S6 | 470: Great data equals great advertising with Gruia Pitigoi-Aron, The Trade Desk
About the Episode
Today we’re going to talk about the importance of great data in digital advertising, and how brands can maximize business impact by utilizing it correctly.
To help me discuss this topic, I’d like to welcome Gruia Pitigoi-Aron, SVP Product at The Trade Desk.
About Gruia Pitigoi-Aron
Gruia Pitigoi-Aron is the Senior Vice President of Product for The Trade Desk. In his role, Gruia oversees teams that are responsible for all product management, user experience, and enterprise solutions at TTD. Closely working with all internal Trade Desk business teams, engineering, clients, and partners is a common theme as they aim to ship the right product at the right time with global impact and scale.
Prior to joining the Trade Desk, Gruia spent 10 years at Microsoft as a Product Manager in various capacities, while working on Outlook.com/Hotmail, Windows Live Agents, and BizTalk Server. The general focus was always on core parts of the systems, with the largest amount of time spent scaling and managing Hotmail’s ever increasing storage infrastructure.
Gruia received his M.S. in Computer Science from the University of California: Los Angeles, and his bachelor’s degree in Computer Science for the University of California: Berkeley. He is based in the Trade Desk’s offices in San Jose, CA.
Resources
PartnerHero: to waive set up fees, go to https://partnerhero.com/agile and mention “The Agile Brand” during onboarding!
The Trade Desk website: https://www.thetradedesk.com/
Sign up for The Agile Brand newsletter here: https://www.gregkihlstrom.com
Get the latest news and updates on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-agile-brand/
For consulting on marketing technology, customer experience, and more visit GK5A: https://www.gk5a.com
Check out The Agile Brand Guide website with articles, insights, and Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://www.agilebrandguide.com
The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://www.teksystems.com/versionnextnow
The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company
Synopsis
In this episode, the guest emphasizes the importance of leveraging data across all channels to provide a holistic customer experience. They highlight how data can be utilized at every stage of a campaign lifecycle, from targeting and insights to budget allocation and measurement. By effectively utilizing data across all channels, advertisers can identify the right channels, timing, and vehicles to engage key consumers, ultimately leading to better outcomes.
The guest also emphasizes the significance of providing a seamless and personalized experience for consumers by leveraging data from various channels. As consumers progress through the funnel towards making a purchase, advertisers can create a cohesive and tailored experience by utilizing data collected from different channels. For example, data collected from connected TV can inform advertising strategies in other channels like display and mobile. This omni-channel approach allows advertisers to leverage the strengths of each channel and deliver a impactful customer experience.
Furthermore, the guest stresses the importance of a holistic approach to data collection. They emphasize the need for deterministic and transparent data collection, with clear consent from consumers. Advertisers should prioritize collecting relevant and reliable data for their campaigns. Additionally, the guest acknowledges that not all advertisers may have access to first-party data and suggests leveraging external sources, such as retail data from Home Depot, to identify potential customers and tailor advertising strategies accordingly.
Overall, the episode emphasizes the significance of leveraging data across all channels to provide a holistic customer experience. By effectively utilizing data, advertisers can optimize their targeting, messaging, and measurement strategies, leading to better outcomes and a more personalized experience for consumers.
In this episode, the importance of having an identity strategy for both brands and publishers is emphasized. The guest speaker highlights the need for brands to take control of their own data and have a well-defined identity strategy in place. This is seen as a significant challenge in the advertising industry. By having an identity strategy, brands can ensure effective use of data in their advertising efforts.
Similarly, publishers also need to have an identity and authentication strategy. This is crucial for providing a better customer experience and maintaining the value exchange between free content on the internet and relevant advertising. Without a proper identity strategy, publishers may resort to displaying non-relevant ads, which can negatively impact the consumer experience.
The episode suggests that having an identity strategy is crucial for both brands and publishers to effectively leverage data and provide a holistic experience for consumers. It is mentioned that industry solutions like UID2 can be leveraged as part of the identity strategy. UID2 is interoperable with other IDs that follow similar principles and has been rolling out for a couple of years, making it a scalable solution for brands and publishers to consider.
The episode also highlights the significance of measuring and measuring well in advertising to improve campaign performance and overall spending. The speaker emphasizes the importance of accurately measuring the outcomes of advertising efforts in order to make improvements. They quote, "you can't improve what you can't measure," emphasizing the idea that without proper measurement, it is difficult to identify areas for improvement and optimize advertising strategies.
The speaker explains that good data is crucial at every stage of a campaign lifecycle, from targeting and insights to budget allocation and measurement. They argue that good data helps advertisers achieve their goals and make better decisions regarding campaign performance and spending. By effectively measuring and analyzing data, advertisers can identify the right channels, timing, and vehicles to engage key consumers, ultimately leading to better outcomes.
The episode provides an example to illustrate the significance of measuring well in advertising. The speaker mentions that with accurate data, advertisers can avoid wasting money on advertising to individuals who are unlikely to buy their product. This highlights the importance of measuring well to ensure that advertising efforts are focused on reaching the right audience and maximizing the return on investment.
Overall, the episode emphasizes that measuring and measuring well in advertising is essential for improving campaign performance and overall spending. It allows advertisers to make data-driven decisions, optimize their strategies, and effectively reach their target audience, ultimately leading to better outcomes and a more efficient use of advertising budgets.
Gruia Pitigoi-Aron, Senior Vice President of Product, The Trade Desk.
