Plista is growing so fast! Our colored pinwheel is spreading its wings all around Europe, and now we are especially focused on the Spanish market. Our southern friends are warmly welcoming our products, and already a number of important publishers are going to implement our famous RecommendationAds Widget.

Work is hard, but worthwhile, and our network is growing every day. Here’s an introduction to our Spanish Team:

From left to right: Marta Ordeig (Account Manager Spain), Raquel Meca (Key Account Manager Spain) and Fil Guijarro (Head of International Business)

Their aims are high, the team motivated and their footprint is getting deeper every time.

You want to work at plista? Have a look here:

http://www.plista.com/career

-ENGLISH VERSION BELOW-

Fabius - Finance & Controlling

1. Wofür bist du bei plista zuständig?
Alles was mit Zahlen und Excel zusammen hängt. Rechnungen, Gutschriften, Umsatzreportings, Controllinginstrumente uvm.

2. Dein bestes plista-Erlebnis oder dein größter plista-Erfolg?
Da gab es so Einiges. Istanbul, Schweden und diese und jene Feierei.

3. Wenn plista ein Tier wäre, dann wäre es?
Ein Jaguar, weil schnell, dynamisch und intelligent

4. Was ist dein Lieblingsplatz in Berlin?
Da gibt es sehr viele schöne Orte, u. a. Volkspark Friedrichshain, Huxleys, die Oderberger Straße vor 10 Jahren

5. Womit kann man dich auf die Palme bringen?
Unangemessene Arroganz und Überheblichkeit!

6. An welchem persönlichen Gegenstand hängst du besonders?
An meinen Basecaps

7. Wer war der Held deiner Kindheit?
Tsubasa Ozora

8. Was machst du zum Arbeitsausgleich?
Ganz extravagant Fußball, Pokern, Kneipen, Konzerte, Freunde treffen

9. Welches Buch hast du zuletzt gelesen?
„Das Wochenende“ von Bernhard Schlink

10. Beschreibe dich mit drei Worten!
zuverlässig, spontan, ironisch

Aus dem Bauch heraus – was sagt dir eher zu?

1. Cola oder Pepsi
2. Kaffee oder Tee
3. Tag- oder Nachtmensch
4. Meer oder Berge
5. Kochen oder Bekochen lassen
6. Auto oder Fahrrad
7. Sommer oder Winter
8. Hund oder Katze
9. Computer- oder Brettspiele
10. Fleisch oder Tofu

Interesse bei plista zu arbeiten? Aktuelle Stellenangebote findest du hier:
http://www.plista.com/career

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-ENGLISH-

1. What do you do at plista?
Everything about figures and Excel – bills, credit items, statement of transactions, controlling instruments and much more

2. What’s been your best experience or greatest success at plista so far?
There are a few. Istanbul, Sweden – these and those celebrations.

3. If plista was an animal…?
It’d be a jaguar, because a jaguar is fast, energetic and smart.

4. What’s your favorite place in Berlin?
There are many beautiful places. For example: public park in Friedrichshain, Huxleys or the Oderberger Straße ten years ago

5. What annoys you?
Inappropriate arrogance

6. Which of your personal belongings are you most fond of?
My basecaps!

7. Who was your childhood hero?
Tsubasa Ozora

8. What do you do in your free time?
Quite strange: soccer, poker, pubs, concerts, meet up with friends

9. What was the last book you read?
The Weekend by Bernhard Schlink

10. Describe yourself in three words!
reliable, spontaneous, ironic

Gut instinct time – mark which option you prefer:

1. Coke or Pepsi
2. Coffee or tea
3. Day or night time person
4. The sea or mountains
5. To cook or to be cooked for
6. Car or bike
7. Summer or winter
8. Dog or cat
9. Computer or boardgames
10. Meat or tofu

You want to work at plista? Have a look here:
http://www.plista.com/career

In last week’s blog, I outlined how plista’s RecommendationAds work- namely through combining interested-based filtering and various data vectors in order to come up with the personalized content recommendations the user sees on the page he or she is browsing. To put it more accurately, we use recommender algorithms for the interest-based filtering process. We at plista believe that we currently have one of the best live recommender algorithms out there, proven time and again by the success of our ad formats; average CTR (Click Through Rate) for the RecommendationAds alone is over 7%.

However, in order to continue to improve our services, we’d like to see how our recommender algorithms would compare to any contenders. We have therefore launched a contest to find the best live recommender algorithm to compete with our own. There is a weekly prize of 100 € for the best-performing team, and an exclusive grand prize (details of which are still to be announced) which will be awarded to the best-performing team overall over an extended period of time.

The aim of the contest is to improve the performance of the on-screen recommendation widgets that plista provides, which come in the format “you might also find this interesting”. Performance is measured by the CTR- the amount of clicks per number of displays for a given set of recommendations- as well as the response time for each recommendation request.

