Blockchain playbook 1

Contents Blockchain playbook 2

1. What is blockchain? P. 04

2. Blockchain in practice P. 08

3. Blockchain in media & marketing P. 19

4. Supply chain P. 27

5. Commerce & payment P. 33

6. Conclusion P. 38

7. Appendix P. 41
Executive summary Blockchain playbook 3

Blockchain. We’ve all heard about it.

But what many of us want to understand is, what is blockchain, and what is We unpack blockchain in practice, and how it’s developing in high growth
its potential, today and in the future? markets including Brazil, India and China. We dive into its impact on the
Media & Marketing industry, including looking at Media Supply Chains,
It has been subject to huge amounts of hype, but we believe Transparency, Brand Management and Creativity.
that blockchain, a distributed ledger technology, has the potential to disrupt
entire industries and transform people’s lives. Today, brands are more than how they look and what they say, brands are
what they do. Blockchain has the potential to be the technology that
Blockchain has launched a decentralised technology revolution, enables brand experiences that are authentic, transparent and relevant.
with Gartner forecasting “By 2025, the business value added by blockchain
will grow to slightly over $176 billion, and then surge to exceed $3.1 trillion Digital has changed the way we live and work forever. If the past is
by 2030.” 1 evidence, whenever a near monopoly emerges, a new technology also
emerges that disrupts the industry. Blockchain could be that opportunity.
But its progress is constrained by computation capacity and distributed
storage, and currently, network speed is preventing the technology from Vikalp Tandon, Global Chief Technology Officer, Isobar
reaching its real-time full potential. But, as we know, technology moves fast,
and once 5G networks roll out in key markets such as in US and China,
prepare for businesses to start integrating it at scale.

In this playbook, we cover cryptocurrency, but we see blockchain’s

potential beyond value stores and currency replacements, and in areas
such as Supply Chain, Commerce, Transparency and Identity Management.
 Blockchain playbook

1. What is blockchain?
What is blockchain? Blockchain playbook 5

Current ledger systems

Blockchain is a new form of ledger.

Ledgers have been around since the start of human writing. They are a way
of recording financial transactions. They’re designed specifically for this
purpose – they’re not for generic data.

Currently systems have two main limitations:

1. Only one ‘master’ ledger exists.

2. An edit is made by only one person at a time, independently.

Even in current computer systems, there is only one master ledger that is
live at any given moment. This is centralised (in one place), although it can
have multiple backups and fail safes.

Also, an entry into one of these systems is effectively only created by one
person at a time.

This means there’s always a chance of fraud, errors, or exploitation

(hacking) around that particular account.
What is blockchain? Blockchain playbook 6

What is blockchain?
Blockchain is a record keeping system – a ledger – where multiple sources
validate an entry before it gets added. Once it’s added, it can’t be changed,
and the record is distributed, living in multiple places at once.

There are several features here that are unique to what has come before it.
By being decentralised, there is no ‘master’ version, so it makes it much
harder to tamper with.

To add a record (a block) to the chain, it needs to be verified by multiple

third parties. In most cases this is done by a process called ‘mining’, where
computers are given extremely complex cryptography problems to solve The blockchain analogy
(hence the ‘crypto’ in cryptocurrency).
A group of kids are exchanging trading cards. They each have a list of who
The first to complete the problem becomes the recognised ‘block’. Once has what cards. When they trade a card, they all check their lists are
other miners approve this block, the original miner is rewarded with identical, and make sure several kids witness the trade take place. They
remuneration. agree it happens, then everyone records that trade in their lists. A couple of
kids try to cheat. One changes their list, but the others rule it invalid since
Each block has a reference to the prior block in the blockchain. This links it’s different to theirs. Another tries to trade cards privately, but without
them to form a chain and confirms the integrity of the previous block. witnesses nobody acknowledges it. This is the basis of blockchain.
What is blockchain? Blockchain playbook 7

What is blockchain?
One of the most revolutionary features of blockchain is that it is
decentralised. This enables it to live in countless different locations (called
nodes) at the same time. For actions such as payments, this means that it
doesn’t go through a central entity, such as a bank or credit company,
enabling peer-to-peer transactions. For certain enterprise applications, it
means each of the invested parties can host a node, building a circle of
trust.
Decentralised Network
There are two different types of blockchain distributions. The first, public
blockchain, is the ‘open’ version, which means that anyone can participate
in running and adding to the blockchain. This includes being a node, mining Where did blockchain come from?
transactions, adding blocks, and reading the blockchain contents.
Blockchain was created as the technology that powers Bitcoin, the world’s
The other type is permissioned blockchain. This restricts all the capabilities first cryptocurrency, Launched in 2008, its creator or creators are still
listed above to authorised parties. unknown, instead using the pseudonym ‘Satoshi Nakamoto. There are
several theories on who Nakamoto is, but none have been proven.
When talking about enterprise applications, the preferred method appears
to be using a permissioned blockchain. The alternative is to ‘piggyback’ on
a public blockchain, however their limitations in scalability seems to be a
drawback.
 Blockchain playbook

2. Blockchain in practice
Blockchain in practice Blockchain playbook 9

Cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrency is where blockchain begun, and it is still by far the most How efficient is it?
common use of the technology.
Currently blockchain has issues scaling to millions of transactions, but it’s a
However, whilst it's been around for ten years, its popularity only started to technology this is actively undergoing rapid change. While volume may be
take off early-to-mid 2017. Before then, Bitcoin was the dominant token in an issue, size of transaction is not. Recently a transaction was made with
play, but its popularity has encouraged countless others. Litecoin for U$99M. The transaction took 2.5 minutes to complete, and cost
only 40 cents in transaction (mining) fees. 3
The current market capitalisation (at the time of writing) is U$209B, down
from an all-time high of U$819B in December. However, it is currently nearly
five times higher than it was 12 months ago (U$46B), which screams
volatility. 2

Unlike other markets, cryptocurrency trading is entirely speculative – there is

no intrinsic value underwriting the currency. Each cryptocurrency has some
form of token (or ‘coin’) that is traded as a unit of value, and this is normally
linked to the mining process that is needed for transactions to function.

