All posts by Experian Marketing Services

Experian Marketing Services and Data Quality President Genevieve Juillard recently sat down with Zach Rodgers, host of the AdExchanger Talks podcast to discuss the future of identity, the importance of data transparency and privacy, and our recent acquisition of Tapad. Genevieve focused on the opportunity for our industry to reimagine an advertising ecosystem that is resilient and adaptable; one that takes advantage of emerging data and prioritizes data transparency and consumer privacy. She also discussed the importance of advertising strategies that put consumers at the heart of every decision and give them more control over their data. Genevieve shared with AdExchanger that Experian’s acquisition of Tapad, a global leader in digital identity resolution, was a natural fit for our company. Tapad’s approach and role in the ecosystem is very much aligned with Experian’s, which is to develop solutions that are resilient to industry and consumer changes. The combination of our capabilities supports interoperability across all types of identifiers, both online and offline, and will position us to help our clients navigate the post-third-party cookie world. To learn more about Experian’s plans to support an effective advertising ecosystem that will evolve with our dynamic industry, listen to the full podcast Embracing ‘Healthy Fragmentation’ In Ad Tech, With Genevieve Juillard.

At Experian, we are committed to powering the digital-first approach for marketers and helping them become more data-driven in their efforts to build trust and establish a human connection with consumers. We take great pride in our ability to support our clients in the evolution of the marketing landscape. So, it was an honor when our President of Marketing Services and Data Quality, Genevieve Juillard, was recently acknowledged as one of Crain’s Chicago Business’ 2020 Notable Executives in Marketing. We sat down with Genevieve to ask her about the award, her role at the helm of Experian’s Marketing Services and the future of data-driven marketing. Q: Can you tell us about your role as the leader of two major businesses within Experian? Over the span of my more than 12-year career with Experian, I have held many different roles across several global markets—each providing growth opportunities and professional nourishment. But my current role is perhaps the one I am most enthusiastic about. We’re observing more and more consumers become reliant on digital; at first, it was out of necessity, but individuals are beginning to appreciate the convenience and tailored experiences. There’s an even stronger expectation to only receive relevant communications and experiences. And in order for the digital economy to work, we need data. We need to understand how consumers want to be communicated with, how they engage with brands and what messages are going to resonate with them. That’s where Experian comes into play. Our mission is to help brands use data, responsibly and securely, to create value for consumers and reach them across devices and channels. We understand that identity underpins the entire marketing ecosystem, and as consumers continue to move to digital, hundreds of thousands of digital touchpoints are created every day.  Experian can stitch the data points together to create a single identity, helping brands build a connection with consumers. But we also understand that to build a connection, we need to build trust with consumers—leveraging data is privilege. We need to help brands be relevant and create valuable experiences for consumers; otherwise trust erodes quickly. The digital ecosystem will continue to evolve, and helping our clients adapt and deliver value to consumers is mission-critical. The concepts of data, identity, trust and human connections are leading the way. Q: Is data-driven marketing more important today than before? Digital has overwhelmingly become the channel of choice for consumers, but it can be a bit more complicated for marketers, particularly without the right resources. People consume information and engage with brands via multiple devices; smartphones, tablets, laptops, TV, etc., all while bouncing from device-to-device and throughout the day. Add to that, the deprecation of third-party cookies and the potential changes to IDFA, and the digital identity has become a challenge for marketers. While digital is important, brands also need to still consider offline touchpoints, when someone visits a brick-and-motor location. A consumer may visit a retail location to look at new home furnishings but ultimately purchase the pieces later that week online. These transactions need to be connected in order for the retailer to see the whole picture. To be relevant and tell a consistent story, brands need to implement an intelligent, data-driven marketing strategy; one that connects these digital and offline touchpoints together. That’s how you reach the right consumers and attract new ones. Having the right data and technology allows brands to resolve consumer identities and communicate effectively with their audiences. At Experian, we help them leverage advanced analytics, such as machine learning to connect the hundreds of digital touchpoints, whether that’s transactional data, connected TV IDs, mobile, etc. Brands need to create a connection with consumers; the spray and pray approach doesn’t work—particularly now. Understanding the challenges facing consumers and how brands can address their most pressing needs is the key to creating those personal and relevant experiences that resonate.   