Key Takeaways from the 2023 ANA Data, Analytics & Measurement Conference

The 2023 ANA Data, Analytics & Measurement Conference in Chicago tackled questions that continue to vex marketers, including:

• How do you build trust in a privacy-first world with third-party cookies dying?
• How do you reach consumers in a digital-first world as they navigate a complex web of digital touchpoints?

Each day, your audience is searching on Google. They’re Streaming shows on a rapidly growing entertainment ecosystem that includes Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, and more. They’re using their Uber app and hanging out on social media. And of course, they are visiting your website. All at the same time. During the event, speakers hinted at solutions ranging from the application of first-party data to a thoughtful use of AI. Here are some key take-aways:

Giving up the Cookie Diet

The demise of third-party cookies has cast a long shadow over the marketing world for the past few years. Google’s deprecation of third-party cookies on the Chrome browser is one very big reason why. At the event, Google reminded attendees that:

• It’s time to accept a world in which the loss of third-party cookies results in less targeted marketing. But this does not mean the end of personalization. Google is among the marketing platforms that have developed alternatives to third-party cookies such as clean rooms, which foster audience understanding while protecting their privacy.
• Less precise marketing does not mean less effective marketing. In fact, thanks to AI, we’re entering a new era in which marketing becomes more predictive. Marketers should be embracing tools such as Google AI for Video Advertising, which make it possible for advertisers to anticipate where their audience spends their time in the digital world, and create relevant content accordingly.

Christine Turner, managing director, Data Platforms, Measurement & Analytics at Google, urged marketers to:

• Experiment with alternatives to cookie tracking.
• Push your teams to be adaptable and agile with AI, but at the same time, figure out the near-term privacy challenges that come with the demise of cookies.

Building a Business off First-Party Data

In a privacy-first world, businesses have invested more in applying first-party data to develop more personal relationships with their audiences, ranging from customers to investors. First-party data is like gold because it’s information your customers willingly share with you. First-party data makes a brand more relevant. And as Uber discussed, first-party data can help a brand build a business.

We all know Uber as a ride-sharing and delivery company, but it’s really a technology company, according to Dorothy Ann Advincula, global head of Audience, Insights & Measurement, Uber Advertising. Uber amasses an incredible treasure trove of data about its customers’ habits. For example, Uber can tell you how many Chicagoans visited Wrigley Field, ordered deep dish pizza, attended Beyonce’s Renaissance tour, and ate Portillo’s cheese fries over the past month – all through first-party data that Uber collects.

And Uber is using that data to build a new business: creating ads. Dorothy shared ways Uber is rapidly building ad units that create relevant experiences for Uber customers, whether they are using Uber to get a ride somewhere or using Uber Eats. For instance, Uber has expanded the available advertising surfaces on the Uber Eats platform, giving CPG brands the opportunity to buy Sponsored Items ads directly on the Uber Eats app. And recently Uber announced the launch of Uber video ads that will appear on a user’s Uber app. Video ads will run on the primary Uber app while users wait for their drivers to arrive and during their trips.

Mark Grether, vice president and general manager of Uber Technologies’ advertising division, said, “We have two minutes of your attention. We know where you are, we know where you are going to, we know what you have eaten. We can use all of that basically to then target a video ad towards you.”

Dorothy said that Uber is on track to soon make Uber Advertising its next billion-dollar business by 2024. Her discussion offered plenty of inspiration and food for thought: what breakthrough business models can your business (and ours) achieve with first-party data?

AI Is the Solution to a Fragmented Customer Experience

Where does your customer spend their time online, and what do they do there? Answering that question is getting harder amid an explosion of online touchpoints. TikTok didn’t even exist until 2016, and the entire streaming industry continues to explode with new entrants competing for the attention of your audience.

Jamie Moldafsky, chief marketing and communications officer at Nielsen, pointed out that streaming services now capture 38.7 percent of TV viewers’ eyeballs, an astounding figure. Netflix and YouTube Streaming alone capture nearly 18 percent of the total share. There are 2.7 million titles available on streaming services, up from 1.6 million in 2020. As she asked pointedly, How and where do you deliver messages in this fragmented cross-media world?

Now, consider the reality that your audience is spending serious time in environments such as in-game ads where the experience consists of fleeting, seemingly impossible-to-track moments marked by complicated and rapid body movements as opposed to passive viewing of TV content. Even so, brands that figure out how to place in-game ads can gain entrée with a lucrative audience.

How does a business do cross-media planning in a highly fragmented world, and then develop targeted, relevant ads for different demographics whether they’re watching Suits on Netflix or playing League of Legends? An answer has emerged: AI.

AI, considered a threat to the ad world, is also a solution. For instance, with AI, businesses can:

• Do more efficient cross-media planning and performance management. For example, AI tools such as Google’s Attribution 360 can be used to unify data from different sources, such as TV, online, and social media. This allows advertisers to get a more complete picture of how their ads are performing across all channels. As a result, advertisers can narrow their advertising mix to the destinations that matter most. AI can predict how different media channels will perform based on historical data, helping in budget allocation.
• Create more precise targeting inside a channel. Netflix uses AI to target ads to specific user groups. For example, if a user has recently watched a lot of movies about cooking, Netflix might target them with ads for cooking products or cookbooks. In more complicated gaming environments, companies such as Frameplay use uses telemetry (the collection of user data from devices via sensors) to provide a three-dimensional view to track what is happening within the virtual environment. Frameplay has even built a new scoring system that will determine when the ad is viewed in-game, and whether it was a good impression or not.
• Create more relevant content. According to Kirti Singh, chief analytics, insight & media officer, Procter & Gamble, the company is using AI to create ads, test their effectiveness, and then revise them at the product and channel level. This is making it possible for P&G to make more adaptable and relevant content iteratively – and more cost effectively.

This is a time for businesses to build trust with content at the center. Content that builds trust. Content that creates interest. Content that connects. What’s changed? The tools we use to create and distribute that content. To learn how do to so more effectively, contact us.