These tokens are used to power the blockchain, by incentivising miners to

process transactions.
Blockchain in practice Blockchain playbook 10

Initial coin offerings (ICO)

Whilst some of the most notable cryptocurrencies were created for value Power Ledger is an example of an Australian blockchain start-up.
exchange, the majority have been created for different reasons. These are Launching late last year, its goal is to create a peer-to-peer marketplace for
using blockchain as an underlying technology, but focus their main purpose renewable energy. Currently, all residential-collected energy gets sold back
on every industry imaginable. to the grid via the house’s energy retailer.

A phenomenon that has occurred over the last year is the ICO, or initial coin Power Ledger raised A$34M it its ICO, has been recognised by the
offering. This is where a start-up creates what’s effectively a seed funding Australian Government with a AUD$8M grant, and already has pilot projects
round, allowing individuals to buy some of its tokens with another (such as in Thailand and North America. 4
Bitcoin or Ether). These ICOs can gain hundreds of millions in a matter of
weeks. However, the success has led to issues of deceptive and fraudulent
ICOs. In response, a number of big publishers have put a ban on their
advertising, with both Facebook and Google banning ICO and crypto-advice
related material on their platforms.

Different countries have also put bans and regulations on ICOs to varying
degrees, most notably China and South Korea last year. While some of the
rhetoric is around customer safety, the majority of resistance is around
taxation, regulation and the movement of untraceable money. The
economic potential is so great however, that South Korea is rumoured to be
relaxing its laws once it can establish a form of government supervision.
Blockchain in practice Blockchain playbook 11

Financial services
Due to it being a ledger, blockchain has seen natural adoption in the
financial services space. Like all industries, it is still in the experimentation
phase, but is seeing success.

One of the large scale implementations of blockchain in finance is by the

Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). Currently using a system called
CHESS, the transition to blockchain would mean that trading settlements
that took up to two days post-trade to clear could settle almost
instantaneously. 5

In the U.S, the Federal Reserve is working with blockchain technology to

develop a real-time retail payments system, using distributed ledger
technology to develop new clearing and settlement services, and the supply
of digital currencies by central banks. 6

In 2017 Nasdaq and Citi made an announcement regarding the commercial

application of blockchain technology. This partnership has been created to
streamline payment transactions between multiple parties, bringing a
greater level of liquidity to the private securities market. 7
Blockchain in practice Blockchain playbook 12

Supply chain transparency & proof of origin

Supply chains and the blockchain has also drawn a lot of attention. By Products can be particularly difficult to manage, with factors such as
having an immutable ledger, blockchain can record every step of a product fraudulent goods being a massive concern to companies, especially when
or asset’s journey. This record is not only permanent but can be shared and crossing international borders.
contributed to by multiple – ideally all – parties involved in that particular
journey. A body of leading diamond and jewellery companies from around the world
have announced a unique blockchain collaboration called TrustChain. In an
There are a number of issues that this could address: it would dramatically industry where product can be from inhumane origins, it will be able to
reduce time delays and associated costs, as well as strip out errors from track diamonds and precious metals from the time they are mined up until
manual handling. It currently takes days to make a payment between a they are sold, authenticated their movement each step of the way. 9
manufacturer and a supplier, or a customer and a vendor. Contracts must
be handled by lawyers and bankers, which means extra cost and delay.

Payments are one possible application for blockchain, but there are many
others. A more recent application is the concept of ‘smart contracts’. In
essence, a smart contract is a program that leverages blockchain to protect
its integrity. The smart contract program can be stored within the
blockchain itself, and can react to different events that happen on
blockchain, such as an asset transferring between parties, or a payment
being made. 8
Blockchain in practice Blockchain playbook 13

Data insights & protection

The adoption of blockchain could secure the sharing of information. For US Food & Drug Administration Office
example, improving public services through insights garnered by improved
data protection. The FDA implementation is based on the Ethereum network, with the core
goal of never exposing sensitive information. Each piece of data on the
Data insights from health information from large numbers of patients could chain has one owner who can share whatever pieces of data they own with
help improve patient quality outcomes across the entire vertical. But often other users or groups depending on their levels of access. This
opportunities are lost through the close protection of personal health implementation puts access control at the document level. Of course to
information preventing access. Blockchain has the potential to safeguard achieve this, the network is both private and permissioned (only writable by
these concerns and connect a diverse range of health providers. authorised parties). 10

The US Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Translational Services is

one such entity exploring this space. They are running a pilot with four major
hospitals, and with the assistance of Booz Allen Hamilton, a technology
consulting firm, are exploring how blockchain can be used as a universal
platform to share information with hospitals, healthcare providers and the
FDA.

