Traditional audience signals are fading, and the industry is facing a new reality: identity is no longer just about connectivity, it’s about outcomes. At Cannes Lions 2025, leaders from AdRoll, LG Ad Solutions, Magnite, MiQ, OpenAP, PubMatic, Stirista, Tatari shared how innovative identity approaches are cutting through the noise, improving performance, and delivering real ROI. Their insights reveal a clear path forward for those ready to turn identity into a performance driver.
Here’s how you can apply the same principles to drive performance.
1. Make identity a performance engine
Treating identity as a performance driver leads to measurable results by creating a clear connection between marketing efforts and outcomes. Identity resolution enables the effective retargeting of audiences, accurate performance attribution across connected TV (CTV), and personalized campaigns across multiple channels. By building household-level graphs and incorporating alternative identifiers, marketers can maintain accuracy as traditional signals change. Activating first-party data across both digital and offline channels ensures that every interaction, whether on-screen or in-store, can be tied back to specific actions, helping optimize campaigns, and improve ROI.
How Experian helps
Experian’s Consumer Sync solutions create a clean foundation and persistent identity spine by resolving and expanding your first-party data across digital and offline IDs (hashed emails, mobile ad IDs, CTV IDs). This enables activation across omnichannel campaigns, from CTV to social, and connects data to outcomes.
“Identity resolution is very important to our overall strategy today. Without that identity linkage, we couldn’t speak the same language as our clients. For example, a client might want to target people who engaged with their brand’s website four days ago via CRM data. Without identity resolution, that’s not possible. But with it, we’re changing the narrative – making TV a hospitable place for deploying first-party data and driving outcomes.”
LG Ad SolutionsMike Brooks
2. Build trust through responsible data practices
Consumer trust begins with responsible data practices that prioritize transparency and privacy. Deterministic match rates ensure accuracy by connecting data points with confidence, while clear methodologies provide visibility into how data is used. These practices improve overall campaign performance and protect consumer privacy by ensuring that every interaction is respectful.
How Experian helps
Experian’s privacy-first approach ensures that all data activation occurs with compliance and consent. By maintaining high match rates and adhering to transparent methodologies, Experian helps build trust and strengthen long-term connections with audiences.
“If people don’t take any precautions and they don’t actually care about data in the public, they probably don’t care about it in private. Experian cares about data privacy and compliance, and that made it a no-brainer for us to work with them. When we combined our focus on privacy with Experian’s expertise, we knew we had to do it right – and we did.”
StiristaHenry Olawoye
3. Expand reach while maintaining high match rates
Having more data points to identify individuals leads to higher match rates and broader reach. Enriching records with additional identifiers, like hashed emails, MAIDs, and CTV IDs, makes it easier to connect data across channels and create a unified view of each person. This approach ensures that campaigns can scale effectively while maintaining the accuracy needed to deliver personalized experiences.
How Experian helps
With a database of over 5,000 attributes spanning 15 verticals and categories, Experian provides a comprehensive view of consumers through a single provider. By sourcing data from over 200 sources (including public records, consumer surveys, and purchase records), Experian enables the creation of detailed audience profiles. This enriched data focuses on identity, creating a unified view of individuals that helps pinpoint the best opportunities to engage effectively across channels and deliver measurable outcomes tailored to specific audience needs.
“We’ve been able to extend our IDs by an average of 6.5 different identifiers, with a 70% match rate. That extension is huge – it underpins a lot of the connectivity in our platform and allows us to bring 300 data feeds together to make the most of them.”
MiQGeorgiana Haig
4. Create unified campaigns with interoperability
Fragmented data often leads to fragmented results. Interoperability ensures that data from different platforms and systems can work together, creating a unified view that makes measurement and attribution more actionable.
How Experian helps
Experian simplifies interoperability by ensuring consistent data usage from activation and measurement. By connecting data from various sources, Experian enables a cohesive strategy where insights can be shared across publishers, measurement providers, and ad servers, ensuring campaigns remain aligned and effective at every stage.
