Key takeaways:
- Strong partnerships align audiences, capabilities, and commercial goals, with the flexibility to add or change partners as needs shift.
- Interoperable identity creates companies and environments, with trust and governance providing clarity around how data and identity are used.
- Consumer intelligence creates more value when enrichment, planning, activation, curation, and measurement work together within the systems marketers already use.
- Better decisioning helps marketers navigate an abundance of data and find what’s relevant to their objectives, with AI helping support discovery and selection.
AdTech has built a range of technology for understanding audiences, resolving identity, activating media, and measuring performance. The opportunity now is to make those capabilities work together.
Data sits in different systems, identity changes between environments, and campaigns move across platforms and companies before anyone can tie media activity back to an outcome. Each capability serves a purpose. Greater interoperability creates a more consistent path from planning through measurement.
Interoperability brings those capabilities into alignment across systems, environments, and companies. For brands, agencies, publishers, and platforms, that can mean less complexity and greater continuity from one stage of the advertising workflow to the next.
Partnerships are becoming part of the operating model
Strong AdTech partnerships start by finding where companies fit together, from the audiences they serve to the capabilities and commercial goals they share.
That alignment creates room to build something more valuable together, including more relevant ad experiences that draw on what each company does best. It also creates optionality. Companies can bring in new partners or capabilities as needs change without rebuilding the strategy from the ground up. This is what turns a partnership into part of the operating model.
Companies align around shared goals, build on each other’s strengths, and create a structure that can adapt as the advertising ecosystem changes.
Connected advertising needs identity that works across companies
Consistent identity gives companies a shared foundation across planning, activation, and measurement, even when those activities happen across different platforms and environments.
Interoperable identity connects people, households, devices, data, media exposure, and outcomes across those environments without requiring every company to use the same technology stack.
That interoperability also requires trust. As identity moves across companies and environments, each participant needs clarity around how data and identity are used. Strong governance creates that clarity and gives companies a more reliable foundation for working together.
AI-powered identity resolution can interpret changing digital signals and connect them with more stable identity information, creating a more consistent view across environments. With AI increasingly informing advertising decisions, the quality of the data, identity, and governance behind those systems will shape the quality of their decisions.
Consumer intelligence should meet marketers where decisions happen
Consumer intelligence creates more value when it becomes part of the systems marketers already use to make decisions. Bringing enrichment, audience planning, activation, curation, and measurement closer together gives marketers a clearer path from understanding people to putting that understanding to work.
That consolidation matters. When the same system carries more of the workflow, marketers can enrich their data, build and activate audiences, curate media, and measure outcomes with greater consistency. The intelligence gained from measurement can then inform the decisions that come next. AI makes those connections even more valuable.
When AI supports audience selection, media choices, and measurement, reliable consumer intelligence across the workflow gives it the context needed to make informed decisions.
Better decisioning turns more data into value
AdTech has made huge amounts of data accessible, which creates a new challenge: helping marketers decide what to use. Making thousands of audiences available solved the access problem. But the next question is how marketers determine which options fit a particular objective.
AdTech companies can make that abundance easier to navigate by helping marketers find, evaluate, and apply relevant data within the systems they already use. AI can help interpret large catalogs and surface useful options, but those recommendations still depend on accurate data, consistent identity, and enough context to inform the decision.
What this shift means for AdTech
Interoperability gives AdTech a way to bring together what the industry has already built. Partnerships align companies, identity creates continuity across environments, consumer intelligence turns data into context, and better decisioning helps marketers find what matters for the objective at hand.
Together, those capabilities create an ecosystem where specialized companies and technologies can work together without passing complexity on to the customer. As more advertising decisions become AI-assisted, that connectivity becomes even more important.
AdTech has spent years building the pieces. Now the focus is removing the seams between them.