“I strongly feel that Blockchain is here to disrupt in a big way because it

essentially decentralises control and ensures that trust is achieved without
the need for a centralised power.”
Vikalp Tandon, Global Chief Technology Officer, Isobar
Blockchain in practice Blockchain playbook 14

Providing authenticity
Ensuring the provenance of food products is a concern for all consumers, Alibaba is not the only big Chinese retailer to explore this space. JD.com is
but perhaps especially so in China, where the market has a greater volume also investing in blockchain to track its international grocery goods. They
of fake goods. As a response, we’re witnessing innovative retailers invest in recently launched a partnership with InterAgri, an Australian beef exporter.
systems designed to provide authenticity and safety. This not only ensures its origin, but also promotes a transparent provenance
story to customers, elevating the product’s status. The new partnership
Alibaba Group (China’s biggest retailer), PwC, Blackmores and Australia follows JD opening it first Australian office in Melbourne last month to
Post launched the Food Trust Framework last year in an effort to combat support Australian exporters selling to China. 13
’food fraud’ – counterfeit or low quality food products being sold into China
via Alibaba’s online shopping platform, Tmall. New Zealand Post and The implementation can be extremely specific. When properly implemented,
Fonterra also joined the initiative later last year. 11 customers will be able to track their piece of beef all the way back to the
individual farm in Australia where the cattle was reared. 14
In April, the first pilot orders of Fonterra product using the food tracking
service launched from New Zealand. The orders demonstrate the potential
of blockchain technology to track the supply chain process of food
products and ensure food authenticity.

Food fraud costs the global food industry U$40 billion each year, according
to research from PWC, which will provide services to the framework’s
participants, says 40% of food companies currently find food fraud difficult
to detect. 12
Blockchain in practice Blockchain playbook 15

China: market focus

China Internet giants – BAT’s (Baidu, Alibaba & Tencent) investment on ZhongAn, an Alibaba-backed technology incubator, has entered data
blockchain can be traced back to as early as 2015. However, in 2018, agreements with over 100 hospitals across China to enable record
Crypto-related discussion has been discouraged by the Chinese verification and automatic claims. 16
government.
The start-up is also looking at blockchain opportunities to offer a more
The focus of blockchain development then shifted to investigating the effective information distribution between parties, anonymous data pools for
benefits of the technology rather than ICO specifically and the giants have research, and new ways to combat the production of counterfeit drugs.
focused on the area where blockchain will specifically benefit their current
business. Baidu has integrated AI & blockchain to develop financial related
applications including personal loan contracts, Alibaba is applying the
technology to logistics giant Cainiao’s distribution process, which is a
crucial part of the feverish Chinese e-commerce marketplace, and
Tencent’s blockchain is looking into how it can enhance its service across
finance, medical and gaming. 15

“As a marketer in China we expect exponential experiments using the

technology, with both local business and consumers likely to quickly adapt
to it. Whilst there are already a lot of start ups using the technology, it will be
the more scalable, practical business cases that demonstrate real value that
are yet to be commonplace.”
Cecilia Huang, Senior VP of Brand Commerce Consultancy, Isobar China
Blockchain in practice Blockchain playbook 16

Brazil: market focus

In Brazil, research into the application of blockchain technology is Recently, a partnership between BRF, Carrefour Brazil and IBM 18 has
developing quickly, but is being led by large financial institutions and unveiled a blockchain-based solution for tracking the entire meat production
technology companies like IBM and Microsoft. process. The final consumer could, through a QR Code on the packaging of
the product, check the factory of origin of that product, dates of production,
In a market as fragmented as Brazil, the blockchain technology and more packaging and transport, as well as its expiration date.
specifically smart contracts provide the opportunity for transparency and
trust by automating of process and payment.

For example, the control and tracking of taxes, from the collection to
distribution, is a hot topic for a country that has recently witnessed
corruption at scale. The technology would also make possible to eliminate
several intermediaries that represent high risks and costs to the entire
Brazilian fiscal system. 17

“We must emphasize the importance of this technology for agribusiness.

Blockchain should contribute a lot to the supply chain, allowing greater
control and visibility of each link in this chain.”
Pedro Augusto Olivan Birindelli, Senior Executive, Cosin Linked by Isobar
Blockchain in practice Blockchain playbook 17

India: market focus

With the policies and restrictions of ‘blockchain-backed cryptocurrency scene, rights management and revenue loss across distribution can be
transactions’ from the Indian government and the Reserve Bank of India, tackled efficiently using Blockchain technology.
the growth of blockchain technologies in the countries slow, but catching
up. Sectors such as Banking, Insurance, Retail, and Automotive are set to
benefit from Blockchain in a country as complex and polarised as India.
In India, typically 80% of people work on mutual trust rather than formal Kotak Mahindra Bank has already created a blockchain trading platform for
contracts to cement relationships. 19 Smart contracts has real potential to one of its clients, thereby reducing the time taken for a letter of credit to just
transform the country. For example, the state of Telangana is using a few hours from a usual month. 21 Bajaj Allianz General Insurance has been
blockchain to enhance its land registry platform to arrest fraud and make applying blockchain and artificial intelligence to simplify its customer
the process more authentic. Its IT department along with Tech Mahindra are experience across a range of digital products. 22
set to launch India’s first Blockchain district to create Blockchain
infrastructure. 20 The future looks bright with Blockchain in India. Hon. Prime Minister Modi,
has pitched the usage of this technology to bring in transparency in
Healthcare, education, and entertainment are the sectors with the highest agriculture trade to arrest the problem of supplying bad quality seeds and
potential for Blockchain in India. For example Blockchain can help create a fertiliser to the farmers that would eventually yield a bad crop. 23
distributed-ledger solution that is future-forward, secure, and scalable, for
effective deployment of government programmes and drug distribution. “Blockchain can be utilised in a meaningful way to correct issues that have
plagued various sectors in India for decades and move industries forward
In education, Blockchain can come handy in storing educational records into new realms.”
unviolated to have multiple downstream benefits. Also, in a country that is Shekhar Mhaskar, Executive Vice President, Isobar India
host to the world’s largest movie industry by volume, and a related music
 Blockchain playbook