Q: How does Experian factor into the future of the marketing ecosystem? With digital adoption becoming the norm, identity will continue to evolve—particularly with third-party cookie deprecation. We’re seeing more digital identifiers, such as IPs, connected TV IDs and MAIDs, becoming prominent and factoring into customers’ identities. And those identifiers will continue to evolve, and we can expect different components to be added to the list.   Before the implementation of any marketing campaign, brands need to resolve identity. Experian remains at the forefront of identities, both offline and digital, and is committed to helping brands stitch the touchpoints together. But beyond the use of identity to build audience segments, Experian is also a leader in data activation and measurement. Our world-class data and technology aim to help our clients improve the customer experience, build trust and create value for consumers.     Q: How does it feel to be recognized among some of the Chicago area’s top marketers? During my tenure with Experian and exposure to different parts of the business, I’ve had an opportunity to gain experience as a management executive. While leading Experian’s Marketing Services is a new role for me, my past experiences in innovation, global product scaling and consumer impact have helped prepare me for my current responsibilities—determining how best to leverage our data and technology to help brands deliver an improved customer experience and provide value to consumers. As a business, we’re committed to helping brands across the globe become better marketers, and I am very honored to be recognized among some of Chicago’s leading marketing executives.

These days, the new normal is becoming the new now, but there are still some challenges to navigate—especially as we head into the busy holiday season. And with consumers being more and more discerning about who they spend their time and money with, marketers across every vertical are challenged with making an impact. But it’s not all doom and gloom—and in fact, it presents unique opportunities for marketers and brands to change their approach for the better. If you’re looking for the best way to offer your customer a positive experience during this unusual time, here are some suggestions: 1. Communication, communication, communication. Whether you’re a restaurant or retailer, OEM or financial institution, communicating with your customers is key, especially if you’re offering an in-person experience. You’ll want to update them on new protocols, such as mask-wearing mandates, sanitization plans and other changes to the in-person experience, so your customer knows what to expect, but also so they feel safe. Similarly, if your operation is entirely online, either just for now or for the foreseeable future, sharing information about how your service has changed—and how your customer can still expect great service—is equally as crucial. As CMS Wire pointed out in August 20201, GlobalWebIndex shared a report showing that 37% of social media users have visited a brand’s social media page, 36% have liked or followed a brand on social media, 19% have asked a question to a brand on social media, and 15% have uploaded a picture or video to a brand’s social media page. Plus, other reports show a 20% increase in consumers reaching out to customer service for support. It’s clear that customers are looking to connect and communicate with brands in a variety of ways, so the easier you make that for them, the more confident they’ll be in supporting your brand. Speaking of… 2. Enhance the online consumer experience (CX). Entrepreneur shared insight2 from the Temkin Group that found companies with a turnover of $1 billion annually can expect to earn an additional $700 million within three years when they invest in CX. Technology plays a huge role in this, especially if your entire business is online. Making it easier for customers to buy what you’re selling is always a good idea, no matter what lifestyle category you fall into. So, if it’s time to upgrade your online shopping cart or enhance your website, don’t dawdle. Similarly, if you’re offering consults via Zoom or other conferencing platforms, make sure you’re set up to give customers something that goes above and beyond to keep them coming back for more. And if there are ways you can personalize the online experience, even better. But don’t rule out going the extra mile—Business.com recommends looking into AI experiences that can give your customer a more direct experience with what you must offer3, even if they can’t be there with you in person. 3. Enhance the in-person experience. Similarly, the more you can do to give your customer a reason to visit you in person (assuming it’s safe), the better chance you have of getting them to do so (and coming back for more). Certainly, a safe and secure in-person experience is key, with social distancing guidelines, plans for managing busy influxes of consumers, and—of course—cleaning and sanitization protocols. But over and above that, can you offer curbside pick-up (BOPAC)? Do you have mobile ordering, or the opportunity to buy online and pick up an item in-store (BOPIS)? How about socially distant consults? What about gifts with purchase, or gift-wrapping opportunities, especially leading up to the holidays? Tesla is doing something interesting with socially distant test drives, where customers can take the Tesla of their choice for a spin with a pre-programmed route set by the dealership. Now is the time to get creative and see what resonates with your consumers! 