On September 18th, the AAX team joined with leading minds at the vanguard of programmatic for a day of sharing insight, strategy, and passion-fueled ideas.

In other words: we attended World Forum Disrupt Programmatic New York.

The talents behind World Forum Disrupt created a platform designed with the mission of challenging. Because of this, we made sure that we arrived ready to be challenged, ready to challenge, and ready to develop and participate in open dialogue.

The conversations we participated in were helped, in large part, by the fact that World Disrupt Programmatic marked the first time Tim Cronin gave a keynote speech in his role as AAX’s VP of Sales. This presentation became what Cronin referred to as “the coming out party for the Acceptable Ads program and for AAX .”

There was also another, more vital, reason why Cronin’s keynote was so important. As the new faces in town, AAX wanted to make sure that we had a chance to facilitate discussions on the state of ad blocking.

Hart Gliedman, AAX Director of US Sales, explains: “It was incredibly useful that Tim Cronin was given the stage to present AAX to the Forum, because was able to properly explain our unique value proposition to prospective publishers of the highest quality.”

We had a number of fascinating dialogues at World Forum Disrupt Programmatic, and we wanted to share five key subjects that we discussed at length.

#1 Ad Blocking: How Did We Get Here?

When asked about his keynote speech, Tim Cronin spoke enthusiastically about the event, praising the publishers and the atmosphere of change.

“It was interesting to see what people’s priorities and questions were. People were curious about the evolution of ad blocking. Basically, the surplus in online inventory created a supply and demand imbalance—premium publishers’ revenue gets squeezed in such an environment. As a result, many were forced to make up revenue by serving more, or larger format and flashier ads. And this drove up the use of ad blockers by the most sensitive and technical consumers.”

# 2 Privacy Is The Key

But other factors prompted the advent of ad blocking—what Doc Searls called “the greatest boycott in human history.” As Gliedman explains, this is partially the result of a misunderstanding. “Concerns over privacy are a big reason why people install ad blockers in the first place,” he says.

World Disrupt Programmatic was abuzz with discussions surrounding GDPR and third party vs. first party cookies. According to Gliedman, that’s a discussion that needs to occur.

“Having less data on the user? That’s the world that AAX lives in,” he says, adding, “Programmatic without user data is the future.”

#3 Mobile Is The Future

Another, adjacent topic that dominated dialogues concerned mobile. (For more on the mobile-related conversations occurring at World Disrupt Programmatic, check out Kristina Hahn and Gabrielle Heyman’s insights on the subject.)

“A lot of traffic is going mobile. Mobile relies on cookies,” says Cronin. “Safari just stopped allowing third party cookies, and other browsers are thinking of doing the same. This is a big deal for publishers—the industry is faced with more challenges than ever.”

# 4 What’s Broken Was Already Broken…

Gliedman stressed how important it was to let everyone know about the evolution of Acceptable Ads.

“The system is broken,” he says. “The trust between users and websites is broken. But it’s already been broken. That’s why ad blocking emerged in the first place.”

# 5 …But It Can Be Fixed

This broken system, asserts Cronin, is the reason that he was so enthusiastic about delivering “Ad Blocking Is Dead,” his keynote speech.

“It’s time to restore the value exchange,” he says. “Acceptables Ads allow users to support their favorite sites in a way that benefits all parties. It’s possible to meet in the middle.”

We’ll be posting video of Tim Cronin’s keynote lecture shortly. In the meantime, check out our upcoming engagements here or follow us on Twitter at @aaxmedia.

Autumn comes early in Germany. By the second week of September there was a palpable sense of excitement in the air as the AAX team assembled in Cologne. It may have had something to do with the golden light or the newly crisp weather.

Or maybe it was the fact that, less than two years after founding, AAX was attending our first DMEXCO.

During DMEXCO 2019, the city of Cologne was electric. Its normally relaxed atmosphere was bustling, infused with the 41,000 visitors from over 95 countries all headed to the Kölnmesse. This charged environment helped inspire us to get up for an early commute—mainly by train, although VP of Sales Tim Cronin and Director of U.S. Sales Hart Gliedman preferred to ride in style via e-scooter—to the Messe. We arrived at our Hall 8 stand prepared for two packed days of inspiring discussions, interactions, and meetings of the mind.

Crafting a dynamic stand, explains AAX Head of Commercialization Rotem Dar, is one of the most dependable ways to ensure a dynamic DMEXCO experience. “You can’t just exchange business cards,” he says. “You need a good sized stand, in order to create an area with separate meeting rooms. This is what facilitates longer, more productive conversations.”

Hart Gliedman agrees. For him, the meeting rooms served as a conduit to better communication. “It was great to talk to publishers and really have a solution for them. And their response was extraordinary. I’ve been in sales for a long time and it was wonderful to hear that there were very, very few objections.”

He urges any new exhibitor at DMEXCO to aim to find the right hall and position for their stand, but not to get caught up in the extras. “Don’t worry about providing food,” he says. “There’s more than enough around.”

Otilia Otacan, AAX Head of Operations, chimes in: there might be enough food, but there’s never enough coffee. She advises first-timers to “walk around and spot the professional coffee machines…because that’s where the good coffee is!”

To help expo-weary visitors in their quest for caffeine, AAX provided XL travel mugs—specifically, these mugs are 15% larger than average. This number was chosen as a reflection of what AAX provides to publishers: an opportunity to frictionlessly, respectfully monetize 15% of their audience. This 15% constitutes a young, highly engaged demographic who’ve consented to seeing advertising deemed acceptable by the Acceptable Ads standard.

AAX is restoring the value exchange between publishers and ad blockers, explains AAX CEO Fredrick Leuschner. And he sees this mission reflected in the slogan of DMEXCO 2019, “Trust in you.”

“Trust is invaluable,” Leuschner states. “And restoring this value exchange works to restore an overall sense of trust.”

The double meaning of “Trust In You” wasn’t lost on the AAX team—and it served as an especially inspiring slogan to keep in mind for our first DMEXCO. “It was a reminder to believe in yourself and what you stand for,” says Otlacan. “That was easy to do in the thoughtful environment of DMEXCO. ”

VP of Sales Tim Cronin agrees. “I was deeply impressed with the quality of the conversations at DMEXCO,” he says. “You could sense a palpable shift towards building a fairer web that rewards all three participants in the value exchange: publishers, advertisers, and users.”

DMEXCO 2019 is over, but we’re already excited for what 2020 holds. And in the meantime, we’re gearing up for an autumn full of other events. Check out our upcoming engagements here or follow us on Twitter @aaxmedia and stay tuned for what we have planned.