Marketing data and identity

Originally appeared on Total Retail Retail media networks (RMNs) continue to demonstrate how they can be a powerful monetization driver for retailers, creating a win-win-win for everyone involved. Retailers can monetize their valuable first-party data as well as their online and in-store inventory, while customers benefit from timely, relevant content that enhances their shopping experience. At the same time, advertisers can reach highly targeted audiences at critical moments near the point of purchase Achieving this type of success requires overcoming challenges around fragmented and incomplete first-party data, which can limit a retailer's ability to organize and use their data effectively. Additionally, many RMNs lack the analytical capacity to generate customer insights, build addressable audiences, and accurately measure success. To realize the full potential of their platforms, RMNs need partners that provide complementary data, strong identity solutions, and the expertise to transform insights into actionable strategies. This allows RMNs to drive winning outcomes for themselves, marketers, and their customers. Here are the five steps an RMN should consider when selecting the right partner. 1. Build an identity foundation First, the right partner needs to be able to organize and clean customer data. Given the millions of customer records and data points that a retailer has, RMNs need to make sure their data is highly usable. Whether it is a known customer record or an unknown customer with incomplete data, partners should fill in missing information and connect fragmented customer records to a single profile. For example, RMNs need to know that a purchase made in-store is by the same customer who bought online. The best partners will then organize those profiles into households since targeting (and purchasing) is often done at the household level. Without a strong identity foundation future steps of segmentation, insights, audience creation, and activation will not be successful. Experian identity Experian's identity solutions provide RMNs with a comprehensive and accurate view of their customers across both offline and digital environments. We clean an RMN's first-party data and organize their customer records into households since targeting is often done at the household level and purchases are made at the household level. Using Experian's Offline and Digital Graphs we work with the RMN to fill in the missing information they have on their customers (e.g. name, address, phone number or digital IDs like hashed emails, mobile ad IDs, CTV IDs, Universal IDs like UID2 or ID5 IDs). This ensures that the retailers' entire customer base can be reached - and measured - across devices and channels. 2. Segment your customers An RMN’s ability to segment its customer base and derive insights depends on the availability and usability of their data assets – not to mention some serious analytical chops. Some RMNs will split their customers into different product segments based on what’s relevant to an advertiser. For example, a home improvement retailer may segment customers by who is buying DIY supplies versus improvement services.  Other RMNs may develop custom segments from their customer data and third-party data sources, so that advertisers can personalize their marketing based on life stage, age, income level, geography, and other factors. Either approach is effective but requires working with a partner who has high quality data and deep analytical expertise to develop those segments. Segment with Experian Experian Marketing Data helps an RMN learn about their customer beyond their first-party data. With access to 5,000 marketing attributes, RMNs can fill in the holes in their understanding of a customer. We provide them with demographic, geographic, finance, home purchase, interests and behaviors, lifestyle, auto data and more. RMNs can use this enriched data set to create addressable audience segments. 3. Generate actionable insights about these segments Once the RMN determines how they will segment their customers, they can utilize demographic, attitudinal, interest, and behavioral data from a trusted partner to develop a customer profile that compares its customers against a relevant sample of consumers. Here, the RMN will gain insight that will help them answer questions about its customers. Examples include:  What age and income groups are more likely to purchase my product? What is the current life stage of my customers – do they have children, are they married, are they empty-nesters? Is price or quality more important to customers in their decision-making process? What sort of activities do my customers enjoy? How frequently do my customers shop for similar merchandise? What media channels do my customers use to get their information? Expanded insights with Experian With Experian’s advanced customer profiling, RMNs can go beyond basic customer segmentation. We build detailed customer profiles by utilizing accurate, attribute-rich consumer data, so RMNs can gain a more comprehensive understanding of their customer’s preferences, life stages, and purchasing behaviors.  Having this insight enables the RMN to: Design a targeted email campaign promoting home essentials to recently married new homeowners. Develop a social media post announcing the opening of a new hardware store to users within a specific location interested in do-it-yourself products. Create brochures and flyers at a local community event tailored towards parents with small children that promote equipment for youth sports leagues. 4. Create high quality lookalike audiences The RMN now knows what distinguishes their customers from other consumers and can create audiences that enable advertisers to run personalized marketing campaigns at scale. RMNs can do this in several different ways: Work with a data provider who can create custom audiences for the RMN (e.g., Ages 40-49 and Leisure Travelers and past purchase of travel item) These custom audiences are created by joining multiple first- and third-party data attributes found to be significant in the customer profile or using machine learning techniques to develop a custom audience unique to the advertiser.   Custom audiences with Experian With an enriched understanding of their customers, RMNs can create addressable custom audience segments, including lookalike audiences, for advertisers. 