Pinterest, LiveRamp Data Hub Team Up on Clean Rooms

Pinterest detailed a new partnership with LiveRamp Data Hub at CES 2023 in Las Vegas Thursday, under which LiveRamp will pilot clean rooms for select Pinterest advertising partners, starting with grocery company Albertsons.

The integration enables a protected, third-party space where brands can combine their own first-party data and data from Pinterest in a secure environment, with the clean room keeping that data private and providing aggregated insight into ad performance.

Pinterest stressed that neither party’s personally identifiable sales and campaign data is visible to the other party.

The platform wrote in a blog post Thursday, “The digital advertising industry has relied on cookies as a measurement tool for years. But as consumer behavior evolves, marketers have to evolve with it. So as the industry migrates away from collecting third-party cookies, we’re looking for new ways to sustain our clients’ success while reducing reliance on identifiable data. We’ve routinely invested in forward-looking solutions that help marketers connect the dots between their first-party data and their customers’ actions on Pinterest. Now, we’re piloting our next big development for secure data solutions.”

The clean room for Albertsons will be an ongoing initiative to deliver closed-loop reporting for brands that participate in the grocer’s retail media network, Albertsons Media Collective, and it will kick off with a winter healthy eating campaign, with crucial metrics, such as return on ad spend, to be measured.

Albertsons Media Collective senior vice president of retail media Kristi Argyilan said in the Pinterest blog post, “Data privacy is a priority for Albertsons Media Collective, and we’re excited to pilot this new clean room initiative with a trusted partner. We believe using clean rooms can provide our clients with the data they expect to make informed decisions about their advertising in a privacy-preserving manner. While our initial test pilot focuses on enabling closed-loop measurement, this partnership will ultimately provide our team a more holistic view of our customers’ digital footprint to unlock more advanced measurement capabilities, like incrementality and MTA (multi-touch attribution), down the road.”

Pinterest and LiveRamp are starting off their partnership with retail media networks, saying that they often need custom option for reporting campaign effectiveness on a granular, brand-by-brand basis.

The platform said LiveRamp’s data collaboration environment offers additional, configurable privacy controls such as aggregation thresholds, enabling both parties to further limit how their data can be accessed, joined, queried or shared.

LiveRamp senior vp of product Kimberly Bloomston said in Pinterest’s blog post, “It’s an exciting opportunity to meet both the strict privacy requirements of media owners like Pinterest and the advanced analytics needs of retailers like Albertsons. LiveRamp’s interoperable data collaboration technology allows us to do just that by maximizing data utility without compromise. We look forward to continued innovation with thought leaders such as Pinterest and Albertsons to support the future of privacy-safe data collaboration and measurement.”

Pinterest said it will continue testing clean rooms with additional partners.

Chief revenue officer Bill Watkins said in a statement, “As the industry evolves, we will remain proactive with solutions that add value for marketers while maintaining trust with consumers. Together with LiveRamp, Pinterest is invested in expanding the possibilities for brands like Albertsons to help them better understand and measure the impact of their campaigns.”