PUBLISHER CASE STUDY

See how Ebner redeveloped their B2B Newsletters

Using Passendo’s Ad Serving Technology, Ebner Media Group completely revamped its B2B Newsletter Strategy and Revenue

By Oliver Dam Somers
Head of Customer Growth
Published March 14, 2020 / Last updated May 26, 2020

Subscribe to the blog

Ebner Media Group is one of Germany’s leading B2B and special interest medias, with offices across Germany and seven international locations.

Ebner, an organisation with over two centuries of heritage, has over the past decade reinvented itself into a digitally robust organisation that stands on the forefront of leveraging strong product strategies to drive its development.
With over 80 newsletters and a proactive sales effort, Ebner sought a solution to match their high operative ambitions and needs for a complete platform that could manage all their campaigns in newsletters. They also sought new tools to scale the commercial potential of the medium even further.
The incorporation of Passendo’s Ad Serving tech centralised and optimised ad management into Ebner’s network of newsletters, alongside tools that could develop new native formats that would augment their newsletter product, whilst scaling its commercial potential through the benefits of real time ad serving and automated campaign management.

Why Ebner Chose Passendo for its Newsletter Ad Serving

Organisational Fit

Ebner needed to identify a replacement solution for its existing legacy ad server, which would fit the organisation’s digital transformation strategies and further develop existing commercial products. Passendo’s product offering was deemed as being a solid fit for both aims.

Technical Requirements

An easy-to-use Ad Server built for email, capable of running a multitude of campaigns simultaneously across a network of newsletters. These needs were answered by Passendo’s platform with additional data targeting features and a native plugin being further valued by Ebner.

Commercial Needs

Ebner has been able to scale its commercial native products since they no longer require extensive manual workflows for sponsored teasers and posts. Furthermore, Ebner has been able to package their products differently, with a dedicated email ad server, starting to use volume-based delivery goals besides standard email ownerships.

Key Steps Ebner Took to ‘Go Live’ with Their Enhanced Newsletter Setup

1

Build, test and confirm

the integration with Ebner’s ESP.

2

Kickoff sessions

to set expectations and alignment on formats whilst setting up Ebner’s Newsletters in Passendo UI.

3

Test Campaign and creatives setup and published,

with Ebner getting a feel for the basic workflows.

4

In-depth training sessions

with Passendo’s team to gain a deeper understanding of campaign setup and optimisation.

5

1:1 training sessions

with individual AdOps and Product team members at Ebner, facilitated directly in their existing internal communication platform.

6

Further product packaging

combining the features of the Passendo Ad Server with product offerings matching Ebner’s Media entities.

I want to let you know that I really appreciate how active you all are with customer service. I often complain here in Germany that customer service doesn’t exist, so it is nice to see a company that actually cares about what the users are saying. Keep up the good work!

Victoria Flint,
Data Analyst, Ebner Media Group

Examples of Ebner’s Newsletters in Action

How Ebner has utilised Passendo to pivot the Commercial offering of their Newsletter Product

Emulated sponsorships

published into their newsletter network

Sponsorships & volume

based campaigns sold into their network in the transitional phase

Full pivot to volume based campaigns

sold on a network basis as a means to further augment their newsletter product

As facilitated by Passendo’s ad server, Ebner has begun the journey from serving pre-defined “ownership” campaigns running as static banners for a predetermined amount of time to all users, to selling campaigns with volume based delivery goals, sold across its network of nearly 90 newsletters, in competition with one another.

This is an iterative process, as the team gets to grips with Passendo’s technology and the commercial and ad ops based workflows get acclimated to the new opportunities which the setup allows for.

The starting point was to first run a few campaigns per placement, with a focus on emulating a sponsorship model, and a fixed timeframe being the key metric to the campaign. From here, they moved towards volume based sales of campaigns, with a growing focus on improving lead generation for their clients, all which is optimised and facilitated by the Ad Server.

Sold campaigns are booked in a priority waterfall, creating a deeper commercial model within the network, offering the advertiser a more dynamic newsletter product, with more exact metrics and control over the campaign’s delivery. Being able to manage click, impression and conversion based campaigns all through Passendo.

In moving from Hard Coding each Creative to Real Time Ad Serving, Ebner have Saved Significant Operational Resources and optimised the Newsletter’s ROI

80%

Reduction of time spent managing campaigns across newsletter network

Before Passendo

Manual uploading and hard coding of natives into newsletters before they are sent – approximately 12-15 mins/placement.

