Welcome to episode No. 15 of AdExchanger Talks, a podcast focused on data-driven marketing. Subscribe here.
When a large amount of marketer business migrated between agencies in 2015 and 2016, Omnicom Group was the prime beneficiary.
The holding company led all of its peers in the total value of its creative and media business wins in 2016, snaring some 8,000 wins across 400 agencies, according to consultancy R3.
In the latest episode of AdExchanger Talks, Jonathan Nelson, CEO of Omnicom Digital, chalks up that success to data strategy.
“It turns out 2016 really was the year of data,” Nelson says. “The clients have been moving more and more digital. That’s a 20-year-long arc. … You connect that to programmatic and all of a sudden you see major shifts in strategy around data, programmatic and how media buying is executed.”
Omnicom incubated its data strategy within three companies: Annalect, Accuen and Resolution Media. Last year it scaled up two new agencies – Hearts & Science and We Are Unlimited – to service P&G, AT&T and McDonald’s.
Omnicom’s technology strategy is defined by an open and outsourced approach to technology.
“Generally we rent the technologies and then integrate them,” he said. “At first it was a small cadre of people, generally sitting inside Annalect or Resolution or Accuen, that influenced the decisions. What we’re seeing now is these data decisions, these technology decisions affect all kinds of companies.”
Also in this episode: changes in the marketing tech landscape, the latest in badvertising and the rise of consultants.
This episode is supported by Acxiom.
