Most people who tune into the Super Bowl fall into one of three buckets – Those who watch for the love of the game Those who want to check out the halftime show entertainment And those of us, typically advertising and pop-culture geeks like myself, who tune in just for the commercials. But let’s not kid ourselves, you don’t have to be in advertising to love the commercials. After all, whether these ads make us laugh, cry or tweet, they often have a way of weaving themselves into the Monday morning water cooler talk and even our cultural fabric. As a marketer myself who is responsible for maximizing an advertising budget, I watch these $5 million dollar, 30-second spots and have a tendency to ask myself: How effective are Super Bowl campaign ads? Given that the automotive industry is a staple within the Super Bowl advertising universe, we recently leveraged our Social Media Analysis to dig a bit deeper into a handful of auto brands (Audi, Buick, Hyundai, Jeep and Toyota), all of whom had a social media component to their Super Bowl 50 campaigns. We wanted to answer the question, “Did these TV ads actually drive social media following and engagement?” Our latest findings showed all five of these brands gained more “high influencer” and active followers on their social media channels within the month after the “Big Game.” On average, the percentage of influential followers (consumers with more than 1,000 followers) increased 14.8 percent during the month after the Super Bowl, while the average number of posts for each follower increased by 35.4 percent. Successful brand marketers create campaigns that work harmoniously together across different channels to reach their intended audience. These automotive brands were able to deliver messages across television that extended into social media channels ultimately driving the benefit of the “word-of-mouth” effect. Our data and analytics capabilities help marketers identify and connectd with audiences who will spread their messages to fans and potential customers. The result: these Super Bowl advertisers saw higher engagement and increased brand awareness. The automotive Super Bowl commerical enthusiast is … Developing a cross-channel campaign is only half the battle. Marketers still need to understand who is engaging with their brand after they’ve clicked the ‘Follow’ button. Our anlaysis revealed consumers who interacted with these automotive campaigns were 1.3 times more likely to be male, and nearly 60 percent fell between the ages of 26 and 50. Moreover, 13.3 percent had children between the ages of 16 and 18. Not surprisingly, these consumers were more likely to follow particular brand categories than the general population. 60 times more likely to follow Auto Brands 04 times more likely to follow Auto Service Providers 56 times more likely to follow Consumer Electronics Stores This tech-saavy, car enthusiast audience was also more likely to follow these types of social media handles than the average user. 10 times more likely to follow Sports Organizations 64 times more likely to follow Sports Media Companies 52 times more likely to follow Magazine Brands Other findings that popped in our recent analysis included: Consumers who engaged with these automotive brands on social media the month after the Super Bowl were 1.56 times more likely to reside in Michigan. More than 37 percent of these consumers had an average income between $50,000 and $99,999. The social media handles for the television shows these consumers were more likely to follow, included Top Gear, 60 Minutes and Baseball Tonight. Perhaps these programs would be great places for the auto brands to continue the conversation with current fans and potential customers. Marketers plan for the future Just as each consumer is unique, so is the trail of social media data they leave behind. Social media provides many consumers the venue to freely express their opinions and preferences. We help marketers tap into this data, and gain a remarkable view into who their customers are, the things they care about and how they behave. It’s that level of insight that enables marketers to optimize their content, plan better targeted campaigns in the future, and reach customers in a meaningful way. Much like any marketing effort, the current blue print to a successful Super Bowl campaign has been set. Create and deliver highly personalized messaging that resonates with consumers across a number of channels and encourages them to take an action, whether it’s purchase a product or share on social media. And finally, measure the results. It’s a lot easier to make that multi-million dollar advertising investment when you know the ROI is there. The brand marketers who follow the “game plan” can position themselves for their own Super Bowl win. To view the full press release, visit https://www.experianplc.com/media/news/2017/super-bowl-social-media/.
