[What You Need to Know Now] The Latest on Audience Data (Part 2)

How will the advertising and marketing industry, now rapidly converging with technology, transform in the future? A young planner tackling digital marketing at Dentsu Inc. explains the latest insights in a relay format, centered on "Data × Marketing."

Following the first part, Ryoji Yanashima, CEO of Intimate Merger (IM) which supports corporate data utilization; Sohei Mitani, at the forefront of Dentsu Digital Inc.'s digital marketing; and Jun Goto, also at Dentsu Inc. handling alliances with various partners, discussed the current state of audience data utilization.

(What You Need to Know) What is Audience Data?

Goto: Fundamentally, audience data is based on visualizing customers online and then targeting them. The trend now is extending this beyond the web to offline initiatives, right?

Yanashima: That's right. As Mr. Mitani mentioned earlier ( in Part 1 ), even though we painstakingly created detailed target profiles through surveys—like "single, male in his 20s, hobby is XX"—actual campaigns could only either reach everyone or do retargeting. Audience data seems to bridge that significant gap between the ideal (planning) and reality (execution).

It allows us to recreate the target image and actually target them based not only on age and gender, but also on interests and even behaviors like "shopping in Ginza on weekends."

――But first... what exactly is audience data?

Yanashima: While we hear the term "audience data" frequently, its actual nature might remain unclear. Fundamentally, it refers to information based on web behavioral data collected via browser cookies.

We link the information gathered via cookies to demographic data like age, gender, and annual income, which we clarify through partnerships with survey companies. Additionally, audience data includes information about interests and hobbies gleaned from aggregation sites and portals, as well as geographic data like location information and IP addresses.

Goto: This data allows us to delve deeper into previously unquantifiable insights, such as people's values, and reflect them in marketing. It's an attempt to score changes in sentiment, like attitude shifts occurring between branding (awareness) and direct (purchase).

Yanashima: Precisely, we're using IM data to define customer segments not immediately before purchase, but those just beginning to show interest in a brand.

Taking life insurance as an example, we use information from summary sites and portals to model behavior: someone starting their research might search "life insurance selection methods," while "life insurance comparison" suggests they're closer to purchasing, and searching a company name indicates they're in the final consideration phase. Our audience data provides material for communication tailored to the customer's phase.

Goto: While it might be unusual for insurance products, I believe that generally, before "wanting to buy," there's an underlying feeling of "liking." Using data, we can uncover these latent sentiments too. We're also seeing this need emerge from clients.

Mitani: The starting point for ideas is changing, isn't it? Previously, clients would start with the product – "We're closest to customers via social media, so let's start using it to sell our product." Or advertising agencies would start with the media – "Our reach goal is XX million people, so let's run TV commercials."

But I believe the essential approach should start with the customer or consumer. It means starting from the premise that consumers are here, have these interests, and possess these attributes. With technological evolution, marketing has finally reached its true foundation: the consumer.

Data Transforming Creativity and Marketing

Mitani: Up to this point, we've focused solely on attracting customers. But once you adopt a user-centric mindset, you can also consider what to show them after attracting them. For example, in apparel, it becomes natural to realize you need content like introducing the latest fashion trends – content that might seem somewhat removed from direct purchasing – not just your own products.

Considering that marketing is shifting towards a user-centric approach, as evidenced by the recent focus on content marketing, makes this concept easier to grasp.

Yanashima: Web advertising originally didn't delve deeply into creative aspects—it was more like "make 50 banners and allocate budget to the one with the highest CTR" or "just put 'Industry Leader' in there." However, leveraging audience data has increasingly shifted the focus to the appeal message itself.

For example, even for the same demographic of men in their 30s, it's better to change the appeal axis between someone newly married and someone single. Even for a single banner, we can now properly address the creative aspects.

――In that sense, Dentsu Inc., with its proven track record in creative across all media, seems to have strengths that pure online advertising players lack.

Yanashima: This isn't limited to Dentsu Inc. alone, but we sometimes provide data to advertising agencies as "seed data" for creating creative content.

Returning to the insurance product example: while personas often target newlyweds or parents with newborns, we discovered a new target group through data analysis.

As we investigated that project, we discovered that news stories about famous actresses or celebrities falling ill were triggering more people to start considering life insurance or cancer insurance. The appeal message for these people is clearly different from the traditional personas, right? If you start with data to develop creative, I think you can come up with messages that aren't just the same old "industry leader" approach.

Mitani: This applies to the creative domain, but naturally, Dentsu Inc.'s strengths are also becoming more evident in the marketing domain through digital. One aspect is creating strategy with a holistic overview. Planning that organically combines online and offline elements is something only a full-service advertising agency can truly deliver.

Goto: Another point I'm thinking about is digging deep into the client's challenges and coming up with solutions using ideas that don't emerge from survey results alone. As an example of traditional marketing methods, we were often limited to panel surveys or group interviews. But by partnering with companies like IM, I feel our ability to make proposals that go beyond just creative ideas or just data is accelerating.