Tough week here at the podcast, as our Acronym Interpreter is on vacation, but the good news is that we're joined by Ben Hovaness, Scott Van Pelt of Marketplace Intelligence at Oh My God, for a thrilling discussion on the lack of transparency in the auction dynamics of most digital media. You don't actually know what's happening in between your bid and the outcome, win or loss. You don't! Not even on Google Search, but especially not everywhere else! The good news is Ben has some great thoughts on how to determine how much you should worry about this, and what could be done if you would indeed like to be a Carelord about it. It is, briefly...time for some game theory.

We also get the lowdown on the Council on Accountable Social Advertising, or CASA, which is pronounced like NASA, as Ben is very particular about his acronyms and despises when they're unpronounceable. We almost named this episode "CASA Bonita!" or "CASA De Subastas" to try and make a bunch of people learn it wrong and infuriate Ben, but he's too nice for that kind of treatment. This is no guarantee we wouldn't sabotage future guests in a similar manner.

CASA are bringing controls that mirror those deployed in more traditional paid media formats, to six major social media platforms. Ben elaborates on the how, the why, and what CASA does and does not dictate, as it aims to be an open and available framework for brands to use as they please, rather than a deliverer of fire and brimstone sermons. We wonder who gets to say what is and isn't brand safe, and in a shocking show of support for the plight of Floridians, Ben says he feels genuine sorrow and sympathy for anyone being forced to wrestle Jell-O.

The shortage of fine rubies and Manhattan penthouses being more explicable than the shortage of TV GRPs in the scatter market comes up. "How many nines are you willing to pay for" is a great question, it turns out. Everyone dares Lee to start a lifestyle brand. The gang asks Randy what it was like being strapped to five different rockets (ad platforms) and shot into space (managing said five ad platforms alone). Everyone agrees, albeit for different reasons, "Added Value" is due for a reckoning.

Ed. Note: Ben Hovaness is actually the Senior Vice President of Marketplace Intelligence at Omnicom Media Group, Lee is an idiot if he's actually been paying an Acronym Interpreter this whole time, especially as the Podcast Central Planning Committee gave him no budget for this. He is also neither bilingual, nor allowed to unilaterally name the episodes specifically to antagonize our wonderful guests.