Up next in our Ask the Expert series, Ben Rothke, Senior Information Security Manager, reviews two certifications that should be part of your information security strategy: Service Organization Control (SOC) 2 Type 2 and International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 27001. Tapad, a part of Experian, is 27001 and SOC 2 Type 2 compliant. Two information security certifications you can trust Seals from Good Housekeeping and Underwriters Laboratories give consumers confidence that they can trust the product that they’re buying. For IT solutions or service providers, what, or who can you turn to for that seal of approval?  There are many equivalent third-party attestations you can use. But which should you trust? The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 27001 The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) System and Organization Controls (SOC) International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 27001 is an international standard for information security from the ISO. ISO 27001 is globally acknowledged and sets requirements for controls, maintenance, and certification of an information security management system (ISMS). This international standard provides organizations with a framework to identify, manage and reduce risks related to the security of information System and Organization Controls (SOC) The SOC, as defined by the AICPA, is a set of audit reports. SOC reports, like 27001 certificates, are used by service organizations to give their customers the confidence they have adequate information security controls in place to protect the data that they handle. SOC 2 is an assessment of controls at a service organization regarding security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy. The purpose of the report is to provide extensive information and assurance to a broad range of users about the controls at a service organization that are relevant to the security, availability, and processing integrity of the systems that process user data, as well as the confidentiality and privacy of the information processed by these systems. Why ISO 27001 and SOC 2 are important The value of these third-party attestations is two-fold: Organizations can show they have passed an independent external audit Third-party attestations save organizations the time of having to do their own audits In addition to 27001 and SOC 2 Type 2 compliance, we are also certified with ISO 27017 and 27018, which are add-ons to 27001 that are specific to cloud computing. We take the security and privacy of our customers’ data as seriously as they do. Every cloud service provider (CSP) has a responsibility matrix that details what security and privacy tasks they are responsible for and which ones the customer is responsible for. Any cloud customer that needs to be made aware of what their security tasks are is putting themselves at risk. So, when you want to engage a CSP, ask them for their attestations. They worked hard for them and will be proud to share their compliance. We’re powered by decades of setting standards in marketing services At Experian, we’re a privacy-first business. We’re highly focused on respecting people, their data, and their privacy. We continue to show our dedication to information security by completing these security audits every year. The constant changes to data compliance regulations can be challenging to navigate, but you don’t have to do it alone. Contact us today. We will be your guide so you can ethically and confidently reach your customers. Contact us today About our expert Ben Rothke, Senior Information Security Manager Ben Rothke, CISSP, CISA, is a Senior Information Security Manager at Tapad, a part of Experian. He has over 25 years of industry experience in information systems security and privacy. His areas of expertise are in risk management and mitigation, security and privacy regulatory issues, cryptography, and security policy development. Ben is the author of Computer Security - 20 Things Every Employee Should Know (McGraw-Hill), and writes security and privacy book reviews for the RSA Conference Blog and Security Management magazine. Latest posts

Experian kicks off the AdTech year at CES  What better way to jump-start start 2023 than a trip to Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Our team was thrilled to participate in this annual kick-off with the AdTech community. The uniqueness of what CES has become for our industry can be defined as the intersection between technology brands, digital, television, and AdTech. CES creates the space necessary for marketing and advertising leaders to collaborate to drive rewarding outcomes for the year ahead.  Our goal in attending CES was to connect with our partners, clients, and industry leaders to build relationships, form strategic plans, and listen. The opportunity to learn about our industry’s challenges and goals enables us to develop initiatives, drive success, and support our clients and partners.  Keep reading for our 2023 CES AdTech recap. “I have been to CES too many times to mention the number; this year was as energetic, collaborative, engaged, and effective as I can ever recall. Our presence was first-class and meticulously organized, which made our interactions as robust as possible. It's a team effort, and we appreciate all the work that goes into this event. “ - Greg Koerner, Vice President of Digital Advertising Sales Our CES AdTech recap  Supporting publishers and advertisers is top of mind for us. Many of our conversations focused on the technologies we deliver or collaborate with our partners to provide.   Clean rooms and activation were two common themes throughout our discussions.  Clean rooms  Consumer privacy, regulatory requirements, and data deprecation are driving the AdTech industry to talk about and explore clean rooms. There’s a need to address data collection, storage, analysis, and sharing. Clean rooms are a potential solution that can standardize data and address interoperability issues.  