CANNES — In an advertising ecosystem grappling with signal loss and privacy demands, the prevailing wisdom has often involved centralizing vast pools of consumer data. A new approach, however, posits that the future of data intelligence lies not in collection, but in connection—using artificial intelligence to find patterns across disparate datasets without ever moving them from their source.
That is the vision driving Open Intelligence, a new platform from WPP’s data company, Choreograph.
By leveraging the same principles that power generative AI, this method aims to understand complex relationships between data organized by location, keyword, or content, moving far beyond the limitations of traditional, identity-based solutions, according to Alex Steer, global chief data officer, Choreograph.
A wider creative aperture
Open Intelligence acts as the data layer for WPP Open, the technology platform used by the holding company’s teams and clients. Steer positions the platform as a fundamental shift away from legacy systems. Unlike traditional holding company data solutions which are “all about data centralization and tend to organize data only in one way, which is by IDs,” he said Open Intelligence is designed to be more flexible and expansive.
He acknowledged that identity-based data will remain part of the strategy, but argued it is no longer the full picture for understanding growth. “If you look at the revolution that we’re living through in AI, particularly generative AI, it’s powered by this ability to understand patterns and relationships between data of totally different types,” Steer said.
The goal is to help advertisers analyze information that goes far beyond simple identifiers. “For every piece of data that’s organized by an ID like a phone or an email, there’s data that’s organized by location, by store, by keyword, by interest, and even the unstructured data that sits in content and images, videos, documents,” Steer said. “What we want to be able to do is help advertisers use all of that.”
Lowering the marketing walls
Choreograph specializes in data science and technology. It provides marketing and advertising solutions by leveraging consumer insights and analytics.
Steer hopes this new mode of intelligence will change how advertisers approach their consumers and break down internal silos that have long separated marketing disciplines. He argued that the limited types of information that could be attached to traditional, ID-only solutions has constrained strategic thinking.
The objective is to provide a more holistic view of the consumer landscape. “What we want to do is widen the aperture, encourage more creative thinking, help everybody see the full picture of who their consumers and audiences and growth opportunities are,” Steer said. “You can think more creatively about what you do in advertising, in media, and customer experience.”
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