With Passendo

Natives and displays served in real time across multiple newsletters upon opening – approximately 2-3 mins/placement.

Results

Managing a large amount of campaigns each week (80+) Ebner are saving up to 20 working hours a week managing their campaigns through Passendo.

The more concurrent campaigns that are run, the greater the time saved with one-click
trafficking across multiple newsletters.

Long Term Ambitions

Native Pivot

Ebner are now using Passendo’s Native Engine to build custom high impact formats with their newsletters, opening up a new offering to their advertisers, whilst maintaining streamlined ad operational workflows and not having to hardcode each native unit pre-send.

API for reports and CRM

Passendo will shape its ongoing development of an open API to suit Ebner’s needs for advanced reporting solutions and a custom integration with their CRM to optimise workflows from booking to reporting.

Demand Side Integrations

Ebner also have the option to build custom verticals and price floors for their inventory – allowing their media buyers to directly access their newsletter inventory through a seperate login.

Key Results

85

Newsletters

190

# of Ad Units

5 mio.

Monthly
Impressions

0.19%

Average CTR

75

Live campaigns
per week

Passendo inspired me right from the start whilst meeting all my expectations; being seamless to integrate and easy to use, all whilst offering great support for us to develop our Newsletter product.

Victoria Flint,
Data Analyst, Ebner Media Group

Unlock the power of in-email advertising now

Book a demo to see how you can maximise your revenue and optimise workflows.

PUBLISHER CASE STUDY

See how Ebner redeveloped their B2B Newsletters

Using Passendo’s Ad Serving Technology, Ebner Media Group completely revamped its B2B Newsletter Strategy and Revenue

By Oliver Dam Somers
Head of Customer Growth
Published March 14, 2020 / Last updated May 26, 2020

Ebner Media Group is one of Germany’s leading B2B and special interest medias, with offices across Germany and seven international locations.

Ebner, an organisation with over two centuries of heritage, has over the past decade reinvented itself into a digitally robust organisation that stands on the forefront of leveraging strong product strategies to drive its development.
With over 80 newsletters and a proactive sales effort, Ebner sought a solution to match their high operative ambitions and needs for a complete platform that could manage all their campaigns in newsletters. They also sought new tools to scale the commercial potential of the medium even further.
The incorporation of Passendo’s Ad Serving tech centralised and optimised ad management into Ebner’s network of newsletters, alongside tools that could develop new native formats that would augment their newsletter product, whilst scaling its commercial potential through the benefits of real time ad serving and automated campaign management.

Why Ebner Chose Passendo for its Newsletter Ad Serving

Organisational Fit

Ebner needed to identify a replacement solution for its existing legacy ad server, which would fit the organisation’s digital transformation strategies and further develop existing commercial products. Passendo’s product offering was deemed as being a solid fit for both aims.

Technical Requirements

An easy-to-use Ad Server built for email, capable of running a multitude of campaigns simultaneously across a network of newsletters. These needs were answered by Passendo’s platform with additional data targeting features and a native plugin being further valued by Ebner.

Commercial Needs

Ebner has been able to scale its commercial native products since they no longer require extensive manual workflows for sponsored teasers and posts. Furthermore, Ebner has been able to package their products differently, with a dedicated email ad server, starting to use volume-based delivery goals besides standard email ownerships.

Key Steps Ebner Took to ‘Go Live’ with Their Enhanced Newsletter Setup

1

Build, test and confirm

the integration with Ebner’s ESP.

2

Kickoff sessions

to set expectations and alignment on formats whilst setting up Ebner’s Newsletters in Passendo UI.

3

Test Campaign and creatives setup and published,

with Ebner getting a feel for the basic workflows.

4

In-depth training sessions

with Passendo’s team to gain a deeper understanding of campaign setup and optimisation.

5

1:1 training sessions

with individual AdOps and Product team members at Ebner, facilitated directly in their existing internal communication platform.

6

Further product packaging

combining the features of the Passendo Ad Server with product offerings matching Ebner’s Media entities.

I want to let you know that I really appreciate how active you all are with customer service. I often complain here in Germany that customer service doesn’t exist, so it is nice to see a company that actually cares about what the users are saying. Keep up the good work!

Victoria Flint,
Data Analyst, Ebner Media Group

Examples of Ebner’s Newsletters in Action

How Ebner has utilised Passendo to pivot the Commercial offering of their Newsletter Product

Emulated sponsorships

published into their newsletter network

Sponsorships & volume

based campaigns sold into their network in the transitional phase

Full pivot to volume based campaigns

sold on a network basis as a means to further augment their newsletter product

As facilitated by Passendo’s ad server, Ebner has begun the journey from serving pre-defined “ownership” campaigns running as static banners for a predetermined amount of time to all users, to selling campaigns with volume based delivery goals, sold across its network of nearly 90 newsletters, in competition with one another.

