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Digital marketers face an ongoing challenge in the form of “walled gardens,” closed online ecosystems where it is difficult to access user data. As we get ready for 2024, it’s more important than ever for marketers to evaluate the current challenges and opportunities surrounding walled gardens and to take stock of the impact of walled gardens in marketing as an industry.
What is a walled garden?
A walled garden is a closed online ecosystem controlled entirely by one tech company. Advertising on these ecosystems is fairly locked down, as major tech companies with walled gardens tend to tightly control access to the user data, content, and advertising that appears within the ecosystems.
Some examples of walled garden ecosystems include Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple. These walled gardens have particular advantages, like access to massive user bases and precise targeting within the individual ecosystems. It can also be difficult to reach said audiences outside of the ecosystems, reducing the amount of control you have over your advertising strategies.
Learn more about walled gardens.
Learn the differences between walled gardens and hedged gardens.
Integrated marketing is more important than ever
Today, it’s become more crucial to connect with consumers over multiple touchpoints, which can be done from tech like connected TV (CTV) to websites, mobile devices, and even shopping in a physical store. However, as integrated marketing gains utility, many platforms with walled garden ecosystems have increased, making a truly integrated and personalized marketing strategy more difficult in many situations. As a result, many marketers have realized the value of a more streamlined marketing approach, emphasizing the importance of fully integrated advertising strategies.
Though there are surely marketing advantages to gain from walled garden ecosystems, especially in audience size, the challenges they pose will require you to innovate and find more creative ways to engage with your audience from platform to platform.
Perspectives on walled gardens from Cannes Lions 2023
Offering a poignant view of industry trends and ideas, the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity of 2023 had much to say about the significance of walled gardens in the marketing world. Let’s look at two key takeaways from this year’s festival.
Retail media
In recent years, many retail companies have started selling ad space within their own walled garden shopping platforms, dubbed “retail media.” Platforms like Amazon and Walmart have developed their own particular advertising ecosystems where they sell ads to marketers within the shopping environment itself.
Navigating the sell-side of retail media’s walled gardens
While retail media offers marketers unique opportunities, it’s not without its challenges. For one, ad space in these environments is limited, so the competition can be difficult on the sell-side, leading to higher ad costs. Additionally, this shift in dynamic also forces marketers to change how they prioritize their marketing channels, looking closer at the results of their efforts rather than focusing on particular channels within the platforms themselves.
Opportunities in the buy-side of retail media’s walled gardens
Brands on the buy-side see various benefits from advertising within retail media channels and walled gardens. By browsing in an online shopping environment, the users in these ecosystems are likely high-intent shoppers, people who are further down the sales funnel and who are ready to make a purchase soon. Shoppers can also be precisely targeted within these environments, as marketers are given the ability to access very specific audience segments based on details like shopping behavior, preferences, and even purchase history.
Omnichannel marketing
To more effectively engage audiences even among an abundance of walled garden ecosystems, speakers at the 2023 Cannes Lions Festival discussed the importance of omnichannel marketing. By emphasizing strategies that reach the consumer through multiple touchpoints, marketers can deliver a unified brand experience across channels. This allows marketers to focus more on results than specific advertising channels, including walled garden platforms.
Walled gardens aren’t going away in the near future
Though various challenges are associated with walled gardens in advertising, they aren’t going anywhere. So, what’s the current state of these environments throughout the industry?
Efforts are being made to break down walled gardens in tech
In a handful of countries, regulatory actions have been put forward to address how dominant many major tech companies are in their respective markets. One major example of this is Meta and Google’s entanglements in Canada. Currently, neither company can display news on their websites in the Canadian market. This decision was reached to give Canadian news agencies more control over their advertising revenue since, previously, the tech giants received more views and, therefore, gained the ad revenue. Though relatively small, this does indicate a certain shift in dynamic.
Why companies are resisting
Despite their challenges, walled gardens in 2023 persisted, mainly because they are particularly adept at generating revenue for the tech companies that control them. In 2022, 78 percent of global digital advertising revenue came from these closed ecosystems, and projections expect that figure to rise to 83 percent by 2027. From the viewpoint of a company that operates in a walled garden, the idea of releasing their control over their environment represents losing out on a stream of vast revenue, making letting go of a walled garden ecosystem an unattractive prospect.
The future of walled gardens
As time progresses, what can digital marketers like you expect from walled garden ecosystems in the near future?
