[m]Platform CEO Brian Gleason: Clients have been left ‘in the dark’ by digital walled gardens | M&M Global

[m]Platform CEO Brian Gleason: Clients have been left ‘in the dark’ by digital walled gardens

Brian Gleason explains why GroupM’s new data and technology division [m]Platform is perfectly placed to offer client a single view of their customer.

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One element from yesterday’s announcement that GroupM is unifying its data and technology offering into a single division stood out above all others: that the WPP group claims it, rather than media owners or technology companies, can offer clients a single view of the customer.

When reviewing the details of the new [m]Platform unit, much is as one would anticipate of such an operation.

GroupM’s agencies will be able to offer clients a host of new tools, including cross-channel planning (branded [m]Insights), marry online and offline data (named [m]Analytics), and track data through a single dashboard (called [m]Report).

Enough brackets to send a copywriter into an irritable head-spin, perhaps, but very much conforming to the industry’s overall trajectory.

However, it is the capabilities of its [m]Core ‘audience intelligence’ service that are generating the loudest chatter. GroupM claims that, by combining its trio of technology structures – including those within Xaxis and Connect – it is able to a produce comprehensive view of individual consumers, named [m]ID.

Getting data-sets to work together

Several of the titans of digital media, including Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google, claim to be able to do just this.

But Brian Gleason, newly-appointed global chief executive of [m]Platform, argues that the incompatibility of these “walled-garden” data-sets are leaving clients confused about the relative effectiveness of their advertising on each platform.

“When you look to where the market is heading, the one thing that stands out, and what everyone is talking about, is that less than 10% of brands have a complete view or single view of their customer,” says Gleason.

“From a client perspective, you have these rich data sets, but if you can’t extract them into your own you are left in the dark”

“There’s no doubt the media owners, whether it be Facebook, Apple or Amazon, have built amazing relationships with their users. The more information they are able to gather, the more intimate the relationship. The challenge is that none of those data-sets work together.

“From a client perspective, you have these rich data sets, but if you can’t extract them into your own you are left in the dark. That makes it very difficult to hold down accountability. To judge effectiveness [clients] need it to come back to one common data set,” he says.

Having invested over $7bn in technology over the past decade, Gleason tells M&M Global that WPP is in prime position to offer the “needle and threat” to stitch together data-sets and bring advertisers the clarity they so require.

“To your point, we haven’t seen that from the agency side, but we believe that will be our mission and our goal to provide that,” he adds.

Q1 2017 launch

So what comes next? Chief operating officer Nicolle Pangis, promoted from the equivalent role at Xaxis, will be responsible for linking together GroupM’s technology and data analytics teams into a single, cohesive proposition – something Gleason predicts should be completed in time for Q1 2017 launch in the US. [M]Platform is expected to roll out to other global markets over the course of the year.

And what of Xaxis, the business that Gleason has led over the past 12 months?

Speaking to M&M Global in his previous role last month, Gleason said the acquisition of US retail media specialist Triad “completed” Xaxis’ portfolio. It is now clear that he was referring to the shift from general programmatic buying platform to performance media specialist.

“Xaxis is projecting higher growth [in 2017] than this year,” he insists. “It is the largest outcome-based business in the world. More and more clients are asking for a guaranteed performance model, clients are looking for help with guaranteed sales.

“Xaxis sits at the intersection of sales and marketing. With Triad, they are as close to the transaction as you can get.”

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