Donovan Data Systems
Encyclopedia
Donovan Data Systems develops and provides advertising
software and computing services. Its customers include advertising agencies, media owners, advertisers, broadcast
sales organizations (e.g., rep firms such as Katz Media Group) and television networks (e.g., ABC
, Telemundo
and Univision
). Agencies using DDS include creative
and media
specialists, and independent agencies as well as members of the six major agency groups (Aegis, Havas
, Interpublic
, Omnicom
, Publicis
and WPP), serving clients like Honda
, Mars
, Coca-Cola
, AT&T
, BMW
and Unilever
.
Its headquarters is in New York City
, United States. DDS also has offices in Canada, the UK, Germany, France and Ireland.
. It opened in London, England in 1972, in Düsseldorf, Germany in 1987, in Paris, France in 1994, and in Dublin, Ireland in 1998.
DDS was an early advocate for electronic data interchange (EDI)
in the media industry, working on system-to-system exchanges to eliminate manual processes. In 1989, DDS collaborated with Jefferson-Pilot Data Services
to design a standard local broadcast electronic invoice format, which the companies donated to the industry. The format expanded over the years to include all types of broadcast including radio, local cable and network cable. DDS built electronic invoicing capabilities into its local (spot) television system in 1989 and into its network television system some years later. In the early '90s, DDS worked with other software companies to develop the open standard Direct Agency / Rep Exchange (DARE), so that spot TV buyers and sellers can exchange orders, offers, revisions and confirmations. DDS continues to manage the directory and infrastructure for all DARE users. In the mid to late '90s, DDS took part in discussions with The Electronic Cable Committee (TECC)
on data interchange for network cable. The result of this initiative was electronic delivery of original contracts and invoices from cable networks to agencies.
In 2006, in conjunction with the largest radio rep firms, DDS developed Radio EDI (REDI), a specification for electronic radio orders, based on DARE. DDS manages the REDI directory and infrastructure for the entire industry. In 2008, DDS organized and led a consortium of software vendors and developed the open Proposal XML standard for sending and receiving spot TV, local cable TV and radio avails, or proposals.
Since 2007, as a result of work with the Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau (CAB)
, schedule changes sent by cable networks (electronic cable changes) update network inventory held at the agency, facilitating discrepancy resolution and eliminating input and transcription errors. In 2009, DDS upgraded the infrastructure for this initiative. Today, all cable networks sending electronic cable changes communicate with DDS agencies through a web services
portal.
companies, and between them and their trading partners. Electronic processes include exchanging invoices, RFPs and proposals (for digital media), orders, offers, proposals and revisions (for TV and radio), insertion orders (for digital and print), and cable TV schedule changes for updating network inventory.
In defining standard data formats, processes and business rules, the company has working relationships with many industry trade associations, including the 4A's
, Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau (CAB)
, Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB)
, Television Bureau of Advertising (TVB)
and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB)
.
Advertising agencies use DDS integrated realtime software for buying media
of all types (digital and online
, local and national TV and radio, print and out-of-home
), managing workflow (including estimates, purchase orders, and timesheets for copywriters
, art directors
, and media planners / buyers), and for client and corporate accounting.
For digital advertising, DDS's iDesk integrates with website publishers and ad servers
so agencies can plan, buy, execute and bill advertising in the most efficient way possible.
DDS's system for broadcast sales organizations (rep firms) and TV and radio stations integrates with DDS media buying applications, providing direct communication between advertising agency systems and media sales systems.
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
software and computing services. Its customers include advertising agencies, media owners, advertisers, broadcast
Broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...
sales organizations (e.g., rep firms such as Katz Media Group) and television networks (e.g., ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, Telemundo
Telemundo
Telemundo is an American television network that broadcasts in Spanish. The network is the second-largest Spanish-language content producer in the world, and the second-largest Spanish-language network in the United States, behind Univision....
and Univision
Univision
Univision is a Spanish-language television network in the United States. It has the largest audience of Spanish language television viewers according to Nielsen ratings. Randy Falco, COO, has been in charge of the company since the departure of Univision Communications president and CEO Joe Uva...