3. Blockchain in media &

marketing
Blockchain in media & marketing Blockchain playbook 19

“We expect every industry to adopt some form

of blockchain in the coming years. A Gartner
forecast says that “By 2025, the business value
added by blockchain will grow to slightly over
$176 billion, and then surge to exceed $3.1
trillion by 2030.” 24

As we all know, the monopoly of media and e-

commerce by a handful of players is almost
complete. There are hardly any challengers to
existing players, and the cost of entry is too high.
If the past is evidence, whenever a near
monopoly emerges, a new technology also
emerges that disrupts the industry.”
Vikalp Tandon, Global Chief Technology Officer, Isobar
Blockchain in media & marketing Blockchain playbook 20

Why is blockchain relevant?

Blockchain is being assessed by the digital marketing and media industry to
see if it can be used to help solve its issues around transparency, privacy
and fraud. It’s still early days, but start-ups are making progress on
solutions to advertisers’ challenges, and 2018 will be a year of testing and
learning.

The programmatic ecosystem is the primary focus on where blockchain can

have the most benefit, bringing unprecedented transparency on process
that can involve many third parties.

Due to the inherent relationship with cryptocurrency, it’s also being

considered to bundle payment facilitation across the different programmatic
players.

Identity management is another area of interest for marketers, as

Blockchain has the potential to assist companies comply with privacy laws.
Blockchain in media & marketing Blockchain playbook 21

Will blockchain change marketing?

It looks certain that it will change elements of the business of marketing. Unlike Gifto which integrates into other platforms, Steemit is the platform
itself: a new, decentralised social network. Steemit’s houses creator’s
The likely common denominator is that it will be used to verify components content on the blockchain, and readers can up-vote content they enjoyed.
of the advertising ecosystem across the supply and buy sides. The Once a day, Steemit releases a number of STEEM tokens are rewards it
verification element will focus on the presence of desired outcomes like back to the creators, based on how popular their content is. 26
human browsing, attention, viewability, and the validity of sites or
audiences.

It may also with the use of smart contracts simplify how creators are
managed, paid and credited. Either view a brand via the agency, or as
consumers tip the creators directly. One such player in this space is Gifto.
25 Gifto’s core premise is that it will integrate into content platforms directly,

enabling content consumers to reward the creators directly through a

system of virtual gifts which can then be converted to cash or physical
rewards.

We may see display advertising reduce or be replaced by a trade in

attention like tokens (BAT, Brave). Or buzz generated by customer looking
to decipher puzzles to gain access to a wallet. It may even usurp the current
social media behemoths with decentralised, token driven platforms owned
by their communities (STEEM, Akasha).
Blockchain in media & marketing Blockchain playbook 22

How will marketers know it's for them?

It’s essential for creatives and marketers to understand the 101s of
blockchain so they can get beyond the hype and make something
interesting, but ideally something meaningful.

While mainstream fever around cryptocurrencies has subsided, a few

brands have did capitalise on the PR-able value from blockchain associated
technology.

Notably Burger King Russia’s WhopperCoin 27, UNICEF’s Game Changers

mining Ethereum 28, and The Long Island Iced Tea Company announcing
their pivot to blockchain 29 being three of the best examples.

In order move beyond opportunistic hype, longer-term opportunities, will

need to have a deeper understand the client’s business operations. These
conversations will often need to push past the CMO to other areas of the
client with the CDO/CTO/CIO and CEO.
Supply chain Blockchain playbook 23

Supply chain tracking & traceability

With the emergence of the global economy, Luxury and FMCG verticals With over 10 Billion items to trace, the brand is working with integration
including alcohol, fashion and tobacco companies, are increasingly seeking partner blue-infinity Linked by Isobar to ensure the full transparency and
to protect their brand and develop systems that ensure local market integrity of its supply chain, and then deliver exceptional customer service.
compliance and product protection.
“Tracking and tracing down to pack level from manufacturing site to the first
“The future of retail is in providing greater transparency and power to the retail outlet is a vast challenge; having the right partner to deliver the solution
consumer. Consumers are taking deep interest in knowing the origins of a is paramount to success. blue-infinity’s expertise, solutions and packaged
product and its sustainability. We also see growing interest by the brand services really make it happen.”
manufacturers to play an important role in aftermarket commerce to Senior Manager Anti-Illicit Trade Technology R&D at Philip Morris International
manage brand perception and product value as their product change
hands.” Vikalp Tandon, Global Chief Technology Officer, Isobar

Walmart has just created a food safety programme based on blockchain

called the Walmart Food Traceability Initiative. Build on IBM’s Food Trust
Network, it’s design to track product from paddock to plate, and is now a
requirement for suppliers of leafy greens. 30

