Mondelez personalization tie-up with Innovid prioritizes CTV

Dive Brief:

Mondelez on Feb. 23 named Innovid its preferred global solution for Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO), per a press release. The snack marketer will use Innovid's technology to deliver real-time, personalized advertising at scale and across channels.
The deal expands a previous partnership in EMEA and LATAM regions to the U.S. and APAC. Earlier campaigns for Mondelez's Philadelphia Cream Cheese that utilized Innovid's tech saw ad recall rise 29% and view-through rates on YouTube increase 38%, per the release.
The expanded partnership comes as CPG advertisers increasingly embrace CTV, which accounts for 44% of their video impressions, per Innovid data. Innovid is focused on CTV and earlier this month acquired measurement and attribution platform TVSquared in a sign of the space's maturation.

Dive Insight:

Mondelez is expanding its partnership with Innovid as it seeks to deliver personalized creative across the globe — a priority for the marketer and other CPGs for years. Personalized, relevant advertising results in higher click-through and conversation rates, but while most marketers are working on implementing plans to support personalization, just 13% are confident in their ability to deliver, according to Gartner studies cited by Innovid in the press release.

Innovid's technology seeks to close this gap with its DCO solution, which uses first- and third-party data — spanning geography, weather, audience, frequency and more — to generate thousands of ad versions from a single creative asset. The privacy-compliant tech does not require third-party cookies or mobile device IDs, both of which are being phased out or limited by major tech companies amid a heightening of data privacy.

Mondelez has worked to increase personalization in its advertising as part of its larger "humaning" marketing strategy, while also avoiding what Global Vice President of Consumer Experience Jon Halvorson has previously called the "creepy chasm" that the tactic often faces. The expanded partnership builds on previous efforts that infused empathy with personalization, Halvorson said in the press release.

"Now, we can further that success across new markets, ensuring our customers experience our portfolio of iconic global and local brands in an even more human way. At Mondelez, we are committed to delivering the most relevant experiences to our customer base, wherever they may be, and across any channel, device or screen, including CTV," he said.

While Innovid powers campaigns across channels including social, display, video, digital out-of-home and TV, its focus is on CTV. The surging channel has been embraced by CPG advertisers, accounting for nearly half of all their video impressions, and Innovid has benefited from its growth. The ad-tech company, which went public in December, projected $89 million to $90 million in revenue for 2021, a roughly 30% year-on-year increase. It also acquired TVSquared in a move that could help it build a unified buy- and sell-side platform for advertisers.