). Agencies using DDS include creative
Creative agency
A creative agency is an advertising agency that specializes in the creative work of creating advertisements / commercials, and may leave the buying of media space and time to a specialist media agency....
and media
Media agency
A media agency is a company which help companies to communicate with current and potential consumers and/or the general public.These agencies work with their clients to understand the business issues, their markets and their consumers...
specialists, and independent agencies as well as members of the six major agency groups (Aegis, Havas
Havas
Havas is the second largest advertising group in France and is a "Global advertising and communications services group" and the sixth-largest global advertising and communications group worldwide, operating on the communications consulting market through three main operational divisions:*Euro RSCG...
, Interpublic
Interpublic Group of Companies
The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. is one of the "big four" global advertising holding companies . Headquartered in New York City, it has 41,000 employees and reported full−year revenues of US$6.5 billion for 2010...
, Omnicom
Omnicom Group
Omnicom Group is a holding company whose agencies provide marketing and communications services in the disciplines of advertising, customer relationship management , strategic media planning and buying, digital and interactive marketing, direct and promotional marketing, public relations and...
, Publicis
Publicis
Publicis Groupe is a French multinational advertising and communications company, headquartered in Paris, France. It is one of the world's three largest advertising holding companies . Its current president is Maurice Lévy. Publicis Groupe S.A...
and WPP), serving clients like Honda
Honda
is a Japanese public multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles.Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, as well as the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume, producing more than...
, Mars
Mars, Incorporated
Mars, Incorporated is a worldwide manufacturer of confectionery, pet food, and other food products with US$30 billion in annual sales in 2010, and is ranked as the 5th largest privately held company in the United States by Forbes. Headquartered in McLean, unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia,...
, Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
, AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
, BMW
BMW
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the Mini marque, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands...
and Unilever
Unilever
Unilever is a British-Dutch multinational corporation that owns many of the world's consumer product brands in foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products....
.
Its headquarters is in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, United States. DDS also has offices in Canada, the UK, Germany, France and Ireland.
History
DDS was founded in New York by Michael Donovan in 1967, and soon began offering software as a serviceSoftware as a Service
Software as a service , sometimes referred to as "on-demand software," is a software delivery model in which software and its associated data are hosted centrally and are typically accessed by users using a thin client, normally using a web browser over the Internet.SaaS has become a common...
. It opened in London, England in 1972, in Düsseldorf, Germany in 1987, in Paris, France in 1994, and in Dublin, Ireland in 1998.
DDS was an early advocate for electronic data interchange (EDI)
Electronic Data Interchange
Electronic data interchange is the structured transmission of data between organizations by electronic means. It is used to transfer electronic documents or business data from one computer system to another computer system, i.e...
in the media industry, working on system-to-system exchanges to eliminate manual processes. In 1989, DDS collaborated with Jefferson-Pilot Data Services
Lincoln National Corporation
Lincoln National Corporation is a Fortune 200 American holding company, which operates multiple insurance and investment management businesses through subsidiary companies...
to design a standard local broadcast electronic invoice format, which the companies donated to the industry. The format expanded over the years to include all types of broadcast including radio, local cable and network cable. DDS built electronic invoicing capabilities into its local (spot) television system in 1989 and into its network television system some years later. In the early '90s, DDS worked with other software companies to develop the open standard Direct Agency / Rep Exchange (DARE), so that spot TV buyers and sellers can exchange orders, offers, revisions and confirmations. DDS continues to manage the directory and infrastructure for all DARE users. In the mid to late '90s, DDS took part in discussions with The Electronic Cable Committee (TECC)
The Electronic Cable Committee
The Electronic Cable Committee was founded in 1992 by the Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau and the American Association of Advertising Agencies, with the aim of...
on data interchange for network cable. The result of this initiative was electronic delivery of original contracts and invoices from cable networks to agencies.
