Mobile Marketing Association Publishes Guide on Data Sharing for Attribution Purposes in the GDPR Era

NEW YORK, May 8, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Today the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) released the first comprehensive list of data sharing policies for many of the largest digital/mobile media platforms, along with recommendations for how marketers can overcome limitations on data sharing to build multi-touch attribution (MTA) models that accurately credit the effect of each marketing exposure in a consumer's journey. Unveiled at MMA's MATT Unplugged event in New York City, the report, Data Sharing for Attribution in the Age of MTA, GDPR, and Walled Gardens aims to help marketers overcome two much-publicized obstacles to clarity and return on investment – worldwide adoption of GDPR and associated tightening of data sharing by digital platforms, which have been dubbed "walled gardens" by the marketing community.

"GDPR and data policies of some platforms shouldn't slow or stop marketers from creating robust attention models and leveraging MTA," said Greg Stuart, CEO of the MMA. "There's plenty of consumer data available, and there are several proven workaround strategies. When marketers have insight into publishers' data sharing policies, they can begin to better balance their media mixes for increased marketing productivity. MTA is the measurement of the future, and when executed well, we've seen it produce gains in campaign performance far more than double."

To enable MTA analysis and the average +30% ROI gains it typically enables, marketers need an overarching data strategy and access to user-level data. The more media exposures they can gauge at the user level, the more accurately they can model the impact of each. While today's limitations inhibit perfect MTA, the MMA believes the MTA practice is essential to improving marketing ROI, and marketers can take steps to get more out of it – from evolving how they choose providers to integrating other methodologies (e.g., A/B testing and marketing mix modeling) with MTA.

Specifically, the report outlines four principal workaround strategies (pros, cons, requirements) the MMA recommends marketers explore in an effort to create more effective attribution models.

1.    Go all-in with publishers that offer a clean room" approach, where marketers can merge their data with the publisher's, perform MTA analytics, and extract the findings.
2.    Use MTA providers whose data tagging systems are approved by major platforms.
3.    Implement an ad server with unrestricted IDs.
4.    Create an "uber-model" to combine findings from disparate sources into one cohesive view of media impact.

"The power of mobile is core to future business growth and central to increased customer engagement," said Tatyana Zlotsky, VP/GM Marketing, Partnerships and Global Digital Innovation, American Express Global Commercial. "Having access to our own data means we can more accurately attribute our media efforts and build measurement models that truly drive ROI. This deeper understanding of where and how our marketing is working for us is critical as we strive to accomplish the most effective MTA possible."

"Data Sharing for Attribution in the Age of MTA, GDPR and Walled Gardens" is the most recent resource in a comprehensive series developed by the MMA's Marketing Attribution Think Tank (MATT), launched in late 2016 and exclusively for marketers working in the future of attribution. The release of this report reinforces the mission of MATT, which is to help marketers select and apply MTA solutions with confidence. Aligned with this mission is a commitment from the CMO-led MMA Global and NA Boards as well as the MMA team to enable marketers and their agencies to achieve better marketing productivity by adopting measurement tools of the future – in other words, MTA.

The program has anecdotally been credited with saving more than six months' worth of effort while also limiting the risk of selecting the wrong provider. Previously released resources under the MATT initiative include:

•     Comprehensive Multi-Touch Attribution Assessment and Landscape Report
•     An industry-approved MTA Request for Information (RFI) template with a corresponding Provider Scoring Tool for brands to use in their own MTA selection processes
•     A Glossary of Multi-Touch Attribution Terms
•     A four-part webinar series on MTA
•     MTA Data Map visualizing the data sets needed for MTA
•     The MTA Strategy Guide to help marketers organize and manage quality data
•     An MTA Tactical Success Guide to help marketers examine how their own data might be used in MTA

Also, scheduled for release this year, is the MMA's "MTA Journey Map" that visually illustrates the optimized journey marketers should go through to better insure a successful MTA implementation for their organization. More information on how to get involved with MATT can be found at http://www.mmaglobal.com/matt.

About the MMA:
Comprised of over 800-member companies globally and 14 regional offices, the MMA is the only marketing trade association that brings together the full ecosystem of marketers, tech providers and sellers working collaboratively to architect the future of marketing, while relentlessly delivering growth today. Anchoring the MMA's mission are four core pillars; to cultivate inspiration by driving innovation for the Chief Marketing Officer; to build the mobile marketing capabilities for marketing organizations through fostering know-how and confidence; to champion the effectiveness and impact of mobile through research providing tangible ROI measurement; and to advocate for mobile marketers.

Members include: 1-800-Flowers.com, Adobe, Ahold Delhaize, Allstate, Ally Financial, American Eagle, American Express, AT&T, Bank of America, Calvin Klein, Campbell's, Carbon, JPMorgan Chase, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Chobani, Choice Hotels, Citi, Clear Channel Outdoor, Colgate Palmolive, Cuebiq, CVS Health, Dunkin' Brands, eBay, E*TRADE, Electronic Arts, ESPN, Estee Lauder, Facebook, Ford, Foursquare, General Motors Company, Google, Hilton Worldwide, IBM Watson, Jumpshot, Kellogg Company, LinkedIn, L'Oreal, Marriott International, Match Group, Mastercard, McDonald's, MillerCoors, Monster, NBCU, OpenMarket, OpenX, Pandora, Pfizer, Pinterest, PlaceIQ, Procter & Gamble, RetailMeNot, Salesforce, Samsung, Shire, SITO Mobile, Snap Inc., SUBWAY, Target Inc., The Coca-Cola Company, T- Mobile, Turner Broadcasting, Twitter, Uber, Unilever, Verizon Media Group, Verizon Connect, Vibes, Walmart, Waze, and many more. The MMA's global headquarters are located in New York with regional operations Asia Pacific (APAC), Europe/Middle East/Africa (EMEA) and Latin America (LATAM). For more information about the MMA please visit http://www.mmaglobal.com.

Media Contacts
Fred Pfaff, [email protected], +1 917-902-6883
Chris Pfaff, [email protected], +1 201-218-0262

SOURCE Mobile Marketing Association