The document discusses the challenges brands face with empowered consumers who control when, where, and how they engage with brands. It argues that brands need to refine multidimensional consumer insights from various data sources to better understand consumers and maximize marketing ROI, customer value, and margins. The document provides tips for brands to transform, including prioritizing proprietary consumer insights over third-party data and controlling insight to improve targeted marketing and customer relationships.

1. POINT OF VIEW STRATEGY AND ANALYTICS
THE PARADOX OF THE
EMPOWERED CONSUMER
Today’s empowered consumer represents an interesting paradox. There never have been more ways to reach the consumer, yet it’s never
been harder to truly engage. Consumers, not brands, choose when, where, how and if they engage. As a result, virtually all brand metrics,
including esteem and loyalty, are in serious decline.
This sad reality is driven by virtually unlimited choice and information about price, availability and satisfaction. What’s more, billions
of dollars have been invested in new commerce and advertising models that, at their core, collect consumer information and auction its
use off to the highest bidder, creating enormously commoditizing effects for brands. Brands, and their marketing and advertising, are
under assault.
BRANDS NEED TO REFINE AND CONTROL MULTIDIMENSIONAL CONSUMER INSIGHT
To preserve and grow the enterprise in the age of the empowered consumer, brands need to refine and control multidimensional
consumer insight. Data, like capital and labor, represents a crucial raw material in delivering value — for many firms, it is the key raw
material. Fortunately, with technology and focus, brands can refine the increasing volume, velocity and variety of data into actionable
insight to make every interaction count.
But, while significantly investing in tools and people to refine data is commonplace, many brands overemphasize a narrow set of
consumer signals — for example, search or purchases or expressed preferences. Each of these signals is useful, but incomplete.
These incomplete signals cause brands to misdirect spending chasing mirages. To filter out false signals, brands need to refine
multidimensional insights, a proprietary mashup that spans behavior, value, interests, relationships, influence, attitudes, consumption
and geodemographics.
Today’s defining issue is whether brands, or their agents and partners, will control consumer insight. Control is particularly challenging
given many of the world’s most valuable (and respected) firms have business models expressly built upon the collection and subsequent
auctioned usage of consumer information. Without proper focus, a brand’s control can be easily compromised as a byproduct of an
ad buy. To maximize value, marketers must be attentive to their data rights and drive decision making based upon proprietary brand
insights (not weaker third party proxies).
THE PAYOFF FROM REFINING AND CONTROLLING MULTIDIMENSIONAL INSIGHT
Brands can realize payoffs from refining and controlling multidimensional consumer insight in three areas — improved marketing return on
investment, increased value of their customer portfolio, and improved margins.
On average, brands can expect a 15–30% improvement in marketing return on investment, by improving targeting efficiency and better
attributing results to spending. Refined insights help brands to better influence and sense consumer behavior, to smartly incorporate
lower-cost media, and to reduce time to market. Control over brand insight enables improved results with trusted partners, and the
recapture of value from ad tech intermediaries.
Connecting results to spend drives marketing return on investment. Understanding “who” can create an additional 10–15% improvement
in the value of a customer portfolio, by acquiring and extending more profitable relationships, and by reducing investment in less
profitable relationships. A rigorous focus on increasing the number of recognizable consumers, across channels, is critical to optimizing
the performance of customer segments and multichannel contact strategies.
Finally, advanced use of multidimensional insight drives improved margins, typically 500–700bp. Initial consumer intent is almost
always expressed in general, commodity terms — deep brand insight can decommoditize this intent through differentiated content or
configuring higher value options.