Activation  In 2023, we predict that digital activation will increase. We continue to see increased demand for environments where alternative identifiers are being transacted (like demand side platforms and video). Social platforms will continue to experience volatility and advertisers will shift their focus to demand-side, video, and supply-side platforms. Download our 2023 Digital audience trends and predictions report to learn where you should activate your audiences in 2023. We can help plan your 2023 digital activation strategy.  How we support clean rooms and activation  Our Consumer Sync and Consumer View products support these areas and can help you understand people better--so you and your customers can connect with confidence.  What is Consumer Sync?  Consumer Sync, our consumer identity product, enables signal agnostic collaboration across marketers and technologies, bringing together digital devices, IDs, households, and attributes. Consumer Sync’s Resolution and Collaboration solutions can help you gain a better understanding of your consumers and make identities actionable in any environment.   What is Consumer View?  Consumer View, our data discovery product, offers marketers a robust, privacy-first understanding of their customers and prospects. Grounded in consumer identity, Consumer View provides the data foundation to engage consumers where, when, and how they want. Consumer View’s Audience and Attribution solutions provide expansive coverage so that you can fill in the gaps to better understand your prospects.  Additionally, our collaborative efforts with strong partnerships across the clean room ecosystem and with our activation partners help our clients serve the best ads, at the best times, to the right audience.     “CES is back and was a great way to kick off the new year! We were able to meet with a high volume of clients to eagerly talk about building new solutions for the TV space. We are excited to see where these conversations lead in the next few months.” - Ali Mack, Senior Director of TV Advertising Sales  Let’s navigate what’s new in our industry, together  We can help you connect with your consumers in innovative, impactful ways. Contact us to continue the conversation and learn more about our Consumer Sync and Consumer View products. We can help you take advantage of the opportunities on the horizon. 

Tap into our collaboration with ARF’s DASH study for one-of-a-kind TV audiences Understanding the importance of aligning campaigns with the media usage habits of consumers, Experian Marketing Services has partnered with The Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) and its DASH (Device and Account Sharing) universe study to create an innovative solution for marketers and advertisers.     A leading industry organization dedicated to furthering the scientific practice of advertising and marketing, the ARF conducts independent research and assists in establishing rigorous standards of practice. Its 400+ members include leading marketers, media companies, advertising agencies, and research and measurement firms. What does DASH data reveal? The ARF’s DASH study was developed with National Opinion Research Center (NORC) and seven industry sponsors, including Experian. DASH measures, in granular detail, how American households and individuals connect to and consume TV, use digital devices, and interact with and share streaming media and eCommerce accounts. DASH also contains a cohort of repeat respondents to uncover the dynamics of complex media actions, such as cord cutting.   DASH produces an unbiased, nationally projectable data set, which, when combined with Experian's Marketing Data enables the creation of one-of-a-kind audience segments based on TV, media, and device usage at scale. In addition, pairing DASH data with Experian Marketing Data yields insights for industry partners that unlock how consumers engage with media and technology across their devices and eCommerce accounts.  How do we make DASH audiences – and why? By combining the ARF’s DASH data set with Experian Marketing Data, we developed one-of-a-kind TV audiences that reflect how viewers interact with digital devices and eCommerce accounts. We have created this resource so our customers can align their marketing campaigns with media usage. These audience segments also yield insights that help marketers reach their audiences with the right messages and content. “Television viewing behavior has undergone a massive transformation, making it challenging for advertisers to reach their target audience and optimize frequency. These audiences give advertisers invaluable tools for managing their campaigns in an increasingly fragmented environment.” - Doug McLennan, Director of Product Management, Experian Explore our DASH audiences to advance your digital and TV ad campaign strategy TV usage and viewing behavior audiences   These audience segments allow marketers to reach unique and targeted viewers, like frequent streamers or those who watch exclusively on larger screens.      Ad Avoiders    Ad Acceptors      Household/Family Viewing – Co-Watchers      Household/Family Viewing – Co-Watchers with Children      Household/Family Viewing – Co-Watchers without Children      Household/Family Viewing – Solo Watchers      TV Enthusiasts – Paid TV High Spenders      Viewing Device Type – Screen Size - Small      Viewing Device Type – Screen Size - Large     With our new TV audiences, you can target viewers with precision, accuracy, and confidence, enabling you to maximize your marketing efforts.  We are excited to offer these new segments and look forward to continuing our work with the ARF to develop new resources that help you connect with your target audiences.  “DASH has established itself as a reliable and unbiased calibration set - a “true North” - for media measurement. Our collaboration with Experian puts the power and precision of DASH in the hands of marketers and advertisers as well.” - Paul Donato, Chief Research Officer, ARF Our DASH audiences can be found on the shelf in your demand-side platform of choice for easy accessibility, with availability across all offline and online channels. Connect with us to learn more.     For more information on our partner ARF,  visit www.thearf.org. 