Philip Morris, the global tobacco company, uses a suite of solutions with
digital serialisation, track and trace31 and authentication built in and
deployed across over 400 production lines, across 1,600 tracking locations
in 105 countries.
Blockchain in media & marketing Blockchain playbook 24

Blockchain as a creative medium

Popular opinion would suggest Blockchain has no obvious opportunities for
Julian Oliver34, an engineer and artist, has created a piece of climate art that uses natural
the creative industries, other than through the application of the basic
energy to mine ZCash currency. Where a lot of attention has been put on the
benefits of the system: enabling the protection of IP, protecting payment,
cryptocurrency mining industry’s massive energy use28, his work, HARVEST, does it in a
and tracking and certification.
clean way, using wind energy to power his mining equipment. The currency mined is then
donated into climate-change research. 35
There is clear potential for creatives to be directly recompensed for their
work. By using smart contracts the complex world of royalties and credits
Kevin Abosch has collaborated with Ai Weiwei 36 to ask the question ‘What is Priceless?’
can be simplified. Services like Mycelia aim to revolutionise music, Giftto
helps content creators monetise their online video persona, and
Typerium 32 designed to protect the IP of its content creators.

Moreover, the creative merits and potential impact of Blockchain's

development is already being interrogated as an artistic medium by artists
world over.

For example, the "Useless Ethereal Token" 33 is a cryptocurrency that

satirizes the hype around ICOs by inviting people to pay for seemingly
worthless coins.
Blockchain in media & marketing Blockchain playbook 25

Creative uses of blockchain

Looking beneath the surface of “crypto art” reveals an ingenious selection of Crypto Kitties: 41 A main stream example of how the distributed, propagating
artistic uses of Blockchains. These example can help inspire us to think nature of the blockchain can be used for entertainment. This idea tests the
differently about our digital world and create new opportunities that benefit 21st Century question: Can a digital good be rare?
from the technology and interest in distributed systems.

$10 Dogecoin 37: Lego Art that contains cryptographic keys to

cryptocurrency or other content within its associated blockchain. Being the
first to decipher the challenge rewards you.

Yellow #Lambo 38: Using a smart contract address to connect the physical
and virtual world, to reassess our ideas of value.

Respiratory Mining (BRH): 39 Using the process of mining, to make a

connection between hashing power and other uses of energy or existence.

Cryptograffiti.info: 40 Embed enable messages, objects, art to be secured in

the blockchain. From secret surprises, to trolling to passing secrets, to a
form a secure decentralized proof of existence.
 Blockchain playbook

4. Supply chain
Supply chain Blockchain playbook 27

Supply chain transparency

As noted in the previous section, blockchain is a viable technology to tackle
problems with supply chains. When this comes to marketing, origin is not
the issue that needs addressing, but transparency.

Today, over half of every dollar spent by advertisers in programmatic feeds

intro the ad tech ecosystem, including fees for services to verify results and
mitigate fraud. This is considered standard and even normal, but that
doesn’t mean that advertisers are happy about it. In fact, the IAB currently
accepts a 10% discrepancy 42 in results between agencies and publishers.

A possible solution to this transparency quagmire is to have all middleware

parties leverage a blockchain solution. This can help create a marketplace
where publishers and advertisers can buy and sell ads with fewer
intermediaries. This, in turn, will help mitigate and eventually eradicate
ad fraud. 43
Supply chain Blockchain playbook 28

Supply chain transparency

“This would work by cutting out layers of resellers and exchange waterfall
stacks and more directly connecting the ad buyer to the media seller
through a blockchain audited and verified system. A fraud free environment
could be created where the publisher earns more revenue and the
advertiser pays less for the ad space. This consensual verification of sites or
audiences at device level can therefore create a more credible brand safe
and verified ecosystem.”
Stuart Broadhurst, Director – Activation Team, Amnet Group

For this to work however, all parties will need to be on board and
participate: from the advertisers themselves, their agencies, to the ad tech
providers and the publishers at the other end. They’d need to be on a
shared blockchain, where the movement of each ad unit is traced. The
blockchain ledger itself acts as the verification for fraud and mishandling,
reconciliation, discrepancy management, and potentially even payments.

With the costs involved, blockchain isn’t just a solution to rectify advertisers’
disgruntlement, it’s a critical cost saver. It is estimated that the technology
could save up to $80 billion through efficiencies by 2022. 44
Supply chain Blockchain playbook 29

Trial programs
Trial programs for using blockchain in programmatic buying has already AdLedger are a non-profit research and development consortium charged
started. Salon.com, a popular American news and commentary website, with implementing global technical standards and solutions for the digital
has teamed up with the non-profit AdLedger to create a proof of concept media and blockchain industries.
blockchain for programmatic ad buying. 45
They are currently developing two proof-of-concept projects: one is the
This trial has been created to not only educate AdLedger’s members about media campaign described here, the other is focusing on GDPR
the potential of blockchain, but also be used as a basis for the way ad tech compliance.
will integrate with the distributed ledger. Salon is playing the role of
publisher, while IBM is playing the role of the advertiser as well as
implementing the technology. The trial wants to demonstrate a live
campaign running on the ledger system, in turn solving many of the
challenges of how blockchain can be applied to this industry on a larger
scale.

