more efficiency from the delivery system.

But we still have to ask some potentially awkward questions about the technology side. That's because, on the web, the delivery system can't build a brand, but it can help damage one. In the search for an agency, how can you reduce the chances that you end up with your beer commercial on an ISIS video?

So here are a few basic technology questions. A good agency already has someone thinking about this stuff, and should be able to give you understandable answers, without complicated computer science terms or acronym alphabet soup.

  1. If I see one of my ads running on a copyright-infringing or other illegal or fraudulent site, who is the one person I can call to get it taken down and get a credit?

  2. Apple Safari, Microsoft Internet Explorer, and Mozilla Firefox all have built-in tracking protection support available or coming soon, and tracking protection is available for Google Chrome as an add-on. How will the rise of tracking protection as a basic security tool help your agency work better online? What are you changing to take advantage of this trend?

  3. Does your agency work with ad injection, potentially unwanted software or other malicious software (malware), either directly or indirectly? How do you know that the companies you work with are not supporting malware?

When an agency can give you clear answers on those, you can go back to talking about the creative, where the upside is.

Don Marti · #