2022 was a year of adjustment. Consumers adjusted to a post-pandemic world and returned to pre-pandemic shopping behaviors. Consumers adjusted their budgets as the price of goods skyrocketed, as a result of high inflation. To combat inflation, the U.S. Federal Reserve adjusted interest rates. This further restricted consumer buying power. The AdTech ecosystem also experienced adjustments. Google adjusted the date of cookie deprecation. Federal legislation forced technology companies to adjust their consumer privacy practices. Marketers and advertisers adjusted how they address interoperability issues by investing in clean room solutions. This year of adjustment makes it harder to predict where consumers will spend and how marketers should plan their digital audience strategies.   What will 2023 bring to AdTech? Download our 2023 AdTech trends and predictions report to access our forecast to help you plan for 2023. Our report will answer:    How has digital activation changed over the last four years?    What are the top advertising platforms?    Which digital audiences are advertisers buying?   Do digital audience strategies vary by vertical?   Our AdTech trends forecast    In 2023, digital activation will increase. Digital audience activation continues to grow at a significant rate despite market shocks like the pandemic, inflation, and higher interest rates.   Given the current economic uncertainty, we predict that marketers will look toward tried and true channels where they are confident they will have quality audiences, inventory, and be able to drive ROI.  What will digital activation look like in 2023?   Between 2018-2021, digital audience activation increased annually by 46%. Using projected 2022 results, between 2018-2022, it will increase annually by 34%. We anticipate continued growth in 2023.  Top advertising platforms in 2023   2023 will see increased digital activation, but which platforms will advertisers use to serve their ads?   Advertisers will shift their focus to demand-side, video, and supply-side platforms.  Social media platforms will continue to experience volatility.   Advertisers will place bigger bets on the combination of addressable and CTV.  Our report will also reveal which platforms are creating a path toward a post-cookie future and where data-sharing relationships will become the strongest.  The most popular advertiser audiences trending now in AdTech   Which digital audiences are advertisers buying?   Demographics    Modeled Lifestyles   Behavioral  Custom Audiences   Traditional targeting methods like Demographics and Modeled Lifestyles are the baseline of many marketing strategies. We predict that we will continue to see marketers activate against these data sets.  Digital audience strategies by vertical  Digital audience strategies vary by vertical. Download our report to uncover the digital audiences purchased by advertisers in the following industries:   Financial Services   Health   Retail & CPG   Technology & Communication   Download our new 2025 Digital trends and predictions report Marketers, agencies, and platforms are facing new challenges as privacy regulations evolve, AI technology advances, and consumer behaviors shift. Our latest report highlights actionable strategies for navigating these changes and improving how you connect with audiences, measure impact, and deliver results. What you’ll learn Navigating signal loss: Explore the rise of alternative IDs and contextual targeting as privacy regulations and signal loss reshape data-driven advertising.  Connected TV (CTV): Understand the growth of connected TV (CTV), the importance of frequency capping, and strategies for effective audience activation.  Omnichannel campaigns: Learn how marketers are moving from channel-specific strategies to audience-led omnichannel campaigns that tell a more cohesive story. Retail media networks: Learn how retail media networks (RMNs) are capitalizing on enriched first-party data to learn more about their customers and reach them across on-site and off-site inventory.  Curation: Examine how curation is transforming programmatic campaigns by combining audience, contextual, and supply chain signals to deliver premium inventory packages that maximize addressability, efficiency, and performance. Download now

Advertisers continue to increase their spending across addressable TV, connected TV (CTV), and digital. According to IAB's "2021 Video Ad Spend and 2022 Outlook" report, digital video ad spending is expected to increase by 26% to $49.2 billion in 2022. Understanding who consumers are and how to best reach them in their preferred channel is becoming more complex. Damian Amitin and Colleen Dawe discuss how a seamless identity strategy can address the complexity of the emerging TV space. The evolution of identity resolution Around ten years ago, the idea of digital “identity resolution” or “Device Graphs” was born. This idea connected cookies and MAIDs to understand when many IDs were the same person or household. In more recent years, our industry began to connect that initial understanding to the CTV ecosystem. But, a large part of the TV ecosystem existed in silos, like first and third-party audience data, and the growing advanced TV market. The goal of identity resolution has always been to understand the consumer better. To achieve more accurate targeting and measurement in the CTV ecosystem, we must incorporate the following: What we know about the household and consumer from an ID perspective Who the