Aiming to tackle the challenge of cross-channel identity and attribution in marketing, the Data & Marketing Association (DMA) said it has formed the Structured Innovation Identity Council. The DMA said it will produce two tools by Q3 — an education portal with videos and case studies called Identity IQ, and a toolkit with identity data definitions, use cases, and data validation assessment techniques designed to improve understanding between buyers and sellers.
The DMA said that increased mobile device usage is one driver for forming the group, since consumers are jumping from screen to screen. Tracking the so-called “customer journey” online and off has become a major challenge. The DMA said it hopes the Identity Council will be able to bridge the gap by bringing diverse companies together to offer solutions that they may not have been able to develop themselves.
The DMA said current members of the Council include: TD Ameritrade, Acxiom, Conversant, Experian, FCB/SIX, LiveRamp, IBM, Infogroup, MediaMath, Morgan Digital Ventures, Moxie, Oracle Data Cloud, Publishers Clearing House, the United States Postal Service, and 4INFO.
“We are now at a point where technology has surpassed our expectations as marketers,” stated Jacob Ciesielski, vice president of data technology solutions at FCB/SIX. “Marketers are trying to leverage everything that is available to connect identities across platforms, create seamless user experiences, and personalize experiences.”
The ability to take intent data and on a real-time basis look at where consumers are going across screens and devices is one of the issues the group will explore. “This is a hard problem to solve,” stated Simon Shulman, director of marketing analytics & technology for TD Ameritrade. “We don’t have the expectation that we can sit in a room for a few days and solve them all. We’re trying to move the ball forward and make the industry smarter as a whole.”