Unilever Saves Costs In its Trial of Blockchain Based Ad Purchase

FMCG giant Unilever’s executive vice-president for global media, Luis di Como, stated that the company saved money by using blockchain for managing media expenses.

Unilever pointed out that the company was able to effectively seal unwanted media related expenses during the trial phase.

The system supposedly facilitates better management of ads in a “process by which advertisers ensure contracted agreements are actually delivered.”

Unilever has been partnering with computing behemoth IBM on the aforementioned venture for the past one-and-a-half-years. Unilever’s appraisal indicates a savings of between 2% and 3% using blockchain platform.

Following the trial, Unilever has expressed willingness to scale the system and build a consortium with ad software firm Mediaocean.

Di Como commented on the development:

“This is not going for the latest shiny tool. […] We are going through our rules and our principles to build trust again and having full transparency across all of our operations. [It is not a] cost-cutting exercise. […] It’s about finding better ways of doing things and releasing capacity to invest more in strategy, communications and media investment.”

IBM iX has initially collaborated with software supplier Mediaocean to unveil a blockchain based tracker for digital media transactions in June.