consumer is as it relates to audience data, as well as the wealth of first-party data in the advanced TV space We know the cookie is a flawed way to collect data. While Google delayed the deprecation of third-party cookies, there are other challenges that we face right now. Such as the glaring gap in Safari traffic and the Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA) turning to “opt-in." Understanding consumer behavior across devices and platforms continues to challenge marketers and publishers. These challenges are creating the need to find more stable identifiers. Though the cookie remains valuable, it has an uncertain future. This has led advertisers to place bigger bets on the combination of addressable and CTV. The overlap in addressable and CTV data leads to fragmentation Personally identifiable information (PII) makes up the majority of addressable TV households' data. Part of the attraction to CTV is that their IDs remain universal, persistent, and stable. Analysts project that CTV ad spending will hit $23B in 2023. Consumers now have an average of 4.7 streaming subscriptions per household. It’s no surprise then, that Disney+, HBO, and Netflix released or announced ad-supported tiers. Addressable TV and CTV are often thought of as distinct markets across the industry. But, in the context of identity, we should look at them through the same lens. Millions of households still consume TV and video content via a set-top box or through apps on CTVs. This is in addition to what they consume on their laptops, tablets, and phones. Of the top 11 cable and satellite providers, 65 million U.S. households still have a box in their homes. On the other hand, approximately 96 million U.S. households have at least one or more Smart TVs and streaming services. With about 126 million total U.S. TV households, that’s a lot of overlap. There are still significant numbers of both addressable and CTV homes. How can we address fragmented TV consumption? Through a holistic and comprehensive approach to identity. An approach that captures addressable TV, CTV, and digital identifiers. An approach that captures all audience attributes inside of a single identity graph. This is the ideal approach for publishers, AdTech vendors, and brands. Discover how to unlock holistic identity How can we achieve a holistic identity? Through a three-pillared approach: First-party data onboarding Digital identifiers Consumer data First-party data onboarding Bringing offline data from a brand’s consumers is very valuable due to the quality of the data. Because the data is being collected right from the source, you know it’s accurate. It provides the foundation you can build your identity strategy from. Digital identifiers Once you create a foundation with first-party data, you need to connect it. Either with an internal or licensed digital ID graph. Then you can understand the connections between all devices within the household. Consumer data After you know which devices tie to a single consumer, you'll want to act on that knowledge. The next step is to partner with a data provider that can help you understand your consumers. Establishing this partnership will help improve targeting, measurement, and the customer experience. To achieve a well-rounded customer view tomorrow, we need to start today The three-pillared approach bridges the gap between the offline and online worlds. This provides a well-rounded view of customers and audiences. However, the ability to tie these aspects of identity together still presents several challenges. To achieve the three-pillared approach today, you need to use many vendors and fragmented data sources. Often with conflicting data. As we look forward, the tools to do this are becoming more advanced and unified. The players in our ecosystem should adopt a seamless identity strategy. One that provides a privacy-safe yet full-picture solution. That means capturing and unifying all devices within a household. While also understanding the consumer behaviors and profiles behind those devices. As TV becomes more sophisticated, our data and services will enable you to unlock a holistic identity. Chris Feo, SVP of Advanced TV and Platforms, spoke with Broadcasting & Cable about how our data powers measurement, audience insights, and results for businesses within the TV space. "As more and more companies enter the general TV space, whether you're a publisher, an advertiser or anyone in between that's doing measurement, insights, analytics, our data or our services will play a role in some part of that value exchange." - Chris Feo, SVP of Advanced TV and Platforms, Experian Marketing Services Keep up with your customers and their data Once we create an informed identity strategy, we can begin to understand the makeup of each household and the individuals within. In this new world, personalizing the experience for an audience is key. Where do they prefer to spend their time? What type of content are they most engaged in? Only then can we as an industry provide an optimal experience for each consumer. All while driving greater ROI for advertisers and publishers. Are you ready to know more about your customers than ever before? Let's get to work together to achieve your marketing goals. Contact us to learn how we can connect the complex dots of identity resolution. About our experts Damian Amitin, VP of Enterprise Partnerships, Experian Marketing Services Damian Amitin is the VP of Enterprise Partnerships and joined Experian during the Tapad acquisition in November 2020. Damian is a senior sales and partnerships executive, specializing in the identity resolution and marketing data ecosystem. Damian helps brands, publishers, and technology vendors enable enhanced ID resolution through The Experian/Tapad platform to attain a 360 view of the customer across targeting analytics, attribution, and personalization. Colleen Dawe, Senior Account Executive, Experian Marketing Services Colleen Dawe is a Senior Account Executive on the Advanced TV Team within Experian Marketing Services. With 15 years of experience working within the television ecosystem, Colleen works with clients to bring the value and expertise of Experian to support their objectives in the areas of data, identity, activation, and measurement.

