PepsiCo blockchain ads trial sparks significant efficiency gains

PepsiCo has worked with media agency Mindshare on a blockchain trial, dubbed Project Proton, that brought about a 28% boost in programmatic supply chain efficiency.

The aim was to examine if the technology could address “industry challenges” in programmatic advertising. It ran during March in Asia Pacific and focused on viewable impressions, running one campaign through smart contracts and one without. Mindshare drove the project alongside other members of Project Proton, including Zilliqa Research, Rubicon Project, MediaMath and Integral Ad Science. The group has been working together for almost a year and this is the first test with a major brand to be published.

The smart contracts are deployed through Zilliqa’s blockchain and can reconcile impressions from other data sources alongside payments. It’s done by using a NAT (Native Alliance Token) in almost real-time. Farida Shakhshir, Director of Consumer Engagement for PepsiCo, AMENA, says: “It is key that we stay abreast of new technologies, and continue to advance transparency, viewability, brand safety and buying efficiency. The results are encouraging, and we plan to run a few more campaigns under different conditions to verify more hypotheses and measure overall impact.”

Erich Wasserman, Co-founder and Head of Strategic Business Development at MediaMath, comments: “We are delighted by this partnership as it matures solutions that further the promises of transparency and performance in programmatic marketing. We look forward to growing the addressable data and media supply chain that that can take full advantage of the powerful optimisation tools that buy-side platforms afford advertisers.”