These days, it seems like everyone in marketing is talking about personalization. But some are coming to recognize that getting there hinges on a prerequisite, a data science challenge – accurately resolving fragmented consumer identities across different channels.
While marketers have access to more consumer data than ever, some struggle to create unified views of individuals who may use different email addresses, share household purchases, or interact through various devices and platforms.
“Identity resolution is the fundamental gateway to the personalized world of marketing we’re all trying to create,” said Matt Spiegel, EVP of TruAudience growth strategy at TransUnion, in this video interview with Beet.TV.
Research reveals personalization expectations
Recent TransUnion research found that 40% of consumers now expect personalized messages and acknowledge that personalization impacts their purchase decisions – a figure Spiegel suggests is likely understated, even.
The company’s work with Forrester revealed that, despite having an average of 16 different ad tech providers, most marketers remain uncomfortable with their ability to effectively personalize and reach target audiences.
“Most marketers still have media buys in lots of different places, and marketers want to work with publishers that enable them to do the cross-platform measurement that they ultimately want to do,” Spiegel said.
Enabling commerce media strategies
According to eMarketer, commerce media ad spending is projected to increase by 21.8% in 2025, maintaining a robust growth trajectory
TransUnion’s role focuses on enabling commerce media initiatives through identity resolution and data enrichment. The company recently partnered with United Airlines’ Kinective Media unit to enhance its commerce media capabilities.
“Companies like United and Kinective that have direct relationships with consumers and have insight into purchase patterns in different categories – in this case, travel – have the opportunity to really do some interesting things in media because of that data,” Spiegel explained.
The company helps enrich customer profiles with additional identity signals while enabling cross-platform measurement capabilities that marketers require for understanding true incremental reach and conversion impact.
Privacy and personalization as partners
Despite growing privacy regulations, Spiegel maintains that privacy and personalization should not be viewed as opposing forces. Rather, they are “compatriots” that work hand in hand.
“As consumer privacy takes more front and center stage for us in this industry, it’s not ‘more important.’ It’s always been important, but the industry hasn’t always done as good of a job as necessary to manage it,” Spiegel noted.
He emphasized that companies must focus on implementing both privacy protections and personalization capabilities as complementary priorities rather than trade-offs in today’s marketing ecosystem.
You’re watching “The Flight to Cannes: Commerce Media Takes Off”, a Beet.TV Leadership Series, presented by Kinective Media by United Airlines. For more videos from this series, please visit this page.
