The document discusses how banks can leverage emerging technologies and data to personalize customer experiences. It explores three vital themes for banks: digital transformation driven by accelerating technology adoption, operational agility through dynamic business models, and programmatic banking which uses data to optimize customer experiences. Programmatic banking combines principles from agile banking, design thinking, and customer integration to deliver optimal experiences through the right channels. It allows banks to be more nimble and make informed strategic decisions using customer data and signals.

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PROGRAMMATIC BANKING
Transforming the Customer Experience through Data-Driven Innovation
THE PROGRAMMATIC VERTICAL SERIES BY ROCKET FUEL
Written & Designed by: Nikos Acuña & Alexander Perrin

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INTRODUCTION
The digital landscape is transforming at a speed in
which transactional data can be leveraged to
personalize customer experiences in more granular
ways. As a result, financial services companies and
especially banks—can leverage emerging technologies
to drive business outcomes at an unprecedented pace.
This is because data is the premise for every significant
interaction in terms of maximizing opportunities to
engage with audiences, deepening connections with
brands. Automation is pushing a new wave of business
leaders to produce, analyze, and drive performance like
never before, causing seismic shifts within global
financial companies innovating their way into the digital
age with brute force, while others are retrograde and are
clinging to the past. Based on our research and industry
observations, we will explore in detail three vital macro-
themes that will define the fate of banks and companies
within the financial services sector:
• Digital Transformation: The Accelerating Pace of
Technology Evolution and Utilization
• Operational Agility: Dynamic Business Models
that Drive Improved Efficiencies
• Programmatic Banking: Data-Driven Customer
Experience Optimization
At the center of this discussion is programmatic
marketing—its ability to impact both business outcomes
and customer experiences through leveraging signal-
rich data. Banks and other financial services companies
are becoming more cognizant of capturing audience
intelligence through transactional moments—a single
authenticated interaction on a website, an instance in
which someone opens a new checking account at a
retail branch, being exposed to an offer to activate a
new credit card with 0% interest, withdrawing a specific
amount of cash at 2:30 PM when it’s raining outside,
having a fulfilling experience through a call center that
solved a pressing problem—all of which, in aggregate,
are influential moments that can provide banks with
cumulative intelligence to inform how they segment
audiences and customize their experiences. This allows
banks to evolve their business with agility and optimize
at scale to a new audacious standard—one that
provides both a seamless experience for customers and
also acquires signal-rich data that can be utilized to
predict future outcomes.
The third macro-theme, and the ultimate focus of this
perspective, Programmatic Banking, is not just a trend or
another buzzword that will soon be forgotten, but a
visionary solution design that is a product of the most
advanced innovations afforded to business leaders by the
digital age—combining principles from agile banking,
design thinking, and functional customer integration. Its
purpose is to deliver optimal experiences and services to
the right customers through the right channels and
platforms of distribution. It illustrates a fluid framework that
organizations can use to start scoping and building
requirements for architecting the programmatic bank of
the future.
The front end of the design focuses on the customer at
the center. The back end of the design is the data
integration, activation, and discovery infrastructure that
powers it—enabling banks and financial service
companies to not only be more nimble in their ability to
grow value based on real-time demand triggers and
signals, but also allows them to create a sophisticated
asset that leverages data to make informed business,
operational, and strategic decisions. In order to
understand the power and significance of how
Programmatic Banking will transform the financial industry,
we will start by illustrating the monumental shift that
programmatic marketing has inspired within the digital
sphere.

