We kicked off day one in the U.S. of our first-ever RampUp: Worldwide Virtual Summit with opening remarks from LiveRamp’s CEO, Scott Howe, and our President and Head of Products, Anneka Gupta. Both acknowledged the tremendous shifts we’ve experienced in the industry as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and shelter-in-place mandates, along with technological changes due to increased data privacy concerns. Anneka used an (appropriately Californian) analogy of tectonic plates and earthquakes. Despite all these changes, Scott sees these shifts as preparing our industry for a better future. He said, “While the world around us has never been more challenging, the marketing world has never been more exciting.”
Here are some key takeaways from LiveRamp Innovation Studio sessions and how we’re responding to these tectonic shifts:
Cross-Screen Measurement is Critical
In the session, “Powering Next-Generation TV Measurement with the Largest Viewership Dataset,” Ethan Settel, Head of Customer Success, LiveRamp TV Measurement, led a lively discussion with Scott Yi, VP, Analytics Director, Havas Media, and Brad Backenstose, Managing Partner, Global Client Lead and Agency Leadership, Wavemaker. Two key takeaways from the conversation were:
Investment in accurate cross-screen channel measurement is more important than ever to make every dollar go even further, especially during tough economic times
Video advertising involves art and science—and you must evolve your media planning and buying strategy to drive desired business outcomes
On the topics of the shift in viewing habits and the Upfronts, Brad noted that even without these changes, scarcity still drives the marketplace. Brands still need to focus on long-term buying while building in some flexibility. The more you lock yourself in ahead of time, the better pricing and terms you’re going to get. Both Scott and Brad shared that LiveRamp’s Data Plus Math provides the measurement validation and direction to the decisions they’re making with clients.
When it comes to clients who could be investing $30-100 million per quarter, seeing an improvement in TV and video performance of 10% is huge, Considering that a 1% increase in lift translates to a large number of incremental sales. Measurement is key to understanding the true value of your TV investments.
If you missed this session, watch it now.
Don’t Procrastinate: Prepare Now for an Addressable, Cookieless future
In the session, “Achieving Addressable Reach with People-Based Identity,” LiveRamp’s Joe Lyons chatted with Fitbit’s Senior Direct of Media Jay Newell on how the health and fitness technology brand is preparing for advertising without third-party cookies. Jay discussed how in its efforts, Fitbit A/B tested activating against LiveRamp people-based identifiers versus traditional cookies for a recent Father’s Day campaign, and saw a conversion rate for site traffic up 76%.
Being able to measure campaign performance is also a concern for marketers as third-party cookies disappear. In a quick poll during the session, 41% of session attendees cited measurement as the capability they’re most worried about losing. Likewise, Jay also mentioned this as one of the primary things that keeps him up at night, but found solace in solutions like LiveRamp’s Authenticated Traffic Solution that are helping propel the industry forward.
If you missed this session, watch it here.
The road to a single-view of your customers is paved with identity APIs
In the session “Manage Your Data Assets under a Single Identity Framework,” Dennis Ellis, VP of Global Identity at LiveRamp, shared how to advance your identity strategy through the use of our APIs. This enables you to gain a single view of your customer, which has tremendous uses and benefits beyond marketing:
With this single source of truth, you can be assured that little data is lost in translation and opportunities aren’t missed.
Dennis went on to share this three-step process of building a comprehensive identity strategy usable by the entire enterprise:
1. Resolve fragmented sets within the enterprise that require known data to minimize the chances of duplicative identities
2. Build a single-view of the customer spanning known and anonymous touchpoints to enable you to connect with consumers in ways they find welcome and preserve data privacy and therefore trust
3. Underpin known and unknown data with an intelligence layer enabling multiple teams across your organization to draw better data-driven insights
If you missed this session, watch it here.
Safe Haven—trust infrastructure for a new era
The popularity of LiveRamp Safe Haven 101 revealed a shared interest among brands, technology partners, and publishers to uplevel their data strategy. All companies are facing a growing dearth of customer intelligence due to a number of industry and secular trends, from rapidly changing consumer behavior due to the COVID-19 pandemic to the deprecation of third-party cookies limiting data access.
Tom Affinito, global product marketing lead for Safe Haven, discussed how LiveRamp Safe Haven can help you build upon your understanding of target audiences, and preserve existing Mar Tech investments with interoperable infrastructure designed to maximize the value and utility of your core platforms and customer data:
If you missed this session, watch it here.
Building on the information in that session, our team was joined by Kevin Arrix from DISH Media later in the day for a look at the “Controlled & Conscientious Use of TV Data in a Secure Environment.” For the TV industry, LiveRamp Safe Haven provides an infrastructure for MVPDs and brands to collaborate with low friction, high privacy and governance enabling seamless cross-screen experiences, and confidently measuring ROAS.
When discussing the role identity and secure data plays in the ecosystem, Kevin noted that LiveRamp has been talking about this for a long time. The market is just starting to catch on to the different levels and sophistication of data, he posits—something that is going to be pivotal going forward especially with all the privacy regulations taking root.
LiveRamp for B2B: ABM is Already the Future of B2B Marketing
B2B marketers struggle to adapt to reach audiences of account decision makers in their home offices. Addressing this challenge, LiveRamp B2B’s Rene Asis and HPE’s Samantha Booton and ABM evangelist and consultant Kara Alcamo discussed the changes they’re seeing in the industry and how B2B marketers can begin adopting an ABM marketing strategy during shelter-in-place. Samantha notes that the shelter-in-place mandates have provided more opportunities for ABM, while Kara also noted to invest more in CTV and YouTube, given shifts in media consumption. Rene offered three key takeaways for companies looking to activate ABM campaigns:
1. Institutional challenges can make or break your ABM program—alignment among internal teams and an understanding of the KPIs that matter to each is critical to success
2. Measure your ABM readiness so you can set realistic goals and take calculated risks
3. COVID-19 has impacted ABM—evaluate technology based on flexibility and what will serve your company well in the long term
We’re excited for what’s in store for days two and three of RampUp: Worldwide Virtual Summit, as we continue to hear from media, marketing, data and technology experts from around the world.
To learn more about how LiveRamp can help you prepare for an addressable future without third-party cookies, advance your data strategy, measure your TV investments, and more, reach out to [email protected].