How Havas' Converged Data Platform Delivers for Papa John's

Note: To make sense of what is quickly becoming a vast and complex agency technology ecosystem, Adweek is reporting on each of the major platforms. This story is the third in a series covering agencies’ audience management platforms. Previously, Adweek reported on Omnicom's Omni and Horizon Media's blu. Like all of the large holding companies, Havas Media Group (HMG) is going all in on its data and technology strategies. At the center of that strategy is its audience management platform (AMP), Converged. The platform is HMG’s solution to advanced audience segmentation and helps clients like Papa John’s get more tactical about reaching consumers. Building Converged was a strategic move for Havas, increasing its data and technology prowess in the market. Converged stands out from other platforms because HMG tapped data company LiveRamp to co-build it. The partnership doesn't mean HMG is limited to LiveRamp data, however. Instead, cleanroom technology within Converged makes it possible for HMG to overlay a client's first-party data sets with second- and third-party data from LiveRamp and from other industry players like Epsilon, for example. At Cannes, Industry Critics Discuss How the Climate Crisis Fuels Adland’s Talent Wars Accenture alum Mike Bregman, now chief data officer for Havas Media Group (HMG) in North America, leads this strategy and HMG's technology evolution. “We are a new Havas,” Bregman said. "There's been a lot of change in the last, I'd say, two-and-a-half years for the agency.” Platform proliferation Converged is one of many audience management platforms in the industry. Omnicom has Omni, Publicis Groupe has Epsilon PeopleCloud, Horizon Media has blu., Dentsu has M1, and Stagwell has CUE. WPP consolidates many technology tools under the Choreograph umbrella and is currently working out a single operating system. IPG, similarly, has its AMP platform and a suite of tech powered by Acxiom, Matterkind and Kinesso. Even independents like Dept have their own platforms. Compared to the others, HMG’s offering is young. Jay Pattisall, Forrester’s principal agencies analyst, wrote in a report that Converged “has the advantage of being the newest—and the burden of catching up.” The LiveRamp partnership—exclusive to North America—gives Havas clients access to big data. But the model differs from others in the industry because HMG is not just "renting" LiveRamp data. Instead, it's employed a "partner and build" strategy. Co-building the platform with LiveRamp means both parties are committed to ensuring Converged's success. Marketers at Cannes See Spend Moving to the Creator Economy Finding the right audience Papa John's was already a Havas client when Converged became available, and Chris Hawk, director of media strategy and investment performance at Papa John’s International, jumped at the chance to use it for better targeting. When Hawk joined the business, he saw the brand had a “treasure trove” of data that it could put to better use, if only it had a good way to do it. Before Converged, advanced targeting wasn't easy. The pizza brand's messaging typically relied on go-to promotions instead tailoring it to a consumer cohort. For instance, Papa John’s would tout its meat lover’s pizza even to customers who preferred a vegetarian option, leaving them uninterested in the promotion. “It's one message for all people. Despite the fact people have very different preferences,” Hawk said. Utilizing its first-party data, in partnership with HMG, Papa John’s could determine which customers usually ordered meatless pizzas and offer them a more desirable product. Privacy and flexibility And when the brand launched its New York-style pizza in December, it wanted to find out who to target. Papa John's provided its loyalty card IDs, which LiveRamp anonymized and converted into RampIDs so it could protect customers' PII. Then, HMG overlaid that first-party data with second- and third-party data from other partners to build a robust data set. "We created about 23 segments for super-heavy users, all the way down to sporadic try-ers and everything in the middle, based on their habits and types of products that they purchased, and how often and when they purchase," Bregman said. HMG's cleanroom infrastructure, called Safe Haven, is a secure solution to working with many partners. The cleanroom environment can ingest any data sets Papa John's may be licensing. This system allows Papa John's to layer first- and second-party data—like information on people who purchase from competitors, and third-party data—like a data set of empty-nesters. Then, HMG planners can view more information about segment insights, or create look-a-like models where needed. Creating a secure environment is key to a platform that utilizes many data sets. Once a planner selects a partner to activate media on, like The Trade Desk, it sends the audience to that channel for quick activation. But on Converged, HMG can revoke partners' data access at any time. 'A new Havas' Havas' data prowess is still in its early stages. Bregman joined HMG about a year ago, when the agency’s analytics team had about 100 employees. Since then the group has brought on 70 more amid an expanded commitment to tech. New employees include experts in mar tech, data consulting and analytics. “Clients ultimately want an agency to have something. All of our clients want to talk mar tech. It's the centerpiece of every pitch these days, which is a huge role reversal,” Bregman said. How Platforms Are Transforming to Capture the Hispanic Audience