“The ecosystem benefits from optimized interoperability. We’re focused on allowing advertisers to work seamlessly across IDs and identity solutions – from activation to resolution – so the same data set is used consistently across publishers, measurement providers, currencies, programmatic ecosystems, and ad servers.”
OpenAPChris LoRusso
5. Use AI to amplify, not replace, strategy
Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming how campaigns are optimized, but its success depends on clean, consented identity foundations. AI can analyze vast amounts of data to refine targeting, manage frequency, and uncover new efficiencies, but only when built on a strong identity framework.
How Experian helps
Experian uses AI and machine learning to deliver highly personalized marketing solutions. Advanced clustering algorithms in Experian’s Digital Graph analyze and create household and individual device connections, improving targeting and measurement accuracy, while machine learning models improve consumer insights by inferring household composition where data is limited. These innovations enable AI tools to quickly generate tailored audience solutions, analyze contextual signals in real time, and identify opportunities that improve results while maintaining a human centered approach to decision making.
“AI is a copilot to your marketing initiatives. For it to perform, it needs insights and information to learn from. That’s why having a strong foundational data asset rooted in deterministic data is so important.”
PubMaticHoward Luks
Five moves to turn identity into profit
Here are five steps to get started:
1. Audit your data health
Make sure your audience data is accurate, up-to-date, and complete so you’re starting from a strong foundation.
2. Layer in more context
Enrich your records with details, like lifestyle, interests, or buying behaviors, that help you speak your audience’s language.
3. Unify touchpoints across channels
Link your data so you can see the same person or household whether they’re engaging on CTV, mobile, desktop, in-store, or through other touchpoints.
4. Activate AI for stronger campaigns
Use AI tools to fine-tune targeting, control ad frequency, and find hidden opportunities once your foundation is solid.
5. Align data across systems
Ensure interoperability so data from different platforms and systems can work together, creating a unified view for actionable insights.
The common thread across these insights is connection: connecting data, teams, and outcomes. Marketers who act on these imperatives will be ready for whatever new channel, format, or privacy rule comes next.
Let’s start a conversation about how Experian can help you turn identity into ROI
Latest posts
Healthcare and Life Sciences teams map the patient journey to spot care gaps and guide interventions. However, clinical records cover only what happens inside clinics, not the forces driving patient decisions. Enriching these records with lifestyle, socioeconomic, and consumer-behavior insights reveals the “why” behind health outcomes. That’s where non-clinical insights step in – revealing the real-world forces that shape patient results. To address these blind spots, Experian and Komodo Health have teamed to integrate de-identified insights from millions of patient journeys with Experian’s socioeconomic and lifestyle data. This enriched view lets enterprises see each journey in full, identify care disparities, and craft smarter strategies – while rigorously protecting privacy. Driving tangible outcomes and better patient care This collaboration focuses on turning insights into action. With Experian and Komodo's integrated clinical, socioeconomic, and lifestyle data, Healthcare and Life Sciences teams can move from insight to accuracy, building adherence programs, finding hard-to-reach patients, and demonstrating treatment success. They can: Layer Komodo’s de-identified patient-level medical and pharmacy insights and analytics with Experian lifestyle and socioeconomic attributes Segment patient populations by condition, treatment history, and socioeconomic status Prioritize outreach – reducing waste and focusing resources where care is needed most For instance: Neighborhood-level gaps Identify opportunities to capture untreated patients and improve clinical trial inclusion. Income-related support Flag populations most likely to benefit from cost-saving programs, ensuring communications highlight co-pay assistance or financial relief options. Inside the data stack At the core of Komodo Health's AI-enabled healthcare analytics platform is its Healthcare Map®. This innovative tool integrates de-identified patient-level medical and pharmacy claims data from the patient journeys of over 330 million unique individuals – providing insights on diagnoses, treatments, outcomes, and care patterns across the United States. Experian enhances