Those who embrace transparency with clients will succeed: Jeff Green, The Trade Desk

Jeff Green, Founder & CEO, The Trade Desk, has put up a social media post expressing his views on the industry debate around non-transparent business models, principal-based buying and more. 

"Lately it seems that there are those who want to wave the flag of transparency publicly, but run from it in practice as they arbitrage in the inefficiencies of programmatic." he wrote. 

Read Jeff Green's full post here (reproduced from LinkedIn).

When Dave Pickles and I started TTD, we wanted to create a platform that was more transparent and more aligned with buyers. We wanted to create closer alignment with brands and agencies. We were one of the few DSPs that didn’t focus on disintermediating the agencies.

I stand by our choice to partner with agencies. I stand by our choice to be transparent, even though I think we at times have been too open (as I shared at Marketecture Media last week).

Over the last year or two, things have gotten much harder for agencies.

Lately it seems that there are those who want to wave the flag of transparency publicly, but run from it in practice as they arbitrage in the inefficiencies of programmatic. Or in the most ironic programmatic practice, principal-based buying. (More on this next week. I know…I’m such a tease.)

It bothers me when leaders of non-transparent business models are critical of those of us who are setting the bar—especially when they advocate for moving dollars to more opaque platforms and transaction methods.

As Terence Kawaja said to me last week as we sat backstage at Marketecture, the long arc of programmatic, like any market, will inevitably bend toward efficiency and competition.

Those who succeed will be those who embrace transparency and offer clients competitive, objective value. Thankfully, almost all of our clients, including the world’s largest brands and agencies, share this point of view.

TTD has not “failed" any audit ever.

Ruben Schreurs, CEO of Ebiquity plc, assured me today that he was unaware (until after published) that his firm would be quoted or used in any articles about TTD.

Relatedly, we will not disclose the bills of all of our clients and partners to one of them simply because they assert ambiguous audit rights.

Working with our clients, we always welcome objective and rigorous analysis of our processes, fees, and the value we deliver for clients.