Dive Brief:

• WPP's data and investment division Kantar announced the launch of a Kantar Analytics Practice that provides deeper data analytics to help brands grow, per news made available in an email to Marketing Dive. 
• The practice integrates Kantar's consumer insights with brands' own customer data and a range of third-party resources. Combining behavioral and attitudinal data gives brands actionable consumer analysis that can inform their marketing strategies. Mazda is already leveraging Kantar Analytics to create an insights-led strategy to target the right consumers, Dino Bernacchi, CMO of the automaker's North American Operations, said in a statement
• Kantar Analytics Practice focuses on five areas: brand and media ROI, customer analytics, segmentation and activation, innovation analytics and retail and shopper analytics. Most marketers recognize the value of consumer data, but less than 44% of advertisers think they have the right, actionable data, Kantar CEO Eric Salama said in a statement. 

Dive Insight:

Marketers increasingly recognize how essential data is to growing their business, but many are struggling to wrangle and smartly apply that data in concrete ways. Roughly half of marketers find data management to be an ongoing challenge, according to recent Adestra and Ascend2 findings cited in eMarketer. More solutions like Kantar's are cropping up to help fill in these gaps, and Mazda piloting the effort signals some confidence in Kantar Analytics Practice delivering results. 

Solutions like Kantar Analytics Practice also arise form a demand for more transparency in digital marketing and data. A recent CMO Council survey found that 73% of marketers want more transparency into traffic, viewers and engagement, and 45% want real-time access to customer data and intelligence. Having the ability to discover deeper insights about consumers can help brands create more personalized content and experiences. Personalization builds brand loyalty, as 43% of consumers are more likely to purchase from brands that tailor experiences to their preferences, according to Accenture.

The launch of Kantar Analytics Practice follows rumblings of a potential buyout of Kantar from WPP for $4.8 million. The development would come in the wake of WPP CEO Martin Sorrell stepping down in April, leaving the ad holding giant with an uncertain future.