Introducing ODIN
Adfom’s Powerful AI
Introducing Odin, the AI Purpose Built for Paid-Media
Activation and Management
The ability to leverage the full benefits of These qualities and attributes make At the heart of what we do are billions
powerful artificial intelligence including him the perfect namesake to embody of advertising transactions, each taking
advanced machine learning capabilities Adform’s AI. In the Integrated Advertising place in less than the blink of an eye.
is increasingly an essential differentiator Platform, Odin collects insights from For example, Odin oversees the algorith-
in the digital marketing industry. Artifi- the wealth of knowledge gathered from ms and trading processes that evaluate
cial Intelligence is fundamentally about across the Ad Server, Creative, DSP, DMP, when to bid and what to bid, learns from
connecting the dots. Bringing together and Adform’s wide range of highly spe- failed bids, and stores each win or loss
different data points, and interpreting cialized expertise in paid media to make and optimizes to secure the best results.
that result to generate, flag, and act on data-enriched decisions paired with Odin manages the constant ebb and
new ideas, emergent opportunities, and wise and accurate forecasting. Giving flow of bids and works to craft the per-
to optimize existing needs. Adform is you a seamless experience that helps fect strategy in the process by pairing the
expanding the leading edge of our AI ef- you flow from task to task. More impor- wisdom of the machine to the human
forts while doing just that – connecting tantly, the core value of an AI is its ability vision driving it.
and unifying the powerful algorithms to automate time consuming and ener-
that drive and power our platform. The gy draining tasks, while making informed
result is a fully scalable and flexible plat- decisions and bringing predictive wis-
form, powered by world-class AI, merged dom that helps make you more efficient,
with our in-depth domain knowledge as well as more effective in all you do.
and expertise at the confluence of tra-
ding, data, and creativity. The offspring
of this pairing of technology, infrastruc-
ture, and expertise delivers a body of
capabilities far ahead of the curve in the
advertising technology industry.
The name, Odin, references Adform’s
Nordic heritage. Though made famous
by recent pop culture, Odin was far more
than just the most powerful of the Nor-
se gods. Odin is defined by his endless
quest for wisdom, driving him to sacrifi-
ce his eye in exchange for the ability to
see the future. Two of his closest compa-
nions were his pet ravens whose names
mean “memory” and “thought”. Their
role was to fly around the world gather-
ing insights on people, places and topics
of study. They would then relay this in-
formation back to Odin supplementing
his existing knowledge and formidable
decision-making ability.
White Paper Introducing ODIN Adfom’s Powerful AI 2
Odin – Versatile AI Built Specifically for Digital Advertising
Effectiveness
Data Mastery Productivity
Quality and
Engagement
Protection
ODIN
Automation Creativity
We believe in finding better ways to help you achieve your goals. This is Odin’s fundamental purpose. While this includes con-
ventional optimization and machine learning tasks, it also goes much deeper. The following pillars are a cross section of key
areas where Odin steps in to help you accomplish more while reducing costs and maximizing the quality and productivity of
your advertising activities.
Making your campaigns more effective while leveraging and maximizing your
Effectiveness data is at the heart of Odin’s core tasks. This may range from crunching your
data sets and suggesting potential audiences, ways to activate your data, or
automatically making an informed bidding decision - when to bid or more im-
portantly, when not to. Where humans are limited in our data consumption
and ability to act on that data, Odin takes over the heavy lifting and works to
empower your paid media strategy with super-human capabilities that supple-
ment your intuition and strategic guidance.
Complexity and sheer power of capability deliver improvements in
Productivity productivity. Far too often AI solutions require extensive manual training,
configuration, or management causing their net impact on your productivity
to outweigh whatever value they add. Which is why with Odin our focus is on
finding a balance that gives you flexibility and highly specific control without
hyper-complexity or fragmentation that drains value and reduces impact.
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Odin works diligently to help you identify primary engagement opportunities,
Engagement to better understand existing engagement, and to hone in and more rapidly
capture and communicate with the right prospects. As Odin evolves it’s abi-
lities will extend far beyond just flagging and optimizing for opportunities in
real-time. It will work to proactively pinpoint and suggest opportunities and
threats that directly translate to more impactful interactions with your target
audience.
One of the greatest assets a business has is its creative professionals. While
Creativity Odin may aspire to invoke a poetic user experience, we view its role as that of
a facilitator. DCO Pro provides a prime example of how Odin helps to custom
assemble variants that bring a broad range of creative versions to life. It’s not
enough to A/B test two slightly modified versions of a potential ad. Odin’s ma-
chine learning and optimization capabilities bring true creative versioning and
testing to life. Allowing you to A/B test hundreds of creative variants in real time
while partially automating not only the side-by-side testing, but the manage-
ment, assembly and delivery of the creative.
Odin delivers a tireless work ethic with a results-oriented mentality that con-
Automation tinually monitors the entire Integrated Advertising Platform. This translates
into simplifying your regular tasks through basic operations like reviewing and
automating reporting. It also involves a more conversational user experience
as the platform transitions from a dashboard through which you execute your
strategy into an interface delivering proactive feedback on new ways to opti-
mize, realize opportunities, or scale complex tasks without additional labor.
