I’m passionately against the insanity of targeting and chasing people with unwanted ads that are based on the flimsiest of assumptions. It’s no good for consumers and it’s no good for the companies pumping thousands upon thousands of marketing dollars into such approaches. Yet this practice, along with many like it, is deeply ingrained in the way lots of businesses engage with consumers.
I’ve joined 3radical to help change that.
3radical’s technology and fundamental approach, which delivers earned data to brands through mechanics that encourage and incentivize consumers to share their data in genuine value exchanges, produces far better results and is destined for big things. And what’s more, this is data that meets the compliance requirements of the likes of GDPR in Europe, CCPA in California, and privacy legislation already proposed, which makes it even more useful. It’s a genuine win-win for brands who want to put customers first, and for customers who want to deal with brands on their own terms.
Old Friends and New Challenge
David Eldridge – 3radical’s CEO – and I are once again reunited, having previously worked together to bring Alterian’s disruptive database marketing technology to the US and grow operations from $2m to $30m.
At Alterian, we focused on thoroughly articulating what made Alterian’s technology and approach special, disruptive and vital, and we built relentlessly on those things. For that company, it was about eliminating the error prone steps between campaigns. Once we got our arms around that key proposition, we built on it, we amplified it and we took Alterian from being a small company in the US campaign management landscape to being a significant player.
We began having similar conversations about 3radical, asking “what makes it special, disruptive and vital?” and the answers were exciting. The reality is that there are a lot of things that make it special and now, the challenge for me, is conveying those things as I spearhead the company’s expansion into North America.
“Genuine value exchange should no longer be an afterthought.”
3radical is at the intersection of marketing technology and operational efficiency. It engages consumers and encourages them to voluntarily share information and insights so brands can better serve them. Genuine value exchange should no longer be an afterthought. That’s important today and will be even more important tomorrow.
Consumers know the value of their information and need to trust an organization in order to volunteer it.
It’s one thing to hope that the money being pumped into digital advertising is increasing online traffic and physical in-store footprint; it’s another thing entirely to have consumers share their information, telling you what they want (and what they don’t want) and choosing to stay in touch.
Shoe Laces
Right now, if I break my shoe laces and order replacements online, I’m likely to be forever followed around by ads for laces and related products. Such assumptions are flawed, yet extremely common.
Why is that?
When we get in front of C-level executives, we’re eager to ask why they’re spending the kinds of money they are on hopes and assumptions, when it simply doesn’t need to be that way anymore. Brands should focus on keeping consumers coming back because they want to, and that means focusing on collecting only the information that allows brands to better serve their customers.
“We will not be for everyone, guaranteed.”
3radical will certainly not be for everyone, that’s guaranteed. The established ways of doing things are well ingrained, but we will be absolutely relevant for those wanting to be smarter in the kinds of data they ask for, and who are prepared to reward the loyalty they’re looking to build. We want to help those companies.
We want to help the businesses that not only recognize the need to change their approach due to regulatory pressures and because of the demise of third-party cookies, but also because they genuinely want to put customers at the center of everything they do.
The priority is demonstrating our value proposition and telling the market what we have to offer. In North America, we know we’ll be disrupting a very fragmented and noisy market, but we’re up for the challenge.
One of the things that my many years in the industry has afforded me is an appreciation for what’s possible in terms of refining message types to audience definitions. Personally, and professionally, I want to leverage technology to better serve the customer. I also want to give brands the opportunity to be self-sufficient owners of the data they collect and reduce the reliance on adtech and martech systems that target people in intrusive ways. I really hate being followed around by adverts for shoe laces (as you might be able to tell).
It’s time for brands to build trust by simply asking for what they would like to know and incentivizing those interactions through game mechanics, behavioral science and genuine value exchange, rather than making assumptions.
There isn’t an organization in the world that doesn’t appreciate that their greatest asset is their customers. It’s time to demonstrate that appreciation and build real relationships.