this data by adding socioeconomic and lifestyle characteristics that influence up to 80% of health outcomes. Together, this combined data effectively addresses essential questions such as: Which neighborhoods face the highest diabetes risk? Where is therapy abandonment spiking? When should co-pay assistance messages drop? How can we accelerate HCP outreach or clinical-trial recruitment? Experian's socioeconomic and lifestyle insights: Fueling data-driven care decisions In this context, Experian provides valuable insights into socioeconomic factors and lifestyle patterns, covering everything from household composition and income ranges to psychographics and other attributes that help build a broader understanding of an individual's circumstances. Where deep patient understanding, health engagement, and real-world evidence converge As healthcare marketing, patient engagement, and real-world data converge, the Experian and Komodo collaboration is empowering Healthcare and Life Sciences teams with fast, actionable insights. Fusing de-identified patient-level clinical data with socioeconomic and lifestyle attributes helps teams engage the right patients, and fuels research from product launches to community programs. It elevates experiences while proving impact with real-world evidence. Ready to utilize these insights? Latest posts
Brand and tech leaders share insights to guide marketers forward Cannes Lions 2025 brought its usual charm, rosé, and lively discussions, but what stood out was a shift in tone: brand and tech leaders aren’t talking in theories anymore – they’re rebuilding how advertising works. From identity to outcomes, the consensus was clear: marketers need bold, structural changes to thrive. At Experian, we spoke with leaders from Ampersand, Butler/Till, Comcast Advertising, Fox, OpenX, Optable, Snowflake, VideoAmp, and Yieldmo. Their message? Foundational change, not incremental tweaks, is the way forward. Here are five moves marketers and CMOs should be making right now. 1. Make identity the foundation, not an add-on Identity must be the core of your marketing strategy, not an afterthought. Building a strong identity framework from the outset ensures that your data and tech stack work seamlessly across channels. This means investing in first-party data assets and identity resolution tools that inform every campaign and tactic. Identity isn’t just a feature; it’s the base layer of everything successful marketers do today. "There’s no AI strategy without a data and identity strategy. Marketers who want to stretch every media dollar and personalize each touchpoint need a unified, deeper view of the consumer – insight they can carry straight into downstream ad platforms.”David Wells, Snowflake Next step: Treat identity resolution as a prerequisite to every campaign, not a task to address later. Align your data management platform (DMP), customer data platform (CDP), and collaboration partners around a unified identity spine (Experian’s or your own) to ensure data flows uninterrupted from planning to reporting. 2. Curate, don't automate. Programmatic is getting personal Programmatic advertising remains relevant, but its purpose is evolving from mere automation to intelligent, data-driven curation. This shift requires moving beyond static site lists to dynamic, page-level contextual engines that determine, in real-time, which impressions to display. Today, it’s about carefully selecting and curating inventory to ensure transparency, quality, and relevance for your audience. Marketers are increasingly turning to private marketplaces (PMPs) that offer curated, brand safe inventory and clear supply paths to deliver meaningful results. Expect continued growth in curated PMPs, AI-assisted forecasting, and supply-side innovations that combine premium connected TV (CTV) inventory with deterministic data. The goal is to reach the right viewer and understand exactly how and why they got there. “What we’re talking about right now is almost like curation 2.0, which is bringing more of the capabilities that historically sat with the demand-side platform (DSP) into the hands of the supply-side platform (SSP) – that is, supply-side targeting, or what we call data-driven curation."Matt Sattel, OpenX Next step: Audit your supply chain. If you can’t clearly explain every step from bid request to delivery, explore curated deals or direct SSP partnerships that align with your quality and transparency standards. 