In internal benchmarks, Odin’s ability to automate manual price optimization
using our Dynamic CPM led to a 70% reduction in time spent on manual price
optimization.
Quality and Bearskin, our proprietary anti-fraud solution is an excellent example of how
Protection Odin works aggressively to scan, identify threats, and flag or take action pro-
actively in real time. Delays detecting threats and taking action against them
pose a risk to everything from data accuracy, budget wastage, and brand da-
mage. Further, because Odin is trained and informed by data from across the
full Adform platform, key metrics such as our MRC Accredited Display and Video
Served Impressions and Viewability measurements across Desktop, Mobile
Web & In-App provide a superior level of data.
Data Datasets have gotten out of control. The need to navigate, manage, and auto-
Mastery mate core elements of audience data has become increasingly challenging. In
these situations, Odin steps in to help ease the load. From doing the heavy data
crunching that serves as the backbone of processing lookalike audiences, to
monitoring for personally identifiable data, or providing automated data hy-
giene processes, Odin’s ever vigilant eye works to help you not only tame, but
master and fully leverage your data.
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Making Sense of AI
An analysis1 of 2,830 European companies (predominantly startups) claiming to use Artificial Intelligence, found that roughly
40% of those companies showed no mention or evidence of how they were actually using AI. With this as a starting point, it’s no
wonder that navigating between terms like AI, Machine Learning, Computation Statistics, and Deep Learning become a complex
and confused mess.
Adform has a long history of investing in and driving our business via core foundational aspects of true AI among other met-
hodologies like advanced Machine Learning including Deep Learning, Data Mining, and Expert Systems. These consist of many
different aspects of the Adform platform, such as our bidding algorithms, fraud detection algorithms, lookalike modelling, and
a host of other core capabilities. Odin is a core area of investment as we look towards the future and which areas best embody
Odin’s full potential as a tool for client empowerment.
Deep Learning Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence
Subarea of ML Subarea of AI Highly Simplified
Where multi-layered Neural Algorithms that enable machines A program that can “sense”, reason,
Networks learn based on to make decisions and improve and act to achieve its goals.
high volumes of data. by learning over time.
Data Mining
Computational
Statistics
Expert
Systems
Figure 1: Artificial Intelligence and associated methodologies in a Venn diagram exhibiting areas (AI) and respective subareas.
Odin is far more versatile than any single dataset or niche algorithm, the system learns on the most granular level, it is not a one-
size-fits-all solution, but a unique model built for each client, campaign, placement, creative, or other niche goal. Additionally,
Odin allows for further customization to meet the individual needs of your campaign. In these capabilities Odin continues to
learn in real time, refining processes, improving organically, training, learning and then adapting. Doing so with added sophisti-
cation, complexity, nuance, and forward-learning innovation. Driving suggestions, identifying opportunities and honing its skills
over time – not unlike a child learning, growing, and maturing. Just as with a child, the quality, scope, and range of data the child
absorbs and learns from matters.
To better understand when and where Odin delivers value, we like to think of two types of functions: General Functions and
Advanced Functions.
Nearly Half Of All ‘AI Startups’ Are Cashing In On Hype:
1
https://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2019/03/04/nearly-half-of-all-ai-startups-are-cashing-in-on-hype/#74804801d022
White Paper Introducing ODIN Adfom’s Powerful AI 5
General
Functions
These are tasks that are relatively simple but which free up essential mental resour-
ces similar to human behaviors such as breathing. In most cases Odin runs these in
the background, almost effortlessly, automating essential processes while freeing
you to do more. However, there is always the opportunity to interact and set manu-
al rules. Odin also automates the placement and consistent management of cam-
paigns in the same way your subconscious brain functions automate movement and
coordination functions like the process of extending your hand to pick up a glass of
water, or walking between two points.
Advanced
Functions
Additionally, Odin encompasses a second set of AI-driven actions and capabilities.
It’s in these areas that the power of an Integrated Advertising Platform, rich data
set, and extensive platform for education, enabling, and activating paid media cam-
paigns really steps into its own. These advanced functions allow Odin to be proacti-
ve, adaptive, and begin not just to automate and execute but to deploy and engage
with increasing sophistication and complexity.
The Engine Driving Your Campaign Results Matters
Adform’s position as the industry’s only fully-fledged Independent Advertising Platform delivers unique advantages through
advanced AI. It gives us added capabilities compared to individual standalone solutions or traditional “full stack” technology
offerings which are lacking one or more key pillars such as an Ad Server or Data Management Platform. The unified underlying
nature of our technology also allows us to tap into and train based on the extensive data that results. In the same way that a child
learns as they absorb information, an algorithm is only as good as the sum of the data it’s exposed to. Odin’s richer data makes
for better AI performance, leading to better decisions and an immediate benefit to your campaigns.
