MediaMath and MediaCom Help Coca-Cola Find and Programmatically Target Audiences with Integrated DSP + DMP Approach

Like other consumer packaged goods companies, Coca-Cola struggled to directly connect with consumers purchasing products in an “offline” environment. After years spent falling short on personalized engagement, Coca-Cola sought to quantify and increase its brand affinity to drive sales within the Mexican market. Coca-Cola’s marketing strategy was complex, with 13 sub-brands active in the market, each with its own goals, segmentation needs and investment capabilities.

BACKGROUND

In early 2015, Coca-Cola was not taking advantage of programmatic in its campaigns and instead was doing direct buys. The company’s agency, MediaCom, identified operational inefficiencies while running campaigns on non-programmatic media investments with existing partners, including:

• Siloed media investments done through traditional non-programmatic channels.
• Difficulty identifying where consumers were on the brand affinity spectrum.
• A lack of insights that could help identify who Coca-Cola’s consumers were and where they navigated online.

OBJECTIVE

Coca-Cola ultimately wanted to deliver more relevant content and adapt marketing based on what their customers liked, the content they consumed, and online and offline locations. MediaCom believed in the power of programmatic’s use of quantitative analysis and algorithmic decisioning to identify a person’s engagement with the brand and create compelling messages that ultimately drove more sales. The agency also realized the power of tapping into a technology partner to reach Coca-Cola’s goals.

SOLUTION

In March 2015, MediaCom developed the concept of a “Precision with Scale” campaign, in which they partnered with MediaMath to activate the technology company’s integrated demand-side and data-management platforms. In the campaign, MediaCom recommended Coca-Cola shift more budget to programmatic and actively work towards creating audience segments so the brand could better understand its customers. Two initial phases of the project were identified:

• MediaCom and MediaMath worked together to take existing, nonprogrammatic media plans and buy programmatically against Coca-Cola’s goals and KPIs, prioritizing greater efficiencies mainly in display and video. They made a roadmap for these investments through 2015 and 2016. Considering both campaign objectives and the fact that knowledge surrounding users in contact with Coca-Cola’s assets was limited, the partners made the strategic decision to drive users to the main digital experience on a web-based landing page to complete the digital cycle. From there, they gathered the data input necessary for the DMP analysis and creation of audience segments. MediaMath and MediaCom shifted benchmarks away from shallow click and impressions KPIs to more tangible goals like full views, visit leads or a completed funnel. This new approach enabled ongoing real-time optimization, with brand safety and full transparency into costs and delivery.
• Coca-Cola’s first-party data was onboarded into the MediaMath DMP. At the same time, the campaign data from the programmatic buys immediately fed into the DMP, allowing for the creation of Adaptive Segments. These segments allowed Coca-Cola to define more granular audiences in real time, and then understand how they perform, optimize them quickly and activate them immediately in campaigns. Coca-Cola then had insights and analysis from both the DSP and DMP to be used to not only immediately fuel further segment iterations, but also to assist in future media planning. With the Audience Insights report available within the DMP, MediaMath and MediaCom identified how often Coca-Cola’s users visited content on the website. MediaCom was also able to pinpoint and profile users based on a methodology of brand engagement and brand value.

With a focus on the importance of programmatic education, MediaMath ran weekly sessions with MediaCom’s programmatic and media planning team. The partners also led an ad hoc programmatic training workshop with Coca-Cola to keep them abreast of industry trends and how to best work together to execute their programmatic strategy.

RESULTS

During the first stages of the campaign, each of Coca-Cola’s 13 brands experienced significant results against their main KPIs compared to non-programmatic campaigns running during the same time period. For all the brands in the portfolio, Coca-Cola achieved a decrease in Cost per Completed Video View (CPCV) ranging from 70 to 85 percent and a decrease in eCPMs ranging from 30 to 70 percent. The shift to programmatic also represented a buying efficiency of more than 7 million Mexican pesos vs. non-programmatic buying. Additional results included:

Increased Programmatic Spend: CocaCola has shifted over 50 percent of its total marketing budget in Mexico towards programmatic campaigns and recalibrated how it buys media, moving from traditional negotiations with key publishers to private marketplace deals.

An Integrated Solution: With an integrated DSP-DMP solution in place, Coca-Cola saw a 40 percent improvement in established KPIs vs. when executed via siloed direct buys.

Data-Driven Approach: MediaMath’s DMP provided a bilateral data flow, resulting in 84 segments developed from both media and first-party data showcasing high, medium and low engagement with all Coca-Cola brands. Previously unknown insights, such as the identification of nine brand user profiles, were detected through the integrated DMP-DSP technology approach. Lookalike modeling was also implemented from four segments.

Brand Affinity: MediaCom looked at the frequency and number of page visits on a weekly basis. This has helped MediaCom plan for new KPIs and future targeting strategies. Ernesto Almada, Digital Marketing Deputy Director for Coca-Cola, says the brand plans to continue to leverage new technology to drive better business results.

“Being a consumer goods company, we weren’t taking advantage of this technology and its benefits, and we definitely found in MediaMath a bestin-class solution for our needs in this initial stage, as well as in the future, as we evolve and invest more resources in programmatic,” he said.

Giannina Brenner, the Programmatic Media Manager for Coca-Cola at MediaCom, found the collaboration between brand, agency and technology provider to be successful not just for the Precision with Scale campaign but also for ongoing education around programmatic.

“I liked the training we have done, and the joint effort we have made to educate the Coca-Cola team,” she said. “I think that today Coca-Cola is a brand that knows what programmatic is and how working with MediaMath can lead them to the next level.”