Over the past two decades, we’ve seen healthcare become increasingly interconnected. Healthcare systems can share a patient's clinical information in a variety of ways. A Pharmacy Benefits Manager can share it through an Electronic Health Record. An MRI scanner can also capture and store patient images on a picture archiving and communication system (PACS). Despite this wealth of information, according to the CDC, 20 million U.S. citizens don’t have access to medical care when they need it. A patient’s well-being should represent more than their clinical data. How can we increase access to care for those individuals? We can look towards non-clinical factors, like the social determinants of health, for answers. Coordinate care for at-risk patients What if you could identify patients who are likely to readmit due to factors outside of their medical conditions? We can use demographic, geographic, and socioeconomic data to discover patients that need greater access to care. The social determinants of health (SDOH) can uncover factors that may increase the burden of disease for some populations. What are the social determinants of health? They are the conditions in the environments where people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age. Think of factors like safe housing, transportation, job opportunities, and education. These conditions can affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risks. What insights can the social determinants of health reveal? Experian Health’s Social Determinants of Health solution offers holistic insight into the financial, transportation, and technological barriers individuals may experience. These barriers could hinder their access to care, medication, food, and housing. It's important to find a solution like ours that offers prioritized, proactive suggestions for interventions that help remove or reduce such barriers for improved health outcomes. Our rich household data sets can provide key insights into the SDOH. This data can answer key questions such as: Are there existing populations with housing instability issues? How much price sensitivity do consumers have for medication? Are there markets or locations that have food instability issues? Is transportation an issue that makes it hard for patients to access care facilities? Are there geographic influences that drive or prevent diagnosis and care? In the chart below, we break down the SDOH into five categories. We outline key considerations that offer insights to provide patient-specific context for your caregivers. Finally, we present patient engagement strategies that are SDOH factor-specific and based on best practice interventions and program types.                                 Social determinants of health data in action While much of healthcare focuses on clinical outcomes, our Consumer View data can provide a wealth of insight into a variety of non-clinical factors that can influence quality of care. A profile of core demographics such as age, ethnicity, and gender can uncover new opportunities or highlight areas where engagement does not align with medical research. We can discover patients at-risk for not being able to access essential services utilizing key, social determinants of health and geographic profiling. When combined with core demographics like age, gender, and ethnicity, we can compare any patient population against expected SDOH norms to uncover significant gaps in access to care. Our data shows that: 1 in 12 households have no access to a vehicle 1 in 4 households are sensitive to the cost of medication 1 in 5 households have very low technology sophistication 1 in 7 households live below the federal poverty level Once you have this data, what can you do with it? You can develop an inclusive education and communication campaign with our data-driven content and contact engagement solution. This solution empowers you to pair the perfect messaging styles with the right channels to deliver a personalized experience to broaden your reach. For those individuals who have little access to technology, an email campaign may not reach them. We can identify additional engagement channels like the traditional newspaper, radio, direct mail, or even broadcast TV to determine the best medium to expand your market while increasing access to care. By using decision making styles and engagement channels, together we can reduce the burden of care on the medically underserved. Let’s drive inclusive healthcare together Develop a more holistic view of your patient population while increasing healthcare equity. We can help you use the social determinants of health for actionable care management. Contact us to learn how you can fold this data into your healthcare ecosystem.