A cookieless future
A huge element to consider is the transition to a cookieless future. Many major browsers have begun phasing out the use of third-party cookies. In the wake of this decision, many are looking for reasonable alternatives that allow for behavior tracking and more personalized advertising experiences. Solutions like Experian’s identity resolution can provide a strong alternative option, allowing marketing strategies to adapt to the current landscape.
An influx of mini gardens
You should also anticipate the proliferation of various smaller, specialized walled garden ecosystems in the future. These so-called “mini gardens” specialize in more niche audiences and industries, and they can present their own challenges and opportunities.
Alternative IDs
As you search for new identification methods outside cookies, various alternatives have presented themselves, requiring further exploration and experimentation. Among these are privacy-compliant solutions like Unified ID 2.0, which allow you to serve more personalized ads without compromising the consumer’s privacy.
Navigating the evolving landscape of walled gardens in 2024
As we begin 2024, you will continue facing opportunities and challenges regarding walled gardens. The 2023 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity re-emphasized how important it is for marketers to stress omnichannel marketing within walled garden environments and become well acquainted with identity resolution solutions as we move into a cookie-less future. All of this requires you to become comfortable with walled gardens being here to stay and innovate to navigate an evolving and developing landscape.
We’re here to help you navigate the evolving landscape of walled gardens in 2024. Contact us today.
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With over one billion shoppers eagerly preparing to shop for gifts, decorations, and seasonal essentials, now is the perfect time to refine your marketing tactics and connect with these shoppers. With holiday retail sales set to reach $1.37 trillion, it’s time to unwrap holiday spending insights to ensure that your holiday advertising campaigns light up the festive season. The holiday shopping frenzy offers marketers and retailers a chance to capture attention, drive sales, and build lasting customer relationships. In this blog post, we’ll reveal holiday shopping audiences, including 19 new audiences, designed for you to reach the most relevant shoppers for your campaigns. These audiences are available for activation on-the-shelf of most major ad platforms, including TV and programmatic. You can find the complete audience segment name in the appendix. 2025 Holiday spending trends and insights report Download our latest report for data-driven insights you can use to refine your messaging and reach the right audience in their preferred channels this holiday season. Download now What separates Experian's syndicated audiences 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. 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 DirectTV, Dish, Magnite, OpenAP, and The Trade Desk. Download our 2024 holiday shopping report Holiday shopping styles It's important to understand how your holiday shopper “shops,” with individual shopping styles varying from a last-minute dash to the store to the one-stop shopper. One in three consumers anticipate beginning their holiday shopping before October this year, with Millennials and Gen Xers being the most proactive, due to concerns about items running out of stock. In contrast, 42% of Boomers are generally less inclined to shop early, wanting to start their holiday shopping in November or December. All generations are motivated to shop early by discounts.1 By choosing and activating the right audience segments, you can deliver messages that resonate with the consumer's preferred shopping style, ensuring your holiday campaign will align with their shopping preferences and behaviors. Here are five audiences that you can activate based on shopping style: Last-Minute Holiday Shoppers One Stop Holiday Shoppers/Power Shoppers: In-Store or Online Impulse Buyers eCommerce Diehards Brick & Mortar Diehards Discount-seeking shoppers The holiday season is a time of giving, but also saving! Consumers are driven to shop early by discounts and early sales — 52% of consumers said discounts are their biggest motivator to shop early. Price is another crucial factor — 47% of consumers said price is the most important factor when deciding where to shop during the holiday season. Major holiday shopping events, such as Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday, are expected to attract a significant portion of consumers this upcoming year.2 Here are eight audiences you can activate to reach discount-seeking shoppers: NEW! Discount Holiday Shoppers NEW! Cyber Monday Holiday Shoppers NEW! Black Friday Holiday Shoppers NEW! Big Box/Club Stores Holiday Shoppers NEW! Online Coupon Users TrueTouch: Online Coupon Site Department Store Deal Shoppers: In-Store or Online Post Holiday Shoppers Gift givers Holiday shoppers are torn between saving and splurging. Nearly a third of consumers anticipate spending more on holiday shopping this year, while the same number of consumers say they’ll be spending less. Boomers anticipate spending the most on gift cards, Gen Z on clothing, and Millennials on toys, electronics, and experiences.3 Given holiday shoppers' varied spending habits, it's important to target the right audience segments to maximize your impact. Targeting specific audience segments allows advertisers to better reach those most interested in their products. Here are six audiences you can activate to target gift givers: NEW! Luxury Gift Shoppers NEW! Holiday Shopping High Spenders NEW! Holiday Shopping Moderate Spenders NEW! Holiday Charitable Donations High Spend Gift Shoppers