With the Integrated Advertising Platform including the Ad serving, DSP, DMP, Web Analytics, SSP, and other related tools, we
gather not only immense volumes of data, but also very rich and high-quality data from diverse sources and business applica-
tions. We also go one step further, meeting the gold standard for measurement in the industry with MRC accredited support for
key pieces of our measurement methodology and metrics.
As a result, on a monthly basis, this typically results in tens of billions of data points, including anonymized and compliant on-
site data, which fuels our algorithms. This data is then used to establish our general baseline or ”big data signals” to feed the
algorithms used for decisioning, auto-optimization, lookalike modeling, fraud detection, inventory forecasting, bid landscaping,
and audience affinity tools in the platform. This is done while protecting your data at the high standard that you can expect from
Adform. Please note, all of this is done as you expect us to act: Sensitive data belonging to your business is not shared with other
users of Adform’s platform.
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The Six Dimensions
That Differentiate Odin:
Data Data
Freshness Quality
Data Data
ODIN
Volume Capacity
Data Data
Diversity Results
Data Freshness – As with any decision making, the older the data, the less useful it becomes. An algorithm that has to wait
hours or days to re-train and react to changes in the environment is comparable to a driver operating with a multi-minute delay. Our
platform, architecture, and Odin’s advanced capabilities mean our data freshness is at the forefront of the industry.
Data Volume – The volume – how much – data you have access to is extremely important when training an AI. Adform’s com-
prehensive product offering spans across otherwise siloed parts of the digital advertising and digital marketing ecosystems. The
prevalence of our Ad Server in particular, contributes an invaluable insight into the market at large which gives Odin unique insights.
Data Diversity – The range of inputs or data diversity that an AI is trained on is an essential tool in enabling more powerful
decision making and expanded capabilities. Odin benefits from being trained on billions of data points from across our diverse
product stack. Adform’s unique mix of extensive and feature-rich capabilities provides Odin with data input including a wide range
of information.
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Data Quality – The core quality of the data training an algorithm is essential. Garbage in, leads to garbage out. The prevalence
of obscured signals, fraud, sub-par reporting, and data delays are common place factors in the market. Our Integrated Advertising
Platform operates in a seamless manner eliminating the need for complex processes that require a considerable amount of time
when done across multiple systems. We have invested significantly in a clean and high-quality ecosystem meaning that Odin is
training on authentic traffic, high quality data, and implementing advanced industry best practices for things like measurement
such as MRC2.
Data Capacity – While the ability to access a significant volume of data is important, of equal importance is the infrastructure,
technological sophistication, and expertise to not only access but process that volume. For many vendors, engaging with the volumes
of data involved at the top tiers of digital advertising resembles attempting to drink from a fire hose. The first mouthful of water is ok, but
things rapidly fall apart and start to overflow. We invest heavily in advanced technologies that mean Odin has a superior data capacity
and is able to fully benefit from significant data volumes.
Data Results– Perhaps the most important of Odin’s characteristics is its focus on performance. At the end of the day, all of
the previous factors are irrelevant if they do not deliver an AI that’s able to outperform humans and to deliver superior results when
executing on an assigned task. The ability to work in a structured manner with a holistic A/B testing interface encompassing the plat-
form, being able to replay the past to simulate the real world in real-time is key to measure the impact of algorithmic improvements.
Each of these key points of differentiation are essential. An AI that fails or underperforms
in any one area triggers a knock-on effect that undermines the total value, contribution and
benefit of the final technology. More than that, the platform that feeds Odin comes together
to inform and enrich the overall structure. Just as some human brains possess a wide range
of capabilities, AI Algorithms attempting to deliver similar results may vary widely due to the
underlying structure – or in this case – algorithmic architecture.
This is where the diversity, complexity, sophistication, and more than a decade of AI
excellence sets Odin, and Adform apart from the competition. Just as the Norse god Odin
was made wise by the extent and scope of the knowledge he had access to,
Adform’s Odin draws upon one of the most exhaustive knowledge sets in Digital Advertising.
2
Adform is MRC accredited for Display and Video Served Impressions plus Viewability (Desktop, Mobile Web & In-App)
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How to Start Using
ODIN
Odin embodies a wide range of advanced capabilities through-
out the Adform platform across key areas including effectiveness,
productivity, engagement, creativity, automation, quality and data
mastery. Odin’s enhanced capabilities are currently baked into the core
services you’re already using as an Adform client. From DCO Pro to
Dynamic Ads or Bearskin, Odin’s reach enhances your daily tasks
while banishing inefficiency. Regardless of if you’re only using one
piece of the integrated advertising platform – such as the DSP or Ad
Server, a mixture of multiple products, or the full Integrated Advertising
Platform, you’ll benefit from Odin’s advanced capabilities.
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Adform provides an integrated Software as a Service platform for the buy-
ing, managing and serving of digital advertising. The company’s software
consists of a Data Management Platform, a Demand Side Platform and an
Ad Serving Platform with advanced analytics, reporting and creative tools
that drive high impact digital advertising campaigns globally. Founded in
Denmark in 2002, Adform services a client portfolio that includes the world’s
leading agencies, advertisers, consultancies, and publishers.
To learn more visit us at www.adform.com
