Brands are exploring how best to pull together all digital operations – from video and display ads to ecommerce – to help ensure a unified, personalised message, according to Affectv founder Glen Calvert.

Calvert, who will speak at next week’s Festival of Media Global in Rome, said he is having “lots of conversations” with brands about how they can “pull all the pieces together” and create a single platform to personalise users’ digital experience.

“Brands are trying to work out how to do this at scale, globally,” added Calvert, who pointed to the success of tech ‘stacks’ provided by companies like Google, Oracle, Salesforce and Adobe.

Calvert will be joined on-stage in Rome by Christian Armond, general manager of digital marketing at Affectv-client TUI Travel. Together they will discuss ‘pre-targeting’, and whether we have reached “the dawn of true predictive, personalised one-to-one marketing”.

The session will address what Calvert claims is the growing potential for “truly predictive, one-to-one messaging”, where brands are able to have a completely personalised conversation with customers.

“It’s easy to personalise your creative when you know [users’ intentions]. What we haven’t done as an industry is where there is no intent – you are just predicting, guessing or surmising,” he said.

TUI’s Armond will discuss travel brand Thomson’s experimentation with pre-targeting, including using search history, device and content usage to showcase holiday offers for destinations likely to be appealing to individual consumers.

And, although Calvert admits there is “a line” which should not be crossed in terms of data usage, he is adamant that younger consumers will come to demand marketing which is relevant to them.

“In a multi-device world, consumers actually don’t like it when there isn’t a level of personalisation when interacting with a brand – take logging into eBay on multiple device. They want it to be seamless. That seamlessness will move from brand platforms into their marketing,” he said.

“I also think it is generational. With the likes of Generation Y and all their children, as they grow up, this always-connected experience means that we’re aware of the value exchange between data and free services.

“If you are improving someone’s internet experience with a bit more relevance, it helps,” he added.

Click here to download the complete list of speakers at Festival of Media Global