Heavy Buyer/Spenders Holiday Shoppers: In-Store or Online Holiday travelers In 2023, nearly three million travelers passed through airports on the Sunday after Thanksgiving alone. Take advantage of the busy travel season with our audience segments. By targeting specific travel preferences and behaviors, you can capture the attention of individuals planning trips this holiday season. Here are seven audiences to tailor your campaign according to travel preferences: NEW! Holiday International Travelers NEW! Holiday Travel-Train NEW! Holiday Budget Savvy Airline Travelers Vacation/Leisure Travelers: Domestic Trips Air Travel (FLA/Fair Lending Friendly)4 Vacation/Leisure Travelers: Frequent Spenders Hotels: Frequent Spend When you work with Experian, you work with a single data provider that gives you access to audiences across multiple verticals and categories, such as travel and retail. Targeted advertising this holiday season with Experian audiences The holiday season is the busiest time of the year for advertisers. Experian's data, ranked #1 in accuracy by Truthset, allows advertisers to reach people based on demographic, geographic, and behavioral attributes (e.g. websites visited and purchase history). By using Experian’s audiences in your holiday advertising campaigns, you can reach last-minute shoppers, discount-seeking shoppers, gift-givers, and holiday travelers. Just as shoppers seek the perfect gifts, with the right strategy, your holiday advertising campaigns can capture the right shoppers this holiday season. Need a custom audience? Reach out to our audience team and we can help you build and activate an Experian audience on the platform of your choice. Additionally, work with Experian’s network of data providers to build audiences and send to an Audigent PMP for activation. Connect with our audience team You can activate our syndicated audiences on-the-shelf of most major platforms. For a full list of Experian’s syndicated audiences and activation destinations, download our syndicated audiences guide. Explore our other seasonal audiences that you can activate today. View now Download our 2025 Holiday spending trends and insights report This holiday season is about more than just transactions – it’s about cultivating meaningful connections with your audience. Download our 2025 Holiday spending trends and insights report, in collaboration with GroundTruth, to access all of our predictions for this year’s holiday season. Download now Contact us Footnotes Online survey conducted in June, 2024 among n=1,000 U.S. adults 18+. Sample balanced to look like the general population on key demographics (age, gender, household income, ethnicity, and region). n = 204 Gen Z, n = 234 Millennials, n = 270 Gen X, n = 272 Baby Boomers. Online survey. Online survey. “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. Appendix Here are the complete audience segment names (taxonomy paths) for all audience segments discussed in this blog post. Holiday shopping styles Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: Last-Minute Holiday Shoppers Retail Shoppers: Purchased Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: One Stop Holiday Shoppers/Power Shoppers: In-Store Retail Shoppers: Purchased Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: One Stop Holiday Shoppers/Power Shoppers: Online TrueTouch: Communication Preferences > Purchase Behavior > Impulse buyers Retail Shoppers: Purchase behavior > Shopping Behavior > In-Store vs. Online: eCommerce Diehards Retail Shoppers: Purchase behavior > Shopping Behavior > In-Store vs. Online: Brick & Mortar Diehards Discount-seeking shoppers NEW! Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: Cyber Monday NEW! Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: Black Friday NEW! Retail Shopper: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: Big Box/Club Stores Shoppers NEW! Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based >> Discount Holiday Shoppers NEW! Retail Shoppers: Purchased Based > Shopping Behavior > Online Coupon Users TrueTouch: Communication Preferences> Purchase Behavior > Online Coupon Site Retail Shoppers: Purchased Based > Shopping Behavior > Department Store Deal Shoppers Online Spenders Retail Shoppers: Purchased Based > Shopping Behavior > Department Store Deal Shoppers In-Store Spenders Retail Shoppers: Purchased Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: Post holiday Gift givers NEW! Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: Luxury Gift Shoppers NEW! Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: High Spenders NEW! Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: Moderate Spenders NEW! Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Charitable Donations Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Shopping Behavior > Gift Shoppers High Spend Spenders Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: Heavy Buyer/Spenders: Online Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: Heavy Buyer/Spenders: In Store Holiday travelers NEW! Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday International Travelers NEW! Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal> Holiday Travel-Train NEW! Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Budget Savvy Airline Travelers Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Travel > Vacation/Leisure Travelers: Domestic Trips Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Travelers > Air Travel (FLA/Fair Lending Friendly) Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Travel > Vacation/Leisure Travelers: Frequent Spenders Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Travel > Hotels: Frequent Spend Latest posts