Next up in our Ask the Expert series, we hear from Sarah Ilie and Lauren Portell. Sarah and Lauren talk about the internet’s value exchange - what we gain and lose when it’s so easy to share our information. Is convenience hurting or helping us?  The age of connectivity  Today, it’s almost unimaginable to think about how your day-to-day life would look without the convenience of the internet, smartphones, apps, and fitness trackers; the list goes on and on. We live in the age of connectivity. We have the convenience to buy products delivered to our homes on the same day. We can consume content across thousands of platforms. We also have watches or apps that track our health with more granularity than ever before.   The internet's value exchange In exchange for this convenience and information, we must share various kinds of data for these transactions and activities to take place. Websites and apps give you the option to “opt in” and share your data. They also often let you know that they are collecting your data. This can feel like an uncomfortable proposition and an invasion of privacy to many people. What does it mean to opt-in to a website or app’s tracking cookies?  What value do we exchange?  What opting in means for you  Opting in to cookies means that you are allowing the app or website to track your online activity and collect anonymous data that is aggregated for marketing analytics. The data provides valuable information to understand users better to create better online experiences or offer more useful products and content.    Granting access to “tracking” offers several benefits to users such as a customized, more personal user experience or advertising that is more likely to be relevant. For example, let’s imagine you have recently been using an app or website to plan a camping trip. By sharing your data, the website or app has visibility into what is interesting or useful to you which can lead to related content suggestions (best campsites) or relevant advertising and product recommendations (tents and camping equipment).     It’s important to know that the marketing data collected when you opt in is extremely valuable. The revenue that advertising generates is often very important to websites and apps because this is how they make money to continue providing content and services to consumers.     Data privacy practices  Privacy concerns regarding how companies and developers use tracking information have risen over the last couple of years and have resulted in additional protection for consumers’ privacy while still allowing companies to improve their products and advertising. One big step in this direction has been simply making people aware that their data is being collected, why it’s being collected, and providing users with the option to share this data for marketing analytics through opting-in or not.     Other important steps to maintain online privacy include formal legal legislation and self-regulation. The right to privacy is protected by more than 600 laws between individual states and federal legislation and the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce recently voted to pass the American Data Privacy and Protection Act.  Additionally, marketing organizations such as the Interactive Advertising Bureau and Association of National Advertisers regulate themselves with codes of conduct and standards given there is so much attention on privacy issues.    Is the internet's value exchange worth it?  The data that we choose to share by opting in has a lot of benefits for us as consumers. There are laws in place to protect our data and privacy. Of course, it’s important to be aware that data is collected and used for marketing purposes, but it’s also reasonable to share a certain amount of data that translates into benefits for you as well.  The best data unlocks the best marketing. Contact us to tap into the power of the world’s largest consumer database. Learn how you can use Experian Marketing Services' powerful consumer data to learn more about your customers, drive new business, and deliver intelligent interactions across all channels.    Meet the Experts:  Lauren Portell, Account Executive, Advanced TV, Experian Marketing Services  Sarah Ilie, Strategic Partner Manager, Experian Marketing Services 

