Cheaper, faster, more efficient - the competitive advantages of DBCFM are obvious. The acronym stands for the Digital Booking Communication Format initiative, which aims to radically simplify cross-media advertising bookings. Who benefits from this? DBCFM spokesperson Ingo Gerckens has a clear answer to this question.

The digitalisation of media planning has long been a reality in many places - but the market is still lagging behind, especially in the area of directly booked advertising (IO advertising). This is precisely where the DBCFM (Digital Booking Communication Format) initiative comes in: It has set itself the task of radically simplifying booking processes and creating a fully digital, cross-platform solution for media agencies and marketers for the first time.

What began in 2019 as a system for standardising digital direct bookings is now being developed into a key technology for cross-media campaigns - including print, digital, audio and DOOH - as part of the new ‘DBCFM goes Multimedia’ project.

More relevance for publishers

The key advantage is that everyone involved - from newspaper publishers to large media agencies - can work with a common technical standard, regardless of the type of media. For many publishers with a print focus, this means a new chance of relevance in the fast-paced digital booking business.

Ingo Gerckens, member of the management board at Mediaservice Wasmuth and spokesperson for the DBCFM initiative, summarises the mission: "We may be talking about digital advertising here - but the processing still follows the logic of decades ago. With DBCFM, this workflow is being completely digitalised and significantly simplified for the first time."

In an interview with W&V, he explains what this means in practice, how to get started - and what potential has yet to be realised.

Mr Gerkens, what potential do you see in the integration of DBCFM for media planning and booking processes - is it more of a supplement or a replacement for existing workflows?

Gerkens: DBCFM ultimately ensures the real transformation of the IO booking process into the digital age. We may be talking about digital advertising here - but the process still basically follows the same logic that was used to sell print adverts decades ago. Numerous PDFs and briefings still have to be sent back and forth between the marketer and the customer. This takes an incredible amount of time - and is actually an anachronism in the age of automation and AI. With DBCFM, this workflow is completely digitalised and significantly simplified for the first time. The systems of marketers and agencies can communicate directly with each other. The booking process is reduced to just a few clicks.

The great strategic potential lies on the one hand in this radical simplification and digitalisation of a previously laborious and fragmented handling process. It also means that IO advertising - i.e. digital ambient advertising - is finally entering the age of automation. The technological gap to programmatic is being closed.

What are the technological requirements and challenges of integrating DBCFM into existing systems? What hurdles are there to getting started?

DBCFM is an exchange format that ensures that marketer and agency systems speak a common language. It is based on the ID matching services we have developed. This is a standard in the German-speaking advertising market. All of the top 30 media agencies work with it - so the hurdle at this point is already very low.

DBCFM was not developed by us in secret. Right from the start, we set up this project as an industry initiative and brought system providers, marketers and agencies on board. A large part of the market has therefore already agreed on this system or was involved in its development. This also prevents many hurdles from arising in the first place.

To make it even easier to get started, especially for marketers who do not use standard system software, we have set up the DBCFM Service Site: an online interface that allows marketers to utilise all the benefits immediately and easily. Integration takes just one day.

It is also possible for media agencies to send a booking to any marketer via DBCFM - even those who do not yet use it themselves. The marketer only has to log in to the service page and can confirm the booking quickly and easily.

The media agencies that finance the confirmation area have thus extremely lowered the threshold for using DBCFM. Everyone can act immediately. Only when marketers actively use the system and want to send offers, for example, do they pay a fee. In this way, all parties are involved and participate financially in the project in the context of their added value.

Who is behind DBCFM?

DBCFM is not just a technology - it is also an industry initiative that is supported by large sections of the advertising market. The project was initiated by Mediaservice Wasmuth GmbH, which, as the coordinating body, is further developing the standard together with market partners.

Two large media agency groups, WPP Media, formerly GroupM, and Dentsu, are already involved, as are leading digital marketers such as Ad Alliance, SevenOne Media and Sky Media. The format was also developed in co-operation with the system providers DAP, SQL Service/ ISS Nautilus and Omega Software.