4. Meet your customer wherever they are. With the NFL hosting an altered season, big brands like Pepsi4 have had to get creative to make sure their customers know what they have to offer. According to Marketing Dive, the brand launched an initiative called “Made for Football Watching” to target all the viewers who will be at home instead of in the stands. Similarly, Disney, Hilton, Southwest Airlines and even the California Tourism Board have developed content that’s being used across Pinterest, where searches for “RV Camping Trips” have jumped 1300%, “Road Trip Routes” surged 250%, and “airplane essentials” increased by 170%, along with a 250% bump for “vacation spots.”5 Consider not just where your customers are physically, but where they are virtually—and show them how you can help them find what they’re looking for and enhance their experience no matter where they are, or where they’re going. 5. Remember that your customers are people, too. Yes, we’re all in a panic to figure out how to meet our revenue goals in this new world, but don’t forget your customers aren’t just walking dollar signs—they’re people, and they’re just as stressed out, confused and worried as the rest of us. As Business 2 Community points out, customer emotion data can be a big help in your “new normal” marketing plans6. Not only can it help you determine how best to communicate with your customer, it can help you learn the best forms of communication and how often to use them, and how you can best address their needs. The old-school manipulation tactics don’t work anymore. The more you can connect and communicate with people on a one-to-one level, the better chance you have of supporting their needs, and creating a new, stronger connection going forward. To learn more about how to connect with your consumers using the power of data, click here. 1 https://www.cmswire.com/customer-experience/7-ways-to-ensure-your-social-presence-improves-your-customer-experience/ 2 https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/353979 3 https://www.business.com/articles/improve-online-customer-experience/ 4 https://www.marketingdive.com/news/pepsi-champions-football-fans-stuck-at-home-as-sports-marketing-shifts-focu/583657/ 5 https://www.marketingdive.com/news/disney-hilton-southwest-airlines-target-travel-planners-on-pinterest/583990/

Experian Marketing Services is thrilled to announce we have a new Director of Innovation, Sunaina Chaudhary. An entrepreneurial product professional with an extensive track record of directing products through ideation, design, development, marketing and production. Sunaina brings years of experience in product leadership, digital media and advertising, machine learning and more to her current role. As we continue to seek new ways to innovate and become better for our clients, we sat down with Sunaina to discuss what she hopes to achieve as Director of Innovation: Q: Tell us about your background and how that will make an impact on your new role? A: Directly prior to joining Experian Marketing Services, I served as Senior Manager, Ad Monetization & Direct Sales at MobilityWare. During this time, I developed a multi-million-dollar in-house Ad Exchange, as well as managed over a dozen partnerships. I also worked at DIRECTV as their Associate Director, Enterprise Strategy & Innovation for several years. At DIRECTV, I led a team of industry experts in designing and developing solutions for multiple strategic ideas and initiatives which focused on customer experience, risk management and use of disruptive technology while also fostering a culture of experimentation. With a background ranging from advertising and consumer analytics to product development, I have a number of experiences that can be applied to my new position. While my experience in product innovation is most similar to my current role, my advertising experience can be used to understand what challenges our clients are facing, and how we can innovatively solve those problems. Q: What key areas will you be focusing on as Director of Innovation? A: One of the biggest challenges that our clients face is a siloed understanding of customer journeys. Purchasing data from providers in market is the easy part but what differentiates leading brands from rest of the market is how well they understand customers and their journeys. A goal of ours is to develop innovative solutions to solve this problem for all marketers but make it relevant for individual vertical. Q: Can you explain how this could be achieved? A: We have to shift the dependency within the advertising industry from reporting to analytics. Reporting does tell what happened as the last touchpoint in a customer journey, but analytics will enable the insights to explain why it happened and what should be done differently to optimize future campaigns and influence the customer journey overall. Q: What are your top three objectives in your role? A: Firstly, I want to focus on two distinct types of innovation for the advertising industry; incremental and disruptive innovation. Incremental innovation is innovation that improves existing