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Global Mobile Device Growth by Type
By 2019, Smartphones Will Attain Largest Share of Reach Nearly 40%
Source: Cisco VNI Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast 2014-2019
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
Non-Smartphones (61%, 27%)
Smartphones (29%, 40%)
M2M (7%, 28%)
Tablets (1%, 3%)
Other (3.2%,2.2%)
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
THE ACCELERATING PACE OF TECHNOLOGY EVOLUTION
AND UTILIZATION
Based on our research, the macro-themes are aligned
with general trends in the digital space. However, its
underpinnings suggest a more significant shift in digital
customer interactions—which is why we highlight this
microcosm as a precursor for a more significant trend in
all of business and technology.
As the rate of humanity’s capacity to compute
compounds (according to Moore’s Law), along with the
number of users coming online for the first time, the
number of devices per user, and the number of
opportunities to reach them—financial services
companies, and especially banks have a tremendous
opportunity to leverage big data to better understand
their customers, and more importantly—how to
influence them across channels and touch points. But
this opportunity comes at a high cost in the form of
accelerated technological change and cultural evolution.
As digital advertising continues to grow, consumer data
compounds significantly, which presents a lucrative
opportunity for banks.
Based on eMarketer’s Digital Ad Spending Forecast and
Trends, ad spending on paid digital media by the US
financial services industry will reach $7.19 billion in
2015. This is a 14.5% gain over 2014. The financial
industry remains consistent in its focus on performance
objectives over branding goals when using digital
advertising, evidenced by its substantial spending on
search ($3.40 billion) and its growing adoption of
programmatic buying for display media.
Programmatic marketing continues to transform the digital
landscape at an unprecedented pace. According to
Richard Joyce, in Forrester’s The State of Programmatic
Digital Buying 2015, Programmatic media buying
continues to take over traditional means of buying.
Exchange-based trading will make up 30% of total display
impressions by 2019 — nearly double the 2012 levels.
The overarching message of this research suggests
—“Don’t sit back to see if this trend sticks; it’s taken hold,
and advertisers have embraced programmatic buying
because it works.”
Where the industry shows a significant shift, however, is
its adoption of mobile advertising (eMarketer 2015). As
consumers spend more time using mobile media and
accessing financial accounts via their smartphones and
tablets, financial services advertisers are shifting more
dollars to mobile ad efforts. Financial services firms will
spend $3.49 billion on mobile advertising in 2015,
eMarketer projects—a figure just below half of the
industry’s expected total digital ad investment for the year.
Based on EY’s Global Banking Outlook 2015, many of the
changes banks must make to the customer experience
will be driven by the growth in mobile and smartphone
ownership, which are transforming customer expectations.
A Mobile Global Data Traffic Forecast by Cisco suggests
that by 2019, smartphones will attain the largest share to
reach nearly 40% across all digital devices.

5.
Source: eMarketer.com (December 2014)
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0 12.5 25 37.5 50
Top Priorities for Retail Banks According to Banking Executives Worldwide
The EY Global Banking Study also posits that mobile
payments have already transformed financial
services in some emerging markets. In fact, in some
emerging markets, ownership of smartphones is
already beginning to exceed bank account adoption
rates. It is only six years since apps first appeared
on mobile devices, and customers now expect to
be able to check their balance and make transfers
through their phones, at the minimum. Online
banking has evolved too — with some banks even
offering banking services through Facebook. It is our
view that these transactional touch points—digital
breadcrumbs, if you will—provide a wealth of
untapped value that comes in the form of customer
data. This data can be leveraged in meaningful
ways. More than ever before, digital strategy
initiatives are a central part of operational innovation.
Business leaders are taking notice with a renewed sense
of awareness and urgency. When the Economist
Intelligence Unit (EIU) and banking software provider
Temenos surveyed banking executives worldwide in
December 2014, they found that implementing a digital
strategy was respondents’ retail banking priority for the
year ahead. This push for innovating in the digital space is
a strong signal that illustrates a focus on building the right
technology infrastructure for bolstering customer
engagement efforts, aligned with improving operational
efficiencies that impact revenues. Other areas affected by
digital’s growing influence include customer segmentation
and transforming brick-and-mortar branches. These are
the trends that are redefining the architecture of the
marketplace in which banks are realizing their potential
through more dynamic operating models and iterative
processes.

6. Consumer
Signals
Consumer
Experience
Scoring & Validation
According to EW’s Global Banking Outlook 2015,
banks will have to reinvent themselves. Those that
do are developing new products and leaner, more
flexible business models for the future. These banks
are poised to deliver the returns their investors are
looking for, even against the headwind of low global
economic growth.
There are many channels— both digital and
experiential, through which customers can access
information, transact business, and purchase
products based on their interests. But operational
agility cannot work unless banks have an underlying
technology infrastructure that can function as a
single source of truth for all of their customers. A
holistic platform is necessary to tie interactions back
to a single consumer.
The agile bank flips the traditional product first
model, into a customer-centric ideology that needs
to be implemented at scale. This becomes the
mission for which all else is done, because it
positions banks to solve big problems. For instance,
there may be specific geographic segments that
influence customers toward specific products based
on consumer sentiment levels. For these segments,
there are micro-niches of people that will be more
receptive to tailored messages in order to become
more fully connected. This is the power of brand
affinity and audience segmentation. For agile banks,
market-driven change happens quickly and
frequently.
While most global banks with a vast suite of products in
their portfolios have not implemented these
methodologies yet, many are poised for transformation.
According to Accenture (2015), the combination of a
digital-physical footprint, trusted customer data access,
and an innovative spirit creates a ready platform for
success. Once banks develop agile building blocks—
customer obsession, unconventional collaboration and an
adaptive operational backbone—they can begin their
journey.
Operational agility requires flexibility across the
organization. Banks are faced with the challenge of re-
envisioning legacy systems with the digital platforms and
advanced technologies of the future. Patience is a virtue
when it comes to operationalizing and aligning stakeholder
groups, especially when it comes to building a data-driven
architecture. But these methodologies have the power to
seamlessly connect the right customer with the right
desired outcome using predictive intelligence and data on
what they wish to do, on what device, channel, context or
environment, and should suggest their likelihood for
purchasing specific products. This is the foundation for
customer-centered, operational agility.
Operational Agility consists of five core principles:
• Customer-centered Philosophy
• Dynamic Offerings
• Flexible Business Models
• Optimal Experiences
• Iterative Channel and Communication Distribution
OPERATIONAL AGILITY
DYNAMIC BUSINESS MODELS THAT DRIVE EFFICIENCIES

