MarTech360 Interview With, Mathew Ratty Co-Founder And CEO At TrafficGuard

Mathew, can you tell us about your professional background and your current role at TrafficGuard? Also, tell us how does TrafficGuard differentiate itself from other companies in the same space?

I have over seven years of experience in digital ad tech, holding a First-Class Honours Finance degree from Curtin University, Australia. I’m the CEO and Co-Founder at TrafficGuard, using innovative strategies and assembling a top-tier C-level team.

TrafficGuard is the only solution provider that mitigates and reports on fraud before it hits advertising budgets. We analyse impressions, clicks, conversions, and events to mitigate ad fraud at its earliest reliable detection. Our proactive approach keeps performance data clean and helps businesses to scale and optimise their advertising confidently.

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What key technologies and strategies does TrafficGuard employ to lead the digital advertising industry in preventing ad fraud and how has their commitment to excellence been acknowledged and validated by industry awards and renowned brands?

Our PPC Protect provides revolutionary click fraud protection. The software collects unparalleled levels of intelligence alongside over 200 indicators of invalid traffic to arm our customers with complete transparency of actual performance so they can get the best possible advertising performance from their investment.

We also utilise Machine Learning (ML) to create a deep understanding of the mechanisms used by fraudulent traffic. TrafficGuard processes over 3 trillion data points a month to continuously strengthen our machine learning model, with 55% of the TrafficGuard team comprised of dedicated data scientists, analysts, and engineers continuously working on ways to detect and prevent invalid traffic.

We’re one of the leading omnichannel solutions that block fraud before it hits advertising budgets, and this, as a result of our platform capabilities, has led us to be recognised by many industry awards. Our trophy cabinet is pretty extensive, but this year alone, we have won The Performance Marketing Awards, The Global Search Awards, and The MarTech Breakthrough Awards in the best software and innovation categories.

Not only this, but our commitment to excellence can be seen through our customer base of renowned brands, including William Hill, Ladbrokes, Disney Streaming Services, and OnTheMarket, who remain loyal customers.

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Can you provide more information about TrafficGuard’s PMax Channel solution and its intended purpose within Google’s Performance Max advertising campaigns?

When Google announced PMax, it appeared to be the answer to every marketer’s dream – driving marketing efficiency, performance, and better ROI across all of Google’s channels. However, PMax has difficulty differentiating between positive user engagement and more malicious actions taken by fraudsters. Google’s mysterious ‘black box’ algorithms – which use vast amounts of data and incredibly complex machine learning calculations to deliver what they decide are the best outcomes for the user cause huge concern.

That is where we come in. Our PMax solution smashes the black box to give performance marketers the insights they need in the form of in-depth reporting analysis, audience targeting solutions, and invalid traffic filters. It focuses on eliminating invalid traffic from audience signals, enabling marketers to optimise towards real users and drive better results in their campaigns.

The solution lowers customer acquisition costs as budget is optimised to target more people, it gives unparalleled insight so marketers can spot trends and optimise digital media channels accordingly, which means they can save time and resources with automated invalid traffic and fraud protections.

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How do leading digital ad verification and fraud prevention platforms utilize key strategies and advanced technologies to maintain optimal ad viewability, brand safety, and fraud detection in the dynamic and constantly changing digital advertising environment?

Our solutions aren’t rigid; they are constantly evolving and getting more advanced over time, and that’s down to our commitment to ensuring optimal ad viewability, brand safety, and fraud detection.

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Are there any success stories or case studies demonstrating the effectiveness of PMax Channel in reducing advertising fraud and data collection?

When testing our PMax solution on this client (see image below), we identified huge spikes in bots, hosts, and malware. There was a spike in these threats, where there were 204 incidents in just one day, contributing to a total high invalid traffic rate of 7.5%. Once our prevention mode kicks in, the invalid traffic flatlines.

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How important is storytelling in modern marketing strategy, and what are some effective ways to incorporate storytelling into your marketing messages?

Storytelling makes the offering contextual and believable, so it is extremely important in modern day marketing. I am a fan of event studies because you are using real life client data and so when marketing to similar companies they get to see real life results which can be applied to them. The old adage of “WIFM” or “what’s in it for me” in marketing holds true at the end of the day and so if you are able to effectively communicate a story and have the reader relate, you’re in a good position.

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What advice do you have for other leaders who are looking to drive growth for their brand?

Put yourself in your clients’ shoes and see if your offering solves their issue. Your brand is a reflection of you and the culture you are trying to achieve and that should be about solving an issue. If you remove the “founder effect” from your mind where everything is perfect and login as a “new client” you will be amazed at what you and the team have missed. The way to truly achieve growth is by solving an issue that your market wants to solve and then have the ability to communicate the value at all times.

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What is the biggest problem you or your team is solving this year?

The true value of our product is still yet to be realised. At the moment we are only capturing one side of the equation when it comes to the full value. There are many intangible benefits of using our product which we are finding hard to measure but is likely generating some of our clients millions in extra revenue.

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Is there anything that you’re currently reading, or any favourite books, that you’d recommend?

The 48 laws of power. It’s a great read for any leader. Too many people think dictatorships work, but they rarely do, and it leaves your staff feeling resentful and diminished. This book teaches you just a different way to communicate and brings everyone together.

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Thanks, Mathew!

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