WHY WE STARTED REDBUD
Updated: Oct 5, 2018
A blog by Rhys Denny, Co-Founder
As a big sports fan, arbitrarily rating everything comes naturally to me. My passion is rugby, which will likely not come as a surprise when I tell you that I’m Welsh; and over the years I’ve enjoyed many nights over a beer discussing (well, arguing) the merits of one player over another across generations or countries. Over the years the use of stats has become increasingly prevalent, providing people with a toolbox of facts to back up their argument. For example, Jason Robinson has won a World Cup and whilst a fine player, in my humble opinion, is no match for 2008 World Player of the year Shane Williams!
As the World Cup continues to surprise, it has also brought to the fore the great football debate of our time, Messi vs. Ronaldo. Each camp will bring up the quite frankly astonishing stats of each player to back up their argument; but in something as emotive as sport, no matter what the stats say, you are not going to sway the other side as there is that intangible element that will always drive a favourite.
Choice becomes personal, irrational even, yet it leads to a lot of great conversations.
However, in many other areas of our lives we need to make rational choices. Rating items or services based on their performance or merits on your particular need is important.
Mowing the lawn the other week I managed to hit a stone that my dog had lovingly left as a present for me on the lawn. Sadly the stone was not seen by me and it fired at my window shattering it. Good times.
I don't know anything about fixing windows and I don't personally know anyone that can do it, so I went to one of the many sites that allow you to search for tradespeople in my area. The beauty of these sites is they allow us to make an informed choice based on our specific needs.
I type in my area, my particular requirement and I am presented with a number of different people who can help with my problem.
This is not a decision I am going to make on intangibles, I'm not going to pick one glazier over another because they can sidestep in a phonebox, like Shane; I'm going to pick the one that offers the best price, service and demonstrates the best customer satisfaction score.
This is now a common theme across all walks of life. If you want anything, a quick online search will bring up the merits of what you are looking for and the merits of other similar products. You are making informed choices based on your specific requirements. But when does all this choice become too much?
An article on Psychology Today by Liraz Margalit Ph.D. stated that: “when there are only two options, we have a 50% chance of choosing the right one. But when there are five options, our chances suddenly decrease to 20%. Matters become even more complicated when there are twenty options or more. Human cognitive ability cannot efficiently compare more than five options, so most of us will start looking at the first few options and then stop.”
This is extremely relevant for our industry. Take a look at the graphic below from chiefmartec.com, here are nearly 7,000 choices that publishers and advertisers can make on the third party technology they work with, and now you realise that they are faced with a herculean task!
How do businesses make the best choices for their objectives when there are so many external options and so many internal factors to consider?
Commercial goals v Product roadmap,
Resource light for implementation,
Fear of change at different layers in an organisation.
What might work for on business, might not work for another due to:
Difference of their set up,
Difference in roadmap,
Difference in overall strategy.
What is the most popular product in the market might not be right for your specific needs:
Might not support mobile/video,
Was launched ahead of new legislature and is no longer compliant,
Causes load time issues due to Publisher differentiated set ups.
The pressure to make the right choice on a partner is huge, and extremely stressful. It can take many months to pick a partner, go through legal, implementation etc. and then there is no guarantee that this is going to be effective to the needs of a specific business. With commercial and market pressures, who is helping the publisher community through this process? Helping them make the most informed choice on their specific requirements.
It is an exciting time to be in digital marketing.
We are integrally involved in an industry that is evolving and changing at a rapid pace, where there is a willingness to embrace change and try exciting new things, a great example being the recent Ozone collaboration:
This desire and willingness for change is why we started Redbud.
For those of you who know us, Chloe Grutchfield and I, worked together at Verve for two years, and not only did we bond over an espresso martini or five, but we discovered a combined passion for innovations within our space.
Our mission is a simple one: we want to make advertising better.
This starts with informing and enabling businesses to make the right choices for their specific needs. Watch this space and see how we evolve.