Dive Brief:

• Unilever is a pilot partner in a new blockchain platform by location-data technology company Blis that aims to increase transparency in the data ecosystem, according to a news release. 
• As a part of the pilot, Unilever will help Blis evaluate and refine the platform to best serve advertisers and data providers. The platform will run on the IBM Blockchain Platform and aims to add more transparency and location and demographic data verification. 
• The Blis platform will allow brands to analyze their data across all transactions, and marketers can use the tool to help with compliance under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). 

Dive Insight:

Unilever has been leading the way in embracing blockchain technology as a way to overcome some of the challenges plaguing the digital advertising ecosystem, including complying with data privacy regulations, bringing more transparency and accountability to the space and measuring the effectiveness of campaigns against marketing spend. Blis' platform seeks to address the need to verify provenance and compliance for customer data, including location and demographic data. With Blis' platform, the source of geographical data — which marketers use for more targeted ads — is written to the blockchain so that marketers can have greater confidence in where it comes from. 

The consumer packaged goods giant has been working with IBM to develop blockchain technology that the company hopes will improve efficiency and transparency across the digital media supply chain and ad trading process. Unilever announced in February that it has seen some promising results from the partnership, including identifying some discrepancies early on in campaigns, rather than having to wait for campaigns to run their full course. 

Unilever is also one of several major brands to join a blockchain consortium launched by ad software provider Mediaocean and IBM’s digital agency unit IBM iX. The group is focusing on improving transparency and forging trust in the digital media supply chain. Kimberly-Clark, Kellogg and Pfizer are other members of the consortium. 

As marketing becomes increasingly data-driven, marketers are seeing blockchain-powered platforms as a solution to many of these issues, as well as a tool for better campaign personalization. The new Blis platform is leveraging verified geographical data to identify consumer demographics and behaviors to help advertisers create more targeted ads.