The Dentsu Group and its media agencies have been using DBCFM regularly since this year. So far, the Dentsu agencies have planned and handled campaigns for around 30 customers with ten marketers with the help of DBCFM.

What specific efficiency gains, both monetary and operational, do you expect from standardisation using DBCFM?

The major efficiency gain lies primarily in the time savings already mentioned. Based on the experience of our partners and customers, this is more than 50 per cent. This means that everyone involved has more time to concentrate on their actual tasks - and no longer on writing emails or checking whether a line has been written correctly. Enquiries no longer disappear into mailboxes. Marketers can communicate their offers much faster and better. Today, many campaigns also have to be optimised and improved at short notice. Here too, the acceleration provided by DBCFM is a great help.

For which media channels and booking scenarios is the service most suitable - especially with regard to cross-media campaigns?

Since autumn 2024, campaigns have been handled with the help of DBCFM. The current use is mainly due to our partners: WPP Media and Dentsu are already on board as two large media agency networks that use it to plan and book campaigns for their customers. In addition, just over 20 marketers use the system, including Ad Alliance, SevenOne Media and Sky Media. We assume that more players will be added by the end of the year.

To date, DBCFM has been used in the area of IO advertising - i.e. directly booked digital advertising. Together with our partners, we are now going one step further and expanding DBCFM into a key technology for cross-media campaigns. The idea is to enable marketers to digitally market their entire portfolio across all genres. And media agencies should be able to plan and book all media cross-media in a single format.

How far have you got with this?

The ‘DBCFM goes Multimedia’ project is already very concrete in print. An interface to DBCFM has already been set up in the central system for booking newspaper adverts, OBS. This allows agencies to plan and book print adverts and online advertising in a single process. Concrete tests are currently underway with the marketer Netpoint Media.

We are also in talks with the print associations and other marketers, including those from the consumer magazine sector. In the future, we also want to expand the format to include DOOH and audio. A successful test between a marketer and a media agency has already taken place for DOOH. There have been specific enquiries from the audio sector, and all genres are welcome. The technological framework is in place and it works.

What further development is needed so that DBCFM can map the entire cross-media workflow?

On a technical level, it's not that complicated. What the format already does for online advertising, it can in principle also do for other genres. You have to adapt existing interfaces and, in particular, get system providers, marketers and agencies on board. Discussions on this are ongoing.

As I said, DBCFM is also an industry initiative. The format was developed in constant dialogue with users. Once a year there is a format update with which we react to innovations and changes in the market. In this way, we also keep as many doors as possible open for other partners to join in at the technological level and act in the common interest of all those involved.

What do the new opportunities mean for the somewhat shaken print sector in particular - i.e. pulishers?

DBCFM basically offers great opportunities for all genres that want to market their portfolio digitally. However, there are a few special arguments for publishers with print roots. Their great asset is their relevant and journalistically high-quality environments. And DBCFM makes booking and marketing precisely these environments significantly easier and faster.

Publishers in particular can therefore benefit greatly from the aforementioned DBCFM-goes-Multimedia project. The disadvantage of print has long been that it can only be planned and booked in the long term. This increasingly contradicts the logic of today's media world. With the acceleration provided by DBCFM, such topics could also be booked at short notice in future.

Practical tests are already planned for newspaper adverts. What are your expectations here?

We are very confident. The infrastructure is already in place: on the agency side as well as in OBS, the central transport channel for the digital booking of print adverts. These tests will show how easily newspaper publishers can also benefit from DBCFM.

What could DBCFM mean for the market environment - for example in terms of competitive pressure, standardisation or possible market consolidation?

Standardisation is a key concept in today's digital media world. It's been a long time since everyone was cooking their own soup. It is more important than ever that as many market participants as possible agree on standards and systems.

The DBCFM initiative is a positive example of how this can work. In a relatively short space of time, we have created a solution that has been co-developed and supported by numerous players.

For the reasons already mentioned, DBCFM can be a means for marketers and agencies to make processes more efficient and better - and thus of course also create advantages over competitors. But this is not really a competitive issue. DBCFM is licence-free. The doors are open - everyone is invited to join the initiative.

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