I’m an Experian Health Training Manager. I get to meet with healthcare organizations and teach them how to use our Financial Assistance Screening tool, which helps them easily and cost-effectively determine which patients qualify for financial assistance. I didn’t expect to interact directly with patients as part of my job, but I did – and the experience moved me. Recently, a client started using our automated tool, so I went to Colorado to train their financial counselors on how the product worked and help them understand the data so they could begin to use the tool with their patients. But then I was asked if I wanted to see the tool in action. Nothing could have prepared me for the experience of interacting directly with a patient who benefited from this tool – a woman who seemed visibly shaken when the financial counselor and I first met her in one of our client’s medical centers. After the financial counselor explained why we were there, she began to work her way down a list of questions prompted by Experian’s tool, asking about the patient’s annual income, household size and disabilities. After two minutes of questioning, the counselor hit “save” on the responses, and immediately the results came up on the screen. “Good news – you qualify for a 100 percent discount through our Medical Financial Assistance program,” the counselor said. “Your medications, stay and follow-up visits will all be covered.” The patient had trouble processing this information at first. “Are you telling me that now I can focus on getting better, and I don’t have to think about my medical bills?” This realization brought her to tears of relief. Her time in the waiting room had been plagued with thoughts of how she couldn’t afford her hospital stay, despite how much she needed medical attention. With our help, those thoughts were put to rest. With Experian’s tool, patients like this woman no longer need documents to prove their annual income. And healthcare providers don’t need to manually calculate whether and how they can provide financial support. After our meeting with this patient, the financial counselor told me she was so moved she was shaking. “It is inspiring to so tangibly be able to help our patients,” she said. I agree. I’m glad that through data, I’m helping healthcare organizations give patients financial peace of mind when they need it most. Read more #ExperianStories from our colleagues around the world.
I lead Experian’s EMEA Procurement team, where I work with Experian’s offices around the world when they begin implementing new projects or product ideas. I was recently asked to work alongside Experian’s Consumer Business in the United Kingdom as they prepared to launch Experian’s CreditExpert companion app. They wanted to enable consumers to access their credit reports on a mobile device, while also being able to access personalized tips on how to improve credit scores. The part of this project that I found most critical, however, was the app’s built-in web monitoring tool that proactively protects consumers’ online identities from fraud. Protection of personal data is a hot topic in the big data industry. As my team and I worked through the challenges associated with protecting our customers from identity theft and fraud, we brought in experts from other Experian functions — like our security team — to assess the tools we were using and help us put proper measures and protocols in place that would enable us to protect consumers using the app. With the launch of this new app, we can catch cases of fraud the moment they occur. So, if someone steals an individual’s information to take out a loan or a mortgage in their name, we send out an alert right away to the affected individual, encouraging them to log on to the application to review their account activities. If fraud has occurred, the app takes the hassle out of the equation for consumers. Our team will investigate the incident on their behalf. I am proud to work for a company that continuously develops new products and services to help consumers better understand their credit and to keep their financial futures and identities safe. Read more #ExperianStories from our colleagues around the world.
