The jury were impressed by the approach taken to a brand safety review and also by the strong results shown in this entry from a very small team.

This is a story of innovation and automation as a result of unexpected advertiser demand and growth. As a department, The Telegraph Campaign Planning and Operations Team supported bigger and more complex campaigns (+27%), increased availability, sell-through rates, yield and revenue. They gave the stakeholders dashboards and kept brands and readers safe around an unprecedented news cycle of geopolitical unrest and the sad loss of our Queen.

As a team working at half capacity through most of the year, they survived and are super

proud of what they have achieved – but did not that they wish they could have had a couple of extra bodies to share the load.

In 2021, they expected Ozone to do much of their digital selling, and the team halved in size to reflect this. In 2022, however, this proved not to be the case as brands increasingly wanted first-party data insights and targeting, transparency around where their ads were appearing, and proof that their campaigns were actually working. As a result, direct business was booming, but with this came many challenges. Lots of brand-safe, high audience news content was being blocked, putting pressure on other channels. Many stakeholders were relying on AdOps for data, audience targeting, and performance analysis.

To focus on business growth, the team needed data democratisation. A few real time dashboards were launched, allowing stakeholders to make informed decisions, access, and share information independently. Removing interruptions allowed the team to:

• Boost sell-through
  Following updated GARM guidelines, they reviewed their targeting and identified 50% of ad inventory was blocked due to over-sensitivity. After rolling out a new approach, the sell-through rate of News&Politics increased +60% and yield +19%. This was presented at TAG’s Brand Safety Evolution and received shoutouts from publishers, tech vendors and programmatic players.
• Grow targetable inventory
  The team developed a unique level of data parity that linked customers’ consent choices at account level. Consent was +24% and drove significant monthly revenue increase.
• Support London Bridge
  With the deteriorating health of Queen Elizabeth, an action plan was created to protect brands and provide a respectful reader experience. When the time came, only one click was necessary to activate the plan, and AdOps could focus on client management.
• Ads in app
  They integrated ads into the Telegraph’s app – a premium, subscriber-only environment. It drove millions of pounds in incremental revenue, +3x than forecasted, and inventory +46%.
• Boost effectiveness
  By implementing new taxonomy, they expanded targeting outside verticals to help brands reach readers where relevant. For example, limiting targeting to the Luxury channel drops luxury coverage by 5x.
  
  A new format – Skyrise – dominates the page, following readers as they scroll in a non-disruptive way. Attention quality is +45% versus benchmarks and their expert planning and live recommendations contributed to deliver +24% revenue versus budget.

As well as increasing inventory and revenue, they finished 2022 with a full team.

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