By Retailist Editorial Team

Tell us a bit about Blockboard. What is your mission, and how did you get started?

Six years ago, I started Blockboard with my business partner, Tarun Yadav. We aimed to rebuild the digital advertising ecosystem and clean up its toxic supply chain. We worked toward accomplishing this goal by using blockchain to power the platform, which provides a secure and robust foundation. Within Blockboard, blockchain is applied in two ways: (1) our proprietary Smart Contracts on Ethereum, which pre-verifies all ad calls to ensure ads are served to the right person (who is verified to be a real person) and; (2) use the blockchain and its immutable ledger to record all impressions and in full-transparency, provide log-level data files to our advertisers. We added our AI function, BlockAI, which uses behavior data to identify real audiences in real time, optimizing campaign reach and impact.

The advertising landscape is constantly shifting. What are the biggest challenges digital advertisers face today, and how do you think the industry should respond?

The biggest challenges in digital advertising are the lack of trust and a toxic supply chain that simply doesn’t work for advertisers. According to Juniper research, there is $84 billion in made-for-advertising (MFA) sites and ad fraud, creating enormous waste; Blockboard is solving this problem. In general, the industry has been in denial about the amount of fraud and waste and, therefore, has done relatively little to remedy it. But advertisers are starting to see this trend impacting their ad budgets and campaign performance, and at some point, they will need to do more with less and be prompted to ensure every ad dollar is working as hard as it should.

Tell us a bit more about BlockAI – how does it work, who does it help, and what has its impact been so far?

BlockAI was Blockboard’s foray into artificial intelligence (AI) for advertising. We use GenAI to identify prospects for our advertisers and then target the identified audience across our DSP platform. Our blockchain pre-verification assures 100% accuracy that our marketers hit those targets. Our first two customers who used BlockAI were Proactiv, which drove a 217% increase in sales, and Knockaround Sunglasses, which saw a 375% increase.

AI is often seen as a big buzzword in tech. From your perspective, what practical role does it play in digital advertising, and where do you see its impact being overstated?

We use AI in our BlockAI product to identify and target precise audiences, a practical way to use AI and accelerate outcomes for advertisers. There is definitely more AI can do to help advertisers drive their businesses, including eliminating costs inherent in the marketing process and further improvements around creating marketing programs and techniques. The entire market, though, tends to overstate AI’s power, which recently resulted in a class-action lawsuit against a big programmatic player. The case alleges that the company at the center of the suit lied about its capabilities and outcomes. That’s just one example of many that are popping up across the industry.

Looking back on your career, what’s one lesson you wish you had learned earlier as an entrepreneur in the digital media space?

Earlier in my career, while building my first company, Broadband Enterprises, I remember missing the programmatic wave that eventually took over digital advertising. Competitors of mine, like Brightroll, pivoted to meet this new trend, and I didn’t. This stuck with me and was the driving force that drove me to move quickly on AI at Blockboard. I had already missed the boat on a defining trend and wasn’t about to make that same mistake twice.

What’s next for digital advertising? Are there any emerging trends that excite you or give you pause?

Web3 is next for digital advertising. Web3 includes blockchain and AI as a means for transparency, which is desperately lacking across the black boxes that dominate the industry, namely Google, Amazon, and The Trade Desk. These behemoths and their power give me pause–and the leading advertisers are hesitant to take these companies on. But change is inevitable, and I am encouraged by the success our advertisers experience here in Web3. I am optimistic, and I believe the future is bright!

About author

Matt Wasserlauf has been a trailblazer in advertising technology for over three decades, evolving alongside the industry from the early days of the Internet to today’s digital landscape. As a forward-thinker, he has consistently identified and capitalized on major shifts, from video ads and streaming to blockchain innovation. In 2019, recognizing the growing demand for transparency in digital advertising, he launched Blockboard—a platform leveraging blockchain to deliver real-time, verifiable data to advertisers, ensuring greater trust and efficiency in the ad ecosystem.