In an era when personal data is the window into marketing effectiveness, it’s good to look out for the smart companies making the smart moves. This week it’s Omnicom…
Omnicom has clearly been looking for ways to build their edge and the move to online ad targeting is interesting. The process began in a partnership with Google that gave stronger visibility into consumer behaviour. Google is seeing its insights as something agencies can share, because ultimately this upweights ad spend into Google’s platforms – the banner ad business and YouTube as well as the core paid search business.
Clearly that data whetted the appetites at Omnicom because in its wake have come deals with MSN, AOL and Yahoo. Collectively the portals still have good coverage of the web and while Facebook is more protective of its data, the portals are more open in the role of behavioural targeting and the importance of accurate consumer data for smarter online media planning. It was over 10 years ago that Yahoo started running online behavioural advertising, yet today most brands are still to properly adopt behavioural advertising in their European and North American media planning.
Using consumer data to beef up ad targeting will boost media efficiency and reduce wastage. CEO John Wren is clear that this is about step-changing the thinking in Omnicom and the services they’re able to lever to clients “It’s not sensible for us to be investing in technologies which may not be appropriate six, 12 or 18 months from now. It’s far wiser for us to come up with sensible collaborative arrangements where we share points of mutual interest with the technologists and figure out a compatible way for us to live with each other.”