Experian Marketing Services, a global provider of integrated consumer insights, targeting, data quality and cross-channel marketing, hosted a fireside chat with U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team goalkeeper Tim Howard at its 2014 Client Summit. In the following video clip from that fireside chat, Howard discusses how he decides to align with brands that match his personal and professional image. Specifically, Howard describes the formula he uses to make business partnership decisions. “We try and look for a good fit,” said Howard. “There’s not always a blueprint for that, but it’s a feeling.” He continues, “I don’t want to lend my name to just any old company. I have put in a lot of hard work into my own brand, which is basically on the field, trying to be a decent guy and a good player.” A video of the entire fireside chat featuring Howard and moderator Rick Erwin, president of consumer insights and targeting at Experian Marketing Services, can be viewed on the company’s YouTube channel with this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T19JM3i-brY Insights and stories shared by Howard connected directly to the theme of the 2014 Client Summit, reinforcing the importance of storytelling for marketers and how brands need to deliver exceptional and authentic customer experiences. During the Client Summit, Experian Marketing Services also unveiled several new capabilities that will help marketers drive customer acquisition, increase brand loyalty and improve marketing return on investment. The biggest highlight was the announcement of the Experian Marketing Suite, a cohesive, end-to-end marketing capability that enables brands to deliver authentic customer experiences every time, in any channel and via any device. To watch additional Client Summit videos, including event keynote sessions, visit http://ex.pn/W8ktEQ.

At Experian, we have a firm commitment to social responsibility. We show that commitment through a broad range of efforts that help communities realize their social and economic potential by investing in community and education programs that foster the financial health of individuals and small businesses across the globe. As part of this commitment, Experian has more than 100 employees who are certified as Experian Education Ambassadors. These ambassadors educate consumers throughout the United States about credit reporting, credit scoring, fraud and identity theft and other issues in which Experian has expertise. Presentations take place at youth organizations, schools, colleges and universities, faith-based organizations – anywhere people gather and request information about these important subjects. Experian Education Ambassadors volunteer their time, often nights and weekends to support programs and events in the communities where they live and work. They do this because of the personal gratification they receive from helping others. They do it because they work for Experian, and people expect us to be able to answer their questions about credit reports and credit scores. Experian is also awarding thousands of dollars in financial literacy grants to non-profit organizations serving in need consumer groups including youth, minority groups, first time home buyers, military, and small business entrepreneurs become more financially literate and capable throughout their lives. Investment in Early Education And recently, Experian partnered with Ubuntu Education Fund (Ubuntu) in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, adding a new dimension of our culture of Corporate Social Responsibility at Experian. This partnership with Ubuntu included a donation of $15,000 to provide school supplies and educational development to children in the Port Elizabeth area, and parallels a nationwide school supplies donation drive across Experian’s North America region. Donations will go to local charity partners with the mission of improving education for underserved children. We believe investment in early education and development of youth is essential in any country to help give young people a strong foundation to succeed in life, This partnership with Ubuntu Education Fund, which will use our financial contribution to help not only provide basic education supplies, but also holistically care for children to give them a better chance of success. To learn more about our commitment to corporate responsibility go to: http://www.experianplc.com/corporate-responsibility.aspx

Experian Marketing Services, a global provider of integrated consumer insights, targeting, data quality and cross-channel marketing, gathered more than 1,000 top marketing executives from the world’s leading brands for the 2014 Client Summit. The event reinforced the importance of storytelling for marketers and how brands need to deliver exceptional and authentic customer experiences. During the Client Summit, Experian Marketing Services unveiled several new capabilities that will help marketers drive customer acquisition, increase brand loyalty and improve marketing return on investment. The biggest highlight was the announcement of the Experian Marketing Suite, a cohesive, end-to-end marketing capability that enables brands to deliver authentic customer experiences every time, in any channel and via any device. A video of the live unveiling and demo of the Experian Marketing Suite at the Client Summit can be viewed here: http://ex.pn/V2tgas The Experian Marketing Suite allows brands to accurately capture, link and enrich customer identities across channels while providing added intelligence to understand customer behaviors and preferences. Also included in the Marketing Suite is an Interactions Manager, which marketers can use to engage with their customers across channels an devices and then analyze and measure marketing performance. “This year’s Client Summit tapped into the heart of good marketing and provided our clients with a balance of inspiration, education and networking,” said Ashley Johnston, senior vice president, global marketing at Experian Marketing Services. “Our star-studded lineup of keynotes and educational panels left attendees with tangible and progressive strategies for becoming even better marketers and storytellers.” The 2014 Client Summit was held at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, Nev. Sessions included a keynote address by Adam Savage, co-host of MythBusters, discussing the synchronicities of art and science and how they can make both creatives and technologists better storytellers; a storytellers panel featuring Grammy winner and hip hop icon Jermaine Dupri along with top marketing leaders from The Limited, ShoeDazzle and Red Envelope. The Summit also featured two intimate fireside chats — one with U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team goalkeeper Tim Howard and one with Michael Strahan, co-host of LIVE with Kelly and Michael and Good Morning America, analyst for Fox NFL Sunday and pro football Hall of Famer. Comedy Central, GameStop and Zappos also were among the main stage client spotlight presentations, with marketing leaders from those brands providing specific and actionable examples of how they have raised the bar on customer experience, engagement and impactful storytelling. A highly anticipated event each summer for marketers, Experian Marketing Services’ Client Summit recently was recognized with a Stevie Award for Best Tradeshow/Conference at the American Business Awards. This year’s event continued the tradition of excellence and was praised by attendees. “Experian Marketing Services’ Client Summit once again proved to be one of the year’s ‘don’t miss’ marketing events,” said Don Steele, senior vice president, fan engagement, multiplatform marketing at Comedy Central. “I had a great time networking with colleagues and peers and hearing from some of the world’s best storytellers. It was a fantastic time at a great venue, and I can’t wait for next year.” More information on the Experian Marketing Suite can be viewed here: http://ex.pn/1shO4pY

