Advertising today is more complex than ever. Consumers demand personalized, relevant experiences from brands, making it increasingly challenging to meet expectations without external support. Businesses must work with publishers, retailers, and platforms to thrive, using these partnerships for data insights that refine their strategies and fuel growth.
We spoke with industry leaders from Ampersand, AppsFlyer, Audigent, Comcast Advertising, Fox, ID5, and Snowflake to gather insights on how strategic collaboration can expand audience reach, improve targeting precision, and drive measurable advertising success.
1. Expand your reach with strategic collaborations
Gone are the days when brands relied solely on third-party data. By linking their first-party insights with equally valuable data from partners, brands develop a far more comprehensive understanding of their audiences. This collaborative approach creates richer audience profiles, improves targeting, and enhances campaign performance.
Partnerships also create opportunities for operational efficiencies. For instance, brands that share data and expertise with collaborators can expand their audience reach without overhauling existing systems. These collaborations allow marketers to work smarter, turning shared knowledge into strategic wins.
“Partnerships are everything. We can’t fulfill our goals on the sale side, marketers can’t fulfill their goals of finding their audience where they need to reach them and with the right level of outcomes without partnering together. Why? Because each of them has their own line of sight to the data that they have access to and the data that they know best.”
Justin Rosen, Ampersand
2. Identify the right partnership model
Choosing the right partnership model is key to achieving your business objectives. For some, pairing first-party data with publishers’ insights creates better targeting. For others, aligning with complementary brands allows them to engage shared audiences. For large-scale efforts, agencies can unify collaboration frameworks, making onboarding and activation seamless.
Meanwhile, emerging categories like FinTech, hospitality, and commerce media provide brands new avenues for impactful partnerships. Evaluating these options thoroughly will ensure your collaboration aligns with long-term marketing goals.
“With first-party data being really the central point of signal today, we see more and more of our advertisers identifying partnerships with maybe potentially historical competitors or partners they would’ve never considered.”
Tami Harrigan, AppsFlyer
3. Utilize the power of pooled insights
Combining various data sources, like CRM records, browsing behavior, and shopping receipts, creates an in-depth view of your customers. By understanding what motivates consumers at every stage of their journey, brands can better tailor messaging and funnel marketing spend to where it matters most.
This approach also enables data-driven agility. Real-time insights help brands make informed adjustments, whether it’s shifting strategies mid-campaign or identifying new growth opportunities. When brands share data responsibly, the results are campaigns that resonate and deliver measurable improvements.
“A lot of advertisers have gotten smarter about their data than they were just two, three years ago. They’re now doing that segmentation on their side with their data and bringing that to Fox and saying, ‘Look, match this segment against your entire user base.’ In order to do that, we can work with providers like Experian, or with data clean rooms to really bring that data and do a direct match without going through a third party.”
Darren Sherriff, Fox
4. Adopt the right tools and technology
The right tools empower a collaborative data ecosystem. Solutions like data clean rooms ensure privacy-first data matching and measurement. Identity frameworks, such as Unified ID 2.0 (UID2) or ID5, enable secure data alignment across platforms, simplifying audience targeting while safeguarding sensitive information.
Shared dashboards are another crucial tool, providing all collaborators with clear, co-owned performance metrics. Yet, while technology is an enabler, success ultimately depends on how well tools align with each partner’s goals and build trust within the collaboration.
“You have to make it accessible to non-technical personas and you have to have the ability to have it stood up and pay dividends in a short amount of time. The other thing is interoperability. We very much think as an industry we need to have interoperability with clean rooms, ones that operate on different frameworks.”
David Wells, Snowflake
5. Overcome barriers to collaboration
Collaboration often faces obstacles, like differing goals, fragmented data, or resource gaps. Brands can tackle these issues by aligning stakeholders on clear KPIs, standardizing data-sharing practices, and selecting tools that integrate smoothly with existing systems.
Breaking down barriers early fosters fluid cooperation and improves outcomes for everyone involved. When goals, tools, and resources are in sync, these partnerships deliver lasting value and stronger results.
“The key is to bring together data assets and work collaboratively to address fragmentation. The way to solve that is with more interoperability and connect the data in very privacy-safe ways, offering more opportunity to reach high fidelity audiences and incorporate better measurement methodologies.”
Carmela Fournier, Comcast Advertising
The path to growth through partnership
Those who prioritize collaboration will outrun the competition and drive sustainable growth through smarter, more connected advertising. By choosing the right models, using powerful technology, and addressing potential obstacles, brands can co-create campaigns that resonate deeply with their audiences.