practices or products, and disruptive innovation is innovation that disrupts entire industries. We would like to focus on balancing the output of incremental and disruptive innovation from Experian Marketing Services over the course of the next year. Secondly, we are focused on building on our culture of innovation at Experian. On a personal level, I am not afraid of taking risks and I believe in the mantra – fail fast, fail cheap. We want our business to follow suit, and become more comfortable with potential failure, within reason, as this is where we can find room for growth. Thirdly, our team is full of some of the most forward-thinking minds in the industry, and we would like to be recognized as such. We are more than another vendor, we are thought leaders, and it is time for that to be acknowledged by the industry. Q: What qualities do you have that will help you achieve the objectives outlined above? A: Personally, I love innovating and challenging myself. Whenever I find myself in a state of inertia, I know it is time to shake things up and think outside of the box. Additionally, my previous work experience with industry leaders such as DIRECTV and startups ingrained an early stage innovation mindset, pushing me to think about what can be achieved, rather than simply improving upon what is. Q: What are three innovations currently taking place around the globe today that excite you? A: The Internet of Things (IoT) space is particularly appealing to me, especially since it impacts so many aspects of people’s lives. From self-driving cars to the healthcare industry and medical advancements, this holds immense potential for improving quality of life. Another area that fascinates me is NLP, or Natural Language Processing. A branch of AI, NLP deals with interactions between humans and computers utilizing the human language. People are currently unlearning how to type and write and interacting with devices through voice technology more and more. Lastly, data continues to be of interest to me. The more we understand, the more we can do. However, I believe in taking a conservational approach to data. We want to use consumers’ data in a privacy-compliant manner that improves their lives.

Turn identifiers into identities Identity has always played an essential role in understanding who your customers are and ensuring a positive consumer experience. However, it has and continues to evolve over time. Identifying customers used to be as simple as looking into a brick and mortar store to see which demographics were buying which products or services. As society becomes increasingly reliant on both digital devices and channels, hundreds of digital touchpoints have emerged and come into play. Every view, search, click, interaction, and purchase is another component of an identity. Further complicating matters for marketers is the fact that digital footprints are just one part of the equation. Despite the increased digital activities of consumers, offline ads and marketing practices still continue to factor into a consumer’s overall path-to-purchase behavior. The combination of hundreds of digital and offline touchpoints, disjointed technologies and siloed data make it increasingly difficult for brands and agencies to obtain a true single view of the customer. That’s why Experian recently launched an innovative new solution that combines vetted, high-quality data and artificial intelligence to help marketers connect Mobile Ad IDs (MAIDs) with digital and offline identity attributes to get a more comprehensive understanding of their target audiences. Using machine-learning algorithms and our longstanding best in class offline Personally identifiable information (PII) repository to evaluate billions of advanced identity signals and data elements, including MAIDs, the solution allows brand marketers to put more effective analytics, audience segmentation and activation, and measurement capabilities into action. Developed in collaboration with Experian DataLabs and powered by Experian’s vast and diverse data assets and identity platform, the solution will be available via Experian’s MarketingConnectSM, an identity resolution platform designed to help brands, agencies and marketing technology vendors connect disparate data sources, effectively bridging the gaps in identity resolution. So far, we have seen clients using the new solution more than double their match rates. Experian is making this possible for marketers by intelligently connecting all of the necessary data points to reach customers with timely and relevant messaging, all while keeping their data protected. By ingesting, organizing, corroborating, resolving, and analyzing a broad range of data, our new solution provides marketers with the ability to identify and reach customers at a higher rate than previously possible. We link consumers to action in their lives, from the living room to the show room. As the world’s largest data company, Experian’s identity resolution capabilities fuel the solutions that marketers rely on to deliver memorable, measurable marketing moments that meet consumers wherever life may take them. From the tap of an app to the swipe of a card, it’s possible to deliver the right marketing messages  that meet consumers wherever life may take them. To read our full press release, visit https://www.experianplc.com/media/news/2019/experians-efforts-to-help-marketers-more-accurately-identify-customers/.