Connect with us
About the author
Ali Mack
VP, AdTech Sales
Ali Mack leads Experian’s AdTech business, overseeing global revenue across the company’s expansive tech and media portfolio. With over a decade of experience in digital and TV advertising, Ali drives strategic growth by aligning sales, customer success, and solutions teams to deliver impactful outcomes for clients and partners.
She has successfully guided teams through two major acquisitions, integrating sales organizations and product portfolios into unified go-to-market strategies. Under her leadership, Experian has consistently exceeded revenue targets while fostering collaborative, results-driven teams and mentoring emerging leaders. Working closely with finance, product, and marketing, Ali develops strategies that support a diverse ecosystem of publishers, brands, and technology partners, positioning Experian at the forefront of data-driven advertising and identity resolution.
Latest posts
Overview Chartable leverages The Tapad Graph to improve cross-device attribution rates and remove non-addressable IPs for clients. Challenge Chartable needs to differentiate between consumer and potential business IP addresses to provide accurate household modeling and reduce excess data for their customers. Podcasting generally only has access to IP addresses as a form of digital ID which limits its ability to connect activity to individuals and extend it across all devices. The Tapad + Experian solution Using Tapad, now a part of Experian, Chartable is able to cut through the noise of IP data and discard any addresses deemed a shared IP or business. Then, Tapad + Experian connects individual users to their other digital IDs and users in their household; creating a richer attribution model for Chartable customers. Increase in podcast attribution rates Contact us today
With the growth of digital marketing and the targeting capabilities associated with online outreach, many predicted that this would mark the end of direct mail advertising. But if Millennials have anything to say about it, that’s not going to happen anytime soon. Yes, believe it or not, Millennials are driving the resurgence of direct mail advertising, and many leading brands are now pivoting their omnichannel marketing plans to include direct mail. And with the USPS reporting more than 75.7 billion in marketing mail volume in 2019, this trend shows no sign of slowing down. Including direct mail in your plans may give your brand a better chance of reaching your audience. Why? 1. Millennials actually like getting mail.While most of us have decried “junk mail” as being environmentally unfriendly or just a pain to deal with, Millennials actually enjoy physical mail. Valassis recently cited research from USPS Customer & Market Insights stating that Millennials spend the most time sorting mail (about six minutes compared to the average, which is four minutes), plus they’re opening mail and reading it (at eight minutes versus the average of seven minutes). Valassis also conducted a study that showed that 68% of Millennials read print ads or inserts from retailers, and 64% prefer getting them through the mail. So, while digital outreach may be convenient, it hasn’t completely decimated the desire for that old-school, hands-on experience of opening and reading something that’s addressed to you. 2. Millennials respond to a multi-channel approach.Oftentimes, marketers think of omnichannel as being a combination of digital and TV, but when you add print into the mix, it can make an even bigger impact on Millennial audiences. Valassis found that 60% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase after seeing an ad when it’s presented across both offline and online channels, while 72% of Millennial parents say print ads encourage them to go online and make a purchase from that retailer. 3. Millennials think physical mail makes for a more personal approach.You’d think that e-mail would feel more personal, but with the influx of spam most people get, that’s just not the case. In fact, 67% of people see physical mail as being more personal than an e-mail, with seven out of 10 saying they prefer receiving actual mail over digital mail. And for marketers looking to make a one-to-one connection, this is music to their ears. With changing marketing plans, the mailbox has less competition than the inbox. Getting a catalog at their door with the perfect offer at the perfect time helps the marketer make the direct connection. 4. Direct mail lasts longer than digital mail.That may seem like an obvious statement, but there’s more to it than you think. When an e-mail arrives in someone’s inbox, it’s easy to ignore it, read the subject line and forget about it, or even just randomly delete it, if spam filters don’t take care of that on their own. But the average lifespan of a piece of direct mail is 17 days, which may account for how direct mail generates purchases five times larger than e-mail campaigns. It’s harder to ignore when it’s in your house and you have to physically handle it as opposed to just clicking a mouse to get rid of it. 5. Millennials trust direct mail.It’s true—research shows that 90% of Millennials think direct mail advertising is reliable. Plus, Millennials are 24% more likely to show mail to others, compared to 19% of non-Millennials… which means if they find a deal they like in the mail, they’re probably going to spread the word. Contact us today
