For MandM Direct, this type of ‘audience ownership’ also feeds back into advertising strategies.
“First-party data [is about] making sure that we own all of the understanding of our customers… as long as we own that understanding, we can share that with partners to drive value and to drive relevance to customers.”
The workload like this whatsapp number list allows both the vendor and the affiliate to focus on. Clicks are the number of clicks coming to your website’s URL from organic search results.
With an increasing spotlight being shone on data security, MandM Direct is at the same time focused on consumer privacy. Nicola Fry, Principal Industry Manager for Google, explains how the company has set up a steering committee in partnership with MandM Direct, “all around data, platforms, and privacy, because we knew that was of critical concern.”
Fry further explains that Google “shares with [MandM] our latest thinking, whether it’s around the privacy sandbox or regulatory changes that they should keep in mind.”
One way for brands to build first-party data is by selling direct to consumers. Of course, Covid has spurred on big investment in this channel, as more consumers made the shift to shop online during lockdown. Since the pandemic, a number of big CPG companies (that have traditionally relied on third-party retailers) including Unilever and Nestle have invested in direct-to-consumer channels, opening up direct relationships with consumers, and in turn, building first-party data.
Samsung is another example, with the retail brand striving to build on the rise it saw in online sales since the pandemic as well as counteract the closure of brick-and-mortar stores that it had previously heavily relied on. Speaking on the second episode of ‘Marketing that Matters’, Mike Durey, head of digital, CRM and data for Samsung UK, explains how the focus on DTC increased as the pandemic hit.