7. Top Frequency and Usage Per Channel
Channel frequency
Paying bills or making transfers
Balance inquiries
Getting advice
Buying and selling investments
Making deposits
Reporting problems
0 15 30 45 60
Online/Internet ATM Mobile Branch Call Center
Source: EY Global Consumer Banking Survey, 2014
The third macro-theme, and the ultimate focus of this perspective, Programmatic Banking, is not just a
trend or another buzzword that will soon be forgotten, but a visionary solution design that is a product of
the most advanced innovations afforded to business leaders by the digital age—combining principles from
design thinking, machine intelligence, and functional customer integration, to drive operational agility. Its
purpose is to deliver optimal experiences and services to the right customers through the right channels
and platforms of distribution. It illustrates a fluid framework that organizations can use to start scoping and
building requirements for architecting the programmatic bank of the future.

8. PRINCIPLES OF AGILE BANKING
Agile banks must be empathetic to customers and reframe
their business with the customer as the center of focus.
They must cultivate a disciplined approach and align this
perspective across all other areas of their business.
Interdisciplinary collaboration is the key to designing a fresh
customer experience.
Bringing in data across the organization—both from
customers and operational elements are critical to success.
Agile banks are dynamic and can react quickly to market
demand because innovation is de-centralized so that
stakeholders can respond quickly and at scale.

9. As we’ve explored in previous sections, customers
now want to interact with their bank whenever they
want, however they want, and wherever they want
(EY 2015). Customers want a ubiquitous experience,
and to be able to shift seamlessly between
channels.
Transactional moments are critical for capturing
audience intelligence in terms of what mediums are
optimal for every interaction and desired experience.
Consumers transact very differently across different
devices. The key is to score every engagement
against exposures and model off of users that have
the right eligibility for certain products.
Technologies like check and card imaging are
becoming the standard. While some newer, more
efficient institutions already have the capability to
issue checkbooks and cards in-branch, the
evolution of technologies such as digital printing may
eventually enable customers to issue their own cards
at home — if cards have not been usurped by
mobile wallets (EY 2015). In fact, with smartphone
penetration across a sample of 48 developed and
emerging markets at almost 45% (up from around
27% in 2011), mobile wallets may become the
primary way customers access their bank accounts.
At their most advanced, they could offer a single
gateway to access multiple accounts across multiple
banks. Increased use of smartphones, combined
with contactless technology, will potentially transform
remittances — for which combined transaction fees
and exchange rate margins can still cost more than
10%. They will also transform cash management in
these markets. Should mobile wallets with enhanced
biometric security become the norm, the cost of
obtaining banking services in emerging markets
could be dramatically reduced and penetration rates
significantly increased.
However, it is not all about a shift to digital channels.
While self-service machines are eventually expected
to replace cashiers and mobile wallets to become
commonplace, branch staff will still have a critical
advisory and sales role. EY’s Global Consumer
Banking Survey 2014 highlights that while digital
channels are the most frequently used, they are
principally for transactional banking. Customers still
rely heavily on personal branch staff for advice,
buying and selling investments. Again, right
ex p e r i e n c e , r i g h t i n te r m e d i a r y f o r m o f
communication. Let the data make the decision.
We conclude this perspective with a compelling
snapshot of how Programmatic Banking could impact
your organization, with AI-driven solutions that can
deliver customer-centric experiences and data-driven
tools that will transform banking at an unprecedented
pace.
Dynamic Customer Journey Modeling – The
traditional marketing funnel is antiquated. Retail
banking services are vastly different from mortgage
products and credit card products, all of which
require nuances to communicate and message to
audiences. They also require different modeling
approaches. With dynamic customer journey
modeling, banks can deliver unique experiences at
the touch point level.
Portfolio Optimization – Banks and financial
products can be difficult to bring to market and
deliver to the right people. When you find them, it’s
extremely valuable and more importantly, there are
significant opportunities to utilize data attributes,
indexing approaches, and fluid budgets to drive
share of household, as well as overarching market
share across the product portfolio. Portfolio
optimization enables countless cross-sell and upsell
opportunities to more refined audiences that matter.
Life Stage Marketing – Eligibility rules can be applied
to specific audiences, and banks will be able to
speak to them with more resonant messages. For
instance, getting a new job means activating or
utilizing a 401K, a life-changing event may mean the
customer has retirement plans in mind.
Teller of the Future – The transformation of currency
continues to pivot toward digital. Digital transactions
today far exceed traditional cash exchange for
goods and services. Digital transactions occur
everywhere—at stores, retail bank locations, ATMs,
online, on mobile devices and iPads. Advanced
tools like machine learning and artificial intelligence
can potentially emulate the best teller experience
and emotionally satisfy the life needs of their
customers.
360 Audience Hub – Banks with visibility across
fragmented silos, systems, channels, products, and
audiences can increase their flexibility in market,
which creates more opportunities for innovation,
growth, and an increase in operational efficiencies.
PROGRAMMATIC BANKING
DATA-DRIVEN CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE OPTIMIZATION

