Insights

July 2024 Overview

The Trade Desk consistently leads the way in media technology and AI integrations, making them our go-to DSP partner. Our partnership with them allows us first-to-market opportunities to test cutting edge solutions within their platform.

The Trade Desk is starting its transition from its Solimar DSP platform to the new, revamped Kokai DSP platform. Solimar, its predecessor, was celebrated for its user-friendly interface and robust data integration capabilities, empowering marketers to optimize their programmatic advertising campaigns effectively.

Kokai introduces several advancements over Solimar, including enhanced AI-driven decisioning, deeper integration with retail media networks, and more sophisticated measurement tools. These improvements aim to provide advertisers with greater precision in targeting and performance analysis, positioning Kokai as a cutting-edge solution in the rapidly evolving programmatic advertising landscape.

What this Means 

The Trade Desk’s DSP interface is changing, as well as the inner workings of their DSP algorithm. Efforts will be made to ensure that all current campaigns, historical data, and user settings are accurately migrated to Kokai without interruption. Seeds will be introduced as a key driver of AI performance and campaign optimization, with all algorithm decisioning powered by first-party data modeled as Seeds.

An Aside: What are Seeds?

Within the Kokai platform, “Seeds” leverage first-party data, such as customer lists, website visitors, or past purchasers, to inform audience strategy. New audiences will be able to be compared to a particular Seed to gauge relevance. This approach enables advertisers to optimize their campaigns by targeting users who have previously taken an ultimate desired action, thereby increasing relevance and engagement.

Kokai’s advanced machine learning algorithms further enhance this process by generating lookalike models, which identify new potential customers with similar characteristics to the Seed audience. Through Seeds, advertisers can make data-driven decisions and achieve better campaign performance. An ideal Seed is a list of users who have already taken the full conversion action in the funnel such as an enrolled student or a completed purchase.

What Comes Next 

Our Cruxx Traders are working diligently to onboard the Kokai platform, and integrate existing campaigns. We will be focused on the following steps to leverage Kokai:

• Plan for a period of testing and experimentation with your Cruxx team to become comfortable with the new platform and its capabilities
• Onboard first-party data into the TTD platform for Seed creation or discuss other Seed data options if first party data is not available
• Work with your agency team at Cruxx to develop a strategy for using Kokai’s advanced features