Havas brands set for ‘people-based marketing' after Facebook Atlas deal
Havas clients such as Coca-Cola, Reckitt Benckiser and Sony will be handed the tools to track the path to purchase across devices, platforms and publishers following the agency network’s global deal with Facebook’s Atlas ad platform.
Advertisers with the holding group are already migrating to Atlas in a move that will see them try to make headway in measuring media ROI with new reporting capabilities. Facebook touted Atlas as the solution to the mobile conversion conundrum when it launched last September and its latest deal aims to encourage more advertisers to eschew cookie-based ads in favour of its own targeting tools.
Atlas will connect to Havas’ Artemis data platform, converting user data into insights that can bridge the divide between desktop and mobile as well as assure advertisers that their ads were shown to the intended audience.
The tie-up will initially focus on the US and Western Europe where the proliferation and consumption of mobile is more mature than in other parts of the world. Clients across Latin America will come on board to Atlas in the second quarter, followed by those in the Middle East in the third before it is opened up advertisers across Asia Pacific.
It is similar, albeit on a smaller scale, to Facebook’s deal with Omnicom Media Group last month to introduce its adveritsers across the Asia Pacific region to Atlas.
Dominique Delport, global managing director of Havas Media Group, said the move would fuel Facebook’s efforts to use peoples’ actual identities to connect the dots across channels. The social network has cited swelling demand from advertisers to understand how their online marketing on the platform inspires purchases as a driving force behind upcoming technological developments.
“This partnership, coupled with our clients’ data, will enable us to find out how people are interacting with brands and then purchasing products as they travel across devices”, said Delport.
“We have been working with the Atlas team now since June 2014 and are delighted that we have partnered with a platform that can take our analysis beyond previously limiting cookie based offers. It will allow us to filter, clean and manage data with unprecedented granularity. This relationship with Atlas, including our participation as a member of the Atlas Product Council, will enable us to offer best in class, tech neutral solutions for our clients."
Erik Johnson, director of Facebook's Atlas, said: "This is a great step for Atlas and Havas Media Group, bringing the power of people based marketing to more brands in more countries. Havas Media Group has been a supporter of our approach that helps brands reach real people across devices and publishers. The geographical focus and depth of potential client absorption makes this partnership significant for the industry."
The move is the latest from Facebook to widen and seal off its own eco-system for brands and consumers that is separate from the likes of Google and Yahoo. Like its rivals, the technology giant is transforming into a media owner capable of limiting the amount of information it has to share with others.
Facebook’s own attempt to premiumise its ad inventory will accelerate in the coming months when it launches its own internal demand-side-platform to rival Google’s Doubleclick’s promise to let brands bid in highly targeted inventory.