The contest consists of two rounds for each team: the preliminary round, where teams receive a low volume of messages with a chance of winning the weekly prize and qualifying themselves for the second stage, where the teams receive a much higher volume of messages and the chance of winning the elusive grand prize. Interested? Then read the introduction and take a look at the contest Wiki too for more information. Have you got what it takes?

Spread and share with your friends on Twitter and Facebook – maybe one of them will be the winner of the grand prize!

Find out more: http://contest.plista.com/

Marischa - Account Manager

-ENGLISH VERSION BELOW-

1. Wofür bist du bei plista zuständig?
Account Manager Advertiser Sales – Befüllung der 1000 Publisher

2. Dein bestes plista-Erlebnis oder dein größter plista-Erfolg?
Schweden – eine bessere Einarbeitung für neue Kollegen kann es nicht geben.

3. Wenn plista ein Tier wäre, dann wäre es?
Ein Fuchs, weil wir listig und schlau sind.

4. Was ist dein Lieblingsplatz in Berlin?
Den muss ich noch erkunden.

5. Womit kann man dich auf die Palme bringen?
Respektlosigkeit!

6. An welchem persönlichen Gegenstand hängst du besonders?
Meinem Handy…..alle Freunde in einer Hand.

7. Wer war der Held deiner Kindheit?
Pipi Langstrumpf – als neujährige schon ne eigene Villa. Respekt!

8. Was machst du zum Arbeitsausgleich?
Freunde & Familie – keiner bringt dich wieder besser auf den Boden der Tatsachen zurück

9. Welches Buch hast du zuletzt gelesen?
Der Hundertjährige, der aus dem Fenster stieg und verschwand – Jonas Jonasson

10. Beschreibe dich mit drei Worten!
Lebensfroh, ungeduldig & harmoniesüchtig

Aus dem Bauch heraus – was sagt dir eher zu?

1. Cola oder Pepsi
2. Kaffee oder Tee
3. Tag- oder Nachtmensch
4. Meer oder Berge
5. Kochen oder Bekochen lassen
6. Auto oder Fahrrad
7. Sommer oder Winter
8. Hund oder Katze
9. Computer- oder Brettspiele
10. Fleisch oder Tofu

Interesse bei plista zu arbeiten? Aktuelle Stellenangebote findest du hier:
http://www.plista.com/career

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-ENGLISH-

1. What do you do at plista?
Account Manager Advertiser Sales – supporting 1000 Publisher

2. What’s been your best experience or greatest success at plista so far?
Sweden – can’t imagine a better induction for new employees

3. If plista was an animal…?
It’d be a fox, because foxes are cunning and smart.

4. What’s your favorite place in Berlin?
I need to it explore it at first.

5. What annoys you?
Lack of respect.

6. Which of your personal belongings are you most fond of?
My mobile – all friends from a single source.

7. Who was your childhood hero?
Pippi Longstocking – a mansion at the age of 9… respect!

8. What do you do in your free time?
Friends & Family – No one brings me back down to earth better

9. What was the last book you read?
Der Hundertjährige, der aus dem Fenster stieg und verschwand – Jonas Jonasson

10. Describe yourself in three words!
Full of the joys of life , impatient, hooked on harmony

Gut instinct time – mark which option you prefer:

1. Coke or Pepsi
2. Coffee or tea
3. Day or night time person
4. The sea or mountains
5. To cook or to be cooked for
6. Car or bike
7. Summer or winter
8. Dog or cat
9. Computer or boardgames
10. Meat or tofu

You want to work at plista? Have a look here:
http://www.plista.com/career

David - Software Entwickler

-ENGLISH VERSION BELOW-

1. Wofür bist du bei plista zuständig?
Software Entwicklung, momentan vor allem Redis Datenbanken.

2. Dein bestes plista-Erlebnis oder dein größter plista-Erfolg?
Die Schwedenreise war wunderbar erholsam und eine perfekte Gelegenheit alle kennenzulernen.

3. Wenn plista ein Tier wäre, dann wäre es?
Ein Löwe, weil er stark und mächtig ist.

4. Was ist dein Lieblingsplatz in Berlin?
Ich bin noch recht kurz hier um einen Lieblingsplatz gefunden zu haben. Das Tempelhofer Feld gefällt mir ganz gut.

5. Womit kann man dich auf die Palme bringen?
Unangemessene Respektlosigkeit

6. An welchem persönlichen Gegenstand hängst du besonders?
Ich versuche nicht an materiellen Gütern zu hängen.

7. Wer war der Held deiner Kindheit?
Tony Hawk

8. Was machst du zum Arbeitsausgleich?
Mountainbiken, zuletzt auch Yoga

9. Welches Buch hast du zuletzt gelesen?
Die Vermessung der Welt

10. Beschreibe dich mit drei Worten!
Glücklich, spontan, verrückt

Aus dem Bauch heraus – was sagt dir eher zu?