In our Ask the Expert Series, we interview leaders from our partner organizations who are helping to lead their brands to new heights in ad tech. Today’s interview is with Jordan Feivelson, VP, Digital Audiences at Webbula. Jordan is a 22-year advertising industry veteran who has worked for media properties such as WebMD and Disney. Over the past ten years, he has transitioned to the data and programmatic space, including growing the data business for Kantar Shopcom and Adstra. What types of advertisers might benefit from utilizing Webbula audiences across various verticals? Can you provide examples of how different industries successfully leverage your data to achieve specific campaign goals? Most advertisers can leverage Webbula’s award-winning attributes for their activation initiatives. Webbula offers approximately 3,000 syndicated segments covering categories such as Demographics, Automotive, Political, Mortgage, B2B, Hobby/Interest/Lifestyle, and Interests & Brand Preferences (brand name targeting). Audience insights and marketing strategies What specific types of audience segments does Webbula provide? How can advertisers leverage these segments to craft more effective, personalized marketing strategies? Webbula has incredible depth and breadth within its verticals, giving marketers the tools to deliver targeted messaging effectively. Our Demographic, B2B, Mortgage, Automotive, and Interest and Brand Preferences segments each contain 500-1,000 segments, all built on deterministic, self-reported, and individually linked data. We ensure the best accuracy with multiple deterministic data points tied to the real world (ex., first name, last name, postal address, and email address). Some examples of our unique syndicated audience types: B2B: A view of the latest industry trends with detailed cuts of the professional world, such as companies with and not within the Fortune 500 companies and job positions that are directors and below. This also includes custom capabilities, including ABM (list of target companies in an activation campaign or by industry code (ex. NAICS, SIC). Interest and Brand Preferences: Consumers who have shown interest and affinity to hundreds of brands (ex., Nike), genres (ex., comedy, hip hop), sports teams, and more. Mortgage: A detailed view of homebuyers’ purchase range, loan type (ex. jumbo loan, standard loan), mortgage amount, interest rate, and more. With Webbula’s audience data, brands can create a comprehensive picture of their audiences down to the individual level and reach them accurately. Data quality, sourcing, and differentiation How is consumer data sourced and curated at Webbula? Are there data quality standards that Webbula establishes for consumer data, and how do you ensure your sources and methods meet these standards consistently? Webbula’s data is aggregated from over 110 trusted and authenticated sources, including publishers, data partners, social media, and more. The data collected comes directly from consumers who self-report information through surveys and other methods. We apply our hygiene filters to mitigate fraud and accurately score the data. Data Collection: The data collected comes directly from consumers who self-report information through surveys, questionnaires, transactions, and sign-ups. This ensures that brands display ads to audiences based on self-identified, cross-channel behaviors, not modeled assumptions. Hygiene Solutions: Webbula applies multi-method hygiene solutions to mitigate fraud and accurately score the data before onboarding, ensuring that all data meets the highest quality standards. Examples of Data Sources: Questionnaires: Self-reported data through surveys, offer submissions, and telemarketing. Transactions: Deterministic data from aftermarket parts, online purchases or services, and more. Sign-ups: Individually linked data from information entered through sweepstakes, infomercials, newsletters, and forms. What differentiates Webbula's data from other data providers in the market? Can you explain the unique value proposition that Webbula offers in terms of data depth and breadth? Due to our extensive experience in data cleansing, we provide the most accurate data within the programmatic ecosystem. TruthSet, the leading programmatic accuracy measurement company, has ranked Webbula as having the highest number of top attributes compared to other data providers with 150M+ HEMs. Additionally, Publicis Groupe and Neutronian further validate Webbula's data quality, underscoring its position as a leader in the industry. Webbula's data stands out in the market due to its unmatched accuracy and quality, achieved through years of expertise in data cleansing. Unlike other providers, Webbula’s foundation lies in its robust email hygiene process, ensuring that all data entering the programmatic ecosystem is thoroughly cleansed. Privacy, compliance, and future-proofing What measures does Webbula take to maintain data privacy and compliance? How do these efforts benefit advertisers in an evolving regulatory landscape and ensure ethical standards? Webbula was created over a decade ago with a future-proof, privacy-compliant foundation. We understand the industry’s rapid changes, including government and state legislation and cookie depreciation. Our goal has always been to build long-term partnerships and ensure we are prepared for industry changes. We rely on validated offline data sources, making us resilient to external influences. Success stories Can you share success stories where advertisers saw significant campaign improvements using Webbula’s data? What were the key factors that contributed to these successes? Our success is measured by client feedback and increased client spend. Webbula has helped several key advertisers achieve six-figure monthly thresholds by providing the most accurate data to meet campaign KPIs. Clients consistently return to use our data, validating our belief that “the proof is in the pudding.” Thanks for the interview. Any recommendations for our readers if they want to learn more? For those interested in learning more about Webbula, reach out for a personalized consultation. Contact us Latest posts
