Advertisers have long understood the potency of television (TV) as a brand-building medium for consumer products. However, business-to-business advertisers typically kept their distance, and for good reason. If you are like most B2B advertisers, you don’t have the luxury of the large media budgets and soft accountabilities afforded consumer brands. With no way to target niche audiences, traditional TV has simply been too expensive and too wasteful to be considered viable in the B2B marketing mix.

Programmatic advertising, since the late 90s, had been waiting for a similar catapult, and 2020 brought it. While total ad spend in programmatic had grown by double digits each year since 2017, those in the know say it got the big boost from the pandemic, allowing 2020 to be dubbed, “the year of programmatic.” What was the inflection point?

In this year's National Football League AFC Divisional Round playoff game, Cleveland Browns Coach Kevin Stefanski was accused of playing it safe. Trailing by five, facing fourth and nine in the fourth quarter, he punted and put the game in the hands of his defense. Kansas City Chiefs Coach Andy Reid, later facing fourth and one, left his offense on the field and went for it.

The COVID-19 pandemic may be the biggest shock to our lives and livelihoods since the Spanish flu in 1918. Our lives and the economy have come to a near full halt. There’s major economic upheaval from Wall Street to Main Street. The ground below us has shaken.

The Chinese word for “crisis” is frequently cited for its use of two Chinese characters signifying “danger” and “opportunity.