“To be clear, the goal is not to develop production-ready software; the goal
is to really expose the potential of blockchain and show our members what
it can do so they feel comfortable putting those rules and standards into
place.”
Christiana Cacciapuoti, Executive Director, AdLedger
 Blockchain playbook

5. Commerce & payment

Commerce & payment Blockchain playbook 31

Paying for attention

Using blockchain for programmatic trading is a relatively logical application, A similar proportion said in a previous year’s report that they would actually
however there are far more extreme examples out there as well, looking to like to see more personalised ads. 48
challenge the platform duopoly status quo. A growing number of start-ups
are looking at how blockchain can be used to reward brand interactions. ClearCoin 49 is offering realtime buying and selling of media on blockchain.
They’re creating platforms where consumers have a more direct
involvement in the digital advertising ecosystem, going so for as having Ternio 50 is developing 3rd party verification software for programmatic
them sell their own data directly to advertisers. transactions built on blockchain, and claims to be the fastest blockchain
ever.
The Basic Attention Token46 is taking this to further extremes, by rewarding
users directly (with cryptocurrency) for interacting with ads. To measure the MetaX 51 is creating the adChain Registry dApp, a community curated list of
integrity of this process, it sits on what is called the Brave Browser, which ad-supported domains, with the intent of creating a transparent buying
has built-in adblocking. Brave then serves new ads, and monitors the platform from advertiser to ad space using blockchain.
specifics ways users interact with them, such as dwell time and click
throughs. Deeming the advertising model as lacking an efficient means of
valuing consumer attention, it claims it can determine a more appropriate
ratio of ads per content, and attach a fair price to each placement.

80 percent of American ad-block users surveyed in the most recent

report 47 from Adobe and Pagefair said they would be willing to view at least
some ad formats, suggesting that a more amenable compromise could pay
big dividends.
Commerce & payment Blockchain playbook 32

Payments & identity

Transparency isn’t only challenge for programmatic. Payments are also a
big issue, and with different stakeholders using different billing terms, cash
flow can become a real concern for agencies, ad tech companies and
publishers alike.

The beauty of blockchain is that if a supply chain has been set up with the
technology, it has the potential to be used for payments as well. Not only is
this convenient, it addresses the latency times, meaning parties can get
paid as soon as a trade is complete.

By combining payments with the supply chain ledger adds an extra level of In the majority of instances, a user’s identity sits across a multitude of
assurance of its authenticity. It can provide the same level of transparency locations such as apps, websites and devices. Not only is this inconvenient
as any current auditing system. (and potentially vulnerable) for users, it also makes it difficult for marketers to
target them, as it’s a constant guessing game of probability and lookalikes –
Whilst it may not seem that appealing for an ad tech company to participate with no guarantee the information is accurate. Many start-ups are looking at
in a blockchain revolution (especially if there is any question around their how to wrap identity into the blockchain, often with marketers as the
practices), immediate payments might help motivate them. Payments aside, ‘enemy’. Momentum on the other hand is a novel example looking to
there’s been a lot of focus on blockchain to manage the identity of users. combine a user’s control of their data with a cross-brand loyalty program.
Given the implementation of GDPR and the Cambridge Analytica scandal, This will allow brands to leverage Momentum to reward users with various
the main philosophy here is putting the control of personal data back in the cryptocurrencies based on their actions, as well as getting greater insights
hands of users. into consumer behaviour. 52
Commerce & payment Blockchain playbook 33

Commerce
Merchants and marketplaces continue to grapple with problems relating to Blockchain could be the holy grail of online to offline brand experiences.
authenticity, fraud, fulfillment, security, and transparency – problems that Instead of retailers relying on cookies and other customer identifiers to track
traditional technologies have not been able to fully address. shoppers across channels. Blockchain, with its non-repudiable logging
attributes, could help retailers identify customers easily regardless of the
However, blockchain is beginning to deliver on its promise of addressing channels.
these challenges and more. For example, to improve Product Verification
and Authenticity SAP is collaborating with Hyperledger, whose members “Digital Commerce has always embraced technology to redefine shopping,
include American Express, JPMorgan, IBM and more, to use digital and will be one of the earliest adopters of Blockchain to continue be the
‘thumbprints’ to trace movement of goods and certify their authenticity. This disruptive force globally”.
will help online retailers gain their customers’ trust. 53 Shawn Mishra, SVP, Global Managing Partner, Isobar Commerce

Using blockchain, without a central payment clearing house and associated

costs, companies are looking to improve payment security, pricing and
authentication where Buyers, Sellers and Reviewers can be verified quickly
and easily.

With increased accuracy of inventory tracking and management, Blockchain

makes scalable dynamic and competitive pricing achievable for retailers,
whilst making it easier for consumers to check pricing of customised or
white labelled products. 54
 Blockchain playbook

6. Conclusion
Conclusion Blockchain playbook 35

What’s holding blockchain back?

As you can see, there’s an amazing amount of potential in blockchain to a decentralised network. However, to increase processing speed on current
revolutionise not only programmatic, but anywhere transactions are made. blockchain technology the number of nodes involved must be reduced into
2018 is turning out to be an arms race between technology, publishers & “teams”; think a state voting system rather than individual voters. This
agencies to design a blockchain technology suitable for digital advertising. makes the blockchain easier to hack and compromises the benefits of a
That said, there are several core challenges that need to be resolved before decentralized network.
blockchain can see widespread adoption.
Permanence & the right to be forgotten: The establishing of GDPR has
Speed: Current scaled blockchain frameworks cannot support needs of the fuelled interest in blockchain-based identity solutions, but it also caused a
real-time ad ecosystem, which currently processes several million potential, critical problem.
transactions in milliseconds. Blockchain is incredibly slow in this regard, and
can currently only handle about seven transactions per second. However,
the technology is rapidly evolving: Ternio, mentioned previously, claims to
be capable of over one million transactions per second.