5. Expand addressability of audiences and activate on multiple destinations Once audiences are created, RMNs will want to increase a marketer’s reach across on-site and off-site channels. With the right identity graph partner, an RMN can add digital identifiers to customer records that enable activation across media channels, including programmatic display, connected television (CTV), or social. RMNs should work with identity providers that are not reliant on third-party cookies. They should select partners that offer more stable digital IDs in their graph like mobile ad IDs (MAIDs), hashed emails (HEMs), CTV IDs, and universal IDs like Unified I.D. 2.0 (UID2). Experian powers data-driven advertising through connectivity Using Experian's Digital Graph, RMNs expand the addressability of their audiences by assigning digital identifiers to customer records. Marketers will be able to reach an RMNs customers onsite as well as offsite since Experian provides several addressable IDs. Audiences can be activated across an RMNs owned and operated platform as well as extended programmatically to TV and the open web through Experian's integrations across the ecosystem. Maximize your RMN’s revenue potential with Experian Organizing customer data, segmenting customers, generating insights, creating addressable audiences, and activating campaigns are all critical steps for an RMN to realize that revenue potential. RMNs should select a partner that provides the data, identity, and analytical resources to create the winning formula for marketers, customers, and retailers.  Experian’s data and identity solutions are designed to help RMNs maximize their revenue potential. Reach out to our team to discover how we can support your path to RMN success. Connect with us Latest posts

Originally appeared on MediaPost As the digital ecosystem becomes more complex, managing multiple identifiers for consumers has emerged as a significant challenge. From cookies and IP addresses to mobile IDs and universal IDs, marketers and platforms face increasing difficulty in maintaining a unified view of their consumers. Without a coherent identity strategy, campaigns can suffer from poor targeting, limited personalization, and flawed attribution. Experian understands these challenges and offers solutions to help our partners navigate the complexities of a multi-ID landscape. By utilizing both digital and offline data, we provide the tools to unify fragmented identifiers and maintain a persistent view of consumers. As a result, marketers and platforms get rich insights, accurate cross-device targeting, improved addressability, and measurable advertising. The shifting identity landscape For years, the industry has relied on cookies to identify consumers across devices and platforms. However, with ongoing signal loss, including the uncertainty around cookies, and the evolution of privacy regulations, the digital identity landscape has grown more complicated. As consumers hop from one device to another, they are now represented by multiple signals, each tied to a different aspect of their digital behavior. While this shift brings complexity, it also opens the door for innovation. Marketers and ad platforms now have the opportunity to rethink their identity strategies and adopt more flexible approaches that are not reliant on a single identifier. This is where Experian comes in. Connecting the dots: A holistic view of the customer journey Our identity solutions are designed to help manage today’s multi-ID ecosystem by connecting digital and offline identifiers to a single customer profile. This creates a unified view of the consumer, and when combined with our understanding of customer behavior (e.g. demo, interests, shopping patterns) marketers and platforms get both insights about their customers and the addressability to reach them across channels. Four examples of what you can do with a strong identity foundation If an advertiser wants to make its first-party data more addressable, it can utilize our Digital Graph with universal IDs, hashed emails (HEMs), and connected TV (CTV) IDs to extend its reach. A publisher who wants to gain further insights into their audiences and create private marketplaces (PMPs) can achieve this goal with the use of our Digital Graph with hashed emails, universal IDs, mobile ad IDs (MAIDs), CTV IDs, and IPs. The publisher can use this in concert with Marketing Attributes to understand age, gender, household income, buying behavior, and more. The publisher can connect marketing attributes to the Digital Graph via our Living Unit ID (LUID) to understand more about consumers that fall into their segments. A demand-side platform (DSP) who wants to extend first-party and third-party audience reach across all digital devices on their platform will use the Digital Graph with all digital IDs to allow users of their platform to select cross-device extension against first-party and third-party audiences. A retail media network (RMN) can use our Offline and Digital Graphs to connect in-store and online purchases to a household profile—even when purchases are made by different people. The RMN can then reach that household across digital media platforms and accurately attribute the in-store purchase back to digital ad exposure.  Identity as a strategic asset: Today and in the future In our paradoxical world where consumers are represented by multiple identifiers, yet marketers and platforms face signal loss, identity is more than a technical issue—it’s a strategic asset. The ability to unify identity data into a single profile provides marketers with the customer intelligence needed to drive growth and stay competitive. Here’s how we do it: Deep, persistent customer understanding: With roots in offline, deterministic data like names, addresses, and emails, we provide an accurate and persistent view of identity to our customers. This allows you to maintain a consistent and comprehensive understanding of your customers and their marketing attributes over time. Highly accurate and refreshed digital identities: Our signal-agnostic graph is not reliant on any one signal as it includes HEMs, cookies, MAIDs, IPs, Universal IDs, and CTV IDs. Our Digital Graph is updated weekly, ensuring the data is always fresh and addressable. This persistent linkage of individuals and households to their identifiers and devices means your campaigns are always targeting the right people. Connected offline and digital graphs for holistic insights: We connect offline and digital identities by following privacy-first best practices, such as preventing re-identification, to allow insights from the offline world to be used in the online world. This integrated approach, enriched with marketing data, gives you better insights, more addressable advertising, and the ability to engage customers across multiple devices while accurately measuring campaign impact. Transform challenges into opportunities The rise of the multi-ID landscape presents both challenges and opportunities for the advertising industry. We stand as the trusted partner to navigate this complexity, utilizing insights from the offline world to inform decisions in the online world, enabling personalized marketing and accurate attribution, and helping you achieve your current and future goals. Get started today Latest posts