We’re excited to introduce our new Q&A series, Ask the Expert! Ask the Expert will feature a series of conversations with product experts. We’ll spotlight and dive into the areas you care most about: identity resolution, targeting, attribution, and more. Our first segment features a conversation on Hashed Email. Jeff Tognetti, the Product Development Team Lead at DealerX joins us to chat with Experian’s Chief Revenue Officer, Chris Feo. Chris and Jeff review how to future-proof your identity strategy by exploring Hashed Email use cases, technical details, and offer an expert point of view on the cookieless future.   Let’s review a few highlights from their conversation. DealerX’s use case  When DealerX first started working with us, we focused on digital identity. DealerX wanted to understand the browsing habits of their first-party shoppers that relate to their clients:   What they’re doing  How they’re interacting with client sites and products  Apply those learnings to target them across the web   Eliminate ad fraud and targeting waste  Our partnership gave DealerX the ability to take an anonymous consumer from anywhere across their portfolio of customers and understand who they are, while in an anonymous state. Then, they could activate on any channel where that consumer may be in the market for a product. This allowed DealerX to resolve who these people are as they browse the web, leading to reduced ad spend and targeting waste.   This was the original and primary use case for DealerX when partnering with us. So, when did Hashed Email come into the mix for DealerX? Before we dive into the specifics, let’s take a step back and understand Hashed Email.  What is Hashed Email?  Hashed Email is a privacy-safe identifier that can further enrich the connection between the online (digital) and offline (real world) ecosystems. When paired with the Tapad Graph with access to Tapad’s universe of email data, it can provide maximum coverage for targeting and measurement when combined with IDs such as cookies, mobile ad IDs (MAIDs), connected TV (CTV) IDs, and IP addresses.  Email hashing uses a method of coding to transform an email address into a jumble of numbers and letters so that it’s fully pseudonymized and privacy safe. Hashed emails can then be used as a digital identifier when a user is logged in to that email and trace their activity – without linking back to the user’s real email address. This allows marketers to collect data on their users and understand their behavior without knowing their email address – a win for both consumer privacy and marketer insight.  DealerX & Hashed Email  DealerX was one of our first customers to onboard Hashed Email to the Tapad Graph. Adding Hashed Email gave them a privacy-compliant way to work with identity and resolve what a user did on their site. This allowed them to gain insight into where an ad and impression was served; even the day and time these actions occurred.  Now, we’re not the only data partner that DealerX works with. Many companies offer the notion of converting email to a digital ID in a privacy-safe way. How does DealerX evaluate the right data partner?  Evaluating the right data partner  When we say, ‘data partner,’ we’re referring to the data, the service, and the support. The most important characteristics to consider when choosing a data partner, according to DealerX, include:  Technical prowess  Efficiency  Agility  Scalability  Why did DealerX choose to partner with us? Our services met the characteristics they were looking for in a data partner. We grew the product by iterating on features that worked best for Jeff and his team. The rollout was organized, efficient, and lacked bureaucracy, which can slow down an implementation timeline.  While we started our relationship with DealerX as a vendor, now we're partners. How did we transition from vendor to partner? Transitioning from vendor to partner  The key to a great partnership is trust. It’s tough to navigate an ecosystem with numerous companies that claim to have the same products and services. The relationship will start off as vendor-client, and both teams will get to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. As the vendor makes your work seamless and offers an efficient implementation process, the relationship turns into a partnership.  There’s more!  This is just a taste of Chris and Jeff’s conversation. Visit the Ask the Expert content hub to watch a recording of the conversation. Stay tuned for future segments in our Ask the Expert series. We’re just getting started!  About DealerX In just a few short years, DealerX has grown to serve 1,000’s of Tier 3 dealerships across all brands, enterprise partners and OEMs. Their keen approach to data, analytics, machine learning and programmatic initiatives have led DealerX to quickly become the most savvy player in the automotive space. DealerX has helped automotive retailers save 10’s of millions of dollars by avoiding fraud and eliminating wasteful ads pends, while dramatically reducing “cost per sale." In doing so, their partners significantly outperform those leveraging generic “one size fits all” competitive offerings. To learn more, visit their website at Dealerx.com.