3. Connect teams like you connect data Fragmented results often stem from fragmented teams. Persistent silos (like TV buys on one floor, digital on another, and data science somewhere else) slow down budgets and create inconsistent messaging. Forward thinking organizations are restructuring teams around unified KPIs and shared data. When planners, buyers, and analysts work together (or at least share dashboards), campaigns move faster and creative stays consistent. “We restructured our teams to focus on all forms of video – linear, streaming, and online. This allowed us to embrace partners who cross over these verticals and technical approaches.”Gina Whelehan, Butler/Till Next step: Map your current workflow end-to-end. Where does a brief stall or data stop flowing? Restructure teams or create shared success metrics to eliminate bottlenecks. 4. Turn disconnected data into unified insights Marketers have spent years gathering massive amounts of data, but hoarding data isn’t a winning strategy. The future belongs to those who can collaborate with partners to connect and utilize data effectively, all while respecting privacy and security. Rather than chasing the next data source, leading marketers are finding ways to safely connect data already available in-house or via partners. This might involve data clean rooms, secure data sharing agreements, or joint analytics initiatives – but the common thread is working together on data, not operating in isolation. “We've been encouraging marketers to tie in first-party data and to really utilize that data and to work with trusted sources and deterministic sources in order to overcome a lot of the challenges around signal loss with cookies, in particular. The other way is also clean rooms. Clean rooms really enable the opportunity to collaborate in a private, safe way, and connecting to those more deterministic sources in order to deliver the results that advertisers are looking for.”Carmela Fournier, Comcast Advertising Next step: Identify gaps in your first-party data. Then, collaborate with a provider like Experian to safely match data sets and unlock insights without exposing sensitive info. 5. Focus on outcomes, not clicks Impressions, clicks, and other output metrics have been the currency of marketing for decades. But the consensus at Cannes is that those proxies aren’t enough – business outcomes are what matter now. Marketers must shift their focus to measuring real results, such as sales lift, new customer acquisition, lifetime value, or brand impact, rather than getting bogged down in intermediate metrics. This move to outcome-based measurement changes how campaigns are planned and judged: success is defined by the value created, not just the volume delivered. Unified, identity-based analytics are finally making it possible to see who saw an ad and what they did next, across TV, CTV, and digital. That intel drives smarter budget shifts and tighter creative feedback loops. “Outcome-based measurement is table stakes in today’s media ecosystem, and Ampersand has woven it into almost everything we do. Thanks to Experian’s strength in identity, audience insights, and outcome measurement, we can give advertisers the attribution they need at every stage of the funnel.”Justin Rosen, Ampersand Next step: Identify metrics that matter to your bottom line, then find a partner who can measure them accurately. If measurement stacks don’t talk to each other, they’re holding you back. Preparing for the challenges ahead The common thread across these five moves is connection – connecting data, teams, and outcomes. Marketers who act on these imperatives will be ready for whatever new screen, format, or privacy rule comes next. Experian can help you: Establish an identity spine Enable secure data collaboration in or out of clean room environments Curate premium CTV inventory with deterministic audiences Measure business outcomes across every channel Ready to make your next bold move? Let's start a conversation Latest posts
Marketers are searching for better ways to connect with their audiences across screens and prove results. Optimum Media is at the forefront of this development, helping brands plan, activate, and measure campaigns across linear TV, addressable TV, connected TV (CTV), digital, and social platforms. To support this approach, Optimum Media partners with Experian, combining their subscriber data with Experian’s trusted audience and identity solutions. Together, we help brands not only find the right consumers but also understand their behaviors and measure real outcomes. Here’s how Optimum Media and Experian are working together. Build a complete customer view with rich data from Experian Optimum Media starts with strong first-party data, including viewership and exposure information from millions of households. However, reaching a deeper understanding of these audiences requires more than what subscriber records alone can offer. Through Experian’s Marketing Attributes, Optimum Media gains access to thousands of demographic and behavioral attributes to its data sets. These attributes—such as income ranges, lifestyle interests, and retail purchasing behaviors—help advertisers build a more complete view of the consumer. "We work with trusted partners like Experian to deliver the additional