SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico—Add to the lexicon of industry terminology the concept of “purchase-driven planning,” fueled by shopper loyalty data and cross-channel advertising campaign measurement. “We’re very lucky to have access to both the Catalina loyalty card data and the Nielsen media and panel data that we can use for attribution,” says Matt O’Grady, CEO of Nielsen Catalina Solutions.
In fact, it’s “nirvana in a sense,” O’Grady adds in this interview at the recent Beet Retreat 2018. He was interviewed by TV research veteran Howard Shimmel for Beet.TV
“It’s where all marketers are heading. They want to know for every dollar they spent what’s the return on the investment.”
Not that it’s quick or easy, like perusing overnight television ratings. “So we’re lucky to be in that business, we’re lucky to have all these assets, but a lot of it is still manual. A lot of it is putting the pieces and parts together.”
Things are headed beyond just activation targeting and measurement. “It always has to start with planning. So we call that purchase-driven planning,” O’Grady adds.
Asked for his view of consumer data mishaps in general and the recent Marriott breach of its Starwood guest reservation database, which exposed the personal information of up to 500 million people, he points to Catalina’s “flawless track record” on the use and protection of such data.
“Data protection was always on our mind before privacy was branded on our forehead,” he says. “It’s actually the retailers that have the permission base to use the loyalty card data with the actual shopper. That is extended to Catalina.”
He doesn’t think the trend is toward an opt-in model, “but opt out is definitely an opportunity at all those retailers and so we’re going to have to watch that very closely.”
Because consumers really don’t fully understand how their loyalty data are being used, O’Grady believes it’s incumbent on the industry to educate them. The first step is making things clear. “They’re probably not going to resent it. They resent probably surprises.”
Step No. 2 is give people a chance to opt out of data-sharing, followed by making sure “your partners are being really, really clear and disciplined about how they protect the data. Because any of those three things could derail you very quickly.”
This video was produced in San Juan, Puerto Rico at the Beet.TV executive retreat. Please find more videos from the series on this page. The Beet Retreat was presented by NCC along with Amobee, Dish Media, Oath and Google.