 Precise ID® with FraudNet provides a single view of a consumer’s identity across devices Experian®, the leading global information services company, has announced the launch of a cross-channel fraud platform to better authenticate consumers, validate their mobile devices and identify mobile fraud. The platform combines Experian’s Precise ID®, an industry-leading risk-based authentication service, with FraudNet, a global fraud detection and prevention service from 41st Parameter®, a company Experian recently acquired. The combined offering provides organizations with a way to authenticate consumers confidently at multiple touch-points online, subsequently increasing revenues by significantly reducing false positives in their fraud processes, improving operational efficiencies and preserving a positive customer experience. Companies face significant pressure in authenticating consumers in non-face-to-face channels while protecting their brand from vulnerabilities and financial losses from fraud. Setting up accurate fraud detection processes has become more and more challenging as mobile and online channels have become widely used by consumers. At the same time, fraudsters’ techniques are becoming increasingly sophisticated. “Managing fraud risk and protecting customer identities are becoming more complex as the opportunity for fraud has increased with the proliferation of mobile devices being used for online transactions. Organizations need to confidently authenticate consumers without affecting their overall customer experience,” said Adam Fingersh, senior vice president of Experian Decision Analytics. “The Precise ID with FraudNet platform provides organizations with the ability to manage fraud risk associated with traditional identity information coupled with device-based information through a single platform regardless of channel, all while managing a positive customer experience.” Experian’s Precise ID with FraudNet platform uses a highly configurable rules-based engine designed to balance an individual business’s needs and fraud-risk appetite. The platform combines several features that collectively create a leading offering in the market: • Identity authentication — The risk-based approach considers credit data, noncredit data, questions, scores and analytics, leveraging Experian’s proven analytics and scoring expertise. Custom and configurable rules that support your credit, fraud and compliance policies with Fair Credit Reporting Act and Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act compliance aids in meeting mandated government and industry regulations. • Device intelligence — Fraudsters are taking advantage of new technology and the proliferation of devices. The Precise ID with FraudNet platform enables clients to recognize known returning customers, authenticate new legitimate customers and flag fraudulent threats. By leveraging more than 100 device intelligence attributes and more than 500 actionable rules, Precise ID with FraudNet looks for suspicious and inconsistent device characteristics without the use of any cookies. • Link analysis tool — Investigators can rapidly assess the authenticity of the transaction or group of transactions. For example, the tool can identify common customer information and billing data, including name, multiple phones, multiple addresses and multiple email addresses from the same device, even if no other information is the same. • Risk analyzer — Reduce acceptance of bad accounts without negatively impacting profits via a highly customizable rules engine that is configurable to a company’s risk appetite to appropriately manage cross-channel risk in a portfolio. • Investigator workbench – simplifies case management via an online user interface. Precise ID with FraudNet also incorporates detection tools and full audit trails to decrease investigator training times, reduce the volume of manually reviewed transactions and save time and resources in the review process. Learn more about Precise ID with FraudNet

Summertime only comes around but once a year. And when it does, you can always expect to see the sun shining brightly, kids eating ice cream and folks heading to the beach. While all these may be staples of the season, none are more indicative of summer than seeing someone drive down the highway in a nice convertible with the wind blowing through their hair. Who gets to live this lifestyle, you ask? The answer: Successful, college-educated consumers living in California or Florida. According to a recent analysis, Experian Automotive found that more than 50 percent of all convertible car buyers had at least a bachelor’s degree, while only 38.2 percent of average new car buyers had a similar education level. Additionally, nearly 19 percent of consumers purchasing a convertible had an average household income in excess of $175,000, and 11.7 percent owned a home valued at more than $1 million. Conversely, only 10.7 percent of average new car buyers had a household income of the same level, and only 4.4 percent owned at home valued at the same price. The analysis also showed that a significant portion of convertibles were registered in predominately sun-filled states. In Q1 2014, 23 percent of all convertibles were registered in California (13.4 percent) or Florida (9.6 percent). Texas (7 percent), New York (4.3 percent) and Illinois (3.9 percent) rounded out the top five. And, now that you have an idea of who the person driving the convertible is, you probably also noticed that they were most likely driving a Ford Mustang. The analysis found that in the first quarter of 2014, the Ford Mustang was the convertible vehicle model of choice across all 50 states. The Chrysler Sebring, Mazda Miata/MX-5, BMW 3-Series and Chevrolet Corvette rounded out the remaining top five convertible makes and models in the United States. For more information on this analysis or other automotive-related insights, visit www.experian.com/automotive.