The marketing industry is constantly evolving. In some ways, marketers are expected to predict the future, or at the very least, stay on top of the latest data-driven trends. And at times, it can feel like an insurmountable task. One of the ways marketers can accomplish this is by regularly coming together with the best and brightest in the industry to discuss ideas, share experiences and more. This is what occurs each year at Experian’s Vision conference. The topics discussed enable business leaders to create future-focused, data-driven solutions in a multitude of functions – including marketing. Historically, Vision has been focused on the financial services industry. This year, we’ve expanded the agenda and have a lot in store for marketers that you don’t want to miss: Know your customers via omnichannel marketing Connecting the dots of cross-device engagementHow to meet your customers where they are “By invitation only,” the future of ITA marketing (NOTE: session attendance is not by invitation only)From the Hill — a legislative outlook Generational automotive shopping patternsGlobal identity trends — new insights for 2020Customer prequalification using geolocationInnovation — what’s next for Experian clients?Real intelligence in conversational AIEngage and retain throughout the consumer journeyUnleashing the power of the modern identity graph         You can learn more about all the topics slated to be discussed at Vision here. Vision sells out each year, so register now!

An individual’s identity has become more and more central to the consumer experience. In an age of individualism, customers want advertisements that are relevant to them—more than just a canned message that mentions their first name. They expect brands to know and understand them on a much deeper level. In order to do this, marketers can no longer rely on the generic audience segments of the past. These methods are too broad and general for both the current media landscape and the modern consumer culture. Instead, you must be able to identify your clients and prospective clients so that you can pinpoint specific audience and craft personal messages. Add to the complexity, consumers engage brands through many devices and channels, marketers need to connect identities across different devices—that requires data. One type of data, deterministic, relies on known information, such as email. The other type of data, probabilistic, relies on algorithmically analyzing thousands of different anonymous data points including device type, operating system, location data, and more to create statistical matches. Both forms have their advantages and disadvantages, and many experts believe that a mix of both is best. Today, we are looking at the benefits of deterministic data. Benefit #1 - Verified and True: It sounds pretty basic, but the importance of verified true data cannot be overstated. If you are crafting audience profiles based on faulty data, then you are just wasting time and money, reaching people that aren’t relevant. Marketers can rely on deterministic data because it is coming from the customers themselves, inputted by the individual on various platforms. Knowing that the information you are receiving is reliable saves a lot of time, allowing each data point to be matched with its respective user. Benefit #2 - Varied Sources: Deterministic data can come from many places, including content download forms, social media platforms, contact request forms and e-commerce purchases, usually in the form of user IDs and other basic registration data. The various sources allow you to reach customers across all different types of networks, creating a large and diverse pool of potential clients. Benefit #3 - Thousands of Data Points: The beauty of deterministic data is that, while it relies on general and often repetitive indicators – including phone numbers and email addresses, among others – those same indicators open a door to thousands of individual data points. You can then look at each profile and group them to determine if you would like to pursue them. Of course, the identity of the individual remains confidential, but the behavioral profile is enough for you to identify potential clients. Benefit #4 - Adaptability: Individual profiles are far from static. People’s interests change and vary, meaning deterministic data sets are always developing based on client input. If Customer A takes a stronger interest in Product X than they do in Product Y, the individual’s profile will be updated and adjusted accordingly. This keeps you up to date on changes in customer attitudes and gives you the ability to adapt, creating a more personalized experience for the client. It allows you to provide clients with the products and services they actually want and need, saving time for everyone. Furthermore, deterministic data can also notify you when a non-client changes attitudes or behavior in a way that opens the door for them to become potential clients. Let’s say Client A has never taken interest in your product, so you have never really invested resources into them. However, if they start to show interest at a later date through behavioral patterns, you will be notified