We recently connected with Chad Hickey, CEO at Givsly, on teaming up with OpenX, why he founded Givsly, and the importance of brand values. Really happy to be chatting with you, Chad!
What book has had the biggest impact on you?
I read “The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A F*Ck” on vacation, and it was a key part of starting Givsly. The author says, “What are you willing to feel pain for?” is the true test of what you want in life. At the time, I was making a very comfortable salary as a CRO but felt unfulfilled on some level.
I realized I was willing to “feel pain” by giving up that very comfortable salary to help create more responsible products for advertising and marketing. It was the best decision of my life because I found a way to use my skill set and help our industry be better. While the pain of not being able to afford certain things anymore is sometimes a struggle, it is worth it to follow my passion.
What inspired you to create Givsly?
When I was a CRO, my sales team would use give-back strategies with our clients to connect with them on a human level. Instead of always going to a fancy dinner, baseball game, etc., we would volunteer with our clients. It was a way for the company to show values while also connecting with our clients in business. It drove better ROI than any traditional way of doing business. I used this as inspiration and started Givsly to create turnkey ways that any company could easily take more responsible approaches like this.
How does Givsly help marketers incorporate purpose into their advertising strategies?
Givsly provides a way for marketers to incorporate purpose and responsibility into every step of the marketing funnel. Whether it is launching campaigns via our OpenX partnership through a Givsly Deal ID that gives back 5 percent of the gross media spend to nonprofits or utilizing our platform to replace spend on unwanted swag with nonprofit donations, Givsly has a solution to move people through the marketing funnel more quickly.
How does the partnership between OpenX and Givsly help support communities in need?
There are two primary ways: 1) Anytime you utilize a Givsly Impact PMP via OpenX, we will donate five percent back to a nonprofit of the brand’s or agency’s choice, and 2) we can also provide creative formats (Impact Creative) that drive support to communities in need when consumers give the ads more engagement.
This approach combines two strategies into one: The brand’s campaign performance increases while they showcase their values to consumers.
What does the buyer experience look like for someone setting up Impact PMPs with Givsly and OpenX?
The buyer experience should be pretty similar to the traditional way of buying a PMP via OpenX. Buyers simply need to set up a Givsly Impact PMP Deal ID so we can track the five percent that needs to be donated during the campaign. All targeting, creative, etc., can stay the same.
How does this work for advertising events outside traditional charitable moments?
We believe that brand values are not only important during Black History Month, Pride Month, or any other traditional moment. Brand values are something that lives in an organization every day of the year.
Our partnership with OpenX has created PMPs that take traditional moments like March Madness, back to school, political, and more and provides a charitable element to programmatic buys that may not have historically had the ability to better our communities. With our partnership, you can make an impact every day of the year and with any campaign.
Can you walk us through how Givsly Good Advertising Solutions work?
The way it works is pretty simple. Anytime you are running campaigns with Givsly Impact PMPs or using our Impact Creative, there is a donation going to a cause important to the brand or agency.
Givsly has direct relationships with more than 420 nonprofits who have given us consent to partner and be included in these campaigns. This allows us to make the process very turnkey for any brand wanting to implement our solutions in their campaign. Our tools automate this so brands and agencies can place campaigns the way they typically do without adding a lot of additional work.
What kind of engagement results does this solution drive?
The engagement definitely increases when brands are using our Impact Creative. For example, we see video completions increase up to 18 percent, CTV engagement increase up to nine percent, and brand recall be up to four times higher.
This is a direct result of the fact that a majority of consumers now shop based on values alignment. We saw this front-and-center during Pride Month in 2023. Instead of that scaring brands, it should only reinforce the importance of brand values and making sure the approach is authentic.
What’s the added benefit of activating Impact PMPs on premium, TAG-certified inventory?
Impact PMPs allow you to achieve two goals in one solution. You can drive better performance if you are utilizing our Impact Creative, and you get to run any campaign, not just cause marketing, to drive positive impact back to causes important to your brand or agency. When that is paired with premium, transparent inventory, buyers are able to optimize their campaign results and measure against their KPIs with confidence.
To learn more about Impact PMPs, download the one-sheet below.