Unveiling Kokai: A New Era in Programmatic Advertising

Welcome back, everyone! We’re halfway through our series “Scaling New Peaks in Programmatic: Basecamp 2024”, and there’s much more to come. In this session, we dive into a groundbreaking product release from The Trade Desk that promises to revolutionize programmatic advertising: Kokai.

 

Introducing Kokai: The Next Evolution in Programmatic Advertising

Kokai is the newest edition of The Trade Desk platform, marking a transformational evolution for the core platform. This latest product upgrade simplifies and optimizes first-party data activation while enhancing the user experience for traders. 

Matt Fogarty, GM of General Partnerships at The Trade Desk, emphasized the importance of Kokai for the evolving programmatic landscape. “Kokai is a purpose-built product designed to unlock value from customers’ first-party data assets,” he explained. By leveraging advanced AI and machine learning, Kokai enhances campaign performance while simplifying audience-first targeting.

Here’s what you need to know about Kokai, its groundbreaking features, and how it will reshape the way we approach programmatic advertising.

 

Key Features of Kokai

1. Seed-Based Targeting:

   • Kokai introduces a new concept known as “seeds,” which represent an audience-first approach to targeting. Seed audiences are created using a brand’s most valuable customers and allow advertisers to expand their customer base by finding new prospects with similar characteristics.

2. Trader Toolkit: The toolkit simplifies data activation and helps traders unlock more value from their first-party audiences. Key components include:

   • Relevance Score: Measures the likelihood that a target audience will be replicated in other segments or visit relevant content.

   • Forecasting Capability: Near real-time forecasting updates help traders understand scale potential and optimize strategies quickly.

   • AI Optimization: Enhanced AI capabilities ensure that Kokai delivers optimal performance across all campaigns.

3. Quality Inventory at Scale:

   • Kokai introduces “Sellers and Publishers 500+,” a curated selection of the top 500+ publishers on the open internet. This allows advertisers to access premium inventory at scale while leveraging direct publisher relationships and their own deals.

4. Data-Driven Insights: Kokai provides better data insights to inform smarter decisions:

   • TV Quality Index: Measures the quality of TV inventory based on factors like genre, environment, and show.

   • Quality Reach Index: Reports audience reach against specific target segments.

   • Retail Sales Index: Evaluates campaign performance across retail partners like Instacart, Dollar General, Albertsons, and Kroger.

5. Intuitive User Experience: The new Programmatic Table consolidates key parameters and actions into a single, user-friendly interface. It enables traders to:

   • Easily access advertiser-level settings, seeds, and optimization controls.

   • View forecasts and relevance scores for quick decision-making.

Best Practices and Tips for Getting Started with Kokai

1. Adopt an Audience-First Approach:

   • Start with your most valuable customers and expand using proxies like retail and third-party data.

2. Leverage the Trader Toolkit:

   • Use the Relevance Score to prioritize highly relevant audience segments and inventory.

   • Utilize near real-time forecasting to assess scale potential quickly.

3. Prioritize Quality Inventory:

   • Explore the “Sellers and Publishers 500 Plus” list to discover premium supply.

   • Apply the Quality Reach Index and TV Quality Index to identify high-impact inventory.

4. Iterate and Optimize:

   • Regularly analyze campaign performance using Kokai’s enhanced insights.

   • Refine strategies based on the Retail Sales Index and other data-driven metrics.

 

Conclusion

Kokai ushers in a new era of audience-first programmatic advertising. By leveraging powerful data insights and simplifying the user experience, it enables advertisers to unlock the full potential of their first-party data assets. Ventura Growth and The Trade Desk are committed to providing comprehensive training and support to ensure that you maximize Kokai’s capabilities.

In case you missed our previous posts, explore our in-depth look at the importance of Identity and First Party Data Strategies in programmatic advertising and our analysis of Retail Media Networks impact on modern marketing strategies.

Stay tuned for the final post in our series, where we’ll dive into integrating Kokai with your data strategies anchored around Snowflake. Discover how the collaboration between The Trade Desk and Snowflake is enhancing data-driven strategies in our next post.