The essential aim of marketers has remained constant, even as technology has evolved. Namely, marketers need to provide the right content to the right people (i.e., their brand’s audience) at the right time – and no matter where those people happen to be.
Cross-device marketing 101
When it comes to digital marketing, one major element of this task is being able to reach people regardless of the device they are currently using. Cross-device engagement enables brands to do just that, allowing marketers to serve content to the same person across the full gamut of smart devices including laptops, smartphones, tablets, and more.
With cross-device engagement, brands can reach their audiences in a unified way across all media and devices, enabling a much richer experience for consumers that choose to opt in to such experiences. An advertising experience left off on a laptop, for instance, can be seamlessly picked up on a smartphone. What’s more, by understanding an audience’s habits and preferences across devices, brands can improve their audience profiles and related campaigns.
Given that the average consumer owns around four connected devices and uses three or more daily, the benefits of cross-device engagement are clear. However, the “opt-in” element is vital. If brands engage with all people across devices and touch-points many will view that as intrusive – little more than spam. But for those that do choose cross-device engagement, the approach makes advertising exponentially more relevant and valuable.
The decline of browser-based solutions
Until now, cross-device marketing has largely been enabled by third-party tracking cookies and Mobile Advertising IDs. Third-party cookies have been built into browsers and used to monitor people as they surf the internet, this information is then being used by brands to serve tailored advertisements. MAIDs, such as Android ID, do a similar job for the mobile web and apps. Combined, the two identifiers have been the foundation of cross-device marketing but have come at the cost of users’ privacy.
The emergence of privacy regulations worldwide, and increasing consumer demand for privacy-first digital experiences, means that overly intrusive browser-based solutions to cross-device marketing are no longer fit for purpose. Cookies and MAIDs are being withdrawn or restricted by browser / OS companies, significantly limiting the intelligence available for cross-device engagement. According to one study, just 6% of marketers today say they have an adequate single customer view, largely because they are limited by fragmented, siloed, and outdated cookie-based solutions.
Exploiting new opportunities
With legacy ID trackers being devalued, it’s critical that a new approach for cross-device advertising is found. This is mostly important for ensuring that the current benefits of personalised cross-device engagement continue for consumers that opt-in for such experiences.
Consumers increasingly demand continued dialogue with brands and wish for personalized digital experiences that meet their unique needs. Indeed, 72% of consumers say that they only engage with personalized messaging. Many people want advertising to be a service that helps them discover relevant goods and experiences and connect with the brands they love most in a true conversation that carries over across digital touchpoints and devices. Privacy first cross-device engagement will do just that and will prove ever more important as consumers engage with brands across new channels such as Connected TVs, audio streaming, and even smart vehicles.
A scalable, future-proof solution
Novatiq’s Fusion Platform and related Zenith and Hyper IDs are the privacy-first, scalable, and interoperable solution that the advertising industry is looking for. Unlike any other identifier available, the Zenith and Hyper IDs are powered by consented intelligence from telco partners. This is important because only telcos have complete visibility of every digital transaction. Telcos have the information and trusted customer relationships needed to work with brands and publishers to connect web visits and enable each of them individually to build 360-degree profiles of their audiences
Of course, none of this would matter if the solution failed to protect user privacy. However, Novatiq’s approach is built from a privacy-first perspective. In the solution, consented and pseudonymised first-party cookies owned by brands and publishers are linked to build a consistent view of the same user.
Next, publishers and brands create audience cohorts and activate them in real-time using the Hyper ID, a dynamic transaction ID, which enables brands to bid for slots for specific audiences without a need to exchange personally identifiable information (PII). Significantly, users are not tracked but, with their consent, can be recognised online on each individual visit, allowing for cohorts to be activated to improve the customer experience.
In this way, the Fusion platform enables each individual publisher and brand to verify consented first-party cookies and generate accurate, consented real-time cross-device user profiles, in a consistently privacy-first way.
The future of marketing
The advertising ecosystem is experiencing profound change as the internet evolves into a new, privacy-first model. The good news is that adtech is changing too and providing the tools that marketers will need to thrive.
Cross-device advertising isn’t going anywhere. Rather, thanks to innovations like the Fusion platform, it is becoming more accurate for brands and far more acceptable for consumers, who can carry on reaping the benefits of personalised and relevant content.
Novatiq’s approach is aimed at delivering advertising as service, so that consumers can have the best possible experiences online, with deep brand engagements that meet their needs no matter where they are or which device they are using, but which also respects their privacy absolutely.