Technology for Marketing Conference 2023: Team 6ix Insights
In our recent attendance at the Technology for Marketing Conference, the prevailing theme echoed across the industry was the transformative potential of AI. The spotlight is undeniably on the current and future capabilities of artificial intelligence, heralding a new era of innovation. However, amidst the AI-driven discourse there were also a few topics a little less expected. Below, we present a distilled summary of our findings in several key topics:
Customer Data Collection and Management
Data Collection
The landscape of customer data collection is evolving, fuelled by the increasing technological savviness of individuals and a heightened awareness of privacy considerations. A pivotal moment in this transformative journey was the announcement by Google to end support for third-party cookies in early 2021—signalling a significant shift in the digital advertising landscape.
With the sunset now rescheduled for 2024, multiple talks reignited the conversation, urging the industry to reevaluate their initial solutions.
1st Party Data: Websites and apps seek user consent to gather personalisation-enhancing data, including user preferences, demographics, and on-site behaviour.
2nd Party Data: Advertisers partner with publishers, content creators, or businesses with shared interests (e.g., hotels and airlines) to share data and insights in a privacy-compliant way, for more effective targeting.
Google FLEDGE API: FLEDGE, (First Locally-Executed Decision over Groups Experiment) is designed to enhance user privacy by limiting browser tracking and facilitating interest-based ad targeting—an alternative to third-party cookies.
Google Topics API: A part of the Privacy Sandbox initiative, "Topics" aims to enhance web privacy while sustaining online businesses through interest-based advertising. Users control and remove topics, ensuring transparency and excluding sensitive categories.
Contextual Advertising: Placing ads on websites and content contextually relevant to the ad's message—based on keywords, website category, or the user's current activity.
Machine Learning and AI: Advanced algorithms analyse user behaviour and preferences without specific identifiers, training models to make predictions about user interests based on past behaviour.
While many online advertisers may deploy one or more of these solutions, there is no one-size-fits-all magic solution. We have seen this focus firsthand as our clients continue to develop their 1st party data strategies, aiming to get more control over their customer data. Collecting and preparation of data to enable optimisation is a current staple in our content management support teams, as we ensure we are ready to support the transition. Although it has been delayed, it has never been more important to ensure you have your priorities in line for the transition.
Data management
The landscape of marketing technology is undergoing a notable shift in purchasing priorities, as highlighted by David M. Raab from the CDP Institute. He demonstrated a shift away from feature depth and breadth towards an appetite of lower operating and initial costs signals a changing tide in the industry. As vendors strive to showcase upcoming AI features, the dynamics of this shift will be intriguing to observe.
Changing Priorities: Raab's presentation underscores a significant shift, with a decrease in emphasis on feature sophistication and breadth, and a notable increase in attention towards operating and initial costs. This change hints at a growing awareness of the practical and financial aspects of adopting marketing technology.
Data Warehouses as CDP: The limitations of using data warehouses as Customer Data Platforms (CDP) are highlighted, emphasising that they often fall short in meeting the specific requirements.
External Data Stores as Alternatives: Recognising the challenges of warehouse-as-CDP, external data stores emerge as a partial alternative.
AI for Data Management: Often acknowledged due its potential to remove integration bottlenecks. However, the cautionary note is raised that it may inadvertently conceal quality issues within the data.
No Code/Self-Service Dynamics: Offering users increased control in exchange for more hands-on work. However, the caveat is presented that not all tasks are suitable and may lead to misuse and misunderstanding.
Real-Time Updates and Access: The crucial question of determining how close to real-time data is needed for specific use cases is raised, challenging the assumption that real-time should always be the goal.
Content Ownership and rights
In the ever-evolving landscape of content creation, rights management and ownership are taking centre stage, amplified by the surge in popularity of artificial intelligence (AI). The dialogue extends beyond industry discussions, permeating popular culture as actors voice concerns about the ownership of their digital images. Amidst these conversations, a compelling use case has emerged—the rise of meta and digital humans.
