Knower Tech hires Prebid’s Racic to helm a new data curation offering for buy and sell sides

The new data vertical Racic and Janelli will oversee aims to synthesize complementary data tools (which includes an existing product named RainBarrel, as well as bot detection tool Real Impression) into a cohesive, AI-powered vertical for agencies and in-house marketing teams. This ecosystem will allow brands to activate their own first-party data assets across the open web in what Knower Tech said is a privacy-safe and transparent manner.

“Mike’s going to bring all of our products together, including Rain Barrel under this Rain Barrel umbrella brand, so that we can create something that is more transparent for the industry,” confirmed Stephanie McCabe, Knower Tech’s president. “We want to make sure that we can give independent agencies a step up in their tech stack … that allows them to punch above their weight.”

The data curation offering allows advertisers to apply Knower Tech’s data layers to evaluate publisher inventory — Knower Tech’s existing products already access more than 15,000 audience segments based on where consumers actually go — both on foot and online. Knower Tech’s Real Impression, ferrets out bots to ensure human traffic in the bid stream An AI advisor layer is being added on as well, running alongside Knower Tech’s flagship application, Ads Copilot (ACP).

Transparency in this part of the programmatic process is essential to its success, said Racic. “Everything is opaque, so that the buyer can see everything, because you have nothing to hide, and that transparency will lead to the trust part, where you start to trust the machines to make the decisions,” he said. “There’s no hidden masters to serve here. We don’t own the media or the platform, where the platform has a bunch of fees which is how you’re making your money. Instead, you’re making your money off of your ability to drive outcomes for your clients.”

Racic et al have tapped the agencies within Independent Knowledge Partner Network (IKPN), another Know Company division, for continuous testing and feedback on new products. “For an agency and a buyer, it’s not going to be an additive tax — no one needs another tax coming,” said Racic. “Here, the term curation is exactly what it means: you’re crafting the media based off of not just what that agency wants, but what they want for each one of their specific clients, and then tailoring it to their goals.”

Peter Bray, who owns and runs Bray and Co., a full-service agency of 30 that’s part of IKPN, echoes Racic’s thoughts on trust. “The Rain Barrel offering is the democratization of curation, because curation exists to build trust,” said Bray, who’s seen the hegemony of the holding company — DSP alliance up close as an ex-holdco veteran. “For us this is a game changer. Because as a full service creative agency, we are judged on one thing and one thing alone: effectiveness, not efficiency. We can now show increased effectiveness because the media inventory is better than it was in the past. It also takes yet another leg from the stool of the holdcos and destroys it, which is they have access to the curation tools that smaller agencies do not. That is gone.”

As for Prebid, Racic and Janelli will transition out of the firm over the next few months, as the firm looks for a new president. Prebid also will continue to collaborate with the Agentic Advertising Org.