Headed to DMEXCO with Anheuser-Busch: Q+A

As we ramp up for DMEXCO, we sat down with our two fireside chat speakers, esteemed client, Shaun Lynch, Head Of Media & dL Labs, Draftline Europe at Anheuser-Busch InBev and our VP EMEA Client Partnerships, Anthony Lamy. Below they answer some questions on the data-driven creative process and how they work best together. 

And if you’re planning to attend DMEXCO, we’d love to show you around. Book a meeting with us and we’ll donate to charity on your behalf.

Q+A:

How do you see data and creativity coming together?
Shaun: For me, data should be more widely viewed as a key driver of creativity. In a world where platform algorithms are becoming ever-smarter, true media optimizations become harder to identify; and therefore the companies that have the ability to use data to enhance their creativity will be afforded a competitive advantage.

Anthony: In the current economic context I see more and more people not willing to pay anymore for content that “might not work.” So now they have to use data to inform their creative process.

Who do you involve throughout your production?
Shaun: As the in-house agency for AB InBev in Europe, draftLine is uniquely positioned to have many advertising functions under one roof, whereas traditionally agencies tend to focus on either creative or media. At dL, almost every team is involved in our production process at one point or another – whether that be strategy, operations, creative, media, or production.

Anthony: I see more and more new production models emerging, in-house agencies, integrated teams (like at ABI), which means new profiles get involved in the creative process. This is why you need a data platform: to gather all of these people around the same project and look at the same data.

What types of creative do you find performs best?
Shaun: We have so many brands trying to communicate to different consumer bases that it would be impossible for to say that a particular creative performs best; however we’re seeing success from 1) brands that create content specific for platform; and 2) brands that are creating a range of content for different stages of the consumer journey (awareness, consideration, purchase, loyalty).

Anthony: Every platform has already demonstrated the power of content that is designed to perform where it is aired. So the best performing creative assets are the ones that are truly built for the platform, leveraging specific platform insights.

What’s your process for refining campaigns?
Shaun: We approach campaign refinement from two perspectives – media optimization and creative optimization. Media optimization is very much as you would expect from most media agencies, whereby we analyze performance, re-allocate budgets etc. Creative optimization is a much newer practice for us and for the first time, really allows us to understand the impact of our creative and make improvements during the flight of a campaign.

Anthony: Vidmob uses data and all of the past data to produce insights about a new piece of creative. Then our system will compare your new creative performance with the past performance and see what differs and more importantly why!

How do you envision the future of data-driven creative?
Shaun: I think we’ll very quickly get to a point where you no longer have to pre-fix the word “creative” with the words “data-driven.” I believe that in order to truly compete in today’s digitized world, those who are not “data-driven” or “data-centric” will soon fade away. Creative is already data-driven and those who understand and can seize that opportunity are the ones that will flourish.

Anthony: I see a future where every creative person will have superpower thanks to data. They will know more about their creative performance than ever before. Then everybody will embrace these technologies otherwise it will be like going to a doctor that is not using any modern tool to help do a diagnostic. Would you still go to such a doctor?

Don’t miss the full fireside chat with these two at DMEXCO and remember to set a 1-1 with us and we’ll give back to a charity of your choice.