Meta Humans and the Intersection with Rights Management
Meta humans, digital replicas of real people created using Unreal gaming engine, are breaking new ground in the digital realm of web 3.0 and the metaverse. What sets them apart is the fusion of Unreal and blockchain technology, enabling detailed tracking of asset utilisation. This transition empowers talent agencies to monitor permissions and usage meticulously, potentially resolving long-standing issues in rights management. As content evolves from a 2D to a 3D landscape, the complexity of addressing rights issues is poised to reach new heights. The talk left with a few key questions to answer:
Asset Storage and Rights Distribution: With meta humans generating flexible assets tracked on blockchain technology, where will these assets reside, and how will rights be distributed? The blockchain's decentralised nature introduces a paradigm shift in managing and distributing digital assets.
Skills Required for Digital Creators: While makeup artists and experts are integral to creating realistic digital versions, the shift to the digital realm raises the question of new skills and capabilities needed by digital creators.
Development of Legal Blueprints: Who will take the lead in developing an agreed-upon legal blueprint that navigates the nuances of rights management in the era of meta humans?
The journey brings a myriad of possibilities and complexities, and it will be fascinating to witness how industry leaders and legal experts shape rights management in this dynamic landscape. After supporting global implementation across various sectors, we know firsthand how challenging it can be to get a firm grip on rights management, especially if the organisation has multiple DAMs and data sources. In our experience, content creators often must input their assets into client's system with the correct rights information associated, while simultaneously maintaining their own processes around usage rights and their respective renewals. With this shift, it could revolutionise the visibility for the talent, content creators and the clients ensuring no parties are exposed.
Measuring Effectiveness
A key core issue discussed was the sheer volume of content being generated daily. The problem is not just the quantity, but the need for tailored content delivery across various channels for maximum effectiveness. Without a doubt, the current chaos necessitates a robust organisation structure.
Perhaps one of the most unexpected but insightful conversations was on the topic of measuring marketing effectiveness. The DMA (Data and Marketing Association) identified 178 metrics Marketing use to demonstrate value. However, it was outlined that in 2022 only 8% were focused on the ‘business effects’ (up by only 2% in 2021), which are the metrics the CEO / CFO focus on in the boardroom. The effectiveness metrics were grouped into the following:
Business effects (boardroom language)
Brand effects (marketing department language)
Direct Response effects (marketing department language)
Campaign effects (campaign planning)
Picture created from DMA slide on 'Four groups of effectiveness metrics
Ian Gibbs also highlighted the importance of Brand effects, a key example was reflecting on how to get out of a large crisis (such as the current cost of living), as it takes a focus on brand building (which FMCG companies do very well) and Customer experience to get out of the downward spiral of the price promotion loop. As the challenging role of the CMO evolves and the current tenure is reducing in comparison to CEOs, it’s fundamental that teams must strive to demonstrate ROI in business effects language, especially when considering initiatives that require significant investments (e.g., new MarTech implementations).
Attending conferences are fundamental to ensure we can continue to provide clients with up to date, relevant insight. Whether they are at the requirement gathering stage, scanning the market for innovation and applicable use cases to assist their problem, or want to get more out of the existing technology investment. We left the conference knowing that we will continue to advise and support existing and new clients on:
The importance of defining your requirements before you take a dip in the AI pool
The importance of a first party data strategy, whether that includes implementing a new CDP or leveraging existing tools
The evolving landscape of 3D content and potential technology solutions to long standing rights issues
Defining and measuring KPIs regardless of the initiative stage, output must always be the focus
Ensuring technology, process and operational transformation initiatives are designed, implemented, operationalised and embedded successfully
We look forward to the AntiCon conference on 19th October, if you want to have a discussion about our capabilities and insights, please reach out to us on LinkedIn.
See some more industry insights and Team 6ix news, over on our blog