As Oracle exits the advertising space, we understand that this may present a challenge. Experian is here to support you with a seamless transition in your audience targeting. As one of Oracle’s primary data providers that powered their audiences, we’ve mapped Oracle audiences to Experian audiences, helping you to switch your audience targeting with no impact on your campaign’s performance.  In this blog post, we highlight four audience categories that we know marketers are actively seeking to replace and target: auto, restaurants, lifestyle and interests, and demographics. Experian’s approach to best-in-class audience targeting Experian’s 2,400+ syndicated audiences are available directly on over 30 leading television, social, programmatic advertising platforms, and directly within Audigent for activation within private marketplaces (PMPs).   Reach consumers based on who they are, where they live, and their household makeup. Experian ranked #1 in accuracy by Truthset for key demographic attributes such as Presence of Children   Access to unique audiences through Experian’s Partner Audiences available on Experian’s data marketplace, within Audigent for activation in PMPs and directly on platforms like The Trade Desk, Magnite, DirectTV, Dish, and OpenAP.  Experian’s audience solutions are rooted in offline, deterministic data -- like name, address, phone number, and email -- that rarely changes. Our deep understanding of people in the offline and digital worlds provides marketers a persistent linkage of known offline data and digital identifiers, which means you get accurate and consistent audience targeting across all channels. Auto, Cars, and Trucks As the premier auto partner contributing to Oracle auto segments, Experian can help you reach and target consumers based on their known and predictive auto shopping behaviors. Experian’s auto audiences are built utilizing insight from our North American Vehicle Database℠ and other data attributes from Experian Marketing Data to provide highly accurate audiences for digital and TV advertising. Unlike some of our competitors who are also positioning themselves as a replacement audience provider, Experian owns all our Vehicle, Consumer, and summarized Credit data under one umbrella and refreshes our audiences every 30 days. This ensures tighter audience composition, superior data hygiene, and best in-class data fidelity, which means you get to target the most accurate audiences. With over 750 syndicated audiences segmented by make, model, price, vehicle age, fuel type, and more, our data is accessible through Experian’s distribution power across all platforms — digital, TV, programmatic, and social — allowing activation wherever our partners need it. Here are the 10 most popular Experian audiences that align with Oracle’s auto audiences: Audience by OracleExperian audienceAudiences by Oracle > Auto, Cars and Trucks > In-Market > Body Styles > SUVs and CrossoversAutos, Cars and Trucks > In Market-Body Styles > SUV and CUVAudiences by Oracle > Auto, Cars and Trucks > In-Market > Body Styles > Trucks > Mid-Size Pickup TrucksAutos, Cars and Trucks > In Market-Body Styles > Mid-Size TruckAudiences by Oracle > Auto, Cars and Trucks > In-Market > Body Styles > Trucks > Full-Size Pickup TrucksAutos, Cars and Trucks > In Market-Body Styles > Full-Size TrucksAudiences by Oracle > Auto, Cars and Trucks > In-Market > Body Styles > SUVs and Crossovers > SUVs > Small to Mid-Size SUVAutos, Cars and Trucks > In Market-Body Styles > Small Mid-Size SUVAudiences by Oracle > Auto, Cars and Trucks > In-Market > Body Styles > SUVs and Crossovers > SUVsAutos, Cars and Trucks > In Market-Body Styles > SUVAudiences by Oracle > Financial Services > Insurance > In-Market > Auto InsuranceLifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > In-Market > Auto InsuranceAudiences by Oracle > Auto, Cars and Trucks > Merchant Category Audiences > Auto Insurance High SpendersRetail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Automotive (Cars & Trucks) > Auto Insurance: High SpendersOracle BlueKai > In-Market > Auto, Cars and Trucks > Condition > Used Cars > More than 5 years oldAutos, Cars and Trucks > In Market-New/Used > Used car 6+ yearsAudiences by Oracle > Auto, Cars and Trucks > In-Market > Condition > Used > Less than 5 years oldAutos, Cars and Trucks > In Market-New/Used > Used car 0-5 yearsOracle BlueKai > In-Market > Auto, Cars and Trucks > Classes > Cars > Compact and Sub-Compact CarsAutos, Cars and Trucks > In Market-Body Styles > Compact or Subcompact Cars Lifestyle and Interests Experian’s Lifestyle and Interests data helps you reach and target consumers based on their predicted lifestyle and behavioral characteristics with data sourced from consumer surveys, research panels, and online behaviors, enabling more personalized and impactful marketing strategies. Here are five of the most popular Experian audiences that align with Oracle's lifestyle and interest audiences:  Audience by OracleExperian audienceAudiences by Oracle > Hobbies and Interests (Affinity) > Pets > DogsLifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Pets > Dog OwnersAudiences by Oracle > Hobbies and Interests (Affinity) > Pets > CatsLifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Pets > Cat OwnersAudiences by Oracle > Hobbies and Interests (Affinity) > Health and Fitness > ExerciseLifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Health & Fitness > Fitness EnthusiastOracle DLX (Datalogix) > DLX Finance > InvestorsLifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Investors > Active InvestorAudiences by Oracle > Lifestyles > Merchant Category Audiences > Sports LoversLifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Sports and Recreation > Sports Enthusiast  Demographics Experian’s demographic data allows marketers to tap into the accurate data from Experian Marketing Data to refine audiences to meet a brand’s target persona. Our demographic audiences deliver insight into age, gender, income, and household attributes such as home ownership, presence of children in the household, and length of residence. Based on customer feedback, we have expanded our range of age-based audience segments. These new segments cover various adult age groups and gender distinctions (e.g., Adult Females 18-39, Adult Males 35-54). Here are seven of the most popular Experian audiences that align with Oracle's demographic audiences:  Audience by Oracle Experian audienceAudiences by Oracle > Demographics > Validated Demographics > Household Income > HHI: $100,000+Demographics > Household Income (HHI) > $100,000+Audiences by Oracle > Real Estate and Home Property Services > Real Estate Attributes > Ownership > Home OwnersDemographics > Homeowners/Renters > HomeownerAudiences by Oracle > Demographics > Age Groups > Adults 25-54Demographics > Ages > 25-54Audiences by Oracle > Demographics > Gender > FemalesDemographics > Gender > FemaleAudiences by Oracle > Demographics > Validated Demographics > Age Groups > Adults 25-54 > Females 25-54Demographics > Ages > Female 