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Why context is key to making AI successful in marketing

Published: November 24, 2025 by Matthew Griffiths, SVP of Technology, Audigent, a part of Experian

At A Glance

AI can make marketing more human when it understands people in context. Experian’s technology interprets real-time contextual signals—from temporal to situational intent—to align every message with the moment. By connecting identity and context, marketers can create timely, relevant, and responsible engagement that builds trust and drives meaningful outcomes.

Personalization without context misses the moment

Marketers have spent years perfecting personalization — but personalization alone often misses the mark. We’ve all seen it. You shop for a weekend getaway, then get served travel ads weeks later when you’re already home. The data was right. The timing wasn’t.

Personalization based only on identity and behavior knows who you are but not when or why you’re ready to act.

At Experian, we believe AI should make marketing feel more human. That means understanding people in context, recognizing their environment, mindset, and the moment, to create relevance that feels timely, not intrusive.

The context gap: Why identity and behavior aren’t enough

Identity and behavioral data can reveal the kind of consumer someone is and the kind of products they may want to buy. But they don’t explain what’s happening right now.

The missing layer is context: the dynamic, real-time signal that shows why this moment matters. Context bridges the gap between knowing something about a consumer and understanding their intent.

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In an era of fragmented signals and stricter privacy rules, context is one of the most reliable ways to stay relevant without over-reliance on personal identifiers. It helps marketers adapt to shifting needs while keeping privacy intact.

How Experian interprets context in real-time

By context, we mean all the subtle, in-the-moment signals, like time of day, location, or what someone’s watching, that shape what people care about in real-time. At Experian, our technology interprets these in real-time:

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Temporal signals

Time-based patterns such as daypart (morning vs. evening), recency (how fresh a signal is), seasonality (holidays, life events), and micro-moments (split-second intent-driven actions).

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Environmental signals

The media or content environment; what type of program, article, or channel someone is engaging with when they see your ad.

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Situational intent

Signals like browsing behavior or purchase patterns that hint at a person’s stage in the buying journey, from early research to final decision.

By layering these signals over verified identity and behavioral data, Experian’s AI-powered technology helps marketers predict not just who will act, but when they’re ready to act.

Experian’s approach: Turning context into relevance

Consumer behavior changes by the minute, and marketers need to adapt just as quickly. Our technology interprets live bidstream data, device activity, content, and timing to optimize in the moment, ensuring your campaigns deliver meaningful relevance, not just broader reach.

Our process combines:

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Input

Clean, accurate identity and audience data anchored in our privacy-first framework.

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Enrichment

Our models fuse household, device, and publisher context to reveal moment-based intent.

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Activation

We’re investing in agentic workflows that help marketers plan and execute performance campaigns at scale, activated via our real-time technology that dynamically adjusts deals and surfaces contextually aligned opportunities.

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Governance

Every signal and recommendation follows Experian’s principles of transparency, consent, and ethical oversight.

We call this AI-powered simplicity tools that help marketers work more efficiently, with intelligence that feels intuitive and human-centered.

How context changes the game for marketers

AI without real-time context can only react based on what it already knows. AI-powered by in-the-moment contextual data points enables marketers to anticipate, not just react.

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A travel brand can shift creative from “dreaming” to “booking” mode when AI detects signals of active planning.

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A retailer can align promotions with trending content or regional weather shifts in real time.

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A CPG brand can trigger different product messages based on the context of recipes or household occasions.

Adjustments based on contextual signals compound into meaningful gains — higher engagement, better efficiency, and a consumer experience that feels natural rather than intrusive.

Context makes AI more human

Context introduces empathy into automation. It’s what keeps AI from overstepping, ensuring the message fits the moment. When marketers respect timing, environment, and intent, ads feel like service, not surveillance. Context transforms relevance into respect.

At Experian, our vision is to make every signal serve people, not profiles. Because the more our technology (including our AI tools and capabilities) understands context, the more human marketing becomes.

At Experian, responsible intelligence is built in

Every contextual model we deploy adheres to our standards for transparent and responsible innovation. We validate inputs, monitor model drift, and ensure no context-based variable introduces bias or privacy risk. This is what responsible automation looks like in practice: intelligent, explainable, and ethical.

