Ad Tech Shines: Introducing AdtechCares as a New PSA Partner

Created in 2004, but running ad management services since 2015, Mediavine is the largest display ad management company in the world, working with nearly 9,000 independent lifestyle website publishers, helping them to run programmatic display advertising campaigns across all of their extremely brand-safe content (as ensured by our application process). 

Mediavine’s customers are passionate content creators with their own blogs and social media empires. Ranging in size from 50,000 sessions to 50 million sessions a month, they run the gamut of lifestyle niches — parenting and family, recipes and crafts, fashion and travel. If you name it, Mediavine has a customer that blogs on the topic. 

In 2020, a suggestion from one of our own travel publishers, whose traffic was impacted by the pandemic, led to the creation of our PSA program, where we fill unsold inventory with PSAs for causes that publishers care about most.

Since its inception in April 2020, Mediavine has served nearly 17 billion PSA impressions, across myriad causes from United Way to PFLAG to Pediatric Cancer Awareness. 

With nearly 9,000 unique sites working with Mediavine’s ad management product, putting tools like our PSA program in their hands allows us to bring increased bandwidth and share of voice to a cause without additional cost to the organization itself. It also allows our bloggers to give back to the causes they believe in with a simple click of a button.

The advertising industry hasn’t always had the best reputation for “giving back,” which is why we’re so excited to be part of AdTechCares, an organization that leverages advertising technology to combat misinformation and keep humanity well. The organization of 50+ companies delivers the truth about COVID-19, supports fact-based journalism, and affirms that Black Lives Matter around the world. 

We’d love to share more about this organization — the hows and whys that evolved into a movement that our publishers can take part in today, just by opting into AdTechCares PSAs through their Mediavine Dashboard. 

We welcome AdTechCares Co-Founder, Ryanne Laredo, to discuss the origins and mission of her organization. In addition to her work with AdTechCares, Ryanne is formerly the Chief Customer Officer at Amobee and currently serving as the Chief Customer Officer at Smartly.io.

Tell us about yourself — how did you get into the digital advertising space, and what led you to where you are today?

I have always loved advertising, memorizing TV ads since I was 2 years old. I realized that I should not fight destiny later in college and pursued communication and masters degrees in PR & Advertising.

I was working many jobs to pay for schooling and, quite by happenstance, I fell into search advertising. Truly, a beer with friends after one of my many jobs, meeting a new person who inquired if I needed a job and asked if I was good at math after I told him what I was studying, and voila — landed at Doubleclick Performics in search advertising.

That was many years ago, but I would say curiosity, determination to solve meaningful problems — usually connecting technology with customers needs — and really hard work allowed me to get where I am today as Chief Customer Officer of Smartly.io, the leading social advertising automation platform, and Co-Founder of AdTechCares.

What drew you to be part of the AdTechCares movement?

I created AdTechCares because there is a sense of responsibility I feel to living truthfully and with responsibility for those around me. My parents and community taught me that. So, I guess it is fair to say that I feel a supreme responsibility to leverage the tools that I know best — ad tech and media — to try to undo some of the wrongs that can be caused by these same tools and the industries in which we play.

Again, driven by a sense of responsibility, not one of guilt. So much good comes from ad tech and media and the connections they enable, but there is still a phenomenal amount of opportunity to improve as an industry. And what is most important is that when COVID-19 hit us all, I was not alone in this thought.

In a matter of a few days, an idea to help the World Health Organization combat misinformation was off the ground, and there were 20 companies coming together to fight the battle. We didn’t know what we were getting into, but we all knew we wanted to help.

Over the last 18 months, we have supported four causes covering COVID-19 health tips, vaccinations, systemic racism, and Stop AAPI Hate. Each time driven by our mission. We were there to bring truth to the world, in any way we could, to deliver on our promise of combating misinformation and keeping humanity well.

What has the journey been like to create an organization with staying power?

Unexpected. I knew there were a lot of purpose-driven individuals in the industry, so I was not surprised they showed up. However, the amount of time and energy given by these individuals is stunning. No one showed up just to shake hands. Everyone contributed, everyone got their hands dirty. When they got tired, they called their co-worker or friend. Everyone spread the word.

The staying power comes from the combination of a mission that resonates and a team that is dedicated to delivering for each other. Ideas without action can be genius but have no impact — that’s a butchering of a great quote by Simon Sinek — but it’s true in describing the reason for the staying power here nonetheless.

What are some goals you have for the rest of 2021 and into 2022?

We continue to push new approaches to tackle vaccine hesitation, as we know that misinformation is still powering some of these feelings. We will continue to support this initiative into 2022.

We have also decided that we will take on the Climate Crisis in 2022. With all of the scientific evidence available, there should not be such misunderstandings of the dire situation our world is facing as there is. In this case, we are combating climate change by making it easier to understand the challenge and provide solutions. We will be announcing our partner for this in late 2021.

How is AdTechCares hoping to lead the industry and partners on this journey?

We are stronger together. Providing a monthly forum to discuss how companies can learn and lean in to make an impact, bring ideas to the table and crowdsource approaches is the first step.

Simply having a place where companies can go and grab assets quickly and also to share their own initiatives that fit our mission to help each other is huge. There are not many other places that our industry is so open to sharing and working together. 

How can Mediavine publishers best provide feedback or get involved?

Mediavine has been a stellar founding partner of AdtechCares. Mediavine has AdTechCares assets ready for you whenever you’re ready. For all other inquiries you can reach us via LinkedIn.