“Data-Driven Thinking” is written by members of the media community and contains fresh ideas on the digital revolution in media.
Today’s column is written by Anush Prabhu, partner and chief channel planning and investment officer at Deutsch NY.
Almost every brand-related decision a consumer makes today is based on a complex string of devices and influencers. From being persuaded by ads when surfing the web, to researching on their mobile phones while shopping and seeking advice from friends when checking Facebook, each scenario, category and consumer’s decision-making string will vary.
Understanding that string is highly valuable to a marketer seeking to connect with that consumer. It can enable brands to construct seamless and tailored stories, which are more effective at persuading the consumer, successfully and efficiently.
Today, we may be getting a step closer to understanding and, more importantly, acting on these decision-making strings. In what is to be the beginning of a movement toward using login data as an identifier for ad personalization, Facebook relaunched the Atlas Ad Server last week. Atlas will leverage Facebook login data to support a persistent tracking mechanism across devices. It brings a lens to the consumer with their multiple digital devices today, and could potentially illuminate social behavior and influencers in the near future. We can now have a singular perspective on our consumer’s journey, connect with them in multiple scenarios and learn as they traverse through their devices.
Or can we?
As thrilled as I am with this introduction, I am also hoping we get to an even brighter space sooner. Early reports suggest Atlas will not allow the cross-device behavior data to leave Facebook walls in the near future, though that may one day change. Today, if a brand wants to connect to this consumer’s behavior, it needs to do so in a limited way via the platform. We know that consumers’ journey goes beyond those walls in other media. In a world where every marketer has the opportunity to better manage its communications world via DMPs, having the ability to import that data to better connect with the consumer in a broader way would go a long way.
I also see others like Yahoo, Amazon and Twitter coming out with their own solutions. And each one of them will be potentially limited in providing a picture of the consumer within their platforms or networks. So instead of having a singular perspective of our consumer, we will have multiple web strings of behaviors within the consumer’s digital ecosystem – similar to what we have today. Each may work a lot better for a brand on its own, but it could be leaps ahead if connected.
There is an opportunity to develop standardized systems of IDs, permissions and ID portability with your brand partners. We have an opportunity to create solutions today, which better connect the consumer with brands. That will lead to better business opportunities for the marketplace.
The trailblazers like Atlas will get more than their fair share by being better integrated with the brands and their data sooner. And ultimately, the consumer might benefit from brands better connecting to their needs – if they use this knowledge wisely.
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