Dive Brief: 

• The majority (86%) of advertisers agree that having a data standards practice is critical to keeping pace with their competitors. However, fewer than half feel “very confident” in their own such practices, according to a report from Advertiser Perceptions and Claravine.
• Advertisers believe they can or will see an average 33% return on investment (ROI) increase by implementing data standards strategies in areas including privacy compliance, brand safety, marketing campaign ROI and ad creative development.  
• An inability to demonstrate greater ROI, ensure privacy compliance and maintain brand safety weighs upon advertisers’ minds; 84% of agency executives and 71% of marketers said they feared they could lose their jobs if they cannot demonstrate ROI or Return on Ad Spend (ROAS). 

Dive Insight: 

The “State of Marketing Data Standards in 2024” report is a host of good news/bad news revelations. Nearly all the advertisers surveyed agreed that putting a data standards practice in place is a must for success. However, fewer than half (46%) of the advertisers that have implemented such practices feel “very confident.” That percentage is virtually unchanged from the results found when the firms conducted similar research in July 2023.  

Similarly, advertisers estimate that data standards strategies can increase ROI by 33%, and are more bullish this year versus last on returns for areas like privacy compliance and brand safety, each of which saw increases in estimated ROI levels of five percentage points or more. Still, there has been an increase in Excel usage in tracking data, “which ultimately opens companies up to greater difficulties in managing data standards, brand safety and privacy,” said Lauren Fisher, general manager of Business Intelligence at Advertiser Perceptions, in a statement.

The report suggests one reason for the higher ROI estimates is that advertisers may have a greater handle on how they are benchmarking their data standards practices’ initial values. The length of time respondents said it took to see results from implementing a data standards strategy was also down significantly. Still, 79% of advertisers said showing ROI/ROAS on their campaigns was getting more difficult as they have to work with more platforms and have fewer identifiers and signals, like mobile ad IDs.  

That increasing complexity — combined with the increasing use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in the creation of ad campaigns — underscores the need to have cohesive data standards practices for both marketers and agencies. Two-fifths of advertisers report using generative AI for ad creative, while one-in-two are considering it. Still, only about a quarter (26%) feel confident in their ability to properly tag and track their AI-generated assets, leading to a risk of not knowing where creative is running across channels and serving the wrong ads to the wrong consumers.  

The report suggests one of the largest disconnects for realizing greater ROI, privacy compliance and brand safety is that agencies are not as sophisticated or involved in data standards practices as marketers. Agency respondents were significantly more fearful than marketers (84% versus 71%, respectively) that they might lose their jobs if they can’t show ROI/ROAS on ad campaigns. 

Agencies were also significantly more likely to combine data in Excel spreadsheets to form audience segments and track creative asset information. They then share these spreadsheets with media partners. 

The result is a “daisy chain of data sharing that opens organizations up to the potential of data leakage, privacy concerns and lack of proper tracking on those data assets throughout the campaign,” according to the report. The suggested solution is to develop a shared taxonomy for data tagging and formatting and select permissions for agency access.  

“Streamlining data share and connectivity between brands and agencies gives both parties greater confidence in their partnership and leads to stronger performance and satisfaction,” according to the report. “As for ROI, having an aligned approach to data standards from the media placement and creative level all the way up to the executive level gives marketers and their agencies the clearest picture of value, regardless of how it’s calculated.” 

For the “State of Marketing Data Standards in 2024” report, Advertiser Perceptions and Claravine queried 141 U.S. marketing and agency executives in August. Agency respondents made up 30% of respondents and marketers accounted for 70%.