Blog I in a series illustrating how marketing informs stories. This blog uses the following article to form a perspective, Why Sorrell’s S4 Capital Acquired Performance Agency Metric Theory, by Laurie Sullivan published on January 6, 2021.
A recent article from MediaPost described ‘Why’ S4 Capital acquired performance agency Metric Theory. Metric Theory will initially merge with MightyHive, a now sister company under the S4 Capital family before ultimately becoming one brand. Laurie Sullivan, the articles author, included from Metric Theory CEO Ken Baker, “It’s a natural fit to help clients navigate cookie tracking and privacy.” According to the article, Metric Theory focuses on campaigns across Google, Facebook, and Amazon, the modern day digital marketer’s meccas of user data. Further, the article quotes MightyHive CEO Pete Kim regarding changes to cookies as, “substantial, and that, “In some ways it feels like the laws of physics are being rewritten out from underneath us,” continuing, “Cookies were helpful for measurement, but they’re not the only solution for targeting. There are many alternatives, such as data clean rooms from Amazon, and Google.”
Three Ways Companies are Adapting:
- Mergers
- Technology
- Working Together
Mergers
The acquisition of Metric Theory by S4 Capital is one example of how companies are adapting to user privacy demand, and likely your most expensive and complex. In January 2021 statista.com posted in their article, Online privacy in the United States – Statistics & Facts, that, “Almost 50 percent of U.S. internet users were more concerned about online privacy in 2019 than they were in 2018.” Although I’m very confident that most organizations hold people’s data privacy concerns in high regard, pressure also mounts from the likelihood that the incoming Biden administration will have federal privacy legislation high up on the ‘honey do’ list, according to iapp.com. The cherry on top is the ‘death of the third-party cookie’, as blogged about by Pamela Bump at Hubspot. She wrote, “The way we use cookies could change dramatically with Google’s announcement that it will phase out the third-party cookie on Chrome browsers by 2022.” Noting also that marketers who make their living on third-party data for STP may want to reimagine their playbook.
“Users are demanding greater privacy–including transparency, choice, and control over how their data is used–and it’s clear the web ecosystem needs to evolve to meet these increasing demands.”
Google blog post announcing the phaseout of Cookies, included in Hubspot blog by Pamela Bump, TheDeath of the Third-Party Cookie: What Marketers Need to Know
Technology
Acquiring a company appears a solid strategy for adapting to user privacy demand, and another appears to be rethinking the old tech stack. The CEO of Metric Theory specifically noted that he is excited about the acquisition because of MightyHive’s ability to manage data and build the correct tech stack. Ironically, two days after MediaPost published about the S4 deal, came an article titled, Tech Stack Headaches: B2B Marketers Face Hurdles When Adding Technologies, by Ray Schultz. Here we learned about a study conducted by Rollworks and Ascend2 that found 48% of companies surveyed reported less-than-adequate technology stacks under delivering on goals set for them.
“48% of companies surveyed reported less-than-adequate technology stacks under delivering on goals set for them.”
Marketing Technology Implementation From the B2B Perspective, a study by RollWorks, in partnership with Ascend2. Included in the MediaPost article Tech Stack Headaches: B2B Marketers Face Hurdles When Adding Technologies, Published by Ray Schultz, January 8, 2021
Working Together
Lastly, trading your cookies with a healthier alternative- data clean rooms, as mentioned above by Pete Kim of MightyHive. Laurie Sullivan of MediaPost also wrote about ‘Clean Rooms’ —And Why Do Amazon, Google, Facebook, Want One?. A clean room is a space within the confines of one of the aforementioned tech giant’s offices where a marketer can collaborate on data and analytics with specialists from Amazon, Google, etc, but no exchange of the data or analytics occurs, only ideas and strategies. This transaction maintains privacy and ensures an ethical approach to marketing.
“Cookies were helpful for measurement, but they’re not the only solution for targeting. There are many alternatives, such as data clean rooms from Amazon, and Google.”
Pete Kim, CEO of MightyHive, quote from the article Why Sorrell’s S4 Capital Acquired Performance Agency Metric Theory, by Laurie Sullivan published on January 6, 2021.
Macroenvironmental Factors
So what are we really getting at here? We’re getting at the macroenvironmental factors that effect the marketing environment; culture, demographics, social, technology, economic, political/legal. Frankly, I don’t know jack about tech stacks, but these articles show that a marketer must be at least aware of them as a technology factor when planning and making decisions. That, and if nearly 50% of U.S. internet users have privacy concerns, and POTUS plans to back legislation increasing privacy, it’s probably time to consider those as social and political/legal factors also.
Conclusion
To conclude, companies are merging, updating technology, and finding and offering new ways to strategize and share data and analytics to help marketers design successful plans while maintaining a healthy respect for their macroenvironmental factors. With a new president and policies in 2020, and companies like Google making big changes to cookies in 2022, marketers will need to continuously monitor the many ever-changing factors surrounding them to remain competitive and ultimately successful.