audience insights—like demographics and lifestyle—that are critical for our clients' success."Natalia Irmin, Sr. Director, Strategic Partnerships, Optimum Media Combining Experian’s Marketing Attributes with Optimum Media’s subscriber footprint helps brands segment audiences more precisely, develop refined media plans, and tailor messaging based on the real behaviors and interests of consumers. Move beyond basic targeting with Audience Engine To support more personalized and scalable targeting, Optimum Media uses Audience Engine—Experian’s self-service platform for audience management and activation. Through Audience Engine, Optimum Media can: Access Experian’s syndicated audiences Not just what’s available directly on their platform. Build custom segments Using Experian’s demographic and behavioral insights. Tap into our data marketplace To explore additional segments from Experian and our Partner Audiences through trusted third-party providers. These tools give Optimum Media and its clients the ability to move beyond basic targeting. Whether a brand wants to reach families preparing for back-to-school shopping, in-market car buyers, or upscale consumers planning home renovations, Audience Engine makes it possible to identify and activate those audiences with greater accuracy—based on real data, not guesswork. Extend campaign reach with Experian’s Digital Graph While Optimum Media has a substantial owned footprint, they often work with advertisers who need to extend reach beyond traditional subscriber bases. To support this, they rely on Experian’s Digital Graph. Our Digital Graph connects mobile ad IDs (MAIDs), IP addresses, CTV IDs, and hashed emails into unified household and individual profiles. This enables Optimum Media to identify and reach audiences outside of their network with the same level of accuracy as inside it. For even deeper audience insights, Digital Graph can be bundled with Marketing Attributes. This combination helps advertisers go beyond basic targeting to include real-world behaviors like shopping habits, travel preferences, and lifestyle characteristics. The result: campaigns that do more than deliver impressions—they connect with the right households across any channel. Turn viewership into measurable business outcomes One of the biggest challenges in multiscreen advertising is connecting exposure to real business results. With Experian’s solutions, Optimum Media can: Plan based on audience behaviors across screens, not just age and gender demographics. Activate household-level audiences across linear, CTV, digital, and social. Measure campaign performance using unduplicated reach, frequency, and attribution across devices. By offering advertisers access to a more complete consumer profile and maintaining consistent measurement across channels, Optimum Media and Experian help clients make better decisions about where to spend and how to adjust strategies over time. Why the Optimum Media and Experian partnership delivers Deeper audience understanding: By combining first-party viewership with Experian’s demographic and behavioral data, advertisers gain a fuller picture of who they are reaching. Seamless cross-platform execution: Identity solutions like Digital Graph allow brands to reach audiences across multiple devices and channels without losing precision. "Optimum Media has been instrumental in helping Experian strengthen the precision, quality, and real-world applications of our data. Their ongoing feedback is invaluable in making sure our solutions continue to meet client needs and perform at the highest level."Chris Feo, Chief Business Officer, Experian With a single, trusted partner offering both identity and audience solutions, Optimum Media avoids the complexity many advertisers still face when piecing together different data sets and vendors. “Having Experian’s identity and audience solutions under one roof makes it easier for us to plan, reach, and measure across every channel. It’s a complete solution that simplifies advertising and improves performance.”Natalia Irmin, Sr. Director, Strategic Partnerships, Optimum Media Start building better campaigns with Experian Ready to improve your audience targeting and measurement strategies like Optimum Media? Connect with our team today to learn how Marketing Attributes, Audience Engine, Digital Graph, and our other solutions can help you build stronger, more measurable advertising campaigns. Connect with us About Optimum Media Optimum Media is a multiscreen advertising business that partners with small and medium businesses, as well as national, political, media and entertainment, and agency clients across the United States. They work with advertisers to develop custom multiscreen advertising solutions powered by proprietary technology and a massive aggregated database of audience data points and TV viewership data. Latest posts