This holiday shopping season, marketers will look to take advantage of the surge in spending across channels like connected TV (CTV), programmatic, and mobile. Despite challenges such as privacy regulations and Google's new cookie deprecation plan, this moment presents a unique opportunity for marketers to reshape their traditional approaches to consumer engagement and capitalize on these changes. As we approach the holiday season, understanding how consumers spend, where they shop, and how their shopping habits are changing are key components to consider when crafting your holiday advertising campaigns. Our 2024 Holiday spending trends and insights report utilizes our expertise in data and insights to highlight emerging consumer behaviors and spending patterns. In our report, we share what these trends mean for marketers and how Experian can help, so you can refine your messaging and target the right audience through the best channels. Download our 2024 report In this blog post, we cover three insights from our report. Watch our video for a recap below. 1. Consumers are shopping evenly throughout the holiday season 35% of holiday shopping was done in December, peaking at 9% of total holiday sales the week before Christmas. Cyber Week, the five-day period between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, and the week before Christmas brought the highest weekly sales for the past two holiday seasons. What this means for marketers Prepare for an extended promotional period. Schedule your marketing campaigns and sales initiatives to maximize impact during the extended season, focusing on the peaks of Cyber Week and the week before Christmas. How Experian can help you target these shoppers Experian's data, ranked #1 in accuracy by Truthset, offers advertisers the ability to reach people based on demographic, geographic, and behavioral attributes (e.g. websites visited and purchase history). Our audiences are available on-the-shelf of most major platforms, making it easy for you to activate and target holiday shoppers. We recently released 19 new holiday-focused audience segments. Here are a few you can activate: Black Friday Shoppers Cyber Monday Shoppers Big Box/Club Store Shoppers Luxury Gift Shoppers Discount Holiday Shoppers Holiday Airline Travel 2. Online shopping is leveling out Online holiday spending continues to remain around a third of all holiday shopping spending. We are starting to see online shopping slow and level out – people are going back in-store. The high amount of online shopping we saw during the pandemic is starting to return to pre-pandemic behaviors. Consumers are spending more in-store at department and discount stores but are shopping online for office/electronics/games, mass retailers, and apparel. 84% of holiday shopping was done in-store for discount stores. 79% of holiday shopping was done in-store for department stores. 64% of holiday shopping was done online for office, electronics, and games stores. What this means for marketers Digital and physical experiences work together. Retailers should have a multi-channel plan to reach consumers, tailoring their approach to their target audience and product and creating engaging in-store experiences to drive visitors. How Experian can help you target and measure across channels We connect online and offline data to enable precise targeting and measurement of marketing efforts across multiple channels. Read our case study with Cuebiq to learn how they used our Activity Feed solution to deliver in-store lift analyses to their clients. 3. CTV is the top channel to reach consumers Over two-thirds of the U.S. population now use CTV, and the average time spent among adults is expected to surpass two hours per day in 2024. CTV offers a creative ad experience similar to its linear counterpart but provides more sophisticated targeting and analytics capabilities. What this means for marketers As CTV viewing continues to dominate, the importance of cross-device targeting and measurement increases. How Experian can help you reach shoppers across devices Later this year, we’ll add support for IPv6 in our Digital Graph as well as phone-based UID2s. This is in addition to our current coverage of IPv4 and email-based UID2s. As a result, all IP signals and UID2s will be resolved back to Experian’s household and individual profiles and their associated devices, which means marketers and platforms can better understand the full customer journey and reach people across their devices. Download our 2025 Holiday spending trends and insights report This holiday season is about more than just transactions – it’s about cultivating meaningful connections with your audience. Download our 2025 Holiday spending trends and insights report, in collaboration with GroundTruth, to access all of our predictions for this year's holiday season. Download now When you work with Experian for your holiday shopping campaigns, you're getting: Accurate consumer insights: Better understand your customers' behavioral and demographic attributes with our #1 ranked data covering the full U.S. population. Signal-agnostic identity solutions: Our deep understanding of people in the offline and digital worlds provides you a persistent linkage of personally identifiable information (PII) data and digital IDs, ensuring you accurate cross-device targeting, addressability and measurement. Secure connectivity: Bring data and identity to life in a way that meets your needs by securely sharing data between partners, utilizing the integrations we have across the ecosystem, and using our marketing data in flexible ways. Make the most of this holiday shopping season with Experian. Contact us today to get started. Contact us Latest posts