What is Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO)?

I think we all agree that there is nothing better than getting something that fits us or suits us perfectly, or being presented with something that is just right for the given moment. It could be a perfectly cut shirt or a cake baked in the right proportions. But how does this relate to Dynamic Creative Optimization?

People operating in the field of digital advertising must remember that the best way to reach the target user is via perfectly tailored advertising. Each user is a separate unit – and potentially belonging to a larger group – so we must prepare creations that will reach these various groups.

What is Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO)?

Dynamic Creative Optimization is a technology for automatic optimization and real-time ad adjustment (RTB) involving the real-time selection of personalized advertising aimed at specific users. Personalization and the selection of creations is carried out on the basis of cookies left by a given person in the network (cookies store information about websites visited by a given user, products viewed or products left in the basket). Following from this, DCO technology finds information about their previous activity on the Internet; and on the basis of this data, it is able to select an appropriate creation that may appeal to them.

But how does this work in practice? Well, here is an example. Stores were closed during the lockdown. Therefore, users made purchases via the Internet. Suppose a certain person was looking for accessories for their pet. After leaving the websites of online stores with offers targeted at pet owners, the user was “chased” by advertisements featuring dog accessories, not only from the sites they visited, but also from brands they had not heard of before.

As we can see, thanks to DCO, we can reach a specific user with a specific advertisement.

What is the aim of Dynamic Creative Optimization?

The purpose of Dynamic Creative Optimization is to automatically select a creation that will achieve the campaign goal set by us (the purchase of a product on the website, visits to the website, etc.). With real-time campaigns or remarketing, we always have a certain pool of creatives prepared so that the tool has something to rotate. The creations differ in terms of formats and appearance (graphics, text, color), so that you can choose the most appropriate from this pool.

Remember that every user is different, so not every creation will have the same impact. For one, the graphics on the creation will be the most important, because it is the appearance of the product that will ultimately dictate the nature of the interaction. Also, of importance will be the text, that will encourage the user to click on the ad.

DCO from a technical perspective

Now let’s look at how, technically, DCO selects personalized advertising for a specific user in real time.

The first step is to present the user with different creative formats. Then the DCO technology judges which user responds best to. Once this has been determined, the most optimal format is then broadcast to the user.

However, let us now focus on elements that are tested during emission and individually adjusted to the user. One of the groups of elements that are tested are the technical and visual aspects of advertising:

• creative size (here it is assessed which creative format best suits a given user, whether it will be, for example: 300×250 or 160×600)
• the appearance of the creation (color, graphics, font)
• location and appearance of the push to action button
• text information on the creation (information about the creation – promotion, news, etc.)
• location of the ad on the page (top, bottom, right, left, in the text, next to the text, etc.)

But also elements related to a specific user are tested:

• geographic location of the user
• user geolocation
• the time zone in which the given user is located
• the device it uses (desktop, mobile, tablet) and its resolution
• the browser it is using

As we can see from the specs above, DCO tests many elements that will affect the KPI of a campaign. Therefore, it is always worth having more creations up your sleeve, so that we can be sure that it will reach the right users, who will then interact with it.

Summary

Dynamic Creative Optimization technology allows you to reach the user with a specially personalized advertisement, in accordance with preference and behavior. The best aspect of DCO is that it is an end-to-end collection. It will collect cookies and match the appropriate advertisement for the target user. However, for Dynamic Creative Optimization to be able to adjust the ad appropriately. We must have an appropriate pool of creations prepared in advance. It is always worth having more of them, just in case. It will only make us sure that the campaign is displayed to all the users that you intend to reach.