Ori Eisen, founder of the 41st Parameter, a part of Experian, and Frank Abagnale Jr. spoke with Bloomberg TV recently about new major new fraud threats emerging and how Experian can help protect organizations and their customers from becoming victims. Experian’s fraud prevention and identity management business helps clients combat the global fraud epidemic costing businesses hundreds of billions of dollars every year. You can the watch the interview here: Corporate account takeover is a growing issue as virtually any web site leveraging username and password authentication can be affected. Our Decision Analytics team wrote about the account takeover trend earlier.

The Experian Marketing Suite enables brands to create and deliver authentic customer experiences across all interaction points Experian Marketing Services today launched the Experian Marketing Suite. Unveiled at Experian Marketing Services’ 2014 Client Summit in Las Vegas, Nevada, the Marketing Suite is a cohesive end-to-end marketing solution that enables brands to create and deliver authentic customer experiences every time, in any channel and via any device. The Marketing Suite allows brands to identify and profile customers better, while providing added intelligence to gain a complete and current view of the customer. Paired with a flexible campaign management platform, the Marketing Suite enables marketers to create personalized interactions in real time and increase the sophistication of their marketing efforts. Consumer insights and intelligence can be linked to a brand’s own data, making it available via every communication channel in a privacy compliant and secure manner. “By leveraging our 30 years of data-driven marketing experience, combined with our expertise in data integration and intelligent customer analysis, our Experian Marketing Suite empowers brands to deliver higher customer lifetime value and benefit from long-term profitability,” said Matt Seeley, president of Experian Marketing Services. “Our goal is to stay flexible and adaptable to meet the changing needs of our clients. It’s through their direct feedback that we’ve created this Marketing Suite, providing brands with numerous competitive marketing advantages, including increased customer loyalty and improved marketing return on investment.” The Experian Marketing Suite is made up of three core elements, providing marketers with the following competitive advantages: Identity manager — Develop a comprehensive view of customers through accurately captured contact data, consumer data set enhancements and linkage across all customer interactions Intelligence manager — Understand customer behaviors and preferences through actionable customer profiles, targeted messaging and engagement strategies Interactions manager — Interact intelligently across all channels with a flexible campaign management platform that provides optimized interactions across all touch-points, analysis to optimize performance and campaign attribution The Experian Marketing Suite was launched at Experian Marketing Services’ 2014 Client Summit in Las Vegas, Nev.  At the Client Summit, executives from Experian Marketing Services unveil the company’s latest products, capabilities, actionable case studies and groundbreaking consumer research, sharing the stage with clients and partners. Learn more about the Experian Marketing Suite.

Cybersecurity is increasingly becoming a challenge across many industries. I recently spoke with Mike Gross, the director of risk strategy and professional services at 41st Parameter, about how the banking industry is changing to adapt to new mobile technology and the new forms of fraud that exist as a result. At 41st Parameter, Mike is responsible for identifying fraud trends across several industries helping clients with risk management control and measuring the performance of new risk strategies. You can read the full interview here: http://bit.ly/WzDall  To learn more about 41st Parameter please visit: https://www.experian.com/decision-analytics/41st-parameter.html 

Experian Data Quality, a part of Experian Marketing Services and a leading provider of data quality software and services, today published a new report on the prevalence of personalization and analytics required to support new marketing efforts. The study found that while almost half of companies personalize messages across more than one channel, organizations struggle to gain insight quickly and maintain an accurate data source. “While the majority of companies are investing in analytics and looking to improve the customer experience through personalization, many lack the data backbone necessary to support this effort,” said Thomas Schutz, senior vice president, general manager of Experian Data Quality. “Companies are able to obtain compelling types of information at impressive volumes, but most struggle with basic data quality that allows them to ensure accurate and accessible information.” Experian Data Quality also found that: • Of those that leverage personalization, 84 percent do so to improve customer engagement • Ninety-four percent of companies have challenges related to personalization • More than two-thirds of companies are investing budget into analytics and have an analytics team • Ninety-four percent of companies are linking customer information across channels, but 83 percent are having a difficult time accomplishing this “Without a foundation in data quality, organizations simply will be unable to fully achieve personalization goals,” added Schutz. “Organizations need to continue to invest in analytics, but they also should leverage resources to consolidate information and ensure its accuracy.” To obtain a copy of Maximizing personalization from Experian Data Quality, please visit http://www.qas.com/whitepapers/maximizing-personalization/contact-form.htm.