TL;DR: In a world with or without third-party cookies, data collaboration platforms are emerging as essential for digital marketers to effectively use first-party data while respecting privacy. Data collaboration platforms facilitate the combination and analysis of internal and external data, offering insights for informed decision-making and enabling targeted advertising strategies. Benefits include centralizing data, extracting insights, enriching data, and activating it across platforms.
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Despite Google Chrome’s latest decision to leave third-party cookies up to the user and browser settings, the industry is still scrambling to find new ways to understand customers and execute targeted advertising in a world where the third-party cookie is scrutinized.
In the midst of this uncertainty, a powerful solution has emerged – data collaboration platforms. These next-gen technologies are completely changing the game when it comes to making the most of first-party data in a privacy-centric landscape.
In this guide, we take a deep dive into the world of data collaboration. Together, we explore what these game-changing platforms are, why they matter more than ever before, what key features to look for, and how to chart your roadmap to adoption. Let’s get collaborating!
Data collaboration, as defined by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), is a technological process that involves combining and analyzing data within a company or alongside partners for various purposes. These use cases can range from integrating internal data silos to crafting targeted campaigns. The essence of data collaboration lies in its ability to turn raw data into actionable insights, fostering informed decision-making and strategic planning and execution.
These platforms are the epicenters where data from diverse origins converge, offering a harmonized and comprehensive view of information. They enable the seamless integration of internal and external data resources, thereby enhancing the depth, quality, and utility of data available to digital marketers.
Data collaboration emerges as a critical strategy for organizations to extract the greatest value from their first-party data. This approach is especially beneficial for industries that are disintermediated from the end consumer and encounter specific challenges related to data acquisition, analysis, and utilization.
The CPG industry, often characterized by limited direct-to-consumer interactions, faces unique challenges in collecting first-party data. Data collaboration platforms can bridge this gap by integrating data from various sources, enhancing consumer insights with rich and diverse data sources, and enabling more targeted marketing strategies.
In the automotive sector, there is a notable consumption of online content, yet direct transactions with an OEM versus a dealer may be limited. Data collaboration allows for the integration of online engagement data with other customer touchpoints, providing a more comprehensive understanding of consumer behaviors and preferences.
The real estate industry, similar to automotive, experiences high levels of online content engagement. However, the frequency of transactions can be comparatively low. Data collaboration enables digital marketers to merge online engagement data with transactional data and other relevant consumer information, aiding in more informed decision-making and personalized customer experiences.
This sector is marked by extensive online research and planning by consumers, but with limited direct interactions until actual booking or visitation. Data collaboration can play a pivotal role in knitting together various data strands – from browsing patterns to booking habits – to create a more complete picture of consumer behavior and preferences.
Media owners, particularly those with authentication rates below 30%, face challenges in understanding both authenticated (logged-in) and web visitors. Data collaboration platforms can assist in unifying disparate data sources, offering deeper insights into audience preferences and behaviors. This, in turn, aids in content personalization for existing subscribers and monetization strategies for advertisers.
When scouting for a data collaboration platform, certain essential features should be considered:
When choosing a data collaboration platform, it’s crucial to select one that aligns with your organization’s specific requirements and future growth plans. Here are three things to consider in your selection process, to ensure you make a decision that truly benefits your business.
Before selecting a data collaboration platform, it’s important to keep these considerations in mind. This will help you determine which features are non-negotiable when choosing the right platform for your business.
For businesses looking to venture into data collaboration, a strategic approach is vital:
Spherical is Lotame’s end-to-end data collaboration platform designed for digital marketers, agencies, and media owners. Spherical facilitates access, analysis, and activation of crucial first-party data, streamlining the journey from enabling data collection to consumer engagement.
Spherical stands out in the data collaboration market by offering a comprehensive suite of services that includes customer intelligence, data-informed audience creation, and identity-powered activation. With connections to their own valuable first-party data and partners of their choosing, brands can preserve and extend data connectivity, collaboration, and addressability in all environments. Our platform supports data onboarding, unification, modeling, enrichment, collaboration, and activation, catering to both the data-rich and those in need of data acquisition.
While data clean rooms are integral to data collaboration, they are not a complete solution. Lotame’s Data Collaboration Platform, Spherical transcends clean room point solutions by not only addressing internal data collection and connection but also enabling the enrichment, analysis, and activation of data with external partners.
Data empowered results are possible with Lotame’s data collaboration solution. See it for yourself in this case study, where Haymarket achieves a staggering 10X increase in impressions, clicks, and conversions. As the Managing Partner of OMD – EMEA put it, “Easy access to Haymarket’s segmentation in our DSP and having everything handled programmatically was a dream. This is an otherwise very complicated operation for any agency to set up the tech pipes and off-platform invoicing.” This collaboration showcases how cross-industry data collaboration can lead to significant success for brands.
The future of digital advertising lies in data collaboration. Continuous advancements in this technology pave the way for digital marketers to unite, analyze, and activate data in faster, smarter and easier ways. Artificial intelligence and machine learning will further revolutionize these platforms, making data analysis more intuitive and predictive.
Data collaboration platforms are not just tools; they are catalysts for transformation in digital marketing and advertising. They allow marketers and media owners to dig below the surface and unlock the hidden potential of their first-party data. With Lotame’s data collaboration platform, Spherical, marketers can mine those depths to innovate and grow their business the way they want.
Ready to unlock your data’s potential? Book a free consultation with a data collaboration expert.