1. Cola oder Pepsi
2. Kaffee oder Tee
3. Tag- oder Nachtmensch
4. Meer oder Berge
5. Kochen oder Bekochen lassen
6. Auto oder Fahrrad
7. Sommer oder Winter
8. Hund oder Katze
9. Computer- oder Brettspiele
10. Fleisch oder Tofu

Interesse bei plista zu arbeiten? Aktuelle Stellenangebote findest du hier:
http://www.plista.com/career

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-ENGLISH-

1. What do you do at plista?
Software development, currently mostly working on the Redis database.

2. What’s been your best experience or greatest success at plista so far?
The Sweden-trip was incredibly relaxing, and a perfect way to get to know everyone.

3. If plista was an animal…?
It’d be a lion, because lions are strong and powerful.

4. What’s your favorite place in Berlin?
I’ve not been here long enough to have found a favorite place yet. I do like the Tempelfhof field a lot.

5. What annoys you?
An inappropriate lack of respect.

6. Which of your personal belongings are you most fond of?
I try to not get too attached to material possesions.

7. Who was your childhood hero?
Tony Hawk.

8. What do you do in your free time?
I like to go mountain-biking, and also lately yoga.

9. What was the last book you read?
Measuring the World

10. Describe yourself in three words!
Happy, spontaneous, crazy

Gut instinct time – mark which option you prefer:

1. Coke or Pepsi
2. Coffee or tea
3. Day or night time person
4. The sea or mountains
5. To cook or to be cooked for
6. Car or bike
7. Summer or winter
8. Dog or cat
9. Computer or boardgames
10. Meat or tofu

You want to work at plista? Have a look here:
http://www.plista.com/career

In my last blog, I touched upon the contentious issue of data tracking, and the bad reputation that’s doggedly following it around in the media. Wall Street Journal, in particular, has been championing various alarmist stories on data; after all, it makes a better story to portray the online advertising industry as a data-grabbing, inconsiderate bully, out to aggressively target everyone, without consideration of privacy.

The most recent of WSJ’s articles outlined a new potential development in terms of data and targeting. Visa and MasterCard have drafted documents to investigate the possibility of using credit card purchase information for online advertising. The WSJ article reports that the initial proposals have been shared with selected ad companies for “exploratory conversations”. Though the technology is still evolving, if it were to be implemented, it would be mean that offline purchases would crossover into targeted online advertising, using the data segments from Visa and MasterCard.   

With the distrust and dislike of the financial world in general at an all-time high in light of the recession, this did not sit well with the WSJ readers. The knee-jerk reaction from the article’s comments section is one of outrage. Whether or not Visa and MasterCard should even be thinking of selling data to advertisers appears to be a moral, rather than financial, issue, when in fact what’s really driving it is just that: money. Visa and MasterCard are looking to make profit by selling access to the data they have, but, based on the comments, it’s seen as a violation of the right to privacy, with people feeling that the companies have abused the trust consumers ultimately have to put into financial organizations. 

One comment on the article summed it up rather well: “We used to be just the people buying the products. Now we’re the product being sold“. The irony is that the data (segmented, bucketed, targeted) is being bought and used by advertisers in order to serve better, more relevant and contextual ads back to the online consumer. At plista, our RecommendationAds focus on just that: using behavioral algorithms in order to enrich the online experience with contextually relevant ads. Naturally, the bottom line is to make money, but advertisers and marketers these days have realized the power of the consumer, and are now bending over backwards to try to accommodate and pre-empt what they want.

Another (though not as vocal) stream of thought from the WSJ article comments was one of ownership and potential benefits of using data. If consumers can have their say in and benefit from a piece of the data pie, the condemnation of advertisers, Visa and MasterCard seems to lessen somewhat. Says one commentator: “It would be nice to be able to choose who gets your data. I think it would be nice to only see ads that I want to see… I would like targeted ads if they are for my benefit“. And another, slightly more care-free: “I must say that, in spite of privacy concerns, I like the idea of actually receiving advertising that is relevant to me. Imagine that an ad comes to me on a web site that is for a product that I already buy and that the timing of the ad coincides with my purchase history. Go one step further and give me a discount on it and I am all in, privacy be damned!”

And WSJ, despite its history of stoking the data tracking fire of fear, announced only in September that it too would start tracking its readers’ browsing data in order to enhance the user experience. Websites in the Wall Street Journal Digital Network now “connect personally identifiable information with Web browsing data without user consent” in order to provide more customized content. The network stated the data would not be used for targeted advertising purposes unless “you choose in advance to have your Personal Information shared for this purpose”. Data doesn’t have to be the enemy: the fact is, it can be both useful and beneficial for publishers, advertisers and consumers.

I’ll end this blog with one final enlightened comment from the WSJ article: “Important and appropriate distinctions help to differentiate between potentially invasive use of personal information and other, benign and even helpful uses of data in anonymous ways. Without those distinctions, the topic too easily deteriorates into scaremongering by privacy purists”. Here’s to more understanding between advertisers and consumers. Stay tuned for next week’s blog, where I’ll be outlining the various initiatives that have been taking place to make that understanding easier.

Find out more about RecommendationAds