Marketers are always looking for creative ways to get the most out of their digital marketing investments. While there may be different paths to optimization, reducing media spend and cutting costs without sacrificing ROI is ideal. We empower marketers to take back control of their budgets and reinvent their media strategies by leveraging the right data at the right time. And, given today’s challenging climate, there’s no better time. Every Business Has Different Deeds Whether you’re a direct-to-consumer brand building a loyal customer base or a financial service simply letting customers know you’re here for them during a challenging time– identity resolution is essential to connecting with your audience without breaking the bank. That’s why we have built solutions that provide flexibility and control when you need it most. Putting Data Into Action Experian’s “Tapad Graph” is a global, privacy-safe cross device graph is one powerful file. Updated weekly, and containing customized device IDs and digital attributes, The Tapad Graph enables smarter targeting strategies and a reduction of wasted impressions. What that means is more marketing efficiency and a stronger ROI for your business. Saving resources and money sound good to you? This guide breaks down four ways you can implement cost savings measures without sacrificing performance or prohibiting KPIs. Frequency Capping and Suppression Clustering device IDs by the individual and household means you have access to more ways to reach consumers, but it doesn’t always mean you should be using all of them across every campaign. Hone in on the channels and devices where consumers make most of their lower funnel decisions and purchases – and cap brand-awareness level placements or aspirational media that requires more exposure to generate engagement. This doesn’t mean limiting the devices you target, but being more aware of how often you’re targeting the same person across those devices. If you’ve successfully begun, or heck, even completed the consumer journey with an individual, congratulations. Now, you may want to consider what to do with the rest of the digital devices and users in that same household. Sure, there’s a time for conquesting an entire home of purchasers, but that’s not always the most effective way to maximize your media. That’s why The Tapad Graph is built to be flexible, providing a holistic view of all individuals and their associated devices and digital IDs – so you can suppress them once you’ve conquested the household decision maker or achieved the desired lower funnel activity. Save those impressions for someone else and save money for yourself. The great thing is whether you’re uploading this data into a DMP or a DSP, you can segment your target audience with a frequency cap threshold or suppress them entirely. Not only can you apply these tactics across traditional digital media, but we can include Connected TVs for OTT targeting as well, making your media strategy as holistic as your identity resolution tactics. Cross-Device Targeting and Attribution Consumer behavior and device trends are changing these days, so shouldn’t your digital marketing change too? Desktop usage is now up as much as 22%* as more people are working and learning from home. And remember that old iPad? With more people at home, we’re dusting off more devices and tablet activity is increasing more than 30%*. Sure, people are still constantly on mobile– but it might be time to consider implementing cross-device targeting and optimization for those dayparts when their focus is elsewhere. Identity resolution should be a key element of customer journey mapping and attribution in order to truly give credit to the right channels and build a baseline for the right cost-per modelling. Coupling The Tapad Graph with raw events data can granularly attribute engagement, actions and conversions at the digital ID, device, and even user-level – thereby teaching you more about your customer’s preferences. Leverage these insights to create more tailored messaging and promotions on your owned and operated channels, to funnel impressions to specific screens and platforms, and to target users based on where they are in the purchase funnel. Data That Gives You Control If you’re already implementing cross-device, have you started suppressing the devices where engagement with your brand isn’t happening? That’s right, you can use The Tapad Graph after-the-fact as well. Weekly graph updates with 60-day look-backs enable weekly campaign optimizations. That gives you the flexibility and control to avoid devices and platforms where users aren’t as active. You can only make decisions based on the data you have in front of you, so make sure you’re partnering with the right solutions for your business. Does identity resolution sound like something you need? Contact us and we can help you get started with all that The Tapad Graph has to offer. Contact us today