25-54Audiences by Oracle > Demographics > Age Broad > Ages 40-49Demographics > Ages > 40-49Audiences by Oracle > Demographics > Validated Demographics > Age Broad > Ages 65+Demographics > Ages > 65+ Quick Service Restaurants (QSR) Here are six of the most popular Experian audiences that align with Oracle's QSR audiences:  Audience by OracleExperian audienceAudiences by Oracle > Restaurants > Merchant Category Audiences > In Store QSR Fast Food Frequent SpendersRetail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Food and Drink > Restaurants: Fast Food/QSR QSR Frequent SpendersAudiences by Oracle > Restaurants > Merchant Category Audiences > QSR Chicken Frequent SpendersRetail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Food and Drink > Restaurants: Fast Food/QSR Chicken Frequent SpendersAudiences by Oracle > Restaurants > Merchant Category Audiences > QSR Burgers Frequent SpendersRetail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Food and Drink > Restaurants: Fast Food/QSR Burger Frequent SpendersAudiences by Oracle > Restaurants > Cuisine Type > SandwichesRetail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Food and Drink > Restaurants: Fast Food/QSR Subs and Sandwich Frequent SpendersAudiences by Oracle > Restaurants > Dining Type > Casual DiningRetail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Food and Drink > Restaurants: Casual Dining Frequent SpendersAudiences by Oracle > Restaurants > Dining Type > Coffee Shops and CafesRetail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Food and Drink > Restaurants: Coffee Frequent Spenders Switch from Oracle to Experian audiences with ease Experian is here to make it easy for advertisers and agencies to find the right audience solutions after Oracle’s exit. By partnering with us, you work with a single data provider that offers access to a diverse range of audiences across multiple categories, including political and holiday shopping. Our audiences are available for activation on the leading demand, supply, social, and TV platforms.  Reach out to your account representative or our audience team for information about our comprehensive audience mapping and finding the right audiences for your campaigns.  Connect with our audience team Download our audience lookbook to discover more about Experian’s audiences. Contact us Latest posts

Cuebiq’s mission, as an offline intelligence and measurement company, is to quantify how digital marketing impacts offline consumer behavior. This case study shows how Cuebiq partnered with Experian to continue delivering in-store lift analyses despite signal loss. To achieve this, Cuebiq used Experian’s Activity Feed to resolve digital ad exposures to mobile ad-IDs, so that marketers could know the effectiveness of their media campaigns on in-store visits and purchases.  Even as Google backs away from third-party cookie deprecation, the need for flexible, future-proof identity solutions remains. By partnering with Experian, Cuebiq could help their clients more accurately measure their campaigns and optimize their media.    Challenge: Increasing match rates across digital platforms Cuebiq wanted to enhance how well they connect digital ad exposures, across web, mobile, and connected TV (CTV), to mobile ad IDs (MAIDs), of consumers who visited their clients’ stores. They needed a single technology partner who could collect data across these environments and improve these connections.  With the ability to resolve exposures to households, individuals, and MAIDs to then facilitate attribution of digital exposures to offline store visitation, Cuebiq could continue to provide accurate reports on how digital ads impact offline consumer behavior. This clarity in data enables their clients to fine-tune their marketing strategies.   Cuebiq’s key objectives included:   Resolving digital exposures to MAIDs Increase overlap of offline and online data Improving the effectiveness of offline measurement offerings  Activity Feed: The solution to increase match rates Experian’s Activity Feed pulls together fragmented digital event data from all digital channels, including browsers like Safari and Firefox that restrict traditional tracking methods. Activity Feed ingests and ties digital ad exposure and website activity data to household or individual profiles hourly, helping client's associate ad exposures to impact by a household or individual. Activity Feed plays a crucial role in overcoming fragmented data and helping marketers accurately measure their cross-channel marketing efforts.   Cuebiq used Activity Feed to resolve exposure data from all environments, even cookieless ones, to a single household or individual and saw significantly higher match rates. Cuebiq received their clients’ ad exposure data resolved to mobile ad IDs (MAIDs) and correlated it to their clients’ in-store visitation and sales. To do so, Cuebiq implemented the Experian pixel, which they placed to track all their marketers’ impressions (mobile, CTV, web traffic, etc.). The Experian pixel collects information in real-time, such as:   Timestamp Cookies Device ID (MAID/CTV) when available IP address User-Agent Impression ID “Before we started working with Experian, we couldn’t fully maximize ad views across the complex digital landscape. In just a few weeks, they were able to maximize the match rate across the fragmented digital inventory, solving a huge problem when it comes to cross-channel attribution.” Luca Bocchiardi, Director of Product, Cuebiq Results Activity Feed combines separate data streams and matches them back to a household. This enables Cuebiq to expand household IDs and accurately identify MAIDs that are seen in-store for cross-channel measurement. Over a 21-day period, Cuebiq passed ~1 billion events to Experian. Activity Feed resolved 85% of total events to a household, 91% of which were tied to MAIDs.   By implementing Activity Feed, Cuebiq was successfully able to: Gain clearer insights into the success of their client‘s campaigns  Match consumer engagements in a privacy-compliant manner Tell the story of the key performance indicators (KPIs) related to their marketing efforts  A solution for measurement across cookied and cookieless environments Activity Feed is prepared for whatever the future of signal loss holds in store, capable of using third-party cookies and alternative IDs, like UID2.0s, ID5 IDs, hashed emails, and IPs for identity resolution. Experian remains fully committed to exploring a suite of next-generation solutions and prioritizing continued testing of different industry solutions to help customers maintain consumer visibility amidst signal loss. We’ve identified six viable alternatives to third-party cookies, how these alternatives fall short, and how Experian can help you navigate these alternatives.   “Experian’s customer service is extremely efficient and collaborative. We trust them to keep putting our business first long-term.”Luca Bocchiardi, Director of Product, Cuebiq Download the full case study to discover how Cuebiq used Activity Feed to overcome their challenges. Your path to maximizing match rates and resolving data from cookieless environments starts here.  Download the full case study Contact us About Cuebiq Cuebiq is transforming the way businesses interact with mobility data to providing a high-quality and transparent currency to map and measure offline behavior. They are at the forefront of all industry privacy standards, establishing an industry-leading data collection framework, and making it safe and easy for businesses to use location data for innovation and growth. To learn more, visit their website at www.cuebiq.com Latest posts

