RampUp (hosted by LiveRamp) gave us the opportunity to reconnect with and learn from some of the smartest and most interesting people from the worlds of big data and marketing. It also gave us a chance to road test some of our most interesting product enhancements slated for 2019 launch.
Spoiler alert: we’re about to talk data.
Obviously, there’s huge opportunity in data for marketers. But daily threats and looming changes on the horizon make the path to success anything but clear.
Here are four of the most frequently-asked questions we heard at RampUp:
1. WHERE’D YOU GET THE DATA… AND WHO OWNS IT?
One thing that was clear at this event — brands want to own their data. And yes, that includes valuable models that are built from their existing data sets. Brands are becoming less interested in what you can do with their data. They want to see new data – owned by you – or new ways to acquire data and action it in ways that helps them achieve their goals.
The concept of owning data goes beyond the legal definition. The ultimate litmus test to owning data is how easily can you access it. Ease of use and the verifiable origin for the data are more important than ever. With so much data comes so much noise. Nobody wants to waste time and energy on the wrong or even erroneous signals.
2. WHICH PARTY ARE YOU?
Just to clarify, this question wasn’t about political affiliation. It was about defining types of data. Because while all data is valuable, it’s not all created equal. The source(s) and relative quality of data is very important to marketers. Many discussions seemed to center around how particular data was defined:
- “1st Party” (i.e. data sourced directly)
- “2nd Party” (i.e. sourced from a first party and reused/sold)
- “3rd Party” (i.e. data sourced by provider who has no direct relationship w/ end user)
The question around “party affiliation” won’t always fall neatly within one of the definitions above. In the not-too-distant future it will take on a whole new meaning, driven by the next question we kept hearing…
3. WHAT’S YOUR PLAN FOR CCPA?
The fear was palpable. So was the confusion. Rightfully so, given the impact that we’ve already seen with GDPR. We still don’t know exactly what the final CCPA legislation will look like, if a national replacement will get enacted and how much of the industry it will impact, but we know that we have to figure it out now. As in, 2019 now.
I did find some solace amid all this anxiety, knowing that, at least this time, the rush to compliance is for the greater good. Ten years ago, when the mobile device revolution was quickly changing our lives forever, the industry was in self-regulation mode in terms of privacy.
Back then, all privacy-minded regulations were REACTIVE and the duopoly of Google and Apple became the de-facto “privacy regulation” for an entire industry. If Google or Apple made a change, industry participants had to fall in line or suffer the very steep financial consequences. Changes for the sake of consumer privacy were largely seen as an expensive annoyance.
Fast forward to last week, and the vibe has completely changed. The CCPA was one of the biggest topics of the conference, but the industry is embracing it. With everything that’s happened over the last ten years, we all understand that the CCPA’s goal is to protect and provide rights to the end user… and that includes every one of us in attendance at RampUp.
4. WHO CARES?
This is the refrain you’ll hear at these conferences every year.
Brands, and the teams who buy media on their behalf, have some of the best “BS Detectors” in the game. You can have the greatest data science, artificial intelligence, and machine learning capabilities on the planet, and it wouldn’t matter…unless the audience cares.
Brands never lose sight of this, because they know that no data or MarTech solution will ever make a campaign or digital acquisition strategy work if the campaign doesn’t fundamentally engage a consumer enough to elicit a response. And that’s never going to change.
WHERE PRIZELOGIC FITS IN
- Valuable 1st Party Data: Our solutions give marketers the opportunity to engage consumers and build 1st party audiences with major scale. How much scale? Four of our programs had media tied to that big football game back in February…the one that charges big bucks for commercial airtime. Our platform is uniquely capable of producing this rich 1st party data, and our process includes the right privacy permissions for brands.
- Data Accuracy: When we’re asked about “match rates”, we often respond with: “If you won that $1 million, you wouldn’t want your oversized check delivered to a fake address, would you?”
- CCPA Compliance: The work is already under way! We are bullish on having this ready in plenty of time for January 1, 2020 given our rich history with privacy and compliance in almost every vertical and every type of data that powers our omni-channel engagements. Having invested significant time and resources to gain ISO 27001 certification for Data Security (we’re the only provider in our space to achieve this certification), we are confident as we gear-up for the post-CCPA era.
Brian Carl
Brian is our VP of Marketing and leads the overall direction of our B2B Marketing and Marketing Operations Teams. When he’s not chasing his three kids around at home, he enjoys reading as much as he can about marketing, technology and leadership or playing video games when they finally all fall asleep.