For brands that were used to plugging targeting files into their ad buyers, the new world looks a lot different.

Deprecation of third-party tracking cookies and limits on mobile ad identifiers are forcing more ad buyers to target more smartly.

But, in this video interview with Beet.TV, Sandra Swindle, SVP, CRM Technology Delivery Lead at Merkle, says what they do instead cannot be just a single tactic but, rather, a range.

Pre-sale identity

The new world will be all about person data. But Swindle says brands should not only be focusing on the people data they gather after sale to now-known customers. It starts before those people are even on the horizon.

“(You need) foundational identity linking capability that allows you to recognise somebody before they’re necessarily a first-party record for that particular brand,” Swindle says.

“Before they become a customer, (you must be) recognising that individual. Tying that record back into second-party and third-party data is going to become really important.

“As that starts to deprecate, having a solid base and foundation of known consumers that you’re working against and being able to tie your first party customers back into that known group of consumers as a base, is going to become foundational.”

Zero-party data

In 2020, the new focus for brands is gaining a real, direct relationship with audiences.

If they don’t already have those records, they need to gather them – and that’s going to mean providing attractive value in return for signals like email addresses. Some are coming to call this voluntarily-supplied information “zero-party” data.

“You really want to personalise and make those experiences most relevant for consumers,” Swindle says. “But, in order, to do that brands need that data back.

“And so, giving an exchange of value for that data, is something that a lot of brands are working on right now in order to keep that consumer profile or understand how to make their products work for consumers and drive what consumers are looking for. Tomorrow is going to continue to be relevant as we move into this compliance era.”

Second and third, combined

Not only that, but Swindle says there should be a big focus on connecting up person profiles pulled in from other sources.

So-called second-party data (other companies’ first-party data) and third-party data (that bought from data aggregators) can be combined, Swindle suggests.

“A lot of the different partners are locking those IDs down,” she says. “But try to ensure that you have a broad enough profile in order to connect that back into second parties and third parties.

“It’s going to become important to leverage different exchange groups that have those second party and third party connections, in order to then take advantage of your customer base and drive that asset out further into different media opportunities and into that landscape as third party cookie deprecates.”

You are watching “First Party Data: Driving Media Investment and Accountability,” a Beet.TV leadership video series presented by Target’s Roundel  For more videos, please visit this page.  The views shared on this series do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Target and Roundel.

By Robert Andrews on @robertandrews