Retail media networks (RMNs) rank among the fastest-growing media channels. According to eMarketer, retail media spend is forecasted to account for more than a fifth of overall digital spending in 2025, and retail media spend will grow by 21.8%. For RMNs, the path to realizing this opportunity is marked by navigating through a series of critical stages, each with its own set of challenges and solutions. Retail media strategies Simply put, RMNs need to know who their customers are, where they are, and how to reach them to succeed. But we know nothing is that simple. This blog post reviews the three pivotal stages of RMN success, offering a roadmap for networks aiming to optimize their operations and claim their share of the rapidly growing category. Stage 1: Develop a data foundation In a world where traditional tracking methods are fading, first-party data has become essential for targeted advertising. Retailers have a wealth of this valuable data due to their direct consumer relationships. The initial step in establishing an RMN is to organize and utilize this data effectively. Steps to develop a data foundation: Organize data: Bring together fragmented shopper data, loyalty program information, and other customer data into a unified location. Clean and deduplicate this data to create consistent customer profiles. Enhance profiles: Gain insights into your customers and your brand’s customers so you can learn who your best, lapsed, and non-customers are. Append additional attributes to your shopper data, including media consumption habits, lifestyle preferences, demographic information, and more. Use identity graphs: Identity providers, like Experian, enable you to learn about the anonymous – and known - visitors on your platform and organize disparate customer data points into households. This will allow RMNs to connect addressable identifiers to the household, making it easier to reach customers across channels. Create audience segments: With a solid data foundation, RMNs can build audience segments beyond basic shopper data. These segments will make your data more attractive and actionable for media buyers. For example, consider a retailer that knows its shoppers are primarily young professionals, but a CPG brand wants to target not only these shoppers but also young professionals who are parents. By partnering with an identity solution provider like Experian, the retailer can append additional data to identify and target the young parents within their existing customer base, enabling the CPG brand to reach both audience segments effectively. “Retail media networks thrive on clean, accurate, and actionable data. Simply put, it's crucial to know who your customers are, when they're most engaged, and where to reach them to drive effective marketing strategies and maximize ROI.”anne passon, sr. director, sales, retail Stage 2: Become a publisher for optimal retail media growth The next step for RMNs is to transition from building a data foundation to helping marketers reach their target audience, essentially becoming a publisher. This involves two main processes: organizing advertising inventory and connecting it to demand. Steps to become a publisher: Audit and organize inventory: Conduct a thorough review of all existing ad spaces, including websites, apps, and in-store placements. Identify gaps and consider creating new advertising opportunities, such as website and app features, interactive digital experiences, or expanded in-store touchpoints. Connect inventory to demand: Integrate the organized inventory with platforms, allowing advertisers to access it easily. This often involves using supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-side platforms (DSPs). Continuing with our example, the CPG brand can work with its DSP or SSP partners and easily access your ad inventory, and effectively target the young professional and young parent audience segments. Stage 3: Scale inventory for retail media growth As RMNs progress to the final stage of their success journey, they may face the challenge of limited inventory within their owned and operated (O&O) channels. To meet marketers' expansive reach requirements and to continue to drive growth and profitability for their organizations, RMNs must expand their inventory beyond O&O. Steps to scale inventory: Utilize data collaboration tools: Clean rooms allow secure merging and enrichment of data from various sources, creating richer audience profiles while maintaining privacy. Resolve identity and enhance addressability: Identity graphs help resolve known customer identifiers (e.g. emails) into addressable IDs (e.g. mobile IDs and connected TV IDs), which can be used to reach customers across all the platforms they consume media. Expand audience reach: Onboarders, like Experian, help extend data and audiences to programmatic destinations beyond a retailer's O&O inventory. By mapping audiences to digital identifiers maintained by identity partners, RMNs can significantly widen their reach, meeting advertisers' needs for engaging with broader and more diverse audience segments. The CPG brand can now reach young professionals and young parents on the retailer’s platform and in all the other places where they consume media, like watching their favorite shows on connected TV (CTV) or browsing the web on their phones. Measurement across stages for retail media growth Measurement is crucial and must be conducted during and after a campaign to understand and validate performance. Here are two types of measurement to consider: Cross-device campaign measurement: Measure performance by connecting an ad exposure in one environment (e.g. CTV) to an action in another (e.g. mobile purchase). This holistic, cross-device approach requires a partner for identity resolution as it will ensure that the impact of a campaign is fully understood. Aggregate performance analysis: Understand performance in aggregate across several campaign studies. Receive independent third-party measurement validation that you can promote to advertisers to drive increased spend. For our CPG brand, these measurement reports ensure that they can track the performance of their campaigns from the initial exposure on a CTV to