Ad Tech Analogies: Simple is the New Smart (The Rue La La Analogy)

Next up in our ad tech analogies series: The Rue La La Analogy, which explains how private marketplaces and private exchanges are not the same thing. Private marketplaces and private exchanges can frequently be confused – likely because they both have the word “private” in them – but they’re two different concepts.

We explored private marketplaces in our Coupon Code Analogy two weeks ago, but in order to get to the heart of the difference between the two, let’s use online shopping service Rue La La as an example.

Rue La La allows shoppers and clothing brands to buy and sell clothing and accessories. Once you are signed up and approved to buy or sell within Rue La La, you can buy as much or as little as you want – and whenever you want – for an indefinite amount of time.

That’s similar to how private exchanges work, where all bidders and sellers must be approved before they are allowed to buy or sell, but once they are, there’s no limit to activity.

But it’s unlike how private marketplaces work, because private marketplaces operate much more like a “sale,” where there’s a defined period of activity and a time sensitive Deal ID required for access.

Next week we’ll dive into our final ad tech analogy, The Dinner Recipe Analogy, which explains how KPIs affect what programmatic tactics we use.

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