Connect with our experts
Latest posts
As partnership deals mount, aggressive hiring underway for unified cross-screen technology leaders NEW YORK, July 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ – Tapad, the leader in cross-device marketing technology and now a part of Experian, has announced plans for aggressive expansion in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. This move capitalizes on Tapad's exceptional performance for brands and marketing technology companies in North America and Europe. With it's proprietary Tapad Device Graph™, the company will enable global, regional and local clients and partners to understand, monetize and measure marketing to users across screens. The Tapad Device Graph is recognized as the most accurate, scalable cross-screen solution in the market today. The decision to expand into APAC was based on increased demand from global, as well as local, brands and clients, many of which have a strong market presence throughout the region. In addition to expanding its roster of world-class data partners, plans include building a world-class team in Singapore. Over the next few months, Tapad APAC will also establish local entities in additional markets. To accelerate its ramp-up, Tapad APAC is actively recruiting in many areas, ranging from skilled and experienced solutions engineers to seasoned sales and marketing professionals. "Tapad is thrilled to be answering the call for cross-device excellence in APAC," said Pierre Martensson, GM of Tapad APAC. "Our Device Graph is adding millions of devices daily and achieves unmatched levels of scale and accuracy while protecting consumer privacy. This meets a critical need in the region." Tapad appointed Martensson as General Manager of Tapad APAC in May, kicking off expansion in the region. Martensson comes to Tapad with nearly a decade of operations experience throughout APAC, having transformed, developed and grown global organizations. To learn more about partnership and employment opportunities available with Tapad in APAC, visit www.experian.com/careers. Contact us today
Combined technology gives marketers an enhanced view of the customer for improved planning, targeting and optimization NEW YORK, July 12, 2016/PR Newswire/ - Tapad, the leader in cross-device marketing technology and now a part of Experian, today announced a partnership with Conversion Logic, the martech industry's most accurate unified marketing attribution provider. Conversion Logic will incorporate unified cross-screen data from Tapad's Device Graph™ to identify related devices and media exposures to enhance reporting on the path to conversion. By connecting Conversion Logic's proprietary Ensemble Method, which combines numerous state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms, tuned for each customer use-case for the most accurate results, with Tapad's unified, cross-device technology, marketers will benefit from a highly scientific approach to assessing advertising effectiveness with full, comprehensive customer insights. Linking these technologies will increase marketers' real-time ability to optimize brands' marketing channel spend and creative at a more granular level. During the past six months, Tapad has rapidly grown its data business, doubling the number of companies integrating the Device Graph™ into their platforms and growing the annualized revenue run rate by 210%. Tapad's highly scalable, cross-device data has been confirmed by Nielsen to be very precise. Tapad augments platforms' and publishers' tech stacks with additional scale and relevancy, granting advertisers amplified targeting and analysis options. The growth of the Device GraphTM has allowed Tapad to provide a growing network that benefits all partners with more efficient, effective consumer engagement. "Combining highly accurate data from Tapad with our own user ID technology and understanding how devices may be related at an individual level provides additional visibility into the path to conversion," said Alison Lohse, COO and co-founder of Conversion Logic. "The more we know about the customer journey, the more effective, efficient and customized marketers can be with marketing efforts. With Tapad, we have achieved a unified customer view that helps us piece together the purchase journey while preserving proven accuracy." "Conversion Logic's Ensemble Method delivers singularly customized and precise results that are not just accurate, but actionable," said Dave Fall, COO of Tapad. "The combination of powerful technology and a user-friendly interface, plus Tapad's ability to only consider relevant and scalable components in the marketplace, creates a more concentrated and beneficial environment for both its partners and clients." Contact us today
B2B marketers can now deliver the right message to the right user at the right time across devices and channels NEW YORK, NY–(Marketwired – Jun 1, 2016) - Madison Logic, one of the world's fastest growing companies dedicated to solving the digital needs of B2B marketers, is partnering with Tapad, the leading provider of unified and now a part of Experian, cross-screen marketing technology solutions. Now business-to-business (B2B) marketers can power targeted advertising and content syndication programs across all channels, including smartphones, computers and tablets. The increasing shift in content consumption across mobile devices makes cross-device identification and attribution a top priority for B2B marketers. The Madison Logic and Tapad partnership gives B2B marketers unprecedented reach and scale with the ability to run always-on, cross-device, account-based marketing programs targeting decision makers who are actively researching similar products and services. "Screens are everywhere and so is the B2B buyer," said Vin Turk, SVP of Audience Development for Madison Logic. "This partnership allows marketers to harness the power of Madison Logic's intent data and combine it with Tapad's cross-device solutions to connect with the most-likely-to-convert prospects with hyper-relevant content wherever and whenever they're doing their research." "Relevance is essential to the success of B2B marketers, particularly now, when breaking through the clutter is difficult," said Dave Fall, COO of Tapad. "This partnership with Madison Logic allows marketers to leverage their existing customers while identifying and reaching new audiences with messaging tailored to every device." For more information about Madison Logic's account-based marketing platform, please visit https://www.madisonlogic.com/account-based-marketing/. For more information about Tapad's cross-platform advertising solutions, please visit https://www.experian.com/marketing/consumer-sync. Contact us today