the final purchase made on a mobile device, providing comprehensive insights and validation of their advertising strategy. The retailer can aggregate these studies and promote their network’s effectiveness to prospective advertisers. Accelerate retail media growth with strategic partnerships The journey through the stages of RMN success is riddled with deep technical challenges that are often beyond the institutional capabilities of non-media businesses. The intricacies of data management, audience insights, identity resolution, precise cross-device targeting, and measurement require specialized expertise and technologies that may not be readily available in-house. RMNs stand to benefit from forging strategic partnerships with companies that possess not only the necessary technological tools but also a profound understanding of the media landscape. The steps outlined here will accelerate your growth and ensure you capitalize on the opportunity in front of you. Connect with a member of our team to learn how we can support your journey toward RMN success. Contact us to enhance your retail media strategies Latest posts

Marketing success can sometimes come in the most unlikely of combinations — reminiscent of a great chef crafting a delicious dish from ingredients rarely used together. In advertising, this type of outside-the-box thinking can give you a competitive advantage over peers who are operating within the normal limits. In this blog post, we will explore how both financial and non-financial advertisers can use consumer financial marketing data in their ad campaigns to connect with the right consumers. This type of strategic thinking will make campaigns more effective, resonate more deeply with audiences, and turn your chicken into coq au vin. Background on Financial Audiences FMCG Direct, a Deluxe company, in partnership with Experian, has developed financial audiences that deeply understand consumer financial behavior. These audiences are not just static lists of potential customers but are constantly updated to provide a multi-dimensional view of consumer financial habits, including investing, borrowing, credit card preferences, and more. Central to this effort are Consumer Financial Insights®, Financial Personalities® and ConsumerSpend® models. These tools are built utilizing a combination of FMCG Direct, a Deluxe company in-depth consumer research, sophisticated clustering techniques, and Experian's extensive consumer marketing data. FMCG Direct, a Deluxe company financial audience segments The Financial Personalities® segments categorize consumers based on their financial behaviors and preferences, dividing them into distinct categories such as insurance, credit card usage, and investment habits. This allows for a targeted approach considering each consumer's unique financial behavior and potential needs. Meanwhile, Consumer Financial Insights® segments offer a detailed and tiered view of a consumer's economic status, including insights into household deposits, investable assets, net assets, and the likelihood of mortgage refinancing, all categorized into specific tiers to reflect varying levels of wealth and investment. Lastly, ConsumerSpend® segments provide a look at how and where a household allocates their disposable income.  Broken up by nine unique categories, marketers can better understand where people are spending their money each year. These predictive segments are built through extensive research, surveying over 25,000 consumer households across the United States. Each household's financial profile encompasses a wide array of data points, such as total household assets, deposit balances, and investable assets.   The result? A granular understanding of consumer financial behaviors, which marketers can use to tailor their financial services offerings. However, the potential applications of these insights extend far beyond the confines of financial products and services. Here are some ideas to help you get started. Advertising campaigns for travel and leisure Launch campaigns that precisely cater to different consumer segments' unique financial personalities and spending behaviors.  Credit Card Financial Personality: Launch digital ads for luxury travel experiences tailored to consumers known for extensive credit card usage in travel, capitalizing on their affinity for high-end leisure activities. Deposits (Bank) Financial Personality: Implement advertising campaigns for budget-friendly travel options tailored to consumers with modest bank deposits and prudent spending habits. These ads could highlight affordable vacation packages, discount travel deals, and value travel bundles, catering to those prioritizing cost efficiency and practical travel solutions. Ideas focusing on home improvement and decor Craft advertising campaigns aimed at audiences with modest net worth, using insights into their financial profiles to promote accessible and essential products and services.  Net Asset Score (Lower Tiers): Develop ad campaigns for cost-effective home improvement services and budget-friendly home appliance options, targeting consumers whose net asset scores indicate more modest financial resources. These ads should highlight the products' durability and energy efficiency, appealing to the consumers' need for long-term savings. Discretionary Spend – Home Furnishing: Design ad campaigns for upscale home furnishing collections, targeting audiences with significant discretionary spending power. These ads should spotlight your home furnishings' premium quality, sophisticated design, and superior craftsmanship, appealing to consumers' tastes for luxury and exclusivity. Campaigns for consumers in entertainment Execute targeted advertising campaigns designed for consumers with high disposable income, utilizing insights from their net asset and investable asset scores.  Net Asset Score (Higher Tiers): Launch advertising campaigns for premium entertainment experiences, including exclusive concert seats, backstage passes, and custom festival packages. Target consumers whose net asset scores suggest significant disposable income to ensure your promotions reach the most likely attendees. Discretionary Spend — Entertainment: Design advertising campaigns for high-profile music and entertainment events, focusing on individuals known for their significant expenditures on entertainment. Create promotions that resonate with their lifestyle, emphasizing the connection between a vibrant social life and exclusive entertainment opportunities. As you can see by understanding and utilizing the nuances of financial data, advertisers can create highly targeted, relevant, and effective campaigns across various sectors. This approach exemplifies the innovative spirit of audience usage, proving that with a bit of creativity, data applications are as limitless as our imagination. Financial Personalities and Consumer Financial Insight audiences and their in-platform