News Analysis

ANZ Bank's digital sales by volume has surged from 28 per cent a few years ago to 70 per cent today. That creates a huge lake of first-party customer data that can be deployed to optimise media, build better CX and ultimately increase the share of wallet and lifetime customer value. It’s little wonder then that the bank is now investigating a CDP. Carsales is at the other end of the journey. Its CDP went live in Q2 2022, and it's starting to reap the rewards, including match rates for clients closing in on 60 per cent. So one brand is just getting started and the other is live. But in Part Three of our investigation of the CDP market we interrogate the difficult in-between moments marketers must navigate, and – buyer beware – it’s much messier and more complicated than the slick sales pitches let on. Fights over data ownership, significant technical integration problems, and serious limitations with all those out-of-the-box connectors the vendors like to brag about creates risks to project deadlines, and in the worst cases, career advancement. Sometimes just identifying who has credentials and getting them to share can take months. And then there’s the simple (yet apparently not) question of whether you need a CDP at all.

There are north of 30 corporate use cases driving the current stampede for Customer Data Platforms (CDPs), per industry analysts like Gartner. But when Mi3 grilled tech industry heavyweights and their customers, only a few consistently emerged: digital identity, media efficiency and effectiveness, personalisation and regulatory compliance — especially privacy. And now there's a new incentive: It turns out the work required to get CDPs humming also helps organisations become more AI ready. In Part Two of our investigation, we spoke with marketing and digital leaders from University of Tasmania, Nova Entertainment and Suncorp about the business imperatives driving their decisions (they use Oracle, mParticle and Adobe respectively). Mi3 also interviewed execs from CDP platforms Segment, Tealium, Adobe, Salesforce, Celebrus, Amperity, Meiro, and more to get a handle on what's driving demand – and where capability gaps remain a challenge.

The CDP market in Australia is running red hot, with circa 500 companies now using customer data platforms or currently implementing. Segment dominates in volume terms with more than 330 customers, up from 50 just three years ago. But Tealium is capturing a big chunk of the loot thanks to its enterprise dominance. Together with Lexer (70-80 clients covering almost 110 brands) and Adobe, these four vendors have over 90 per cent of the installed base that Mi3 has identified. But it's the brand stories that really explain the appeal. The experience of Jetstar, Chemist Warehouse, News Corp, Moët & Chandon, SCA and a bunch of others suggest major marketing efficiency gains, strong customer growth, more effective advertising and the ability to save a packet by avoiding wastage. Plus better using all that first party data in an ad ecosystem in the middle of major structural upheaval.

Paul Hutchison is on a mission. The former Wavemaker UK boss took on the Bohemia Group CEO role from founder Brett Dawson tasked with restoring the M&C Saatchi-owned media agency to its one-time glory. How? By properly linking media, creative and data smarts with human thinking at the core – and by focusing on memorability over attention. If he can walk the talk, bosses at Foxtel Media and Trinity P3 think it just might work.

The merry-go-round of pitches has sped up a few clicks as stretched agency teams battle late nights, coffee and pizza to charm the pants off some of the world's biggest brands. There's talk of 'pitch palooza' becoming 'pitchageddon'. Accounts in play include VW, Unilever, Nestlé, BMW and Kia, while some of Australia's most prized accounts such as the Australian Government, Tourism Australia, IAG and Kmart may soon be firing off RFPs. Agency bosses complain they are stretched and question some of the motives at play, taking aim at "compliance reviews that just go through the motions". Consultants are not so sure – but see bigger brands moving away from agency village models.  

Ad budgets are being moved into the digital arms of analogue media channels in a market that is struggling to match the spending heights of 2022. Linear TV's audience decline will see it worse off by 10 per cent – circa $300m – this year, but that is not a direct hit to TV networks. Their BVODs are capturing a chunk of the leaked revenue, though face competition from SVOD rivals Netflix and Binge, YouTube, cinema and out of home. But is the leakage merited? Concerns have surfaced about the double standards of scrutiny applied to TV and digital rivals. Meanwhile, the media channels able to adapt to a short-term trading conditions have done so – and programmatic OOH is reaping the rewards. New research of 150-plus media agencies, shared exclusively with Mi3, suggests that these trends could continue well into 2024.

Nine says its relaunch of the Brisbane Times is about much more than giving the masthead a new lick of paint: The decision to 'nearly double' its editorial budget reflects a city that has exploded in population, culture and political leanings. There's also the Brisbane Olympic Games, a major factor in the firm's decision to plough $305m into securing eight year's worth of Olympics rights. Nine aims to loosen News Corp's grip on the market with a different tone and take. Can it take on a rival four times its size and win? Media buyers say advertisers are hungry for more choice and reach – especially if Nine can wrap BVOD data into buys – and reckon it's a smart play either way.

A select cadre of Australia's banking, insurance and telco brands including Commbank, NAB, Suncorp, BUPA and Optus are spending millions each year on real time decisioning. The pay off can be massive. Forrester's Rusty Warner says some firms are realising half a billion dollar returns by boosting customer lifetime value over and above increasing transactions and revenue. But he thinks selling to CMOs could be a mistake. Meanwhile, don't discount the impact of regulation, warns Constellation Research's Liz Miller. Pete Avery, former Program Director, CXM for Suncorp, says there are specific characteristics for the kinds of companies where the model make sense, but says many have not yet grasped the cultural shift required to make the tech work. All agree that traditional marketing clouds – the typical competitor set – can only carry real time decisioning so far. Which may be why Australia's top-end are unplugging them. 

In a sweep of 300-plus responses to the Privacy Act Review Report banks fear crimping of automated decisioning, retailers want people to have to opt-in to targeting to get loyalty perks and telcos warn that services could be disrupted if consent is required to use geolocation and device data. The digital ad industry says free content is at risk and consumers will suffer for questionable gains. Consumer groups disagree – and urge lawmakers to hold the line. Here's what Woolworths, Telstra, NAB, the IAB, tech firms and business lobbies want to change before the Federal Attorney General sets the new regime in stone.