Atlas is Facebook's revamped advertising platform that uses advanced tracking to replace the ineffective cookie-based model, allowing for better ad targeting across multiple devices. It enables brands to map detailed consumer journeys and deliver highly customized content, challenging Google's dominance in the ad serving market. Facebook's shift to this new system may indicate larger industry changes as it prioritizes mobile advertising.

1. OCTOBER / 2014
ATLAS:
FACEBOOK’S
NEXT-GENERATION
ADVERTISING PLATFORM

2. overview
Atlas is an advertising platform that Facebook is
re-releasing after having acquired it from Microsoft
in 2013. The platform, which dynamically serves
ads to Facebook users based on their Facebook
behavior, had previously been functioning on
the industry standard, cookie-based model. This
model has largely proved ineffective in the age of
smartphones, as cookies cannot track between
devices and, therefore, do not reflect how user
behavior has evolved from single devices to
multiple, complementary usage occasions.
Over the past year, though, Facebooks’ and
Atlas’ engineers have rebuilt the platform using
Facebook’s advanced tracking and measurement
capabilities as the backbone. This revamping could,
in theory, give Facebook and Atlas the capacity to
challenge Google as a go-to platform for advertisers
and media buyers.

3. TWO RECENT
CHANGES HAVE
ADDED TO ATLAS’S
STRENGTH

4. I
IT NOW INCORPORATES
FACEBOOK’S PERSISTENT ID
Instead of using cookies, Atlas now works by tracking
Facebook’s persistent ID, which Facebook collects when
users log in to the service via any given device. This ID
can be tracked as a user moves from their desktop onto
their mobile device, allowing advertisers to serve ads
to mobile users based on information that their
ID accrued while they were on their desktop computer.

5. 2
IT IS PLATFORM AGONISTIC
This means that the information that is accrued via Facebook ID
can be used to serve ads across multiple media platforms,
and not just Facebook.

6. WHAT ATLAS
MEANS FOR
BRANDS

7. I
MAPPING THE CONSUMER
JOURNEY HAS NEVER BEEN
SO IMPORTANT
For media and creative agencies, Atlas’s revamp means
that mapping individual consumer journeys can now take
on a much higher degree of relevance in the planning process.
Detailed consumer journeys – including the journey from
desktop to mobile – can be expected to apply with
more detail and with a more realistic vision of
the actual implementation.

8. 2
THERE IS NO LIMIT TO
HIGHLY TARGETED,
CUSTOMIZED CONTENT
With more advanced targeting capabilities comes an increased
ability to serve custom content. In the past, if a brand was
hoping to target unique subsets of consumers within two
general population spheres, it would still have to create
generalized content in the hopes that it would, additionally,
appeal across the subset groups as well. With Atlas – coupled
with emerging dynamic video technology – the possibilities
for custom video content are finally becoming a reality.
Theoretically, this means that multiple versions of the same ad,
each targeting different user profiles, could be produced and
then served accurately via Atlas.

9. 3
A GREATER ABILITY TO
TRACK THE EFFECTIVENESS
OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Atlas has the ability to determine if a product was purchased
on a desktop after viewing an ad on a mobile device.
Atlas can also follow relationships between online advertising
and offline sales. For example, if a consumer purchases a
product and discloses their email address at the time of
checkout, Facebook could let the store know if and when that
person viewed its ad on the Web.

10. key takeaway
Facebook’s Atlas shows considerable promise, and its shift
away from cookie-based tracking is almost sure to be a
harbinger of bigger industry shifts to come. If anything, Atlas
is a serious challenge to Google’s DoubleClick platform, and
it positions Facebook to become a dominant player in the ad
serving industry. What we do not know is whether the cookie
model is truly ready to be abandoned, or if it can indeed
be replaced with more accuracy by the unique ID from one
particular social network – in this case, that of Facebook’s.
At the very least, Atlas’s cross-device capability is recognition
of the extent to which advertisers must now be making
mobile — and planning for mobile — a priority.
For more information, contact your Engagement Planner or
reach out to Daniel Charness (daniel.charness@bbdo.com) or
Bec Nadilo (rebecca.nadilo@bbdo.com).

11. ATLAS: FACEBOOK’S NEXT GENERATION
ADVERTISING PLATFORM
by
DANIEL CHARNESS
REBECCA NADILO
designed by
NICK (NINJ) SUEMURA
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