so your marketing plan can be adjusted, and you don’t miss an opportunity to secure a new client. Benefit #5 - Linkage: One struggle that every data collector encounters is linking profiles. Take a case involving Account A and Account B. While their habits and patterns may lead one to think they are different people, they could actually be the same person. By looking at known deterministic data points that have been independently verified, disparate profiles can be correctly linked to the same person, avoiding skewed data sets and wasteful spending. At the most basic level, deterministic matching provides a higher-level of confidence. But in order to get a true comprehensive view you need a hybrid approach that also includes probabilistic matching, and it’s still not enough on its own. Marketers need to combine quality data and technology in order to be able to properly identify their clients and prospects and build and maintain a positive fruitful personalized relationship. Experian’s Audience Engine platform leverages our MarketingConnect Identity Resolution capabilities to deterministically links and matches data across the marketing ecosystem in a unified, automated platform for targeting, execution and measurement of addressable advertising campaigns. To learn more about Experian’s deterministic data capabilities, including Audience Engine, visit https://www.experian.com/marketing-services/targeting/omnichannel-activation/addressable-advertising.html.  To learn more about MarketingConnect, Experian’s identity resolution offering, visit https://www.experian.com/marketing-services/identity-resolution.html.

What generation already has 61 million consumers[1], is set to be the largest generation ever, and influences $600 billion of spending[2]? While you may think these attributes describe millennials, they are actually a portrait of Generation Z, better known as Gen Z, the newest generation that is emerging in the marketplace. Made up of consumers born after 1996, Gen Z is ready to be noticed and become a force to be reckoned with in the market. In the automotive market alone, Gen Z made up 3.8 percent of all new vehicle registrations in the first quarter of 2019. While that number may seem small, consider the fact that in 2015—just four years ago—they only made up 0.5 percent of new vehicle registrations. These are statistics that should make automotive marketers pay attention. Most marketers tend to lump Gen Z with millennials – after all, they grew up with smartphones and social media, so how different can they be than the generation that came of age with the Internet? However, unlike millennials, Gen Z is considered a true “digital generation” – performing many of life’s day-to-day activities online. This means that they do a lot of research when shopping for a product. In fact, according to the Center for Generational Kinetics[3], 52 percent of Gen Z has looked at online reviews for a product while shopping in-store. But how do digitally native consumers impact automotive marketers? In order to sell cars, marketers’ messages need to be relevant. Like many other generations, Gen Z interacts with brands across a number of different devices and touchpoints. They’re constantly bombarded with messages and advertisements, so much so that it becomes information overload. To create consistent messages that resonate, brands need to communicate across these different touchpoints and tell a story that is relevant to your audience. For example, you wouldn’t show an advertisement of someone buying their dream sports car to a member of Gen Z. Most of these consumers are buying their first car, so it would typically make more sense to show them ads for economical, reliable, sedans or cross-over SUVs. Historically, automotive marketers have relied exclusively on CRM data, but this strategy isn’t effective when it comes to Gen Z, as the fact of the matter is they probably haven’t purchased a car from you previously. The recipe for marketing success with Gen Z is identity resolution – combining your first-party identity signals across channels with third-party resources, as well as advanced technology, such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, to truly create and deliver campaigns that are relevant to the youngest generation. The more knowledge marketers have on your audience, such as demographics, life events and purchase behavior, enables them to tailor the messages to the audience in a way that will cut through the noise and resonate. As more members of Gen Z come into the marketplace, automotive marketers will want to ensure they’re meeting them where they are, delivering messages that matter to them. This will help marketers sell more cars, but also begin to create relationships that could last for years to come. [1] https://www.bls.gov/spotlight/2016/a-look-at-the-future-of-the-us-labor-force-to-2060/home.htm [2] http://www.millennialmarketing.com/research/ [3] https://genhq.com/gen-z-2017-research-infographic-stats-money-earning-spending-shopping/

