It's stating the obvious to say that for the past eight years our industry has been obsessed with data and how we can combine it with technology to solve some of the key problems for brands.
But after eight years are we any closer to technology enabled, one-to-one, scaled advertising - or is it a myth? If you take your cue from what’s covered in the press and what’s talked about in many workshops and meetings, I’d suggest we are there – we made it! From ad tech to mar tech, there is a conversation at every corner of the world about how to integrate new technologies into tech stacks that exist in businesses, or how to re-build a technology stack, or more commonly today, where do I start when I want to build one?
And to signal how important data is to technology businesses, you only need to look at the mega acquisitions happening every day around the world, such as Verizon buying Yahoo! and Adobe acquiring TubeMogul. There are more and more businesses adding value to the advertising supply chain by simply buying what they don’t have. Look at Salesforce’s acquisition of Krux - a global data management platform that competes with Google and Adobe every day. Salesforce paid US$800m for the business, so that it can help to join the dots between CRM, advertising and digital web experiences.
The reason why there is a focus from advertisers, however, is that they only want to speak to the right consumers at the right time to drive efficiency and relevance. For consumers however, it is slightly different – and the experience becomes about relevance. We have become subconsciously obsessed with personalisation. We expect Facebook to show us the content from our friends we want to see. Netflix will only recommend TV shows and movies we will love. We have become so conditioned to personalisation that any brand experience that doesn’t meet this high standard seem to ‘fail’.
So what is holding the industry back from delivering on the promise? I know that for marketers the fact that there has been a lot of talk and lack of action is frustrating, and though there are many examples of personalisation progressing, it is too few and too far between. So let’s address what I see as some of the key issues and then work together as an industry to think about how we solve for the problems.
The channel perception gap
The first is the limitations of the number of channels that are truly connected by data in real time – creating a perception gap between channels that can deliver one-to-one connections versus ones which have elevated the targeting capabilities that they have. Whilst technology is accelerating rapidly in this space, being able to have an “always on” one-to-one relationship with a consumer requires something called 'persistence identity management’ – or the ability to always have a view of the consumer as they move through platforms and channels (such as mobile, connected TV’s and laptops).
The publisher data silos
This leads to the second challenge we are facing which is the growing amount of “useable” data that is sitting within silos – and is being used by publishers and platforms to build their own value exchange with advertisers.
The reason why this is problematic is that consumers do not only use one publisher or platform in their daily journey – people move from Facebook to Yahoo!7 to news.com.au on an hourly basis, and we need to be able to access the same information across all of these spaces so that we can create advertising experiences that engage as consumers move along their use of the connected channels.
Engaging in the act
The third is the way that we communicate – and this lies within the content realm – ensuring that once we have the right person at the right time that we can create a message that engages that person to act – and act now.
If these are the three issues that we face to deliver consumers what they subconsciously desire, then how do we get there?
There are a few actions that I spend time with our clients discussing to start the journey:
- The first is to make sense of the data you have – make sure that your data is ready, unified and protected so that you know who your customers are and that you own that data.
- The second is find partners that can add value to your data – for example, if you know how old your customers are, where they live and what car they drive, you may want to know what their income is or what life stage they are in, so find a partner who can add value to this data.
- The final step is to work with technologies that allow you to have a helicopter view of the media channels you want to buy utilising data. Ensure that you have a view of which technology suppliers you and your agencies are using, why they are using these and importantly ensure that they have the flexibility to grow as the market allows for more media to be transacted using data.
The fusion of art and science in advertising has never been more real. We know that advertising has the power to connect with consumers meaningfully as it always has, but technology and data needs to be strategically embraced to unlock the magical connection between a brand and a consumer at the right moment in time and with the right message.
By Publicis Media chief digital and technology officer Jason Tonelli