• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, May 17, 2011

Reducing the dependence on IT departments to implement ad retargeting or attribution is a point I missed when I initially learned about the partnership between Criteo and TagMan. The advertising industry will continue to see more technology that provides the ability to bypass IT this year.

In April, TagMan and Criteo signed an agreement to companies through attribution and tag management, and retargeting, respectively. But marketers can no longer wait for their IT departments to build out landing pages and embed tag containers in Web pages or adjust attribution management strategies. So the companies designed a method to cut time and reliance on IT departments.

TagMan provides the Tag Management System that supports Criteo's retargeting tags. Larger retail and travel companies supporting ecommerce appear to benefit the most from personalized retargeting, tag management and attribution, according to Chris Brinkworth, chief marketing officer, TagMan. For advertisers in these market segments, as well as others, it has become important to test new tactics and analyze the impact across all channels in real-time.

Attribution is about weighing the importance that each channel such as display and search play in a buying cycle. TagMan's technology allows companies to link user data to determine the "true journey" through that cycle, Brinkworth said.

Marketers traditionally need IT departments to code pixels based on parameters and requirements, explains Brinkworth. TagMan removes that requirement. He said companies can wait up to three months "in an IT line" before getting the tags embedded in the page. About 40% of companies spend more than a day per month implementing tags, according to a TagMan survey.

Augmented by Criteo's retargeting technology, TagMan connects the dots to find the complete path users take across all marketing activity and retargets them through ads at specific points in the buying process. TagMan and Criteo data combined show the exact journey, frequency and path combinations to increase effectiveness, while reducing the weight of many tags on one Web page that can slow down the time it takes to serve the page to site visitors.

For example, a consumer visits ABCRetailer.com through a paid-search keyword or phrase. The retargeting pixel is triggered based on TagMan rules. The consumer sees an ad based on Criteo's retargeting technology on a publisher site and clicks to the retailer.

While the consumer does not convert, the technology tracks his re-entrance in ABCRetailer.com through a search done on google.com three days, 4 hours and 20 seconds later, explains Brinkworth. Evidently, it's that precise. Happy ending: The consumer purchases a product on ABC Retailer as a result of the advertisement. Brinkworth says most clients gain a return on investment from the start for de-duplication, workflow and privacy management.

Brinkworth admits that ROI for retargeting takes about one to two weeks after the campaign launch. More than 95% of Web site visitors leave before making a transaction. Consumers retargeted with ads are 70% more likely to complete a sale, he said. Retargeting, which companies like Google call remarketing, allows companies to identify previous Web site visitors across the Internet and display relevant banners to drive them back to the Web site to complete their transaction.

Don't forget about the items in your shopping bag!