In 2006, in conjunction with the largest radio rep firms, DDS developed Radio EDI (REDI), a specification for electronic radio orders, based on DARE. DDS manages the REDI directory and infrastructure for the entire industry. In 2008, DDS organized and led a consortium of software vendors and developed the open Proposal XML standard for sending and receiving spot TV, local cable TV and radio avails, or proposals.
Since 2007, as a result of work with the Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau (CAB)
Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau
The Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau is an organization of national and local ad-supported cable TV networks in the United States....
, schedule changes sent by cable networks (electronic cable changes) update network inventory held at the agency, facilitating discrepancy resolution and eliminating input and transcription errors. In 2009, DDS upgraded the infrastructure for this initiative. Today, all cable networks sending electronic cable changes communicate with DDS agencies through a web services
Web service
A Web service is a method of communication between two electronic devices over the web.The W3C defines a "Web service" as "a software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network". It has an interface described in a machine-processable format...
portal.
Technology for advertising workflow
DDS software focuses on workflow within marketing communicationsMarketing communications
Marketing Communications are messages and related media used to communicate with a market...
companies, and between them and their trading partners. Electronic processes include exchanging invoices, RFPs and proposals (for digital media), orders, offers, proposals and revisions (for TV and radio), insertion orders (for digital and print), and cable TV schedule changes for updating network inventory.
In defining standard data formats, processes and business rules, the company has working relationships with many industry trade associations, including the 4A's
American Association of Advertising Agencies
The 4A's is an American advertising agency trade association.Founded in 1917, their website states that 4A's membership "produces approximately 80 percent of the total advertising volume placed by agencies nationwide." The association issues annual awards for the best agencies, in different...
, Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau (CAB)
Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau
The Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau is an organization of national and local ad-supported cable TV networks in the United States....
, Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB)
Radio Advertising Bureau (US)
The Radio Advertising Bureau or RAB is a membership organization for radio stations and others in the US radio industry....
, Television Bureau of Advertising (TVB)
Television Bureau of Advertising
Founded in 1953, the Television Bureau of Advertising is a non-profit association for the commercial television industry in the United States....
and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB)
Television Bureau of Advertising
Founded in 1953, the Television Bureau of Advertising is a non-profit association for the commercial television industry in the United States....
.
Advertising agencies use DDS integrated realtime software for buying media
Media buying
Media Buying is a sub function of Advertising management. Media Buying is the procurement of the best possible placement and price of a piece of media real-estate within any given media...
of all types (digital and online
Online advertising
Online advertising is a form of promotion that uses the Internet and World Wide Web to deliver marketing messages to attract customers. Examples of online advertising include contextual ads on search engine results pages, banner ads, blogs, Rich Media Ads, Social network advertising, interstitial...
, local and national TV and radio, print and out-of-home
Out-of-home advertising
Out-of-home advertising is made up of more than 100 different formats, totaling $6.99 billion in annual revenues in 2008 in the USA. Outdoor advertising is essentially any type of advertising that reaches the consumer while he or she is outside the home...
), managing workflow (including estimates, purchase orders, and timesheets for copywriters
Copywriting
Copywriting is the use of words and ideas to promote a person, business, opinion or idea. Although the word copy may be applied to any content intended for printing , the term copywriter is generally limited to promotional situations, regardless of the medium...
, art directors
Art director
The art director is a person who supervise the creative process of a design.The term 'art director' is a blanket title for a variety of similar job functions in advertising, publishing, film and television, the Internet, and video games....
, and media planners / buyers), and for client and corporate accounting.
For digital advertising, DDS's iDesk integrates with website publishers and ad servers
Ad serving
Ad serving describes the technology and service that places advertisements on web sites. Ad serving technology companies provide software to web sites and advertisers to serve ads, count them, choose the ads that will make the website or advertiser most money, and monitor progress of different...
so agencies can plan, buy, execute and bill advertising in the most efficient way possible.
DDS's system for broadcast sales organizations (rep firms) and TV and radio stations integrates with DDS media buying applications, providing direct communication between advertising agency systems and media sales systems.