Mindshare ties up with Zilliqa to launch 'programmatic alliance'

Global media planning and buying agency Mindshare, together with blockchain platform Zilliqa, has built a "programmatic alliance" on blockchain designed to explore the application of the technology in the advertising ecosystem.The aim of the "alliance" is to assess the applicability of blockchain technology into the world of advertising by testing two critical components of this technology – one on the throughput and the other to arrive at the right consensus protocol. The alliance includes multiple businesses in the programmatic advertising supply chain including advertisers, advertising agencies, demand side platforms, supply side platforms, data management platforms, trading desks, independent verification companies and publishers. It also has the potential to include key opinion leaders or industry experts, if required.Key members include MediaMath, Rubicon Project, Integral Ad Science, and Underscore CLT.Mindshare and Zilliqa will work with MediaMath, Rubicon Project and Integral Ad Science in developing the "alliance's" first prototype, “Project Proton”, which aims to transform the current programmatic advertising ecosystem by providing a way for all the stakeholders across the value chain to interact in a secure and verifiable manner through smart contracts on a high throughput blockchain. According to a statement, this will make it suitable for the enterprise level implementation of the project for all the partners involved in a transparent manner.Mindshare previously inked an exclusive partnership with Zilliqa in November 2017. The exclusive partnership will involve testing whether Zilliqa’s blockchain protocol can be used to address pervasive industry challenges including contextual advertising in relation to fake news; develop strategic initiatives around data privacy and develop an industry-wide tokenisation program, which can be used for publisher and content scoring."Project Proton" is the first phase of this partnership and will evaluate how Zilliqa’s blockchain protocol can address some of the potential applications of this technology to the advertising industry. Findings are slated to be ready before the end of the year.“We are absolutely delighted and thankful to have MediaMath, IAS, Rubicon Project and Underscore CLT partner with us on this project with Zilliqa. There are many claims and speculations on the applicability of this technology to our business. 'Project Proton' is designed to test this, particularly in the areas of building consensus and managing high throughput,” Gowthaman Ragothaman, chief development officer, Mindshare AMENA said.