Dive Brief:

• Retail data provider IRI expanded its partnership with data platform LiveRamp to allow marketers to collaborate and enrich their first-party data, per a press release. Kraft Heinz and Danone both utilize LiveRamp's Safe Haven platform to access IRI's segment and transaction-level data.

• In a separate announcement, IRI expanded its partnership with Publicis Groupe's Epsilon that connects IRI's transaction data for CPG clients with Epsilon's Core ID solution and PeopleCloud Prospect clean room technology. The partnership allows CPG brands to create closed-loop data ecosystems for insights, activation, measurement and more.

• IRI's expanded partnerships with LiveRamp and Epsilon demonstrate how data providers are boosting their offerings for CPG and other marketers that are looking to enrich their first-party data amid a tightening to the data privacy landscape.

Dive Insight:

IRI, which recently merged with The NPD Group to boost its standing as a data, analytics and technology provider, has announced a pair of expanded partnerships that seek to meet evolving marketer needs around retail and consumer data. Central to IRI's offering is transaction data for 45 million households, along with IRI ProScores, its proprietary purchase-based propensity audience data.

The partnership with LiveRamp revolves around its privacy-centric data collaboration environment, called Safe Haven, and allows marketers to improve planning, targeting, activation and measurement around first-party data and audiences. CPG leaders Kraft Heinz and Danone use Safe Haven to access IRI's segment and transaction-level data. Kraft Heinz requires high-quality data as part of its ongoing digital transformation, according to company data scientist Greg Younkie.

“We’re focused on creating a closed-loop discipline to continually acquire first-party data at scale, constantly enriching it with third-party data, and deploying machine learning to identify combinations of targeting, messaging, placement and creative to drive personalized marketing," Younkie said in the press release.

Likewise, Danone is seeking a way to find the right customers amid growing concerns around information security and privacy and the eventual deprecation of the third-party cookie, and has seen improved targeting precision and increased return on ad spend with the IRI-LiveRamp partnership, explained Manuel Cimarosti, director of media, data strategy and measurement analytics for Danone, in the press release. Google in July again delayed the deprecation of third-party cookies in Chrome, but the development of alternative IDs and cookieless environments has continued.

CPG marketers can also take advantage of IRI's expanded partnership with Publicis Groupe's Epsilon that connects the data-marketing company's ID solution with IRI's transaction data within its clean room environment. CPG marketers can created closed-loop ecosystems for insights, audience development, activation and measurement. IRI last week partnered with InfoSum around its clean room solution. Clean rooms have seen increased investment and adoption as marketers, agencies and their partners look for ways to leverage and enrich data in privacy-safe ways.