Centralized data access is emerging as a key strategy for advertisers. In our next Ask the Expert segment, we explore this topic further and discuss the importance of data ownership and the concept of audience as an asset.
We’re joined by industry leaders, Andy Fisher, Head of Merkury Advanced TV at Merkle, and Chris Feo, Experian’s SVP of Sales & Partnerships who spotlight Merkle’s commitment to centralized data access and how advertisers can use our combined solutions to navigate industry shifts while ensuring consumer privacy. Watch our Q&A to learn more about these topics and gain insights on how to stay ahead of industry changes.
The concept of audience as an asset
In order to gain actionable marketing insights about your audience, you need to identify consumers who are actively engaged with your brand and compare them against non-engaged consumers, or consumers engaged with rival brands.
Audience ownership
Audience ownership is a fundamental marketing concept where marketers build, define, create, and own their audience. This approach allows you to use your audiences as an asset and deliver a customized journey to the most promising prospects across multiple channels. With this strategy, you enhance marketing effectiveness and ensure ownership over your audience, no matter the platform or channel used.
Merkle enables marketers to own and deploy said asset (audience) so that marketers can have direct control over their audience. With audience strategy, you can tie all elements together – amplify your marketing reach, while maintaining control of your audience. Merkle connects customer experiences with business results.
Data ownership
Data ownership refers to the control organizations have over data they generate, including marketing, sales, product, and customer data. This data is often scattered across multiple platforms, making it difficult to evaluate their effectiveness. Alternatively, owning this data, which is typically housed in a data warehouse, allows the creation of historical overviews, forecasting of customer trends, and cross-channel comparisons. With advertisers and publishers both claiming ownership over their respective data and wanting to control its access, there has been a growing interest in data clean rooms.
Data clean rooms
The growing interest in data clean rooms is largely due to marketers increasing preference to maintain ownership over their audience data. They provide a secure environment for controlled collaboration between advertisers and publishers while preserving the privacy of valuable data. Data clean rooms allow all parties to define their usage terms – who can access it, how it is used, and when it is used. The rise in the use of data clean rooms strengthens data privacy and creates opportunities for deeper customer insights, which leads to enhanced customer targeting. Data clean rooms unlock new data sets, aiding brands, publishers, and data providers in adapting to rapidly changing privacy requirements.
Why is centralized data access important?
Centralized data access is crucial for the effective organization and optimization of your advertising campaigns. It involves consolidating your data in one place, allowing for the identification of inconsistencies.
Merkle’s Merkury platform
The concept of centralized data is a key component of Merkle’s Merkury platform, an enterprise identity platform that empowers brands to own and control first-party identity at an individual level. A common use case involves marketers combining their first-party data with Merkury’s data assets and marketplace data assets to build prospecting audiences. These are later published to various endpoints for activation.
The Merkury platform covers three classes of data:
- Proprietary data set – Permissioned data set covering the entire United States, compiled from about 40 different vendors
- Marketplace data – Includes contributions from various vendors like Experian
- First-party data from marketers – Allows marketers to bring in their own data
Merkury’s identity platform empowers brands to own and control first-party identity at an individual level, unifying known and unknown customer and prospect records, site and app visits, and consumer data to a single, person ID. This makes Merkury the only enterprise identity platform that combines the accuracy and sustainability of client first-party data, quality personally identifiable information (PII) data, third-party data, cookie-less media, and technology platform connections in the market.
End-to-end management of data
Data ownership and management enables you to enhance the quality of your data, facilitate the exchange of information, and ensure privacy compliance.
The Merkury platform provides a comprehensive, end-to-end solution for managing first-party data, all rooted in identity. Unlike data management platforms (DMPs) that are primarily built on cookies, the Merkury platform is constructed on a person ID, allowing it to operate effectively in a cookie-free environment.
A broader perspective with people-based views
The Merkury platform is unique because it contains data from almost every individual in the United States, providing a broader perspective compared to customer data platforms (CDPs) which only contain consumer data. The platform provides a view of the world in a people-based manner, but also offers the flexibility to toggle between person and household views. This enables you to turn data into actionable insights and makes it possible to target specific individuals within a household or consider the household as a whole.
How Experian and Merkle work together
Experian and Merkle have established a strong partnership that magnifies the capabilities of Merkle’s Merkury platform. With Experian’s robust integration capabilities and extensive connectivity opportunities, customers can use this technology for seamless direct integrations, resulting in more effective onboarding to various channels, like digital and TV.
“Experian’s role in Merkury’s data marketplace is essential as they are considered the gold standard for data. It significantly contributes to our connectivity through direct integrations and partnerships. Experian’s presence in various platforms and technologies ensures easy connections and high match rates. Our partnership is very important to us.”
andy fisher, head of merkury advanced tv
Through this partnership, Merkle can deliver unique, personalized digital customer experiences across multiple platforms and devices, highlighting their commitment to data-driven performance marketing.
Watch the full Q&A
Visit our Ask the Expert content hub to watch Andy and Chris’s full conversation about data ownership, innovative strategies to empower you to overcome identity challenges, and navigating industry shifts while protecting consumer privacy.
Tune into the full recording to gain insights into the captivating topics of artificial intelligence (AI), understanding how retail networks can amplify the value of media, and the growing influence of connected TV (CTV). Dive into the Q&A to gain rich insights that could greatly influence your strategies.
