Irvine-based Advantage Solutions has launched a business unit that relies on data collected monthly from some 150 million mobile devices to advertise to specific customers when they’re most likely to make a purchase.
Advantage Media operates under the Advantage Marketing Partners division and has three offices—Norwalk; Boston; and Bentonville, Ark., the headquarters of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
Advantage Solutions, which provides sales, marketing, merchandising and digital technology services to packaged goods manufacturers and retailers, had nearly $2 billion in revenue last year, ranking No. 11 on the Business Journal’s list of private companies based in Orange County.
Advantage Media’s 35-member team grew out of the AMP Shopper Digital Group, a dedicated division of AMP Agency in Boston, which Advantage Solutions acquired in 2013.
Advantage Media relies on its proprietary MomentAware data management platform, which looks at the “total package of data” derived from “always connected” shoppers—pretty much anyone with a smartphone—to identify those “most valuable” to the advertiser. Its client roster includes Wal-Mart, Barilla, and Dr Pepper Snapple Group.
Receptive Moments
The MomentAware platform will be at the core of Advantage Media’s operation.
“For every action there is a data point. Connect the points and you have a behavior. Connect the behaviors and you have the story,” according to Advantage Media’s video describing the technology.
MomentAware combines information about shoppers’ current and past locations, activity and other habits with data on past purchases. The behaviors anticipate “receptive moments” when they’re most open to seeing an ad. An opportune time to show an ad for a food product, for example, might be when consumers are at or near the grocery store or while they’re searching the internet to decide what to make for dinner.
“To win with media today, brands must consider behavioral, intent and location data to drive their media investments,” said Gary Colen, general manager of digital at Advantage Solutions. “MomentAware extends the reach for our clients, outside the walls of the store, where Advantage Solutions has a strong presence, offering media solutions that uniquely define shoppers and predict their behavior.”
Clear Picture
AMP Agency’s recent case study described how it created “a robust profile of a pet owner” for a “leading pet care brand.” It collected data points that provided “valuable insights into consumers’ pet ownership and preferences,” including the type of dog or cat they own, their “choice and location of grooming and veterinarian care, frequency of pet care, even the approximate location and times pet owners walk and exercise with their pets.”
Such information was combined with existing data on consumers’ “demographics, interest and purchase behaviors” to “ensure marketing messages were delivered when and where” those pet owners are most receptive. Consumer engagement “as measured by click-through rate” increased by 250%, according to AMP.
Advantage Media Senior Vice President of Product Marketing Chris Boucher said the technology is breaking through the “clutter” in the retail and consumer packaged-goods segments.
“Advantage Solutions has massive connectivity with shoppers inside and outside the physical store,” Boucher said. “We have combined industry-leading location data with differentiated purchase intent signals to expand this reach into the digital media space.”
Advantage Media’s 35 workers are a small fraction of the company’s marketing arm, which has about 350 employees and focuses on in-store promotions and experiential advertising.
Advantage Solutions is owned by Los Angeles-based private-equity firm Leonard Green & Partners LP and CVC Capital Partners in Luxembourg.
