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

Last week I wrote about the heated reactions that followed the announcement of Visa and MasterCard’s potential plans to sell their purchase information data to advertisers. I argued that the outrage was based on misinformed notions of data use, fed by the various media stories that have been cropping up at regular intervals to put further fear into the privacy brigade. In this blog, I’ll be focusing on explaining how we at plista GmbH use data, and outlining the various initiatives that are being developed to ensure that there is better understanding between advertisers and consumers.

Data has caused a lot of debate not only in the media, but also within the online advertising industry itself; only the other week, AdExchanger.com asked a selection of ad technology execs to answer the question ‘Why is tracking good?’, which made for interesting reading. The arguments were that as ads keep content free, they’re unavoidable, and that targeted, relevant ads are better than random, irrelevant ads. By using data for behavioral advertising, online advertisers can add value to the user’s experience, serving them ads that are personalized and contextual.

It all sound fairly straightforward, except that of course it isn’t. Data has become an increasingly maligned term, with connotations of invasions of privacy and misuse of personal information. To defend and reclaim the word, we need to dispel the fears and misconceptions by explaining how we in the online advertising industry (the so-called ‘cyberazzi’) use data for behavioral targeting, and outline the benefits that are in it for the consumer.

At plista, our algorithms do not use private, personal information, not only because of data protection laws (though that’s a given), but also because it’s not relevant for our RecommendationAds. Instead, we use interest-based filtering, based on what past users who also visited the current page have read. Other anonymous data vectors also come into play, such as the publisher’s website, geolocation, demographics, the time and so on, all focused on the best content on the publisher’s website. A combination of these vectors then leads to the content recommendations the user sees.

This process allows for each visitor to have his or her own set of personalized recommendations, such as other content or articles related to what the user is currently reading, which comes in the plista “you might also find this interesting…” format. At plista, data is used for the benefit of everyone involved: combining ads with individual user recommendations means more revenue for advertisers and publishers (average CTR is over 7%), and a better, more informative browsing experience for the user.

Once the fears about invasion of privacy and misuse of personal details have been cleared away, the issue is no longer with data, as such: instead, it’s about control. A recent study by McCann showed that over half of consumers want to know and have a say in how their data will be used. If people don’t feel in control of their data and online experience, they will react with fear and outrage, as has been witnessed over and over. The same study also showed that 71% of consumers were willing to trade shopping data if they were compensated for it in one way or another (such as through discounts or promotions), with 86% saying they could see major benefits from sharing data with online companies.

More efforts are now being made to enable understanding of how data is used, and to set in place regulations for the online advertising industry. At plista we offer an OptOut as a matter of course, and have even produced a short film to further illustrate what we do, but industry-wide still more needs to be done to explain data tracking, and to make the opt-out mechanisms clearer. A recent US academic study showed that the current OBA (Online Behavioral Advertising) opt-out mechanisms were ‘fundamentally flawed’, often leading to more confusion than clarity for the consumer. Steps to improve are being taken: Google has increased ad transparency for consumers, and just last week, OBA self-regulatory compliance platform TRUSTed Ads announced it had gained customer contracts with several key brands for its solution, which is designed to clearly educate consumers about privacy practices.

Various self-regulatory programs are also in place, such as the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA), the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), and the US and UK in particular are enforcing regulations on tracking and data use. The US Federal Trade Commission presented its online privacy framework in October, promoting industry self-regulation, transparency, and Do Not Track functionalities, and in the UK, the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) require companies to gain consent before collecting user data.

These are all encouraging steps in the right direction, and it will be interesting to see how the media and the anti-data tracking brigade respond to the measures set in place to further enlightenment and understanding, rather than fear and misinformation. It seems that the key to good online advertising and a happy browsing experience is more transparency and control for the user. As long as the opt-out option is clear, and everyone is informed of the processes involved with behavioral targeting and data use, people will be willing to subscribe and give information to the companies or brands they want to hear from. And the more information the marketers have, the better tailored, and better overall, the advertising will be.

Find out more about what we do: watch the short plista GmbH film