Contact us today
About our experts
Andy Fisher, Head of Merkury Advanced TV
As the Head of Merkury Advanced TV, Andy’s primary responsibility is driving person-based marketing and big data adoption in all areas of Television including Linear, Addressable, Connected, Programmatic, and X-channel planning and Measurement. Andy has held several positions at Merkle including Chief Analytics Officer and he ran the Merkle data business. Prior to joining Merkle, Andy was the EVP, Global Data & Analytics Director at Starcom MediaVest Group where he led the SMG global analytics practice. In this role, he built and managed a team of 150 analytics professionals across 17 countries servicing many of the world’s largest advertisers. Prior to that role, Andy was Vice President and National Lead, Analytics at Razorfish, where he led the digital analytics practice and managed a team of modeling, survey, media data, and business intelligence experts. He and his team were responsible for some of the first innovations in multi-touchpoint attribution and joining online/offline data for many of the Fortune 100. Andy has also held leadership positions at Personify and IRI. Andy holds a BA in mathematics from UC Berkeley and an MA in statistics from Stanford.
Chris Feo, SVP, Sales & Partnerships, Experian
As SVP of Sales & Partnerships, Chris has over a decade of experience across identity, data, and programmatic. Chris joined Experian during the Tapad acquisition in November 2020. He joined Tapad with less than 10 employees and has been part of the executive team through both the Telenor and Experian acquisitions. He’s an active advisor, board member, and investor within the AdTech ecosystem. Outside of work, he’s a die-hard golfer, frequent traveler, and husband to his wife, two dogs, and two goats!
Latest posts
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
Tapad, part of Experian, integrates with MediaJel's current advertising solutions will enable U.S. brands to benefit from improved cross-device reach and targeting capabilities NEW YORK, April 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Tapad, part of Experian and a global leader in digital identity resolution, has partnered with MediaJel, a leading provider of advertising and marketing solutions for regulated markets. The partnership will enhance MediaJel's current offering, enabling brands to further improve their digital marketing campaigns, and thereby, return on investment. Tapad's global, privacy-safe digital cross-device solution, The Tapad Graph, will complement MediaJel's state-of-the-art advertising solutions to identify and resolve fragmentation created by a consumer's researching and purchasing behavior across multiple digital devices. For MediaJel, this provides customers with an opportunity for incremental efficiencies across a number of use-cases, including reach extension, targeting, ad frequency capping, suppression, and attribution. Dash Rothberg, Senior Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at MediaJel commented, "With an endless list of considerations across consumer behavior, marketing fragmentation, and today's ongoing device proliferation – optimizing digital campaigns can be challenging for most brand advertisers. We partnered with Tapad after testing multiple cross-device solutions in the market but concluded that The Tapad Graph provided us with a blend of scale, quality, flexibility, and privacy-safe data to meet our customer needs." Mike Dadlani, Vice President of Agency Partnerships at Tapad added: "Our partnership with MediaJel is an exciting one. Not only will their portfolio of clients be enabled to more effectively execute and optimize cross-device campaigns, but they will also realize longer-term benefits from improved attribution and consumer insights." To learn more about Tapad and our digital identity resolution capabilities, visit our identity page. About Tapad Tapad, Inc. is a global leader in digital identity resolution. The Tapad Graph and its related solutions provide a transparent, privacy-safe approach connecting brands to consumers through their devices globally. Tapad is recognized across the industry for its product innovation, workplace culture, and talent, and has earned numerous awards including One World Identity's 2019 Top 100 Influencers in Identity Award. Headquartered in New York, Tapad also has offices in Chicago, London, Oslo, Singapore, and Tokyo. About MediaJel Founded in 2017, MediaJel acts as a full-service agency that provides advertising and marketing solutions from brand building and search optimizations to campaign execution and online-offline attribution. Built with proprietary technology, the MediaJel.io platform leverages unique actionable data for brands and agencies to effectively execute high-performance marketing campaigns. With "Data Ethics" being the core of the business, all aspects are brand safe and compliant for regulated industries. Contact us today
Tapad's digital identity resolution offering enables Gimbal's platform to provide expanded insights for campaign optimization to U.S. brand and agency clients NEW YORK, Feb. 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ – Tapad, part of Experian and a global leader in digital identity resolution, announced their partnership with Gimbal, a leader of location-powered marketing and advertising solutions. Gimbal now leverages Tapad's global, privacy-safe digital cross-device solution, The Tapad Graph, to further enhance its footfall attribution solution, Arrival. Arrival delivers dwell-based attribution for in-store foot traffic and by leveraging the Tapad Graph, Gimbal provides customers with a more holistic, attributable understanding of consumers across multiple devices, like desktop, smartphone, and tablet. With this, Gimbal's clients are enabled to make more informed media planning decisions for programmatic activations across the web, and mobile apps. "Today's consumers are utilizing their digital devices for research and comparison shopping before making a purchase. By leveraging The Tapad Graph, Gimbal's clients gain an even more complete view of the consumer decision journey across devices," said Chris Feo, SVP of Global Data Licensing and Strategic Partnerships at Tapad. "With the number of devices per individual rapidly increasing, understanding the customer decision journey is becoming more complex," said Kyle Wendling, SVP of Product at Gimbal. "We're excited to partner with Tapad to continue engaging consumers across multiple devices." To learn more about Tapad and our digital identity resolution products, visit our identity solutions page. About TapadTapad, Inc. is a global leader in digital identity resolution. The Tapad Graph, and its related solutions, provide a transparent, privacy-safe approach connecting brands to consumers through their devices globally. Tapad is recognized across the industry for its product innovation, workplace culture, and talent, and has earned numerous awards including One World Identity's 2019 Top 100 Influencers in Identity Award. Headquartered in New York, Tapad also has offices in Chicago, Denver, London, Oslo, Singapore, and Tokyo. About GimbalGimbal translates location data into intent, measurement, and insights to help organizations transform their businesses, maximize marketing relevance, and humanize messaging for consumers. Gimbal is headquartered in Los Angeles and provides advertising and marketing technologies to the world's leading brands and retailers interested in understanding the physical world. To learn more, visit https://gimbal.com. Contact us today