Today, we stand at the forefront of a digital revolution that is reshaping the financial services industry. And, against this backdrop, financial institutions are at vastly different levels of maturity; the world’s biggest banks are managing large-scale infrastructure migrations and making significant investments in AI while regional banks and credit unions are putting plans in place for modernization strategies, and fintechs are purpose-built and cloud native. To explore this more, I recently had the privilege of attending the annual Reuters NEXT live event in New York City. The event gathers globally recognized leaders across business, finance, technology, and government to tackle some of today’s most pressing issues. On the World Stage, I joined Del Irani, a talented anchor and broadcast journalist, to discuss the future of lending and the pivotal role of data and AI in building a more inclusive financial system. Improving financial access Our discussion highlighted the lack of access to traditional financial systems, and the impact it has on nearly 100 million people in North America alone. Globally, the problem affects over one billion people. These people, who are credit invisible, unscoreable, or have subprime credit scores, are unable to secure everyday financial products that many of us take for granted. What many don’t realize is, this is not a fringe subset of the population. Most of us, myself included, know someone who has faced the challenges of financial exclusion. Everyday Americans, including young people who are just starting out, new immigrants and people from diverse communities, often lack access to mainstream financial products. We discussed how traditional lending has a limited view of a consumer. Like looking through a keyhole, the lender’s understanding of the person in view is often incomplete and obstructed. However, with expanded data, technology, and advanced analytics, there is an opportunity to better understand the whole person, and as a result have a more inclusive financial system. At Experian, we have a unique ability to connect the power of traditional credit with alternative data, bringing a more holistic understanding of consumers and their behaviors. We are dedicated to leveraging our rich history in data and our expertise in technology to create the future of credit and ultimately bring financial power to everyone. The future of lending After spending two days with over 700 industry leaders from around the world, one thing is abundantly clear: much like the early days of the internet, today, we are at the cutting-edge of a technical revolution. Reflecting on my time at Reuters NEXT, I am particularly excited by the collective commitment to drive innovative, and smarter ways of working. We are only beginning to scratch the surface of how data and technology can transform financial services, and Experian is positioned to play a significant role. As we look to the future, I am excited about the ways we will create new opportunities for businesses and consumers alike.
The advertising ecosystem has seen significant transformation over the past few years, with increased privacy regulation, changes in available signals, and the rise of channels like connected TV and retail media. These changes are impacting the way that consumers interact with brands and how brands understand and continue to deliver relevant messages to consumers with precision. Experian has been helping marketers navigate these changes, and as a result, our marketing data and identity solutions underpin much of today’s advertising industry. We’re committed to empowering marketers and agencies to understand and reach their target audiences, across all channels. Today, we are excited to announce our acquisition of Audigent—a leading data and activation platform in the advertising industry. With Audigent’s combination of first-party publisher data, inventory and deep supply-side distribution relationships, publishers, big and small, can empower marketers to better understand their customers, expand the reach of their target audiences and activate those audiences across the most impactful inventory. I am excited to bring together Audigent’s supply-side network as a natural extension to our existing demand-side capabilities. Audigent’s ability to combine inventory with targeted audiences using first-party, third-party and contextual signals provides the best of all worlds, allowing marketers to deliver campaigns centered on consumer choices, preferences, and behaviors. The addition of Audigent further strengthens our strategy to be the premier independent provider of marketing data and identity, ultimately creating more relevant experiences for consumers. To learn more about Experian and Audigent, visit https://www.experian.com/marketing/ and https://audigent.com/.
When it comes to cybercriminals and threat vectors, we need to expect the unexpected. Experian’s 12th annual Data Breach Industry Forecast highlights several potential trends for 2025, with AI playing a central role. This year has already seen more data breaches and impacted consumers than 2023, indicating that global data breaches are not slowing down. Some things to watch out for next year includes the potential for more internal fraud. As companies train employees on AI, there is a growing risk that some will misuse their knowledge for internal theft and sourcing sensitive information. Another trend may be cyberattackers targeting large data centers, with the growth of generative AI introducing power as a new attack vector. It’s reported that a single ChatGPT query uses significantly more electricity than a standard Google search, making data centers and cloud infrastructure vulnerable, especially in countries with varying security standards. We expect AI-related attacks to dominate the headlines next year and investments in cybersecurity will increase to tackle this emerging threat, as hackers leverage AI for phishing, password cracking, malware, and deepfakes. Jim Steven, Head of Crisis and Data Response Services at Experian Global Data Breach Resolution in the UK, anticipates that global data breaches will persist at their current rate next year. He notes that ransomware attacks are likely to become even more sophisticated with the integration of AI. Additionally, Steven predicts that threat actors will escalate their tactics to achieve greater rewards, and the misuse of consumer data to damage reputations will increase in 2025. To access the complimentary report, click here.