Brands See Results With Matterkind’s New Performance-Based Outcome Navigator Tool

IPG agency Matterkind has released new tools aimed at driving specific business outcomes for brands, including sales, which is putting the agency in line to capture more performance-based marketing budgets. And it's seeing results with early adopter clients and winning new business. In summer 2021, when vaccinations made it possible to board cruises again after the pandemic forced the industry into a year-long halt, Carnival Cruise Line was keen to work with an agency that wouldn’t waste its marketing budget on media that didn’t drive bookings, said the company’s chief commercial officer Ken Tate. “I set out to find someone who was willing to, essentially, put their money where their mouth is,” Tate said. “Rather than purchasing impressions for me, why don’t I pay someone for the results that they drive?” Enter Outcome Navigator, Matterkind’s suite of services aimed at helping the IPG-owned activation intelligence company capture performance marketing budgets. The approach emphasizes charging clients like Carnival based on outcomes generated rather than billing by the hour. Publicis Groupe Makes 'The Pact' With Midsize Clients, Guaranteeing Business Results The approach paid off: Carnival’s media-attributed online bookings rose 20% between the third and fourth quarter, according to Tate. Matterkind, in turn, won Carnival and sneaker brand New Balance as clients for the first time, thanks to these tools, said Nancy Hall, evp of outcome-based marketing and programmatic at Matterkind. As data and measurable outcomes are driving more marketing decisions, Matterkind joins a growing slate of media agencies looking to create performance offerings. In April 2020, Publicis introduced outcomes-based solution The Pact, powered by Publicis’ data platform Epsilon. In some cases, these are alongside traditional commission or billable hours models. “Nearly all types of media agencies indicate performance marketing as one of the main drivers of revenue,” Jay Pattisall, principal analyst at Forrester, said. “Matterkind offer[ing] outcomes-oriented [solutions] to capture performance dollars is a smart play.” Putting skin in the game Despite early adopter brands, the tool Outcome Navigator officially launches today. “It is more about the results,” said Erica Schmidt, Matterkind’s global CEO, describing how Outcome Navigator is distinct from the company’s previous offerings. “We’re putting skin in the game.” Matterkind breaks its offering into two buckets: addressable outcomes and addressable pay for performance. For the first, the agency helps companies find the best solutions and drive outcomes around affiliate marketing, with a focus on ecommerce, and commerce, with a focus on driving in-store and onsite sales. With addressable outcomes, Matterkind intends to play a consultative role among the myriad available technologies that help marketers drive conversions, Schmidt said. This includes both IPG’s proprietary data and tech tools—found in agencies Acxiom and Kinesso—and helping clients find the best third-party providers to partner with. Why would I care if [an agency] buys Google, Yahoo or Bing? I want the most profitable people that [they] can get.Ken Tate, chief commercial officer, Carnival Cruise Line The addressable pay for performance bucket, by contrast, is more focused on driving outcomes across different areas of media rather than sorting through third-party technology. This includes generating privacy-compliant leads, measuring the impact of TV spend on conversions and offering a broader focus on outcomes in general. Hall said addressable outcomes have a different commercial model because there are more third-party companies involved. However, both are performance-driven. “The programs are always run, optimized and measured on actual outcomes like sales, leads, bookings, account openings,” Hall said. IPG turns an eye to data Outcome Navigator is IPG’s latest effort to build out its digital advertising capabilities. In 2018, IPG acquired database marketing company Acxiom for $2.3 billion, as its holding company competitors were also bolstering their data offerings. In 2020, IPG's programmatic agency Cadreon rebranded to Matterkind, with an emphasis on data and technology, several months before layoffs were announced at Matterkind and Kinesso. IPG’s increased focus on data mirrors some brand marketers’ approach to media buying, including Carnival’s Tate, who said what he values most in media agency partners is their ability to deliver customers. “I would pay more for profitable customers than I do for others. I don’t think about the media mix,” Tate said. “Why would I care if [an agency] buys Google, Yahoo or Bing? I want the most profitable people that [they] can get.”