How much does that mirror the structure that existed within Merkle Media prior to its integration with iProspect, and how much is brand new?
Rutgersson: It’s very similar to the structure that we had in Merkle Media and in iProspect. We’ve intentionally aligned over the past couple of years with this integration in mind. Having client portfolios focused on business needs is not new to either organization, but turning the dial up on that vertical focus is what we’re bringing to the evolved iProspect.
Amanda, where will new biz leads come through––the individual agencies, Merkle, or is there a Dentsu Media team handling inbound requests?
Moore: Dentsu traditionally has relied upon a more inbound perspective, but Merkle Media has had a very strong growth platform for over 15 or 20 years. We’re bringing the prowess of that proactive effort into iProspect. It will be about 50% inbound and 50% proactive leads from the team that I’m bringing over from Merkle.
We’re looking for digitally mature clients who have exceeded the foundations of performance and are leading with customer centricity. [We want clients to say,] ‘This is where I spend my most dollars, I want to test and learn, I want to test identity, and I want to see how the intake of that first party data can then evolve the rest of our business.’ The most traction that we’ve seen in the last 18 to 24 months under Liz’s leadership inside of Merkle Media has been this idea of selling the ‘next thing.’
[We’re telling clients they] can get compounded ROI. We’re going to create this 20% to 25% lift in efficiency through identity-based media that also can influence their CRM and loyalty programs in a way that provides better business outcomes.
It sounds like you are leaning into Merkle’s offering so that iProspect can be more consultative and full funnel. Would you say that’s a correct characterization?
Moore: I would, yes. Pre-pandemic, we saw a lot of agency consolidation where brand agencies were taking over performance. Because of the pandemic and the economic turbulence in the market, people are trying to do more with less. With a performance mindset at every touchpoint, we’ve seen tremendous success with our message in the marketplace. I think we onboarded 10-plus new logos across retail, grocery and financial services in the last year that are more than just media clients to us.
Is your target audience still the CMO, or is it broader now?
Moore: The CTO center of power is gaining more traction as ad tech matures. We are trying to bridge the gap between the CMO and the CTO. A lot of the work I did over the last year in my role as Merkle’s growth officer was identifying where those cross points are, and [involved] being a facilitator between the CMO and the CTO.