About a year ago, performance marketing technology provider Criteo had a lock on lots of e-commerce companies. What it lacked was access to brand marketers that did not have their own e-commerce sites.
“Those brands have a challenge in creating a performance solution because the sales are actually measured in third-party ecommerce sites that they don’t own,” recalls Jonathan Opdyke.
After the disclosure last October that it planned to acquire HookLogic and its brand advertising exchange, Criteo was able to “crack the code” and open up brands’ sales data, Opdyke explains in this interview with Beet.TV.
At the DMEXCO 2017 advertising and media trade show in Cologne, Germany on Sept. 13 and 14, there will be nearly two-dozen sessions devoted to the present and future of e-commerce marketing.
Prior to the acquisition, both Criteo and HookLogic were performance models built on closed-loop sales attribution “basically targeting consumers with relevant content and then delivering back closed-loop sales as a result of the advertising,” says Opdyke, who was CEO of HookLogic and now is President, Brand Solutions for Criteo.
When the companies came together, they devised a solution to monetize retailer traffic with sponsored listings of retailers “that justified creating a sales measurement model to dive the sales of sponsored listings and make money for retailers,” Opdyke says.
Criteo had been known for its machine learning and an engine-based approach to prediction and serving up the right ad to the right consumer at the right time. With HookLogic under its wing, Criteo created what it terms a Commerce Marketing Ecosystem for brands and retailers built around shopper data and key concepts of shopper identity.
In addition to being able to identify customers across many different platforms, the Criteo ecosystem provides measurement “in being able to measure the sales in particular for a brand that wasn’t able to measure the sales and reach, across a vast set of inventory.”
Criteo has since expanded its global footprint and now has access to more than $550 billion in annual commerce sales data.
“What I see is a much more holistic strategy evolving around ecommerce,” Opdyke says of the company.
“Welcome to the Vibrant Future,” a video series of thought leadership from DMEXCO 2017 presented by Criteo. For more videos please visit this page.
