Managing the ever-present complexities of marketing attribution has become increasingly difficult over time with the proliferation of different media touchpoints. With so many data points, brands can struggle to determine which combination of media channels will create the most impact. To help us manage the complexity of the marketing ecosystem, Imaginuity built a proprietary Customer Data Platform called AdScience^®, a technology that uses data from a multitude of sources to paint a clear picture of the consumer and map their interactions with your brand through the customer journey. With AdScience, our clients can truly understand the effectiveness of their marketing efforts with razor-sharp precision in digestible, visually arresting formats.

Although a technology platform, AdScience is also like a piece of art. While it might not seem entirely intuitive to compare an analytics platform to anything creative, you might be surprised to hear that fundamentally, artists and Imaginarians go through many of the same steps as they work to complete their respective masterpieces – one via the traditional artistic method, and the other via AdScience.
 

Collecting the Supplies

Step one to any great work of art is making sure you have the right supplies on hand: the brushes, paint, and canvas and some idea of what you want to create. The equivalent first step for AdScience is to collect a combination of first-, second-, and third-party data about your customer. Together, this unique combination of different data sources allows us to establish a deep understanding of the customers, their habits and preferences. In the same way a painter uses a palette to organize and manage colors, AdScience organizes these three data types as they flow into the platform.

Sketching the Outline 

Once the supplies have been collected and sorted, it’s time for the artist to start sketching the outline of the piece. For our data analysts using AdScience, it’s time to start sorting and cleaning data. Once data is ingested, the team develops rich, insightful customer profiles and lookalike segments, which establish the foundation for the delivery of ultra-relevant messaging delivered at the right time, on the right channel, and on the customer or prospect’s device of choice. As noted above, these profiles are built using a combination of first-, second-, and third-party data, all of which provide valuable insights into who our customers are and how they behave. Using first-party data, we determine fundamental details – from the products they purchase to the times at which they click “buy” most often. We then layer on second-party data to see what other sites they frequent and interact with and, finally, third-party data to better understand other interests and behavioral characteristics that help us shape our media strategy and messaging approach.

Creating

After sketching the framework, the artist is finally ready to unleash their creativity – and the same goes for our team. With the target audience profiles built, the team now has what it needs to construct a data-driven media and creative strategy. This is important, because the Imaginuity team believes strongly in an insights-first strategic approach that favors the blending of art and science over a traditional “art first, data second” path. In the same way a painting commissioned for a particular patron is more meaningful for the intended than the masses, our creative and media teams are enabled to craft media strategies and messaging with specific, highly defined audiences in mind. Picasso probably didn’t paint to appeal to Monet fans; likewise, our team creates highly relevant campaigns for highly relevant audiences.
 

Showing it Off

For artists and our Agency alike, presenting our completed work and results is almost always the most gratifying step of the creative process. While it only takes a few seconds for a consumer to react and connect to an ad (or piece of art), countless hours and effort are required for us to prepare, collect, analyze, and activate data in order to create meaningful, resonant communications plans. With AdScience, we can confidently equip our clients with the information they need to lean away from a one-size-fits-all marketing approach and towards achieving efficient media spending and personal connections to valuable audiences – both of which ultimately drive measurable positive impact to the bottom line.

To explore AdScience in detail, click here.