“We’re on the cusp”
Data-driven marketing is rapidly evolving, reshaping how brands connect with their customers and drive growth. As the landscape becomes increasingly complex, agencies must adapt to stay ahead of the curve. Understanding the interplay between data, technology, organizations, and consumers is crucial for success in this new era.
In the latest episode of our Identity Architects podcast, InfoSum's SVP, Marketing & Communications, Ben Cicchetti, sat down with Rob Goodwin, Chief Data Officer, Global at MSQ and Chief Executive Officer at MSQ Data, to discuss modern media agencies, data strategies, composable technology, AI, being a customer champion, and more.
“Once I started getting more into mathematics, I went, this is where my line of work is going to go, probably from the age of 12, 13. I'm going to be using these skills later in life. [...] I got into it, got into technology, data, lots of that at university, I just went - I definitely want to become a subject matter expert in this field. ”
Fast-forward to today, and Rob has been living out his passions from a young age. He leads data and technology teams across MSQ and empowers brands to fulfill their full potential through data-driven marketing.
“One of the reasons why I'm in the field as well is getting to work with loads of different businesses and understanding their challenges and then how data technology and insight can help it. It gets the mind going. It really keeps your brain sharp, and you're just constantly learning.”
The data and technology landscape is evolving rapidly. Staying on top of these trends is paramount for agencies to deliver value to their clients. Data underpins all modern businesses, and making sense of it and unlocking the value held within data is both the main challenge and opportunity for organizations today.
“This is what actually clients come to us for. And they talk to us all the time going, but how do we solve for this? Or what are some of those challenges? And a lot of clients then have a lot of technical debt or historic challenges with understanding who owns the data, where it sits, and all those types of things.”
Now more than ever, it’s crucial that organizations build robust data strategies that empower them to deliver sustainable customer experiences and drive business growth. However, this is easier said than done. A strong data strategy requires collaboration across teams and technology.
“We always make sure we look at people, process, data, and tech. And it's normally a mixture of all four of those things. [...] If you fix the data and technology and don't have the right process and people, it's no good to you. It's that classic, you know, lawnmower engine in a Ferrari kind of analogy, which you kind of go, well, if you haven't got people to run it as well, it's just not going to drive itself. So it's about setting it up in the right way.”
Each brand faces unique challenges, but one constant in the first-party data world is that brands will only hold some of the data they need to build a single customer view and deep audience insights. Identifying gaps in data and establishing partnerships should be a priority for all brands.
“What are those missing data points? So, how do we enrich their arsenal of insight? What do they have? What do they trust? [...] So we try and understand those types of things within that data layer. And then that kind of leads us into then going, well, if there are some gaps [...] what can be enriched with third-party insight? So what can we do quickly? How can we use partners [...] to then enrich some of that third-party data?”
Media agencies themselves also face their own set of challenges. To stay relevant and maximize value for clients, they must stay ahead of industry trends and new technologies, which requires a test-and-learn mindset.
“We have multiple different partnerships and and trials to make sure we stay basically stay on the front foot, so we understand where and what is the best technology in play so this is then thinking about who are the best players? What's the best technology ecosystem for our clients? So, how do we keep it agnostic? And we do pride ourselves to be in agnostic business.”
To remain agnostic and consistently leverage the best solutions and technology requires an ability to move fast. How does MSQ achieve this?
“You need a composable interchangeable ecosystem. [...] How can we change things in and out? How can we use APIs as part of that infrastructure? And therefore, anything you then build in the future can constantly change, which obviously we will need with the AI revolution in a few more years time and now to then make sure we've got composable technology stacks.”
In the past, and especially with the use of third-party cookies, the industry has been guilty of forgetting that the consumer is an integral part of the advertising ecosystem. But that won’t wash anymore in the first-party data era, where organizations need to place consumers at the heart of everything they do. Rob explained how MSQ takes the position of being a customer champion when creating campaigns to understand customer needs and how to create the best experience.
“If we're the customer champion as well, it's then going, well, okay, why would a customer give us data in the first place? But importantly, if they did, what would we do with it? And if we were going to do something with it, how does it make their experience better? How could we learn from it? And what's the reasoning?”
Consumers are becoming more savvy about how their data is used online. They want to know they can trust the company to handle their data responsibly. This starts with organizations offering a clear, fair and transparent value exchange.
“It's all about understanding that privacy balance, but also consumers are becoming so much more knowledgeable about their own value and their own first-party data. [...] So the primary starting point then is going what's the data value exchange? Why should I give my data? [...] Why should I give my data to a business? [...] Do I get something as fair exchange and fair quality of that? It needs to be seamless, it needs to be fast, it needs to be engaging, it needs to be creative and visual.”
As a data leader and expert in the field, we couldn’t let Rob go without getting his opinion on the topic of the moment, Generative AI.
“There's been a massive boom. [...] Yes, it is useful. However, I don't think it's as good as it can be. [...] I think that’s where people are coming in, getting a bit nervous or getting really excited in places. I think what we're seeing now is it is helping speed and efficiency of output in the marketing advertising industry, especially when it gets to specific areas. [...] It's not replacing end-to-end jobs, but it's about workflows, it's about efficiency of outputs in the stages.”
However, the rate of improvement of AI has been impressive, and Rob sees it playing a much more significant role further down the line. Widespread experimentation is already happening across all businesses.
“We're on the cusp, I think [...] We're probably a few years away from it properly being fully embedded, but every single business we're talking to is testing it.”
Generative AI will profoundly impact the advertising and marketing industry in the coming years, but what other trends should marketers have on their radar?
“AI ethics and AI legislation. I think those two things, which are already scaling now, but that we've not quite got to executional output for marketing just yet, the next two years, that is going to become bigger. [...] The next six to twelve months will be an interesting one around, obviously, browsers, that's building on the cookieless setup is going, what does that mean? [...] Personally, I don't think it changes what we talked about earlier around the data value exchange and the cookie and their customer data capture. I still think that, fundamentally, it's needed. It's the right thing to do. [...] What does that mean for attribution and media attribution? [...] I think that's what everyone's been racking their brains about for the last few years. So it gives a bit of respite. But anyway, what it means is you need a multi-mix of measurement.”
Thanks, Rob, for the chat!
