Some of Ted Smith’s favorite commercials come on when he sits down to watch Wimbledon — a series of tennis-themed spots that make it clear the brands running them are well aware of their audience’s love for the sport.
In a similar way, the work Smith and his team at Audigent is also about helping its clients make a perfect serve when they reach out to consumers-as-fans.
Founded in 2015 and based in New York, Audigent has created a platform that uses first-party data from publishers and brands in music, sports and entertainment to provide actionable targeting capabilities drawn from consumers’ content preferences. Marketers that work with Audigent are then able to improve their media buys and campaigns.
Since the pandemic began last year, Audigent has been able to offer a marketing lifeline of sorts to brands that were hit particularly hard and who are still unable to welcome back live audiences. Smith, who serves as Audigent’s vice-president of enterprise sales, used the rise of livestreaming and CTV as examples.
“What was once that niche, wire cutter space is now the way people are viewing media in general,” he told Brand Innovators. “There’s a bigger opportunity for marketers to advance really quickly in terms of measuring engagement in those channels and developing a more cohesive audience strategy that we can help them execute on.”
Beyond its DMP, Audigent has also positioned itself as a “data agency.” As brands continue to grapple with the forthcoming demise of the third-party cookie, Smith said there’s a need for more than simply providing traditional DMP services.
“In working with our notable portfolio of publisher partners, we act as agents of their data, operating on a rev-share basis to monetize that data on and off-platform,” he explained. “The mission is really around helping them to build a more sustainable future around their prized first-party data in delivering real value to marketers.”
A good example of Audigent in action is a project that was done in partnership with Mindshare. Smith said the company worked with video ad platform SpotX to better understand the audience their technology clients was trying to reach, leveraging search keywords and exclusive 1st party audiences based on content consumption that could connect them with the right inventory.
Within a two-week period, according to Smith, the client was able to increase search attributed revenue by 128%. “The closer you can be to the source of the data, the more value you can create,” he said.
Context AND Content Is King
Don’t mistake Audigent’s data-driven focus as a dismissal of other marketing elements. Smith noted how consumers are increasingly aware of being “listened to” by brands and having ads suddenly target (or retarget) them with the same offers. The result can be creepy instead of compelling.
“There’s no question that creative remains at the core of compelling advertising,” he said, noting Audigent’s recent hire of its own, award-winning chief creative officer to bring to life a full suite of capabilities with its clients.
“Our belief is that personalization through data is good and important, but targeting is only half of the narrative. The greatest value is when you have a data driven approach to delivering a meaningful story to its most resonant audience.”
The Best Data Sharing Drives Mutual Benefits
A lot of traditional marketing has involved brands trying to collect consumer information for their own purposes, or working with third parties to do the same. Smith offered an alternative idea: a sort of “data co-op,” that connects the dots between those shopping for certain items and whether they’re part of a particular fan community.
“We can create a campaign for fast food enthusiasts or those with a certain type of dietary interest who are also hip hop and, specifically, Travis Scott fans,” he said, referring to the rapper and record producer.
This isn’t always easy, of course. Like the music and entertainment spaces, within the sports sector it’s not always clear whether a league or a team owns and has rights to a their prized 1st party data. However that’s where Audigent acts as an effective agent to help guide the process.
Trust Is Value, But Takes Time To Earn
Smith said he’s seen plenty of brands chasing what he called “vanity metrics” such as return on ad spend (ROAS), and trying to turn up their budgets in order to meet an arbitrary goal. The increased focus on the role of identity in marketing should have CMOs shift their perspective, however.
“The lifetime value of the consumer is the strong beat of the drum we’re starting to hear,” he said.
“How can we help brands to grow a long-term relationship? One in which they understand what their customer might need based on what they purchased and when?” he added. “But to also learn more about when they actually need and want to be spoken to — that’s the way we’re evolving together.”