names Find these syndicated audiences in your demand and supply-side platform of choice. Insurance financial personality - Audiences to help understand a consumer's behavior and confidence in their ability to find the right life insurance. Financial Personalities > Insurance Financial Personality Credit card personality – Used to identify consumers based on their credit card usage and behaviors. Financial Personalities > Credit Card Financial Personality Deposits financial personality – These audiences include consumers who are likely to look for bank offers based on their spending behaviors. Financial Personalities > Deposits Financial Personality Investments financial personality – Audiences to help understand a consumer’s comfort and behaviors with making financial investments. Financial Personalities > Investments Financial Personality Home equity financial personality – Audiences to help understand a consumer’s home equity circumstances and behaviors. Financial Personalities > Home Equity Financial Personality Mortgage financial personality – Audiences to help understand a consumer’s behavior and preferences with mortgages. Financial Personalities > Mortgage Financial Personality Investable assets (FLA/Fair Lending Friendly)* – Audiences that include consumers who have available investable assets in seven total tiers with Tier 1 being the highest, and Tier 7 being the lowest. Consumer Financial Insights > Investable Assets Net asset score (FLA/Fair Lending Friendly) – Predict a consumers likely net asset score ranging from less than $25,000 to over $5,000,000. Consumer Financial Insights > Net Assets Score (Net Worth) Discretionary spend – Predicts the annual discretionary spend for the category listed in the audience.Consumer Financial Insights > Discretionary Spend – Travel Consumer Financial Insights > Discretionary Spend – Jewelry Consumer Financial Insights > Discretionary Spend – Home Furnishings Consumer Financial Insights > Discretionary Spend – Entertainment Consumer Financial Insights > Discretionary Spend – Electronics Consumer Financial Insights > Discretionary Spend – Education Consumer Financial Insights > Discretionary Spend – Donations Consumer Financial Insights > Discretionary Spend – Dining Out Consumer Financial Insights > Discretionary Spend – Total Consumer Financial Insights > Discretionary Spend – Clothing/Apparel Household deposits/balances (FLA/Fair Lending Friendly) – Audiences that include households that have bank deposits balance in six total tiers with Tier 1 being the highest, and Tier 6 being the lowest. Consumer Financial Insights > Household Deposits/Balances Investment Balances (FLA/ Fair Lending Friendly) – Audiences that include consumers who have an investment balance in six total tiers with Tier 1 being the highest, and Tier 6 being the lowest. Consumer Financial Insights > Investment Balances Mortgage refinance (FLA/Fair Lending Friendly) – Predicts the likelihood the consumer is to refinance their mortgage. Consumer Financial Insights > Mortgage Refinance Contact us Footnote * “Fair Lending Friendly” indicates data fields that Experian has made available without use of certain demographic attributes that may increase the likelihood of discriminatory practices prohibited by the Fair Housing Act (“FHA”) and Equal Credit Opportunity Act (“ECOA”). These excluded attributes include, but may not be limited to, race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age, disability, handicap, family status, ancestry, sexual orientation, unfavorable military discharge, and gender. Experian’s provision of Fair Lending Friendly indicators does not constitute legal advice or otherwise assures your compliance with the FHA, ECOA, or any other applicable laws. Clients should seek legal advice with respect to your use of data in connection with lending decisions or application and compliance with applicable laws. Latest posts

With the impending deprecation of third-party cookies, marketers find themselves at the crossroads of innovation and adaptation. As we bid farewell to this identifier, the emphasis shifts to forging deeper connections, understanding customer needs, and navigating the marketing landscape with data-driven precision. At Experian, we stand as your trusted partner, committed to guiding you through this transition. In this blog post, we'll explore: How third-party cookie deprecation is impacting digital advertising Six alternatives to third-party cookies and where they fall short How Experian can help you navigate a cookieless world Four ways third-party cookie deprecation is impacting digital advertising Third-party cookie deprecation is causing significant challenges within the AdTech industry, manifesting in four key areas: Reach: Advertisers and demand-side platforms (DSPs) will face difficulties in reaching their target customers due to the absence of third-party cookies. Understanding audiences: Advertisers will find it challenging to understand the demographics and behaviors of their customer base without third-party cookies. Similarly, publishers are struggling to identify their audiences accurately, resulting in less addressable and appealing inventory. Measurement: Measurement providers may encounter obstacles in accurately assessing the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. Additionally, DSPs are finding it hard to measure the impact of their ads without the assistance of third-party cookies. Matching: Data providers may experience challenges in matching users with the appropriate audience segments, leading to difficulties in delivering targeted advertising. Six alternatives to third-party cookies As the deadline approaches for Google's removal of third-party cookies from Chrome by the end of 2024, marketers are scrambling to discover alternative methods for delivering effective advertising. Fortunately, various alternatives are emerging. However, the abundance of options can create confusion rather than clarity. Which alternatives are worth considering? Here are six compelling alternatives to third-party cookies: 1. First-party data Acquiring consented first-party data directly from users is becoming increasingly vital as it can lay the groundwork for more precise targeting. 2. Universal IDs Alternative identifiers like The Trade Desk's UID2 and ID5’s Universal ID are becoming increasingly important, offering the ability to maintain a comprehensive consumer view across channels and platforms, leading to enhanced personalization and addressability across various channels, even in cookieless environments. 3. Identity graphs As browser-based IDs shift and digital signals decline, the need for an identity graph grows, with companies adopting a "graph-of-graph" strategy by combining their own robust first-party data with licensed identity graphs, as highlighted in recent announcements by industry giants such as Disney, VideoAmp, and Magnite.   