The Trade Desk runs brand campaign taking a subtle jab at FB and Google

Adtech firm The Trade Desk has launched a brand campaign titled "Media for Humankind" that comes at a time the vitality of the open internet is more important than ever. Partnering with ad agency BBH, The Trade Desk conceptualised and executed this campaign in 18 months.

In a blog post, The Trade Desk's chief marketing officer Susan Vobejda said there are growing concerns about the transparency of the information that tech platforms share with marketers and the company aims to help brands in spending their ad dollars. According to Vobejda, "some media buying platforms" are also social media platforms or content platforms that lure marketers to direct their campaign budgets to. However, she said that The Trade Desk does not have that conflict of interest, and will direct brands to spend ad dollars where data can support that spend. She added:

The objectivity allows for transparency in everything we do – from pricing and inventory to measurement and reporting.

Taking another sly jab at tech giants Facebook and Google, the campaign objective explains that The Trade Desk is an open platform and not a "walled garden". Facebook, Google and most recently Amazon, have reportedly dominated the digital advertising ecosystem through walled garden strategies.

“At The Trade Desk, we give you access to the open internet, not just a part of it. Because we’re an open platform, not a walled garden. Our APIs are open, too. Because in the you’re your data should benefit you, not your ad platform,” the company said. Marketing has reached out to The Trade Desk for additional information on its campaign.

Currently, Google is also under investigation for “potential monopolistic behaviour", which came shortly after widening the antitrust scrutiny on Facebook’s market dominance. Prior to that, Google was slapped with close to US$1.7 billion fine by the EU regulators for "unfairly inserting exclusivity clauses into contracts with advertisers" and disadvantaging rivals in the online ad business.