This is an iterative process, as the team gets to grips with Passendo’s technology and the commercial and ad ops based workflows get acclimated to the new opportunities which the setup allows for.

The starting point was to first run a few campaigns per placement, with a focus on emulating a sponsorship model, and a fixed timeframe being the key metric to the campaign. From here, they moved towards volume based sales of campaigns, with a growing focus on improving lead generation for their clients, all which is optimised and facilitated by the Ad Server.

Sold campaigns are booked in a priority waterfall, creating a deeper commercial model within the network, offering the advertiser a more dynamic newsletter product, with more exact metrics and control over the campaign’s delivery. Being able to manage click, impression and conversion based campaigns all through Passendo.

In moving from Hard Coding each Creative to Real Time Ad Serving, Ebner have Saved Significant Operational Resources and optimised the Newsletter’s ROI

80%

Reduction of time spent managing campaigns across newsletter network

Before Passendo

Manual uploading and hard coding of natives into newsletters before they are sent – approximately 12-15 mins/placement.

With Passendo

Natives and displays served in real time across multiple newsletters upon opening – approximately 2-3 mins/placement.

Results

Managing a large amount of campaigns each week (80+) Ebner are saving up to 20 working hours a week managing their campaigns through Passendo.

The more concurrent campaigns that are run, the greater the time saved with one-click
trafficking across multiple newsletters.

Long Term Ambitions

Native Pivot

Ebner are now using Passendo’s Native Engine to build custom high impact formats with their newsletters, opening up a new offering to their advertisers, whilst maintaining streamlined ad operational workflows and not having to hardcode each native unit pre-send.

API for reports and CRM

Passendo will shape its ongoing development of an open API to suit Ebner’s needs for advanced reporting solutions and a custom integration with their CRM to optimise workflows from booking to reporting.

Demand Side Integrations

Ebner also have the option to build custom verticals and price floors for their inventory – allowing their media buyers to directly access their newsletter inventory through a seperate login.

Key Results

85

Newsletters

190

# of Ad Units

5 mio.

Monthly
Impressions

0.19%

Average CTR

75

Live campaigns
per week

Passendo inspired me right from the start whilst meeting all my expectations; being seamless to integrate and easy to use, all whilst offering great support for us to develop our Newsletter product.

Victoria Flint,
Data Analyst, Ebner Media Group

Unlock the power of in-email advertising now

Book a demo to see how you can maximise your revenue and optimise workflows.

I WANT...

LEARN...

I WANT...

LEARN...

PUBLISHER CASE STUDY

See how Ebner redeveloped their B2B Newsletters

Subscribe to the blog

Ebner, an organisation with over two centuries of heritage, has over the past decade reinvented itself into a digitally robust organisation that stands on the forefront of leveraging strong product strategies to drive its development.

With over 80 newsletters and a proactive sales effort, Ebner sought a solution to match their high operative ambitions and needs for a complete platform that could manage all their campaigns in newsletters. They also sought new tools to scale the commercial potential of the medium even further.

Why Ebner Chose Passendo for its Newsletter Ad Serving

Key Steps Ebner Took to ‘Go Live’ with Their Enhanced Newsletter Setup

Examples of Ebner’s Newsletters in Action

How Ebner has utilised Passendo to pivot the Commercial offering of their Newsletter Product

Long Term Ambitions

Key Results

Unlock the power of in-email advertising now

PUBLISHER CASE STUDY

See how Ebner redeveloped their B2B Newsletters

Ebner, an organisation with over two centuries of heritage, has over the past decade reinvented itself into a digitally robust organisation that stands on the forefront of leveraging strong product strategies to drive its development.

With over 80 newsletters and a proactive sales effort, Ebner sought a solution to match their high operative ambitions and needs for a complete platform that could manage all their campaigns in newsletters. They also sought new tools to scale the commercial potential of the medium even further.

Why Ebner Chose Passendo for its Newsletter Ad Serving

Key Steps Ebner Took to ‘Go Live’ with Their Enhanced Newsletter Setup

Examples of Ebner’s Newsletters in Action

How Ebner has utilised Passendo to pivot the Commercial offering of their Newsletter Product

Long Term Ambitions

Key Results

Unlock the power of in-email advertising now