2. POINT OF VIEW STRATEGY AND ANALYTICS
TIPS/TACTICS TO WIN IN THE ERA OF THE
EMPOWERED CONSUMER
So, refining and controlling multidimensional consumer insight can 5. Define marketing success as improving the value of your customer
improve marketing return on investment 15–30%, customer portfolio portfolio. In a world where consumers are boss, product marketing
value by 10–15%, and margins 500–700bp. Additionally, it enables brands performance is less important than customer marketing performance.
to act transformationally. We’ve cultivated the top tips and tactics, from Key action – establish KPIs around customer value (e.g., lifetime value)
our research and experience with the world’s top brands in three key generated by marketing programs.
areas — applied insight, strategy and organizational capabilities.
Key action – consider increasing emphasis on existing customer growth and
retention. Leverage act-, look-, and think-alike models off best customers to
TRANSFORMATIONAL APPLIED INSIGHT focus on the highest value acquisition opportunities.
1. Prioritize your proprietary insight. Third party cookies (or panels)
are no match for the breadth & depth of your proprietary insight 6. Alter your media-mix optimization process from broad
about consumers. A brand refines insight over years; a third party econometric models to one based upon your actual
cookie does so over days. Syndicated panels offer a small fraction multidimensional consumer insight.
of what brands know about consumers. Relying solely upon third Key action – establish specific media substitution targets based upon actual
party context or proxies is a poor, wasteful substitute. consumer preference and behavior.
Key action – establish goals for media spending to be directly targeted by 7. Alter your primary research design to make personas more
your database. Support with aligned measurement and incentives. projectable to real consumers in scale.
Key action – refine insight multidimensionally. There is no one signal that Key action – incorporate modern statistical methods (e.g., Consumer
reliably predicts or describes consumer behavior (not search, purchases or Behavioral and Attitudinal Targeting) to more accurately classify primary
even stated preferences). research output against your marketing database in a statistically valid way.
2. Insist that detailed advertising engagement data be returned to
adequately attribute results and ferret out waste. TRANSFORMATIONAL ORGANIZATIONAL
Key action – Your data rights should be explicitly identified in every CAPABILITIES
advertising or sponsorship discussion. Avoid deals where you can’t receive 8. Focus on the enterprise, not just media optimization, product
your desired engagement data. recommendations, or personalization initiatives. For example,
while an agency trading desk is valuable, consumer insight should
3. Use a safe haven to reach and engage mutual customers of trusted be applied to more than just media.
business partners, while minimizing risk and compliance issues. In
a safe haven, data is never shared, but via matching/anonymizing, Key action – establish enterprise-wide goals for consumer insight. Resist tactics
you and your partners benefit as if it were. that merely optimize a function, but compromise overall enterprise value.
Key action – minimize distribution of your proprietary data. Restrict sharing 9. Invest in enabling capabilities to drive key payoffs — improved
data with firms that monetize consumer information to arbitrage media marketing ROI, customer portfolio value, and margins.
buying (e.g., an agency trading desk) or as part of an e-/m-commerce portal. Key action – refine and control multidimensional insight to minimize false
Your partners should be agents, not principals, when it comes to your data. signals about consumer behavior. Drive value by creating proprietary insights.
Key action – target media partners to join the safe haven, including Key action – build, manage & protect a marketing central nervous system to
participation and spending commitments. Support with aligned influence and sense consumer behavior at scale with speed.
measurement and incentives.
Key action – deploy personalized and coordinated engagement at every
“moment of truth” by fusing customer recognition with proprietary analytics.
TRANSFORMATIONAL STRATEGIES
4. Prioritize deeply branded experiences (your website, store, etc.) Key action – leverage a safe haven to reach and engage your best customers
over third party sites/applications. Deeply branded sites offer richer everywhere all the time
experiences and control over consumer engagement data. Having a
presence at third party sites or applications is, of course, essential;
however this presence should be used to support, not replace,
deeply branded experiences.
FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO
Key action – clearly define the purpose and priority of branded experiences. DISCUSS, PLEASE CALL 1.888.3ACXIOM
Design communications and objectives accordingly, with preference to OR VISIT WWW.ACXIOM.COM
controllable experiences with access to engagement data.
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