With online video driving higher unduplicated reach and ROI for Mondelez, the marketer has made a big commitment to programmatic to improve the effectiveness of online video buys across screens.

The consumer packaged goods company that is home to brands such as Oreo and Cheese Nips is planning to shift 10 percent of its TV budgets to online video this year and has teamed up with TubeMogul automate the way it plans, buys and serves online video inventory across all online channels. On mobile, the strategy is likely to present some unique challenges in terms of targeting and customizing video for contextually relevant experiences.

?Online video is a significant priority for Mondel?z International, both at global and NA levels,? said Valérie Moens , a ssociate director of corporate external communications at Mondel?z International. "Globally we?ve committed to shifting 10 percent of our TV budgets to online video this year.

?Online video enables us to achieve higher unduplicated reach, because that's where audiences are, and higher ROI,? she said. ?We have a screen agnostic approach: We make total video buys in the upfronts and look at our flow charts as one holistic video line.

?From a global perspective, we?re planning to shift more of our spending to digital, and mobile is part of that, as it is typically lower cost than traditional media but gets higher returns. For North America, in 2013, digital represented 25 percent of the total media budget and the goal is to be over 50 percent by 2016. Digital reaches consumers where they're consuming media today and has twice the ROI of traditional media.?

Enhancing transparency
Video consumption is growing, driving by views across multiple screens, said B. Bonin Bough, vice president of global media and consumer engagement at Mondelez in a video announcing the TubeMogul partnership.

Mr. Bough also said that engagement rates on TV commercials are down and the only way to get back the effective reach that TV once had is via video. This is because consumers watching a video on their tablet, phone or desktop are less likely to be distracted. If a consumer skips the video, the brand does not get charged for it.

The partnership, which spans every video ad that Mondelez buys, will enhance transparency in both delivery and pricing for online video, according to the company.

Mondelez is also building a programmatic media buying team at MediaVest to handle trading and strategy. This will enable Mondelez to leverage its existing infrastructure while having close proximity between its programmatic and traditional approaches.

Mobile challenges
The strategy will present some unique challenges from a mobile perspective. However, Mondelez and TubeMogul recognize the need to get online video right on mobile as content consumption from these devices continues to grow.

?In terms of mobile, the big challenge here is that mobile is a cookie-less environment,? said Guillaume Lelait, vice president at Fetch North America.  ?There is the option of running large scale brand burst campaigns, and there is still the ability to run campaigns that can be billed on guaranteed completed views.

?Another thing to consider with mobile is that in order to see which audience segments are most effectively engaging with video content, we are still able to utilize premium direct publisher deals, who offer the value of utilizing registration data,? he said.

?As smartphone and tablet penetration continues to grow exponentially in the US, this move shows that Mondelez is on board to invest heavily to reach their consumers at various touchpoints during the day, in new ways ? showing that they are working in effort to be top of mind at all times, by hitting current consumers of their products with their messaging, as well as opening their scope to potential new customers.?

Mobile Marketer of the Year
Mondelez could also face challenges customizing video for mobile for more contextually relevant experiences.

?The challenges are that the advantages of real time buying and targeting in the mobile space are somewhat offset by the limitations of the video format,? said Drew Train, business director at Vivaldi Fifth Season.

?You can?t version or customize video ads in the same way you customize other mobile ads, which gives you less of an ability to target users in the moment,? he said. ?This is especially true if the video content is just a TV spot.?

Mondelez was named the 2013 Mobile Marketer of the Year by Mobile Marketer because of its significant strides in the space. In 2013, the company announced plans to allocate 10 percent of its marketing spend to mobile. The snack food giant continues to ramp up in mobile with advertising, applications, sites, augmented reality and search initiatives that are tailored to each of its more than 50 brands (see story).

The move to leverage programmatic for online video suggests that Mondelez is looking to gain a better understanding of who is viewing its video content and who is engaging with it so the company can optimize campaigns.

As programmatic buying continues to gain steam, other brands could follow suit.

?The challenge is earning and holding onto a consumer?s attention, and figuring out how to do it in a non-intrusive way,? said Mark Glauberson, vice president of media at Direct Agents. ?We?re still seeing this space evolving, and it will take collaboration between brands, agencies, exchanges, and vendors to really fine-tune the delivery and optimization of this channel.?

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York