4. Contextual targeting Contextual targeting aligns publisher content with relevant ads, ensuring ad delivery based on content rather than individual identifiers. This privacy-respecting approach is less dependent on third-party cookies, providing effective audience activation.  5. Data collaboration In a cookieless world, it becomes more difficult for companies to "communicate" with one another. We expect to see more pick up of data collaboration in the market, using addressable IDs and identity resolution to power connectivity between partners and their data sets. 6. Google Privacy Sandbox The primary goal of Google’s Privacy Sandbox is to continue to deliver valuable consumer information that yields relevant marketing and media strategies, while protecting a user’s privacy.   How these alternatives to cookies fall short While it's promising to see numerous alternatives to cookies emerging, it's essential to recognize that each alternative has its limitations and is not a perfect one-to-one replacement for third-party cookies. Let’s review the shortcomings of these alternatives, and then we’ll walk through how Experian can help you navigate these alternatives to cookies. 1. First-party data  First-party data, which is data directly collected from your users with their consent, is highly valuable. However, you will likely face limitations in terms of the number of consumers in your database, the identifiers linking them, and the insights into their demographics and behaviors. To overcome these limitations, it's essential to expand both the quantity and quality of your first-party data. 2. Universal IDs  Universal identifiers are valuable for tracking users across different devices and websites. However, no single universal identifier has enough reach to fully replace third-party cookies. Universal IDs are most effective in terms of scaling, when they are combined with other universal identifiers or alternative addressable identifiers. 3. Identity graph  Identity graphs excel at connecting digital audiences. However, establishing an identity graph from scratch is a significant accomplishment, demanding expertise, financial resources, and more. 4. Contextual targeting  Contextual targeting and advertising aim to place your ads next to relevant content. However, there's a risk that your ads might appear alongside misaligned content, reaching audiences who are uninterested or unintended. 5. Data collaboration  Data collaboration is beneficial for enhancing your consumer data and informing your strategies. However, it can introduce potential data security risks, if not done in the right framework, and may lead to subpar matching results due to issues like data hygiene or discrepancies in identifiers. 6. Google Privacy Sandbox  Google’s Privacy Sandbox aims to balance effective advertising with consumer privacy and data security. However, it lacks transparency and has yet to prove its effectiveness, raising concerns about whether it meets industry standards. How Experian can help you navigate a cookieless world As an industry innovator and leader in data and identity, we've developed solutions to address the challenges posed by the shift away from third-party cookies. Our products are designed to adapt to these changes and ensure your success. We've anticipated industry shifts and proactively prepared our offerings to support you through this transition. Below we outline how our products are ready to support you through the transition away from third-party cookies. Graph The Experian Graph facilitates connectivity without relying on cookies. Our Graph helps ensure connectivity by supporting a variety of addressable identifiers, not limited to but including universal IDs, like Unified ID 2.0 (UID2) and ID5's universal ID. Whether you have first-party data or not, our Graph can be used to expand the reach of your first-party data or provide you with access to the full scope of our Graph's 126 million households and 250 million individuals. Activity Feed Supported by our Graph, Activity Feed can help you deliver digital connectivity and resolution in a cookieless environment. Activity Feed can resolve disparate activity to a single, consumer profile. It can expand the quantity of addressable identifiers associated with your first-party consumers. Additionally, Activity Feed, by joining disparate activity and identifiers, provides clearer insights, more addressable targets, and more holistic measurement. Our Marketing Attributes and Audiences In a cookieless environment, our Marketing Attributes and Audiences provide valuable information and insights about who your consumers are, like their demographics, shopping patterns, and more, to facilitate more informed decision-making. You can use our Marketing Attributes and Audiences to enrich your first-party data, giving you crucial insights into your customers so you can make informed, strategic decisions. They can be matched to universal identifiers, expanding their utility. Additionally, our Marketing Attributes and Audiences are sourced from non-cookie dependent offline and digital sources, ensuring they are unimpacted by third-party cookie deprecation.   Collaboration While third-party cookies have primarily served to connect data in the industry, many companies are turning to data collaboration in lieu of having third-party cookies. In doing so, they can connect data with key partners, which they can use to make better media decisions. Experian Collaboration helps make data collaborations better, powering higher match rates by using the various identifiers supported in our offline and digital graphs. Through our current support of collaboration in three environments, within Experian, through crosswalks, and in clean rooms, such as AWS, InfoSum, and Snowflake, we ensure that you only share the data you intend to share, while the sensitive information remains secure. This way, your partner and you can focus on how to use the data to benefit you and not on anything else. Get started with alternatives to third-party cookies today  While many view the deprecation of third-party cookies as disruptive, we see it as an opportunity for the industry to embrace a new era of advertising while prioritizing consumer privacy. Achieving this balance is crucial, and Experian's solutions are here to help you navigate it effectively. As the AdTech industry gravitates toward a few tactics to effectively advertise in the cookieless future, Experian is here to understand your core needs and recommend products that will help.    In a rapidly evolving marketing landscape, Experian stands as your trusted partner, offering expertise in data-driven and identity solutions. Connect with our team to seamlessly transition into these alternatives to third-party cookies, ensuring your marketing strategies remain effective, privacy-compliant, and focused on meaningful connections. Get started today Latest posts

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