Cross-media measurement has lengthy been a form of Holy Grail for the media and advertising industries — lengthy sought however by no means present in its good type. May or not it’s that, like the enormous eagles that come to the rescue of Frodo Baggins and Sam Gamgee on the finish of Lord of the Rings, that Aquila saves the day in lastly fixing the challenges of correct measurement throughout linear TV, CTV and streaming, social platforms and audio?
Derived from the Latin phrase for “eagle” — and the image of Roman legions again within the day — Aquila is a cross-media measurement resolution spearheaded by the Affiliation of Nationwide Advertisers (however whose origins began in Europe by way of the WFA) however financially supported by a raft of main advertisers who personal the info and insights it would create. Trials involving advertisers are underway now, and can proceed nicely into subsequent 12 months.
All the key company holdcos are concerned at some stage in Aquila’s growth, introduced in largely by their shoppers, which embody Verizon, Disney, Chipotle, McDonald’s, Ford, GM, Uber, Pepsi, Unilever, P&G and others — some 30 entrepreneurs in complete, in line with Invoice Tucker, Aquila’s CEO and a longtime company exec. About 20 of them, together with McDonald’s and P&G, are presently concerned within the first spherical of trials. Tucker stated it’s intentional to haven’t solely the most important but in addition some mid-sized advertisers take part within the trials.
As Tucker defined it, Aquila goals to offer deduplicated attain and frequency insights throughout all media, as a method for advertisers to scale back frequency waste by 10%. He estimates the {industry} may save as much as $50 billion over three years.
Tucker and Aquila president Tina Daniels — who spoke at an ANA convention alongside a McDonald’s exec on Sept. 9 to elucidate Aquila to a analysis viewers — argue this effort at fixing the cross-media measurement conundrum is completely different is due to the involvement of the 4 main platforms, Meta, Google, Amazon and TikTok (Tucker hints that it’s only a matter of time earlier than the opposite platforms be part of up). The 4 are offering impressions knowledge, whereas Comscore is offering linear and CTV knowledge, and Kantar is two-thirds of the best way alongside in forming a 5,000 individual “calibration” panel to cross-reference the findings. The product makes use of digital ID know-how to make sure privateness compliance across the client habits. And Accenture has constructed the technological platform on which Aquila works.
Right here’s the way it works, in line with a holdco exec who spoke on situation of anonymity: the digital ID is created by the panel based mostly on customers’ precise habits with a propensity that’s then shared with every of the walled gardens and publishers, together with the names of the campaigns that every one is measuring. The impression supply for that marketing campaign is then despatched again to the Accenture-built platform for the advertiser (and company) to see the supply. In doing that, the platform reveals de-duplicated supply of that marketing campaign throughout the platforms and publishers.
Trials with over 20 main advertisers are underway, with plans to increase to the highest 100 advertisers by 2026. The Media Score Council is observing all the course of, and Aquila hopes to finish up an accredited service ultimately, with testing and higher writer participation in 2026.
The entrepreneurs concerned in early exams are hopeful they will lastly get to optimizing attain and frequency to a degree the place waste is de facto minimized. “The largest factor for us is to essentially perceive what we’re planning to [do] versus what we’re shopping for,” stated Alex Gaski, senior director of promoting and buyer analytics at McDonald’s, on the ANA convention. “How are we really reaching the entire 90% of U.S. adults who come to McDonald’s at the least every year?”
Gaski stated McDonald’s tried to go it alone with crafting a cross-media resolution just a few years in the past however in the end deserted the trouble, realizing it must be a collective effort. “I used to be actually pleased that the {industry} was beginning to band collectively, as a result of I believe there’s a lot energy after we unite — our collective mind may, and … partnering with the platforms. I do assume has been a serious distinction for me,” she added.
“P&G has been a longtime proponent for having an industry-wide, goal, clear, cross-media measurement system,” stated Kanishka Das, senior director of P&G’s international media, analytics and insights. “We consider it will allow a greater expertise for our customers, higher effectiveness for advertisers and a data-based strategy to media throughout networks and publishers — a win-win-win. We’re wanting ahead to Aquila’s continued progress, together with trials, within the coming months.”
Usually the holding firms concerned additionally see the potential to go farther than different cross-media measurement options have gotten.
