NEW YORK, November 8th, 2018 – S4M, Futurs.io, Dentsu Aegis Network’s digital performance agency iProspect, Smart and Mondadori MediaConnect is launching the “Adschain Consortium” to address the persistent fraud in the programmatic supply chain. This ambitious alliance will apply blockchain technology on industry transactions to bring more transparency for all the stakeholders.

Online advertising fraud is estimated to cost the industry an annual loss of $17B USD*. A source for this concern is the increasing number of intermediaries in the programmatic supply chain jumbled in between the publisher and the advertiser. This mirky ecosystem depreciates the value for everyone and transparency is lost at each level of exchange.

Adschain Consortium is a project aiming to address this persistent concern and was inspired by recent efforts, like the Ads.txt, to standardize the industry. This initiative to leverage the blockchain technology will bring more security to the entire programmatic supply chain by making the intermediary actors for each impression transaction transparent.

The implementation is simple, advertisers can declare a list of authorized buyers and publishers can also communicate an official list of authorized resellers. These authorized agents can automate reference to this open ledger before any transaction to validate legitimacy. Both supply-side platforms and demand-side platforms have access to the same information to eliminate unauthorized sellers or buyers in the programmatic supply chain. This distributed ledger protocol will be based on Ethereum to provides more transparency,  trust, security and traceability to the entire programmatic supply chain.

The success of any blockchain technology application rests on a proactive participation from all the stakeholder. To build this proof of concept, the Adschain Consortium is currently selecting advertisers for test campaigns. The consortium is encouraging more active contributors and membership from across the online advertising supply chain to guarantee the success of this initiative.

About Smart 
Smart is a fully transparent ad monetization platform built for premium publishers to serve demanding buyers. Our unique holistic and flexible approach gives full control back to publishers by driving performance and value of their loyal audience. Demand and data agnostic, Smart empowers publishers to maximize yield through all sales channels, ad products, and screens. Smart works directly with more than 1,000 publishers worldwide including TracFone, Le Monde, and Wine Enthusiast to deliver display, video, native, and rich-media ads to over 50,000 sites and apps. Ranked on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA, with 11 offices and 215 employees worldwide, Smart leads the charge in building a transparent ecosystem based on quality. Smart is a “GDPR ready” company as certified by independent data protection specialist, ePrivacy GmbH.

CONTACT INFORMATION
Smart: Nessa Payet – +33 (0)1 86 26 45 68 – pr@smartadserver.com

About S4M
S4M – Shopper Marketing Made Easy – is the first and only advertising technology that connects brands to consumers by bridging the gap between digital advertising and the real-world. S4M created a unified technology for marketers to manage, measure, and optimize incremental visits in real-time to online and physical stores. S4M is committed to transparency and full autonomy for its clients from online impressions until conversions and relies on data obtained only with the user’s explicit consent. Founded in 2011 by mobile marketing pioneers, S4M has more than 160 employees and services more than 600 advertisers worldwide. The company has ten offices in the US, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. Discover more: http://www.s4m.io

Press Contact: Cindy HEISER – Head of Communications, S4M (cindy.heiser@s4m.io)

About Futurs.io
Futurs.io is the innovation consultancy firm of the Maltem Consulting group, focused on emerging and innovative technologies (Blockchain, big data & AI, IoT). Thanks to its multidisciplinary team, Futurs.io provides comprehensive support to its clients for their innovation projects : strategic consultancy, technology evangelism and training, ideation workshop, PoC, IT service, communication/marketing, public affairs and prospective. Highly committed to the Blockchain revolution, Futurs has created Blockacademy, a Blockchain development training program, an has co-founded with French energy giant Engie « Blockchain Studio », a startup creating applications facilitating the use of Blockchain.

Press Contact: Romain PIGENEL, romain.pigenel@futurs.io

About Dentsu Aegis Network
Part of Dentsu Inc., Dentsu Aegis Network is made up of ten global network brands – Carat, Dentsu, dentsu X, iProspect, Isobar, mcgarrybowen, Merkle, MKTG, Posterscope and Vizeum and supported by its specialist/multi-market brands. Dentsu Aegis Network is Innovating the Way Brands Are Built for its clients through its best-in-class expertise and capabilities in media, digital and creative communications services. Offering a distinctive and innovative range of products and services, Dentsu Aegis Network is headquartered in London and operates in 145 countries worldwide with more than 40,000 dedicated specialists. www.dentsuaegisnetwork.com

About Mondadori MediaConnect
Mondadori MediaConnect is the advertising sale agency of Mondadori Group France, the leading expert media group in hobbies. Our 4 editorial pillars, which are luxury – fashion – beauty, self, health – well – being and leisure, are deployed 22 powerful and affinity, digitalized and diversified media brands (Grazia, Biba, Auto Plus, Closer, Sciences et vie, Top Health, Télé Star …) which are addressed every month to more than 28 million enthusiasts, more than one French in two.
Our brands: more than 20 media brands print – web – mobile – social – vocal – events.
Our influencers : 400 journalists.
Our broadcasts : 138 million print copies sold each year.
Our audiences : 28 million French every month; 12 million Internet users ; 3.7 million social users, 41 million qualified profiles; 5 million @ opt’in. Mondadori reaches 53% of the French every month.
Sources : One Global 2018 V3 – Mediamétrie S1 2018 – DMP Mediarithmics