While the weather outside is frightfully hot this summer, it’s never too soon to start thinking about the holidays – and consumers are more likely to start their holiday shopping early this year. To get you ready for the 2022 holiday shopping season, we looked back at consumer shopping trends from 2019-2021. What did we learn and what trends do we expect to see this year? Let’s look back. A look back Over the last three years, average consumer spending has increased. Record 2021 holiday sales came amidst a wave of COVID-19 cases, rising inflation, labor shortages, and supply chain problems. Despite these challenges, consumers continued to let it snow when it came to spending during the holiday season.  2022 has been a year with its own economic roadblocks – the war in Ukraine, rising gas prices, and recession concerns. Yet 2021 was a banner year for holiday sales despite its obstacles, and we predict similar trends in the 2022 holiday shopping season. What trends do we expect to see for the most wonderful time of the year?  2022 predictions While consumer spending remains strong, changing economic conditions continue to shape shopper behavior. To develop our predictions for 2022 holiday shopper behavior, we focused on four key areas: When consumers shop Where consumers shop What consumers purchase Consumer media preferences Now, let's make our holiday campaign planning checklist and check it twice. When consumers shop Chestnuts roasting on an open fire. Jack Frost nipping at your nose. Those aren’t the only ways to know when the holiday season has begun. Shoppers tend to spread out their holiday purchases across multiple months and were more likely to start shopping earlier. To understand holiday retail sales trends from 2019-2021, we identified four shopper segments:  Early Shoppers Traditional Shoppers Late Shoppers Random Shoppers What differences did we see between our four shopper segments? Early shoppers made almost half of their holiday purchases in October Random shoppers spread out their holiday purchases evenly across multiple months Late shoppers made almost half of their holiday purchases in December Traditional shoppers made almost half of their holiday purchases in November While December continues to dominate holiday sales, October has started to gain traction over the last three years, and November remains a core shopping month. Everybody knows a turkey and a mistletoe help to make the season bright but knowing when your consumers are most likely to shop will help deck your campaign planning halls. Jingle bell rock your way to holiday sales that shine bright with our tips to prepare for earlier shoppers:  Offer targeted promotions earlier in the shopping season Target your ads based on the shopping habits of your customers throughout the season Where consumers shop There’s no place like home for the holidays but most consumers aren’t shopping from home. Despite the rise in online shopping, brick and mortar locations continue to dominate holiday sales. October is the most popular month to take a one-horse open sleigh to a store, and consumers gather around the fire to online shop in November and December.     With most shoppers preferring to shop in-store, and e-commerce popularity growing, it’s critical to think about bridging the gap between your online and offline presence for the consumer. Are you offering multiple paths to purchase with solutions such as BOPIS (Buy Online, Pickup In-Store)?  Go down in history like Rudolph with our tips to prepare for more in-store shopping:  Focus on in-store shopping experience technology (self-checkout, VR, QR codes, scan to pay, etc.) Offer multiple paths to purchase to connect your online and physical presence through methods such as BOPIS (Buy Online, Pickup In-Store), BORIS (Buy Online, Return In-Store), and ROPO (Research Online, Purchase Offline), etc. What consumers purchase When it comes to holiday gifts, for some, only a hippopotamus will do. Compared to pre-pandemic, shoppers are spending more at apparel stores and mass retailers. Spending at specialty retailers, warehouse clubs, and on office, electronic, and games is almost the same across holiday and non-holiday shopping months. Time for toys and time for cheer may be year-round, but are there any correlations between where consumers shop (online vs. in-store) and what they purchase? Our data found that shoppers who bought from mass retailers were more likely to shop online, while shopping for apparel and warehouse clubs was done at a physical store location.     Put this insight to the test by thinking through how you can target your consumer based on where they shop in-store and online. You just might find that hippopotamus at a brick and mortar mass retailer location!  Consumer media preferences Do you see what I see? While we are seeing a shift to digital media channel preference, consumers still engage with traditional media channels like direct mail and the traditional newspaper. Successfully connecting with your customers involves capturing their attention through the right channel. We found that our four shopping groups prefer a mix of traditional and digital media channels. What does your media channel mix look like?  Hark! The herald angels sing of ways to adapt to the change in holiday spend and media preferences:  Align your activation efforts to digital, but don't forget about traditional channels Expand your targeting and activation focus beyond in-store vs. online Download our new 2024 report For a deeper dive into our predictions and actionable insights you can use to take your holiday campaign planning home for the holidays, download our new 2024 report. Experian data can help you refine your content and creative strategy to achieve maximum ROI for each campaign across all your channels. Download now