Interior Design as a Metaphor for Inventory Curation

Photo by Collov Home Design on Unsplash

A couple weeks ago, I wrote about our little bundle of new hotness (curation) in terms of classic funnel strategy. Publishers have high value, exclusive, upper funnel inventory and low value, broadly distributed, easy to access low funnel inventory. What do we want? Value! Where do we want it? In the upper funnel! When do we want it? 10 years ago when we opened the flood gates to pre-bid programmatic and bled our value out to the open market! I mean, now…

Seriously though, advertisers seem to value data over placement. That’s apparent when they spend a $2 data CPM over a $0.50 impression CPM. It clearly says, I don’t care where my ad goes as long as it is adjacent to this data profile. This approach presents challenges when there is also an expectation for performance. It is impossible to drive true performance without equally valuing the visibility and adjacency of an ad. Users don’t click on ads they don’t look at and users don’t click on ads that aren’t relevant to their interests. A really good way to ensure an ad is paid attention to and is top of mind is to buy an early in the session impression that is contextually aligned with the content. In other words, the AdWords approach.

Isn’t that where curation helps? Yes, but as in all things business…not necessarily and all are not created equal. Now, let’s talk about interior design because I’m moving in February and my new doomscrolling is on PotterBarn and Pinterest.

The best (and most expensive) path to having a pristine, perfectly designed, insta-worthy home is to work with an elite interior design professional. They are educated, refined and experienced in delivering world class designs. You will undoubtedly love your home if you invest in an a reputable, high end, interior designer.

Well, not everyone needs (or can afford) a home designed by Kelly Wearstler. Many can achieve a beautiful, professional and more cost effective solution by leveraging the design services of a favourite, mid-high end brand. If I were to outfit my whole home in Pottery Barn, I can leverage their “free” design services and someone who is knowledgable about their product line will help me choose pieces for my home. The burden is still largely on me to ensure their selections work in my spaces. But I can get decent results and nice products from a retailer with in house design services.

Lastly, I can DIY. I can seek out the sales and dupes. I can visit all the showrooms and order samples. I can place the orders, stage my home and take pride in the results I drive for myself. I may not be an expert in design but I’m an expert in my home and how I want it to look. I may fall short here and there. My colours may not match perfectly or the quality doesn’t hold up over time. I can’t be sure if the cost corners I cut in the short term really amount to the best savings over time.

Back in media land, all these options, choices and decision points apply. It’s what keeps us employed. One sofa does not fit all designs. We will see this in the curation services that come to market. There will be high-end, expensive and uber premium packages. There will be long tail, cheap but scalable packages. My hunch is that while cookies still have enough scale, the low end will dominate buy side preferences. I doubt this path will last as cookies fade like wallpaper in direct sunlight. Imagine, these large scale, cookie heavy deals lose volume and not only perform poorly but also can’t fundamentally deliver inventory. Cheap and easy can be a great launching point to learn but; ultimately, I suspect curation will land somewhere in the middle like Pottery Barn’s in house design service. We will need someone (ahem publishers) to help align inventory to audiences and optimize performance.

One parting thought on the topic of AI and ML optimized curation. Of course we have to go there because AI and ML will also solve all the problems so we can cut out humans from the transaction, right? Have you seen the AI renderings of beautiful design and architecture on social media? AI can dream up some really impressive and powerful images - until you look closely and notice the light fixture is floating in thin air and the door can’t open because there’s a cabinet in front of it. Expect for all the potential benefit an algorithm can drive, it will also make absurd choices that waste an entire budget in a hot second. Who is responsible when a robot blows the budget? How expensive is it to watch closely enough to ensure sensible decisions are made? Does anyone even care…