By Alys Donnelly, Head of Programmatic, Kinetic UK
‘Data is the new oil’ has been a term thrown about in the media and AdTech space for years. With the crumbling of the cookie, the rise of clean rooms, and a host of other options, the data space can be a confusing place for clients and brands. However, the underlying need for clear, reliable data has never been stronger. In difficult economic times brands need to understand what works, what doesn’t, and how to build on success to deliver business results.
Amid these changes, Out of Home provides a cookie-free, audience-first solution that provides both accuracy and flexibility to clients. And thanks to Kinetic’s Journeys tool, clients can understand how their bespoke audiences move throughout the day, down to a 15-minute interval. Our programmatic buying tools map this data back to digital panels, meaning we can buy the inventory in the right moment to capture that specific audience. This cuts down on inefficient spend and allows the brand to keep its message close to its customers when it matters.
This audience-first, programmatic solution becomes even more powerful when it’s combined with clients’ own first-party data. This can be seamlessly integrated into our Journeys platform and kept in silo to ensure privacy comes first. Combining Journeys audience data with first-party client data and executing programmatic campaigns allows clients to zero in on key customers and tailor messaging to the specific moment. A campaign we recently ran for M&S shows how this solution can work in practice and deliver real results.
M&S allowed us to combine location data from the Sparks loyalty card programme with Journeys data focused on key audiences to target with its Christmas campaign.
Thanks to the guidance of the data, our programmatically delivered campaign achieved an uplift of 12% in reach to M&S’ key audience (vs average distribution of the audience in the population), as well as showing a special message to Sparks customers.
Katy Allison, Media Lead Brand Communications at M&S Food says:
“Kinetic’s Journeys tool allowed us to make great use of our own Sparks data, matching it with other key data to identify movement patterns for our audience. Delivering the campaign in real time with programmatic OOH allowed us to make the most of this data, delivering on the right inventory at the right times. We were really happy with the results and saw a boost in store over the campaign period.”
The capacity of programmatic OOH to deliver real-world business results goes beyond FMCG brands and works very well for a host of business types. Brands for whom local footfall is vital have turned to programmatic OOH to help pinpoint key audiences and encourage them into their nearest branch. Virgin Active for example, worked with us to encourage customers back into its gyms by identifying a Fitness Fanatic audience and highlighting the physical distance to their local gym within their creative. The combined use of audience data, dynamic creative adaptation, and real-time programmatic delivery provided an 18% increase in footfall to local gyms.
Sophisticated use of innovative data solutions delivered programmatically, such as with M&S and Virgin Active, are on the rise in digital Out of Home as these solutions allow clients to take full advantage of this trusted medium and the broad creative canvas that it provides.
Adam Powell, Global Lead Out of Home at AdSquare (a leading location intelligence platform and contributing party in this campaign), described these changes in client use of data as “a turning point in Out of Home’s evolution and an exciting time to push the boundaries of the medium while respecting consumer privacy”.
The way data is used in Out of Home campaigns will continue to grow and change as the range of possibilities become more widely understood and adoption of programmatic increases. While not the solution for every campaign, it’s the tip of the spear for cutting-edge delivery and campaigns like these for M&S and Virgin Active highlight the ease with which new tools and approaches are breathing new life into the oldest media channel.
