‘Our consumers … want easy, shoppable interactions from wherever they are. So, I think we’re going to see a lot of shifts to that’
Like their partners in the Canadian news industry, the country’s media agencies are undergoing unprecedented transformation. The National Post is holding conversations with leaders of Canada’s largest agencies on the fast-changing fundamentals. This week, David Rusli, chief strategy and data officer for Publicis Media Canada, speaks to writer Rebecca Harris.
How have the fundamentals of media planning and buying changed in recent years?
It has changed tremendously because Canadians’ media consumption habits have changed. As a society, we are more digital, we are more social. And lately, especially with the rise of the retail media network – Amazon, Walmart, Canadian Tire, you name it – we expect things to be more shoppable regardless of where we are, whether we are on that commerce platform or not. And that’s where I think we are seeing the shift in our industry and the way that we plan and buy media… But I also think the industry has changed significantly because of some of the challenges that we’re facing. We know that third-party cookies are going away, and Google keeps postponing it, but we know it is going to go away. And that has certainly posed a challenge, which is why we built Publicis ID [a cookieless data solution] and Growth OS [an AI-powered platform that streamlines media planning and buying]. On top of that, there is the rise of the walled gardens and the retail media network rise that I mentioned earlier on. To us at Publicis Media, that means marketers have to work really hard to accomplish the same job to be done. We have to actually accomplish more with fewer dollars and less time. And that’s why it’s important to have a really solid data strategy as well as a really solid way of executing marketing campaigns that will help support marketers.
How can marketers adapt their strategies and reach online consumers without third-party cookies?
The answer is starting with their own first-party data strategy by building their own data strategy. Sure, we will continue to use the audiences that Google and Facebook and Meta and Instagram have. They will continue to have a place and they will continue to be important in our ecosystem. But marketers cannot just rely on those data sets themselves. So, a lot of marketers and brands need to think about ‘OK, how do I grow my audiences organically myself?’ And it could be done in a couple of different ways. They could be building community around them, they could be building content, they could be offering value to consumers, whether that’s information or entertainment – something that would actually invite Canadians into their communities where they feel like, ‘OK, now there is actually a really good value exchange. I’m giving up my data. I’m giving up my information in exchange for something that means a lot to me.’ So just really focusing on building their first-party data would help them tremendously.
How is your agency attracting new clients – and what are they looking for?
They are looking for a partner that will help them navigate this ever-changing terrain. At Publicis Media, we believe that the market no longer works for marketers for a couple of reasons that we talked about earlier… And that kind of caused this doom loop of marketers sweating about the small stuff and the small numbers instead of the big numbers and the picture they have going on. And of course, they have to accomplish more with fewer dollars. So, they are really looking for a partner who can help get them there, a partner that can help them navigate the terrain. For us, that means creating more signals, that means building these data solutions that help our clients to navigate this terrain, but also understanding that every single client has their own nuances, every single category has their own sets of rules that we have to play with. And so instead of just doing a one-size-fits-all marketing strategy, it’s being able to customize and build from the ground up to serve our clients’ needs.
What emerging trends or innovations are on your radar?
It’s tough to talk about innovation nowadays without talking about AI. And that’s probably the word that is on everyone’s mind. AI is something that is near and dear to us. It’s something we’ve been using a lot, especially within our Growth OS platform. Because what AI does, especially the way we’ve been using it in Growth OS, it helps us automate a lot of the tasks, so our planners and buyers just have to do the task once… You can actually upload a brief and based on that, AI would be able to make audience recommendations. And that just adds a lot of value and a lot of benefits to our planners and buyers because now they don’t have to start from scratch in terms of building the audiences. There’s already recommendations that they can use as a starting point and then tweak based on that. That’s just one example… AI for us is really to help our planners and our buyers to automate a lot of the tasks that are more menial and help them then spend more time innovating. If you ask our planners and our buyers now how much time they have to sit down and brainstorm and then innovate, they would say not very much, but they would like it to be more. And that’s how we’ve been using AI as part of Growth OS to help our planners and buyers do more of the stuff that they love.
Can you share your predictions on what’s next for the industry?
I think we’re going to see more shoppable moments. We already see a significant percentage of spend going to commerce. But I think we’ll also see more channels like social and others will become shoppable. That’s really how our consumers have been behaving. They want easy, shoppable interactions from wherever they are. So, I think we’re going to see a lot of shifts to that… And again, data strategy I think is going to continue to evolve – rightfully and understandably so, given the challenges on the horizon.
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