Consumers are trying to avoid ads at all costs. JPMorgan Chase’s marketing chief Kristin Lemkau thinks she’s found a way around that.

Getty/John Lamparski

JPMorgan Chase is trying to find new ways of reaching consumers as they tune out ads, its CMO Kristin Lemkau said.
The company is emphasizing creating experiences that come with a value exchange over traditional advertising.
Lemkau is using what it knows about customers to create premium and personalized offers for them.
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With the rise of ad-blocking and cord-cutting, advertisers have to find new ways of reaching consumers.

For JPMorgan Chase, that’s meant trading traditional ads for experiences of real value like discounts or premium offers, its CMO Kristin Lemkau told Business Insider Alyson Shontell on a MediaLink panel kicking off the Digital Content NewFronts on Monday.

"The consumer wants choice, and they want something that creates value for them," said Lemkau. "They don’t mind the ad, particularly if it doesn’t feel like an ad."

For example, the bank offers a $500 reward if new customers open an account with the bank, and it uses customers’ data and spending habits to create personalized prompts. A customer that saves $327 on average in a month may be prompted to use the bank’s autosave feature, for example.

"Suddenly, that doesn’t feel like an ad, it feels like something that’s super helpful — and I’ve then [not only] sold them a savings account, but I’ve done something that actually creates value," Lemkau said. "It’s why search ad units were so valuable to both consumers and to advertisers, because they’ve already declared they’re in the market for that thing."

With digital media being rife with problems like non-human traffic and ads showing up next to controversial videos, many advertisers have reined in their digital budgets or taken their advertising in-house.

JPMorgan Chase for its part has cut the number of sites it advertises on and developed its own algorithm to ensure that its ads don’t end up next to dicey videos on YouTube.

The company has also brought in its auction-based buying in house, including search and programmatic — an approach that Lemkau said would accelerate across the industry as advertisers try to improve the ad experiences for consumers.

"We will not cross the line of where we feel our consumer’s data is compromised, on any platform for any campaign," she said. "So the natural thing for us to do to have more control and be able to spin the dials over which platform is more effective is to just take more planning and buying in-house."

Digital ads have grown interruptive and annoying because advertisers assumed people would tolerate the same amount of interruption in a digital environment as a TV one, said Lemkau.

"People aren’t going to have the patience for the tax on their time for the interruption," she said.

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