Totalplay

Totalplay was founded in 2010 with a simple mission: to deliver the best internet service in Mexico. With nearly five million subscribers spread across 80 cities in Mexico, their 100% fiber optic network is one of the largest in the country.

Hector Pita, Totalplay’s Director of Addressable Advertising Products, has seen up close and personal how Totalplay has innovated over the years. One key area of innovation has been in connected TV services, where consumers can use internet-enabled television to watch their favorite shows and sports without the need for cable or broadcast.

While we take streaming television for granted now, it was an exciting new concept back in the mid-2010s. This transformation in viewing habits offered opportunities for innovations in advertising. Totalplay wanted to be at the center of those innovations — because while they may be different from traditional publishers on their internet, they share a key principle: they want to keep content free for users.

Totalplay would need a powerful ad partner to help them achieve this goal. Totalplay’s team was approached by Google in 2017 — who pitched them on the power of Google Ad Manager to transform their addressable advertising strategy, and working together, Totalplay became the first to bring a Linear Addressable Advertising platform to viewers across Mexico.

While larger brands have the marketing budget to spend on prime ad placements, smaller brands benefit from Totalplay’s hyper-targeted approach to advertising. Targeted ads enable these smaller businesses to reach their intended audience with relevant messaging — without exceeding their budgets.

“As we used these solutions, protecting user privacy lay at the heart of our strategy,” says Hector. “Since the beginning, we were aware of new initiatives like GDPR in Europe and CCPA in California — and though the laws may be different in Mexico, we imagine similar regulations will emerge in Mexico in the future. That meant it was never too early to start taking compliance seriously.”

Hector and his team don’t use cookies for their addressable advertising efforts, instead using only the information viewers voluntarily gave them. They can build audiences based on broader viewing habits, such as viewers who watch lots of sports and use certain streaming services. Then, they can deliver personalized messaging in a responsible, respectful way, using Frequency capping to ensure that viewers are watching relevant campaigns — and are not being inundated with the same messaging over and over.

Hector’s favorite part of working with Google is the sense of mutual respect that has built up between both partners over the years. “From the beginning, both sides wanted to make this partnership work,” says Hector. “Google took time to understand our unique qualities and needs. What might work for a Google partner in India, say, might not work for us — and Google always respected that difference.”

The relationship matured quickly because both sides were willing to experiment, fail, and learn. Instead of deciding on a strategy, trying it out for a few months, and then deciding whether or not it worked, Google and Totalplay opted to try a mix of different solutions from the get-go and “fail faster.” This fast-moving rhythm gave them the insights needed to optimize their approach without wasting time.

Looking ahead, Hector and his team understand that how people consume content will continue to change. But what won’t change is the desire for people to unwind with friends or loved ones — or just on their own — with content that engages them. “It doesn’t matter where people get their content,” says Hector. “There will still be that desire to consume great stuff — which means there will always be a need for relevant, creative advertising that speaks directly to that audience.”