Now more than ever, brands are coming to publishers with a range of complex marketing measurement needs. From understanding how ads are driving return on ad spend (ROAS) to looking deeper into how one advertising tactic is performing compared to others, brands are working hard to prove marketing value as a revenue driver for the entire organization.
In our recent webinar, How to Maximize Impact and Innovation on Pinterest and Snapchat, Scott Baker, Managing Director of Data Collaboration Solutions at LiveRamp, connected with Preeti Farooque, Global Head of Measurement at Pinterest, and Jennifer Knuckles, Group Manager, Marketing Science at Snapchat to explore how publishers are collaborating to provide brand partners with the data-driven insights that matter most to them.
Elevate marketing measurement: the path to sustainable revenue growth
There’s been an increased need for collaboration across brands and publishers—both to access data that is deteriorating with signal loss and to access new data through collaborations that may not have been possible before. Importantly, measurement is not one-size-fits-all. Brands are seeking flexible collaboration and measurement tools from publishers to fully understand how ads are impacting their bottom line, and ultimately drive more revenue.
Pinterest and Snapchat’s roadmap to enhanced campaign performance
Pinterest’s approach to measurement is a multi-step process, Preeti explained. First, a company must build a strong data foundation before aligning on a clear goal across teams and campaigns. Then, you can create your measurement strategy knowing that a combination of measurement applications can be powered together in a unified way. Lastly, Preeti suggested that brands embrace their unique measurement journey.
“We find at Pinterest that brands who take a test and learn mindset see two times more lift and action intent compared to those who take a one and done approach,” Preeti said.
Knuckles agreed, adding, “we call it the three E’s: execution, experimentation, and evaluation.”
Measurement results must be monitored regularly, even daily. Experimentation happens over time, from campaign to campaign through gradual optimizations. Ultimately, measurement evaluation requires a holistic, macro view of marketing impact before feeding back into individual media decisions.
Navigating measurement challenges
As new measurement applications and strategies become available, data fragmentation can feel impossible to overcome. Publishers are being asked to help brands break down data and measurement silos for a more unified measurement view.
Preeti said a common challenge at Pinterest is understanding how to track and analyze data in a way that’s not just privacy-centric but can withstand future changes.
“Moving towards adopting measurement solutions like media mix models that are perhaps more based on aggregate data and less dependent on event and user level data are emerging in popularity as a way for brands to track and analyze their data in a way that’s both data safe and secure,” Preeti said.
Privacy enhancing technologies (commonly referred to as PETs) have become a common topic in Snap’s conversations with clean room collaborations.
While advertisers are still exploring the possibilities of collaborating with PETs and data clean rooms, Pinterest and Snap are trying new ways to meet brands’ measurement needs while respecting consumer privacy.
Success stories: unlocking campaign performance and ROI
As Snap continues to evolve their data and measurement capabilities, the team is seeing exciting results. One client, French Army, was recently challenged with trying to understand how to reconcile their campaign performance with fragmented media buy data.
Snap’s solution? Connecting French Army conversion data to Snap exposure data via a privacy-conscious API through LiveRamp.
“The data collected actually went up by nearly 20%,” Knuckles said. “That allowed our Snapchat algorithm to then work to improve and optimize so we could see better results.”
Through this measurement report and campaign optimization, Snap was able to bring the French Army’s cost per acquisition down by 10%.
Pinterest, an early adopter of LiveRamp’s clean room solution, has already seen some exciting ROAS results unlocked through the collaboration. Their retail partner wanted to understand crucial metrics, such as ROAS from a healthy eating campaign.
To unlock these insights, Pinterest first established a strong data foundation. With Pinterest’s clean room capabilities powered by LiveRamp, the retailer was able to leverage and connect their first-party data to Pinterest’s platform data in a secure environment where neither party had visibility or access to identifiable sales and campaign data.
Through this collaboration, which connected data for the entire customer journey, the retailer was able to show suppliers how they could make informed advertising decisions in a privacy-minded way.
LiveRamp’s pivotal role in measurement and collaboration
Pinterest and Snap have unlocked new measurement solutions and data collaboration capabilities in partnership with LiveRamp, specifically through clean rooms and a Conversions API (where brands can safely share pseudonymized conversion data with their publisher partner).
Preeti said that measurement solutions must complement each other to fully unlock the value of media investments.
“If you’re leveraging your clean rooms for measurement, make sure you also are adopting Conversion API, because if not, you’re missing out on a more robust audience and optimization strategy,” she said. “That’s how you maximize that ecosystem.”
While Preeti believes that measurement won’t get “easier” considering the ever-evolving industry, signal loss, and privacy changes, she is excited about Pinterest’s new collaboration capabilities.
“Our goal is to make sure we’re building easy, safe, effective solutions for brands while maintaining and protecting the privacy of our pinners, our retailers, and their customers. [LiveRamp] has enabled us to test with some of the most forward-looking and innovative brands to really validate and understand what measurement can look like in this new space, and allow us to continue our mission to help make Pinterest a safe and positive place for everyone,” she said.
Knuckles believes a privacy-conscious and future-looking measurement strategy must tie back to identity.
“A shout to LiveRamp’s RampID in particular because I do think that that has given us a new level of flexibility in our measurement efforts. Not only in collaborating and connecting with our advertiser partners but also with our vendors, and to be able to enhance our full suite of measurement capabilities.”
To uncover more measurement insights and strategies from Pinterest and Snap, watch the full on-demand webinar.
