They say there are no coincidences, right? You can decide for yourself whether the new partnership between data collaboration company InfoSum and WPP’s data and technology platform Choreograph (operated primarily through GroupM) coincides with the recently announced move of Brian Lesser, who is returning to GroupM as global CEO from his most recent role as CEO of InfoSum.
The non-exclusive partnership is the result of a series of smaller agreements between InfoSum, which prides itself on its independent status in the world of cleanroom providers, and several GroupM and WPP agencies, Digiday has learned. The goal is to provide GroupM clients with access to cleanroom technology and link their first-party data streams to Choreograph’s AmeriLink database in the US to better plan, target, optimize and strategize. (AmeriLink processes consumer data on demographics, psychographics, health and well-being, life events, transactional attitudes and financial indicators.)
WPP/GroupM’s move comes somewhat later than that of other holding companies that have either already signed contracts with InfoSum or have built their data platforms either through acquisitions of sister companies (such as IPG/Acxiom or Publicis/Epsilon or Dentsu/Merkle) or from scratch.
Still, Choreograph CEO Evan Hanlon, who has been with GroupM since 2011 and has seen Choreograph’s previous evolutions (M Platform, GroupM Data & Tech), believes it’s the larger, interconnected changes at GroupM – and this partnership is a part of that – that could help Choreograph reach its full potential.
“We really think about the whole organism, not just one thing,” Hanlon said. “Because data technology doesn’t work if you don’t have a working operating model, if you don’t have teams that know how to use it, and if you don’t have results from planning and sourcing work that delivers results for our customers. There are interactions and interdependencies everywhere. We know we’ve responded accordingly.”
Data protection and the need for data collaboration in compliance with data protection regulations are becoming increasingly important as agencies must simultaneously deliver more precise results to their clients.
“(Given) the unpredictable nature of data privacy laws in the U.S. … our technology is notably independent, neutral and, frankly, fast and a more user-friendly product for marketers,” said Lauren Wetzel, who replaced Lesser when he announced his impending move to GroupM. “This enables GroupM, Choreograph and all agencies on WPP’s planning and investment teams to provide their clients with deeper and more comprehensive insights, ensuring they are delivering maximum value and ROI for their clients, which is ultimately of course critical to GroupM as a media agency.”
While both parties cite several benefits of the partnership, Hanlon says there are three specific goals Choreograph hopes to achieve as it expands its offering—this partnership marks the latest step: build the “best” end-to-end media buying and planning platform that is highly flexible; make it repeatable to make the information collected accessible to numerous clients; and provide better connectivity between GroupM agencies and their clients.
“We’ve worked with infoSum for a very long time because we go where our customers demand,” Hanlon said. “But as the ecosystem has continued to change – in some cases consolidating (such as the acquisition of Habu) or reprioritizing other functions – having a really strong, independent, objective partner like infoSum that sits at the center of so many of our advertiser, publisher and data partner worlds was really a no-brainer.”
In a more complex marketing world where reaching the right audience is becoming increasingly difficult in the face of increasing data protection regulations, every holding company must strengthen its data and privacy-safe offerings to avoid losing customers to other companies that are better at it.
“Now is not the time for marketers to maintain the status quo,” added Wetzel, who noted that InfoSum operates in more regulated markets than the U.S. “Marketers need to be at the forefront. Collaboration is a fundamental element of any media and data strategy. And frankly, these brands need neutral and independent technology to enable that, whether it’s media planning, creating comprehensive consumer insights, more effective audience profiling and targeting, or more effective measurement.”
At least one observer isn’t particularly impressed with the elements of the partnership — or at least its timing. “It seems a little bit like Choreograph is still trying to figure out what it wants to be when it’s an adult, while its competitors are teens or adults,” said Stephanie Liu, a principal analyst at Forrester who specializes in privacy. “The privacy landscape in the U.S. is a huge problem. I think clean rooms offer interesting solutions when it comes to measurement and insights, but they’re not a panacea and they’re not a technology where you can say, ‘It’s a clean room, so we don’t have to worry about privacy.'”
Liu credits InfoSum with being an experienced industry expert, which is a differentiator. “InfoSum actually has the advantage that they’re not new to this space – they’ve been in the data collaboration space for years. They’re not a small upstart that just struck gold. But they’re relatively new to the marketing landscape.”
Back to coincidence: This isn’t the first time GroupM has struck a deal or partnership with a company from which it hired a new CEO. After hiring Kirk McDonald as GroupM’s CEO for North America in August 2020, the media buying network struck a deal with SSP firm Pubmatic – which McDonald had left to join GroupM – the following April. Coincidence again? Judge for yourself.