Resistance: Blockchain can be disruptive, but that also means it could

dismantle a lot of businesses. The lack of transparency in digital advertising
isn’t because of a technology limitation – it’s a business problem. A lot of
Adtech companies’ would need to change their current model.

Structure: The appeal of blockchain is the shared security & transparency of

Blockchain in media & marketing Blockchain playbook 36

What should marketers do next?

Now is the time to test and learn, watch closely what others are doing, and “Remembering the very early days of digital before ‘paid search’, the early
explore what potential blockchain has to offer. search engines actually considered it too ‘compromising’ of the user
experience to charge a revenue for search results. Whereas that probably
Depending on what area of marketing, there are two key things that seems hard to believe now.”
marketers should do: Stuart Broadhurst, Director – Activation Team, Amnet Group

1. Take a watch and act approach. Blockchain is evolving rapidly, and The most important thing to remember, besides it being very early days, is
while we’ve listed a number of marketing-related initiatives using the that blockchain itself is simply a tool, and the focus should first be on trying
technology, there are plenty more. Keep an eye on the appropriate to solve real problems. It has fantastic potential in some areas, but for
industry and category news sources, and when something appears others the current data storage methods (and their accompanying software)
that might affect your function, reach out and get involved. are actually far more suited to purpose.

2. Communicate with other parts of your business. The biggest potential

with blockchain and your company most likely isn’t in marketing
directly, but another part of your business, such as procurement,
logistics or finance. It may well be that the one thing you broadcast
about blockchain is related to a process that you would not traditionally
consider noteworthy, but by applying this technology it massively
changes how that part of your business works – something definitely
worth talking about.
Conclusion Blockchain playbook 37

Blockchain & Isobar

We recognise that there’s great potential in blockchain, not only in how it “The best use case of blockchain in Marketing will be to address the fraud
can be used within the digital supply chain, but also how it can address and billing concerns in Media supply chain. As digital media influence is
challenges within our clients’ businesses. growing and more brands are paying by click and impression, the trust is
depleting because it is hard to validate if the click is by a real human or a bot
In addressing these client challenges, there’s more capacity to be nimble, and how impression is determined.
experiment, and ultimately assess if blockchain is a viable and realistic
solution, rather than something over-engineered for the sake of it. Agencies are forced into a performance to pay model shifting the fraud risk
completely to the media agency. This will force us to innovate as our
Blockchain is limited by network speed, computational capacity and margins are in the line now as compared to the pass through model
distributed storage. While in the last 5 years we have seen exponential prevalent with traditional media.”
progress in computation capacity and distributed storage, network speed is Vikalp Tandon, Global Chief Technology Officer, Isobar
still not a match to the real-time requirements of blockchain. The clear
unlock is expected to happen post 5G network roll-out in US and China
where most of the blockchain effort is focused. 56
 Blockchain playbook

7. Appendix
Glossary of terms Blockchain playbook 39

Bitcoin: Bitcoin is the world’s first cryptocurrency and introduced blockchain technology to the a token, which is the unit of measure that is traded (and therefore has worth) in cryptocurrency.
world. It is open source and decentralised, running on a global peer to peer network that anyone
can join. Peer to Peer: Peer to Peer (P2P) is the term used when interactions happen directly between to
parties (peers) without going through a centralised source. A slightly more specific term than
Block: A block is the segment of data that is the payload of each ‘chain’ in blockchain. ‘decentralised’.

Blockchain: A technology framework to create ledgers with a linked set of immutable records. Public Address: an address that can be published and made accessible that is the result of
Each record is added by way of a complex cryptographic equation that needs to be solved, then cryptographic hashing of a public key.
verified, then propagated throughout the blockchain network.
Public (un-permissioned) Blockchain: A public blockchain such as Bitcoin allows anyone to read
Confirmation: The term used when a transaction is successfully hashed and added to the the chain, be a node and join the network, and be a miner and service the network.
blockchain.
Permissioned Blockchain: A permissioned blockchain restricts who can add and verify on a
Consensus: The verification process undertaken to verify a transaction, ensuring all copies of the blockchain, and optionally who can read the chain (a private permissioned blockchain).
ledger on the network are identical.
Private Key: A private key acts like a password but consists of a much longer set of generated
Cryptocurrency: The industry initially build on blockchain that attaches worth to the by-product of characters. You use it to access the tokens in a specific wallet.
transactions – commonly referred to as tokens.
Proof of Stake: An algorithm of distributing tokens to miners based on how much of that token
Distributed Ledger: a more generic term for the ledger system that blockchain abides to. It stores they possess. The more tokens you have, the more you are rewarded when mining.
data across a network of decentralised nodes.
Proof of Work: Unlike a proof of stake method, this algorithm rewards the miner by how much
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT): Distributed ledger technology is the umbrella term for this they participate. The more computational power provided, the more tokens are rewarded.
area of technology, of which blockchain is a part of – but not the only kind.
Transaction Fee: A fee that is attached to all cryptocurrency transactions. Depending on the
Digital Signature: the code, or ID, that’s attached to a digital document to verify its contents and system, they either accumulate to the reward that the miner receives, or they act as incentive for
the sender’s identity. Usually generated by a public key encryption. the miner to verify your transaction.

