Another year, another hugely successful RampUp roadshow.
This week, we welcomed more than 500 delegates from across the globe to the iconic Savoy Hotel in London for the annual event, which featured insightful presentations from industry leaders on the latest developments in MarTech. Privacy, personalisation, and putting the consumer first with customer-centric marketing were some of the key topics discussed by speakers from the likes of Nestlé, Google, Sainsbury’s, and LG.
Here are the key takeaways from this year’s RampUp on the Road London:
Privacy must be at the forefront
Privacy was front and centre of this year’s event. With GDPR coming into force over a year ago, attendees were keen to discuss their learnings. Tim Geenen, General Manager, Faktor at LiveRamp, reported that everyone interpreted GDPR laws differently, the opt-in rates were high, and that cross collaboration has never been more helpful.
Tim outlined that many websites aren’t yet compliant with the IAB’s Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF), due to a lack of detailed knowledge. Many brands either don’t know that they need to disclose cookies, or don’t acknowledge that they store them. Merely putting a button for consumers to acknowledge they accept the cookies is not enough – consent management platforms (CMPs), websites, and businesses need to link to a vendor list that indicates use cases, as well as an equal opportunity to accept or reject cookies.
Further discussions outlined that using a CMP as part of brands’ compliance strategy allows them to regain control of their website, reduce business risk and provide a better experience to their customers. This is all worth it because it results in improved, deterministic, and actionable data.
Personalisation encourages spontaneity
Personalisation isn’t anything new but how it’s defined and developed within the industry continues to shift. Andrew Muzzelle, Digital and Data Director at Sainsbury’s, stated that consumers are now demanding personalisation, and don’t find it irritating if it is providing them with true value with customer-centric marketing. In fact, this sentiment was echoed across sessions. Mathilde Verron from TripAdvisor, our closing keynote speaker, revealed that 80% of their users have said they would like to share more data with them. Caz Yetman, Personalised Consumer Experience Lead at Nestlé, further outlined this in its research, with 44% of consumers saying they were more likely to become repeat buyers following personalisation.
With privacy apprehensions front of mind for conscious consumers today, brands don’t want consumers to feel like they are signing a deal with the devil just to access a webpage. Victoria Bland, Head of Digital Data & Analytics at Nestlé, joined Caz onstage and outlined a rule they swear by: is your marketing strategy cool or creepy? For example, Google’s personalised characteristic offering provides a whole lot more value than sending pregnancy coupons to women before they know they’re pregnant.
Offering a final thought, in a panel discussion on matching messaging to customer lifetime value, Mondelēz International’s Julia Sparrow said if you can be more relevant, you will be the brand that comes to mind in spontaneous customer purchases. She explained that testing and learning with data will be key to helping brands achieve that.
TV is a growing channel for making connections
TV, once the easiest way to reach the widest audience, has been somewhat left behind in the digital age when it comes to connecting with targeted audiences and measuring the impact of campaigns. However, with the continued rise of connected TV in recent years, the opportunity for advertisers is huge.
Our panel discussion analysed TV’s data-driven future and the importance of embedding it into the omnichannel framework. With connected TVs offering over-the-top (OTT) applications such as Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video, the panel revealed these companies will start to offer premium packages to loyal customers to deliver a better quality of service and monetise it through more sustainable business models.
But the sell-side alone can’t transform TV. The Trade Desk’s Anna Forbes said marketers must drive what they want to see in connected TV and there needs to be more of a focus towards fewer but more relevant adverts, which is essentially a win-win formula for everyone.
Reap the rewards of building trust among advertisers, publishers, and consumers
Advertising has long been the backbone that has enabled consumers to access vast amounts of quality content they deem as ‘free.’ Although data regulation places publishers’ business models under immense pressure, it also serves as a catalyst for the industry moving forward—a move towards consented engagement, at the heart of customer-centric marketing models, between consumers and marketers.
Our latest step to help publishers reestablish a relationship with their readers is the launch of LiveRamp’s publisher solutions, which was unveiled at RampUp on the Road London. Publishers can now build a direct, trusted relationship with their audience and connect that audience to relevant advertisers, all while meeting the rising bar of privacy regulation and continuing to provide free content that consumers now expect
Create a brew that’s fit for purpose
And last but not least, we served our own beer at the event! ‘Liver Amp’ is a hoppy, 4% IPA with a distinctive taste and went down very well with guests who came to the well-attended after-party. Exclusive to the event, unfortunately, you won’t be able to find this in supermarkets just yet!. Perhaps it’s the first in a line of beers for us to develop for next year…?