10. With these capabilities driving growth and innovation, we see a much more audacious vision powered through
data activation that will drive personalization and customer satisfaction to the degree in which bespoke models
that are highly tailored based on audience archetypes and brand affinity will become commonplace. This is
because the data and technology available in this industry will empower banks to create the best experiences
possible. Banks will need to explore architecting a solution design that can bolster their focus on attaining
customer signals, which they can use to enhance experiences and drive deeper efficiencies for operational
agility.
A solution design or architecture is an overarching blueprint, roadmap, and executional framework for which to
build a system that can ingest, organize, manage, and activate data, powered with machine intelligence to make
optimal decisions in real-time. Predictive-modeling and automated calibration play a key role, as top-tier solutions
extract hidden meaning from untapped data within an organization to create actionable insights that reveal
customer intent against future outcomes.
Leveraging this holistic system can inform how to make decisions on product development, supply chain
distribution efficiencies, creative testing and research for audience understanding, and aligning fragmented
stakeholder groups within holding companies. These are just a few examples of how a cohesive solution design
can impact and accelerate business performance and transformation for banking and financial service
organizations.
SOURCES:
Accenture (2015), DNA, Diagnosis, Shoes and Sweet Spots: Four Steps to Agile Distribution and Marketing in Retail Banking
EY (2015), Global Banking Outlook 2015: Transforming Banking for the Next Generation
Joyce, Richard (2015), Forrester, The State of Programmatic Digital Buying 2015
Yeager, Bryan (2015), The US Financial Services Industry 2015: Digital Ad Spending Forecast and Trends
Data Integration
Media Activation
Predictive
Analytics &
Insights
Segmentation
Transactions & Branch Intel
Offer Eligibility
Cross-Sell
Call Center Data
Channel Optimization
Lifetime Value
Journey Optimization
Scoring & Validation

11. To learn more about how Rocket Fuel Marketing Technology Design
services can be leveraged within your organization, please contact:
Thomas Zawacki
VP Programmatic Marketing
Rocket Fuel
tzawacki@rocketfuelinc.com
About Rocket Fuel
Rocket Fuel is a full Programmatic Marketing Platform designed to go
beyond 1:1 marketing by learning to predict what marketing actions to
take with a particular person in a particular moment of time. Our
methodology, which leverages artificial intelligence (AI) and big data, is
called Moment Scoring™, and it results in a much more efficient use of
marketing dollars.
About the Programmatic Vertical Series
The Programmatic Vertical series explores the way marketers in
respective industry categories can gain a significant competitive
advantage with best of breed solutions. The series covers in-depth
macro trends that are shaping the global economy, defining the fate of
companies and careers, while providing a sweeping perspective on
the most advanced tools that are changing the way brands interact
with audiences, and the way businesses achieve actionable insights to
make more informed decisions in finance, CPG, retail, healthcare, and
travel.