Study identifies strategies to leverage data and drive brand growth

1. Unlock the power of first-party data. Brands are desperate for insights to guide long-term strategy. According to the advertisers Kantar spoke to, 58% say this is increasing in importance, while 47% cited the need for data to inform short-term tactics. However, with the demise of the third-party cookie, emerging privacy policies and other barriers to insight, data activation will be increasingly difficult.

“As a result, it is no surprise that 80% of the advertisers we surveyed want to activate their own in-house segmentations. Brands want a better seat at the table, access to higher-quality, relevant intel and the ability to execute at speed and scale,” Kantar says.

“While it’s essential for brands seeking to build better relationships and drive better results, first-party data can only get you so far. By integrating primary research, brands can have a holistic view of the full competitive landscape, resulting in richer, multi-category views of consumers, more real-time targeting and improved impact across the sales funnel.”

2.Find the balance between control and access.The traditional relationship between advertisers and their agencies is evolving. The study uncovered an underlying desire from brands for more control:

• 82% of advertisers want to take more control over their media spend.
• 80% want to extend the reach of data and insight across their brand.
• 76% believe data should be used by everyone.

This connected intelligence comes with a caveat: Expanding access to your data doesn’t guarantee increased insights.

“According to the advertisers we spoke to, some 63% of them find it hard to generate insights on competitor media activity,” Kantar notes.

“This is a common challenge for marketers and the advertising community alike. Overexposure or inconsistent analysis inhibits insight, making it even harder to extract meaning from the noise.

“The successful balance of data control and access hinges on implementing a system that’s uniformly leveraged and consistent over time.”

3.Improve real-time targeting. Of the advertisers interviewed, 82% said they are pursuing direct-to-consumer strategies. As more brands hope to build commercial relationships with customers, access to relevant, reliable and real-time data continues to take priority. 

Confidence in the quality and accuracy of data is a crucial component in any programmatic targeting system. In this context, advertisers are slightly more appreciative of data from well-known tech platforms such as Google and Facebook. However, efficiently scaling efforts while simultaneously serving personalised content in brand-safe environments requires a partner with intelligence across all paid media.

“Resonating with consumers doesn’t happen by accident. It requires meticulous planning and coordination to pair real-time market intelligence with your unique first-party data to scale, reaching the right audiences at the right time with the right message. It’s this scaled personalisation that ultimately drives meaningful growth,” Kantar states.

“Fast and flexible data is the answer. The challenge isn’t collecting data; the greatest challenge is contextualising the data stories across all media touchpoints that can uniquely impact your strategy. Brand growth is intrinsically tied to harmony, both within data sets and technology. Winning brands will be those that combine creative and context effectively, using real-time, trustworthy insights.”

That researchers conclude that, in the always-on competitive media battlefield, understanding the consumer journey and uniformly leveraging competitive insights is the only way to stay ahead.