From who to when: Context is the future of AI-driven marketing

Identity tells us who someone is. Context tells us when it matters.

The next wave of AI-driven marketing will unite privacy-first identity with contextual intelligence to deliver real-time relevance, responsibly. At Experian, we’re building that future now. Our AI-driven capabilities bring identity, insight, and generative intelligence together so brands, agencies, and platforms can reach the right people, at the right moment, with relevance and respect.

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About the author

Matthew Griffiths, SVP of Technology, Audigent, a part of Experian

Matthew Griffiths

SVP of Technology, Audigent, a part of Experian

Matthew Griffiths is a seasoned technology entrepreneur and a driving force in advertising technology, data technology, and AI. As the Co-Founder and former CTO (now SVP of Technology) at Audigent, a part of Experian, he plays a pivotal role in shaping the company’s cutting-edge solutions for data activation, curation, and identity management.

With years of executive experience across the U.S., Africa, and the U.K., Matthew has a proven track record of leadership in steering the adoption and use of cutting-edge technologies to drive business outcomes. His expertise spans from collaborating with top global corporations and governments to spearheading award-winning technology projects that deliver life-changing impacts in some of the world’s most underserved communities.

Matthew’s dynamic approach to solving complex business and technology challenges makes him a visionary leader in the AdTech space, consistently driving innovation and performance through technology.


FAQs

How does context make AI-driven marketing more effective?

Context makes AI-driven marketing more effective because it helps marketers understand people in context, recognizing their environment, mindset, and the moment, to create relevance that feels timely, not intrusive. Context helps marketers understand not just who a person is, but when and why they’re ready to act. Experian’s AI-powered technology layers contextual signals over verified identity data to deliver relevance that feels intuitive, not invasive. This approach connects recognition with understanding, making every campaign more effective and more human.

What is the context gap in AI-driven marketing?

Identity and behavioral data can reveal the kind of consumer someone is and the kind of products they may want to buy. But they don’t explain what’s happening right now. That’s the context gap—the missing link between knowing something about a consumer and understanding their intent.  Context closes this gap by analyzing environmental, temporal, and situational signals that reveal intent—without using invasive identifiers.

Does Experian interpret contextual signals in real-time?

Yes, at Experian, our technology interprets contextual signals, including temporal, environmental, and situational, in real-time. By layering these signals over Experian’s verified identity and behavioral data graph, marketers can predict when consumers are most receptive, turning data into real-time opportunity.

What does responsible intelligence look like in practice?

At Experian, every contextual model we deploy adheres to our standards for transparent and responsible innovation. We validate inputs, monitor model drift, and ensure no context-based variable introduces bias or privacy risk.

What does Experian’s foundation in responsible automation look like?

– Privacy-first clarity: We unify household, individual, device, demographic, behavioral, publisher first-party signals, and contextual data points to build a reliable view of consumers, even when certain signals are missing. This clarity helps marketers personalize, target, activate, and measure with confidence.
– Predictive insight: Our models go beyond describing the past. They forecast behaviors, fill gaps with inferred attributes, create lookalikes, and recommend next-best audiences so clients can anticipate opportunity.
– AI-powered simplicity: We’re investing in generative AI and exploring emerging agentic workflows to reimagine how marketers work. Our vision is to move beyond basic audience recommendations toward intelligent audience discovery and automated setup, helping teams uncover opportunities they may not have considered, while spending less time on manual work and more time on strategy and outcomes.
– Real-time intelligence: Consumer journeys never stand still. Our AI-powered technology interprets live bidstream data, device activity, content, and timing to optimize in the moment, ensuring campaigns deliver meaningful relevance, not just broader reach.
– Transparent and responsible innovation: We drive safe, modular experimentation, from generative applications to agentic workflows, always balancing bold ideas with ethical guardrails. We stay at the forefront of evolving legislation and regulation, ensuring our innovations protect consumers, brands, and the broader ecosystem while moving the industry forward responsibly.


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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! 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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

Aug 15,2024 by Lucy Simmonds, Content Marketing Specialist

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