“We’re very supportive of the initiative because it makes an attempt to offer a solution to an actual {industry} drawback (deduplication of attain and frequency throughout platforms),” stated Sebastien Hernoux, Annalect’s U.S. chief consumer options officer, in an electronic mail. “It’s encouraging to see the primary media companions (Google, Meta, Amazon, TikTok) comply with share the related entry to knowledge for Aquila to construct a platform to assist manufacturers — and in reality a few of our shoppers are concerned within the testing that’s occurring in 2025. At this level, the purpose of the check is to validate the methodology and ensure the outcomes, and Aquila has been very clear that manufacturers/businesses shouldn’t use the info for media optimizations till they’ve confirmed the validity and accuracy of their outputs.”
One holdco analysis exec who declined to talk for attribution expressed optimism about Aquila’s potential however added they reserve some skepticism because of the cost construction. Because it presently stands, advertisers pay a fractional quantity of their advertising price range to fund the trials (with the tech giants additionally contributing to funding). This exec fears that after the primary set of trials, advertisers will need to move on that expense to businesses, that are already beneath sufficient monetary stress as it’s. If that occurs it could possibly be a stumbling block to progress.
It’s price noting that Aquila borrows from a template constructed within the U.Ok., following an RFP from the World Federation of Advertisers in 2020 calling for cross-media measurement options. The top product, Undertaking Origin, is up and working within the U.Ok.
The holdco analysis exec stated Undertaking Origin’s existence provides them hope that Aquila can succeed. “It doesn’t imply everyone loves it, and it doesn’t imply it solved all the issues, however it has potential,” stated the exec.
Coloration by numbers
Taking one other take a look at vacation season promoting, AdRoll’s newest State of Digital Promoting Report reveals two pivotal shifts shaping: digital advert demand is rebounding and generative AI is having a serious impression on on client discovery behaviors. A number of the findings embody:
- Show retargeting CPMs narrowed their year-over-year decline to only 3% in August, a pointy enchancment from an 18% drop in Q2.
- Show prospecting CPMs improved from 31% beneath final 12 months in Q2 to 14% beneath in early Q3.
- Visitors from AI engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity to U.S. retail websites surged 4,700% YoY. Over half of customers say they’re turning to AI for present concepts, product analysis, and deal looking.
Takeoff & touchdown
- WPP’s healthcare company CMI Media opened up a Paris workplace in a bid to speed up its international progress technique, naming Aurélie Rizzo as international director. The transfer couldn’t be higher timed as the chance grows within the U.S. that pharmaceutical promoting could possibly be curtailed by the U.S. authorities.
- Interpublic Group’s Acxiom struck a cope with commerce knowledge platform Attain to make the latter’s viewers segments obtainable to IPG businesses as a part of Acxiom’s curated knowledge providing. The deal consists of buy knowledge, which Attain stated is up to date day by day from 10,00 retailers.
- Account wins: WPP expanded its remit with garden care model TruGreen, choosing up media AOR duties and increasing its present relationship with VML … Publicis expanded its remit with German grocery store chain Aldi to international media AOR duties, and can create a devoted unit to servicing the consumer, known as Aldi One … Havas retained media duties for the BBC … Omnicom’s PHD gained international media AOR duties for Australian snack agency Intersnack following a assessment.
Direct quote
“What you’ll discover, in my expertise with a whole lot of businesses, is that they construct for scale. They don’t all the time construct for experience … We clearly recognize the method and rigor of getting giant promoting campaigns to market, and would by no means make any sacrifices regarding the high quality of our work. However we simply seen that org design is likely one of the the explanation why businesses wrestle to be agile and may’t transfer quicker.”
—Jordan Bortolotti, president of Salt Media, which is increasing past its Toronto roots into the U.S.
Pace studying
- Krystal Scanlon lined the most recent developments in the way forward for TikTok within the U.S., as entrepreneurs and businesses are nonetheless uneasy about what type it would take.
- Jim Cooper represented Digiday at DMexco final week, moderating discussions with 4 main media executives there. Right here’s a roundup of his conversations on the international digital advertising and media convention.
- Should you have been unable to attend final week’s fall installment of the Digiday Publishing Summit, you’re in luck, as Sara Guaglione captured probably the most attention-grabbing dialog themes on the occasion. Trace: declining referral site visitors continues to be an issue.
