Old Mag, New Tricks: The Economist Drives Relevancy & Results Using Data Science &...

Steve LokHead of Martech & OpsThe Economist

OLD MAG, NEW TRICKS:The Economist Drives Relevancy & Results

Using Data Science & Persistent Profiles

#MarTech

I HAVE A SECRET.I am a 62 year old British woman.

< $20,000

> $500,000

Single

But I'm also married with 1-3 teens and 2-4 toddlers

(so that’s where all my money goes?)

I'm also a 39 year old American man.

WEARE

LIVINGINANERAOF

MISTAKEN IDENTITIES

OUR CORE VALUES: ACCURACY &PREDICTION

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION SAYS WHAT?

The Economistis a

(Profitable)

Newspaper

Traditonaladvertising was

not exactly a growth area

$65.8B

2000

$23.6B

2015

WE NEEDED MORE PROSPECTS

73 Million“Globally Curious”

> $500k salary

Single

WE LEARN — AS OUR READERS LEARN

> $500k salary

Single

WE NEEDED A CUSTOMER PLAYGROUND

Triangle of Growth

Warning: POWERFUL TRIANGLES

DMP(3rd party data

management platform)

2014

Programmatic(2nd party data)

2015

CDP(1st party customer data

platform)

2016

Opportunity2017

EVOLVING TECH

> $500k salary

Single

1:1 EXPERIENCE:POWERED BY ONSITE BEHAVIOR

AND DATA SCIENCE

Likely to subscribe

Content Affinity for Brexit

WHAT WE BUILT

DEEPER, MORE CUSTOM CONTENT HUB AROUND KEY TOPICS

> $500k salary

Single

WHAT WE BUILT

TRUMP BREXIT FRENCH ELECTION

WIN

Journey

Customer Knowledge

Location

Behavior Patterns

Product Relationships

Preferences

Channel Consistency

Processes and UI

PERSONALIZATION

One to One

One to Few

One to Many

Foundation

CONTEXT

Source: Adapted from Gartner report on Personalization, June 2015

USER CONTEXTCOMPREHENSIVE PROFILES

Apps

Media Touch Points

CRM Data

Customer Data

Leads / Email /

Call Center

Websites

HOW WE POWERED IT

INTELLIGENT PROFILESWITH DATA SCIENCE-BASED INSIGHTS

Data-agnostic

Structure-agnostic

Source-agnostic

• 1st Party

• 2nd Party

• 3rd Party

Behavioral Scoring“High Momentum”

Predictive Insights“Likely to engage”

HOW WE POWERED IT

CONTENT CONTEXT:DATA SCIENCE-BASED USER AFFINITIES

HOW WE POWERED IT

AI-DRIVEN, CONTENT CONTEXTUALIZATION

Propensity to Subscribe

Source: Adapted from OpenTopic & IBM Watson on Cognitive Marketing, 2015

PREDICTIVE AND PROPENSITY:From Ad-Click to Subscribe-Click

Complexity of Intent EYE KNO YOU

Customer Intelligence Capability

COMBINING IT ALL

Likely tosubscribe

Local story based on location

Custom video list

Profiled Video

Depth content based on

content affinity

Discovery content

We quadrupledsubscription

revenue in 3 years~$9M

2013

>$60M

2017

13x INCREASE martech budget in

3 years$150k2014

>$2M2017

Programmatic Principles Cause a Seismic Shift in

Revenue

62%

2013

35%

201638%

2013

65%

2016

CASE STUDY:MILLENNIALS CAMPAIGN

GOAL: INCREASE AWARENESS AND SUBSCRIPTION ADOPTION WITHIN YOUNGER DEMOGRAPHIC

> $500k salary

Single

STEP 1: TARGETED LYTICS AUDIENCES

+ Email: ending with .edu+ Data enrichment: IP Addresses of US/UK University+ Title: Student, Intern, or Grad Student+ Predictive Modeling:

High propensity to become premium subscriber

- Exclude: Current subscribers (and low propensity prospects)

(not channel-first, or ad platform-first)

> $500k salary

Single

STEP 2: FIND INDIVIDUALS ACROSS DIGITAL

True Multichannel Campaign • Facebook• Snapchat• Google ads

It works: 35% of ad-driven subscriptions by

millennials

> $500k salary

Single

STEP 3: ON-SITE PERSONALIZATION

Hold Up!Free Megatech Book!

This works too:• 9% Click through rate• On-site conversion rates

for targeted audiences? 5-10x higher

TL;DR: SMARTER, MODELED AUDIENCES WORK

ROAS

[ [

BAU Segments:$2.89

Lytics Segment:$3.95

EFFICIENCY LEVEL UP!37% Improvement on Return On Ad Spend

ROI? YOU BETCHA.< 1 month payback on CDP investment

COST PER ACQUISITION (CPA) WINS: GO LOW

Data-agnostic

Structure-agnostic

Source-agnostic

• 1st Party

• 2nd Party

• 3rd Party

• MORE EFFICIENT PPC:43% BETTER ROAS

• CONVERSION RATE IMPROVEMENTS:NEAR 200%

• SCALE:13% OF SEARCH CONVERSIONS

[ [

Business As Usual Audiences

$35

Lytics-Powered Audiences

$20

CPA

1. Data Science as a commoditized utility – services for sale

2. Major movement in brands to own their own customer data and tech stacks (+GDPR)

3. Programmatic Orchestration – from Ads all the way to TV and Outdoor, to paper and post direct mail

4. Shifting to audiences of ONE and away from channel-based measurement, optimization and planning

2018: PROGRAMMATIC IS PERSONALISATION

COLOR THAT FOR ME: WHAT NOW?

GoshDarnPrivacyRights

GeneralDataProtectionRegulation

1. Companies: From “guidance” to “regulation”

2. Customers: From participants to owners

GDPR: SHIFTING ATTITUDESUK/EU to US: “Please, take this seriously. Please.”

YOUR CHALLENGE?

CHAOS vs. CUSTOMER

REINVENT THE WHEEL

CDP

Steve LokHead of Martech & OpsThe Economist

stevelok@economist.com#MarTech

OLD MAG, NEW TRICKS:The Economist Drives Relevancy & Results

Using Data Science & Persistent Profiles