According to market intelligence company, IDC, in 2018 the world reached 18 zettabytes of data. IDC predicts that the world’s data will grow to 175 zettabytes in 2025. There is no question that data has become one of the hottest commodities. Many experts even claim that it has become the new oil.   When it comes to marketing, today’s brands have data coming at them in all different shapes and sizes, including: behavioral data, such as how often consumers visit your website; demographics, their geographic location; and purchase history including what they purchase and how much they spend. And this data is coming in from multiple devices and locations, including offline activity.   The challenge isn’t finding the data, it’s being able to manage the data, respect consumer privacy rights, and use it to make smarter advertising decisions and deliver intelligent interactions.   Here are three ways you use your data more wisely: 1. To identify and learn more about your customers One of the most important and challenging objectives today is being able to properly identify your audiences. Data has made this easier because we can learn a lot more about customers—but sometimes it’s hard to keep up. The customer journey is no longer linear, today’s consumer is not necessarily making purchases from one device at one location. Instead, each transaction usually includes multiple touchpoints, thus creating a lot of fragmented information that is left to be pieced together. Brands who are successful in putting those pieces together will be able to better identify their customers and provide more personalized, relevant experiences. 2. To put an end to wasted marketing spend What’s more important than the amount of data is the quality of data. You should start with your first-party data and assess what’s missing and what gaps need to be filled. From there, layer in third-party data from trusted, privacy-compliant data providers. Unfortunately, this isn’t as easy as it sounds, because information is often incomplete, spread out across multiple sources and difficult to manipulate to gain meaningful insight. In fact, according to a recent Experian study, one-third of organizations think that one of the biggest challenges in leveraging data to achieve top business initiatives is the lack of trust in that data. The same study found that 95 percent of organizations see negative impacts from poor data quality, including wasted ad dollars. If you can’t accurately leverage data to define your audience, you aren’t reaching the right consumers, and you’re wasting valuable marketing budget. 3. To measure campaign effectiveness Above all else, marketing practitioners say insufficient data limits their ability to drive actionable attribution insights. At the end of the day, you need to be able to attribute sales to your marketing efforts. By making sure your data is managed correctly, you are giving yourself access to powerful insights that allow you to improve your marketing strategy and justify future marketing spend. By bringing offline and online transaction data together and measuring against campaign audience and impression data you can identify real sales impact. The marketing ecosystem has dramatically changed, and the consumer must be at the heart of every marketing strategy. But to achieve this, marketers need to better understand the customer to provide them with the most relevant, personalized experiences possible. The combination of powerful data, along with activation and measurement technology, can help you create and execute effective campaigns that deliver results.   Join Experian at Advertising Week! Next month, I will be moderating a panel during Advertising Week (Sept. 23-26) at the AMC Loews Lincoln Square in New York City: Session: So much data…so little time, Moderated by Experian Overview: Today’s brands have an endless amount of data on their customers including behavioral data such as how often they visit your website, demographics such as their geographic location, and purchase history such as what they purchase and how much they spend. Data comes in from multiple devices and locations, including off-line activity. Most brands are still struggling to manage all the data and use it to actually make smarter advertising decisions and deliver intelligent interactions. The panel will discuss how brands can know and communicate with their customers on a more personal level by unifying customer data on a centralized platform. When: Monday, September 23 at 10:45am (subject to change) Where: Culture Builders Stage   Also mark your calendar for this Advanced TV session with Experian and TiVo: Session: The TV business is a data business – now things get interesting Presenters: Brad Danaher, Director of TV Solutions from Experian and Walt Horstman, President of TiVo When: Monday, September 23 at 3:30pm (subject to change) Where: Entertainers Stage   Advertising Week is the premier event for marketing, brand, advertising, and technology professionals. Featuring top industry leaders, stars of the entertainment world and inspiring entrepreneurs, Advertising Week’s thought leadership program is designed to give professionals at any level career-enhancing insights, deep-dives into the industry’s most important topics and actionable learnings to bring back to the office. Click here for information about the event.