Hash: The function used on the output of data to confirm a transaction. Wallet: A destination that stores a users’ private keys (and therefore access to its tokens). It is
often a piece of software that has been designed or tailored for that particular cryptocurrency but
Node: A participant of the blockchain network who hosts a copy of the ledger. can also be as extreme as a printed QR code of the private key (called an offline wallet).

Mining: the term used for the process of validating a blockchain transaction. In traditional
blockchains, the contribution you give to validating and verifying transactions are rewards with
Sources Blockchain playbook 40

1. Gartner, A Guide to Demystifying Blockchain for ERP 29. Surprise! The Long Island Iced Tea blockchain pivot didn’t work
2. Coinmarketcap.com 30. Walmart requires suppliers to use traceability system for leafy greens
3. Someone transferred $99 million in litecoin — and it only cost them $0.40 in fees 31. Track and Trace
4. Power Ledger Closes A$34M ICO 32. Typerium
5. ASX Exchange Targets 2020 for DLT Settlement System 33. Useless Ethereal Token
6. Innovation, Technology and Payments System 34. Julian Oliver – Harvest
7. How Nasdaq Is Using Technology For Its Private Market Platform 35. Bitcoin’s energy usage is huge – we can't afford to ignore it
8. How Blockchain Can Transform the Supply Chain 36. Ai Weiwei with Kevin Abosch
9. TrustChain 37. An Artist Hid $10,000 Worth of Cryptocurrencies in These Lego Artworks
10. FDA builds blockchain-based health data sharing platform 38. When Crypto Meets Conceptual Art, Things Get Weird
11. Alibaba’s Blockchain Food Tracking Program Launches In New Zealand 39. Respiratory Mining by Max Dovey
12. Fighting $40bn food fraud to protect food supply 40. Cryptograffiti.info
13. China’s JD.Com Arrives In Melbourne To Push Cross-Border Ecommerce 41. CryptoKitties, Explained ... Mostly
14. JD.Com Launches Australian Beef Blockchain Project 42. IAB: Mobile Discrepancies 2.0
15. BAT grabs blockchain: Baidu is deep, Ali is wide, Tencent is thoroughly 43. Can Blockchain Solve Advertising’s Supply Chain Transparency Issues?
16. Alibaba-Founded Insurtech Firm Promotes Blockchain Use in Healthcare Industry 44. Can Blockchain Solve Advertising’s Supply Chain Transparency Issues?
17. CORRUPTION PERCEPTIONS INDEX 2017 45. Salon Joins With AdLedger and IBM to Trial a Blockchain Approach to Ad Tech
18. BRF AND CARREFOUR JOIN IBM TO IMPROVE FOOD TRACEABILITY 46. Basic Attention Token
19. This Indian City Is Embracing BlockChain Technology – Here's Why 47. Pagefair 2017 Adblock Report
20. Tech Mahindra and Government of Telangana Collaborate to Launch India’s First 48. Ad blocking growth shows no signs of slowing down
Blockchain District 49. ClearCoin
21. Kotak Mahindra Bank enables blockchain based trade financing operation 50. Ternio
22. Bajaj Allianz General Insurance brings Blockchain technology and AI enabled digital products 51. MetaX
23. PM Modi Pitches For Usage Of AI and Blockchain In Agriculture 52. Momentum
24. Gartner, A Guide to Demystifying Blockchain for ERP 53. SAP Ariba Will Use Blockchain to Track Shipments, Ensure Authenticity
25. Gifto 54. Blockchain’s Promise
26. How Steemit Works 55. Ternio Releases Third-Party Verification of Ability to Process Over One Million Transactions
27. Burger King has launched its own cryptocurrency in Russia called ‘WhopperCoin’ Per Second, Fully Decentralized and On-Chain
28. Unicef recruits gamers to mine Ethereum in aid of Syrian children 56. Decoding the present blockchain patent landscape
Authors Blockchain playbook 41

This document was authored by Robert Tilt and Isobar Australia, with
contributions from the Isobar Global and Dentsu Aegis Network.

Vikalp Tandon, Global Chief Technology Officer, Isobar

Robert Tilt, Director of Nowlab at Isobar Australia

Simon Gill, Chief Experience Officer, Isobar EMEA

Cecilia Huang, Senior VP of Brand Commerce Consultancy, Isobar China

Pedro Augusto Olivan Birindelli, Senior Executive, Cosin Linked by Isobar

Shekhar Mhaskar, Executive Vice President, Isobar India

Stuart Broadhurst, Director – Activation Team, Amnet Group

Kyle Krakauer, Director of Audience Intelligence, Amplifi

Shawn Mishra, SVP, Global Managing Partner, Isobar Commerce

Appendix Blockchain playbook 42

What is NowLab?
NowLab is Isobar’s global initiative and accelerator that fosters a culture of
innovation.

Technology and innovation are at the heart of everything we do at Isobar.

We help businesses navigate the ever-changing landscape to craft the best
experiences in new and emerging technologies.

NowLab is our space to make, experiment, prototype, and workshop

innovative business solutions in 14 locations across America, Europe and
Asia, as well as a virtual community that connects our global teams.