Qualia Cites Top Five Trends in Intent Targeting

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Sep 25, 2014) -  Qualia -- a pioneer and leader in discovering and delivering on consumers' ever-evolving, real-time expressions of intent -- recently hosted a panel with Industry Index by Digital Media Review on the future of intent targeting in today's digital age. The event brought together key executives from comScore, IPG Media Lab, Coca-Cola, Razorfish, Edelman, Havas Media Group, MEC Global, MRY and OmnicomMediaGroup. Eli Goodman, media evangelist at comScore, provided a keynote highlighting how mobile has become the primary medium for consumers to engage with brands online and should be not be viewed by businesses as simply a conversion tool. 

Key insights from the panel discussion include:

1. Look to new commercial intent signals beyond social: The way consumers express themselves online today is not the same as it was two years, or even two months ago, which is why social is no longer the only arena they use to publicly broadcast their wants and needs. To truly identify and target consumers during their interest and evaluation phases, brands need to take a look at a combination of behaviors with new commercial intent signals including wish lists, price alerts, real-time opinion polls, entertainment apps, coupons, content shares, past purchase histories, check-ins, fans/followers and general expressions of sentiment.

2. Track how technology can shift consumer behavior: According to comScore, the adoption of smartphones and tablets has brought rapid change in digital media dynamics with the U.S becoming a multi-platform majority in April 2013.* With the arrival of the iPhone 6+, the industry will see another shift in how consumers use these digital platforms. Marketers will have to adapt and focus ad spend accordingly to keep up with changing consumer engagement levels and purchasing habits. 

3. Create creative context: Targeting the most qualified consumers means serving ads when they are ready to be influenced. It is crucial that the creative and content of an ad is not a blanket message. The content needs to be tailored to speak directly to that consumer at the right moment in time to truly engage and move them along their path to purchase.

4. Measure "beyond the click": How marketers measure effectiveness is key to the future of intent targeting. Targeting audiences via a generic reach play is not effective any more. Marketers need to listen to intent signals before and after a campaign for brands to truly understand how they have contributed to changes in behavior (increased site engagement, social chatter, etc.) and ultimately influenced a consumer's journey toward purchase.

5. Understand the value exchange: Consumers are just beginning to understand that they produce data. The industry needs to quickly show consumers how producing this data can provide a valuable exchange of information between themselves and a brand at the right time and on the right device.

In her keynote address on the Evolution and Future of Intent Targeting, Kathy Leake, CEO and co-founder of Qualia commented: "Traditional methods of targeting in digital advertising were, and still are, an approximation: whether that's demographic, behavioral, contextual, search retargeting, social targeting and look-a-like modeling.

"Here at Qualia, we saw consumers expressing themselves and broadcasting their whereabouts in record numbers -- moving beyond social, and leveraging apps and ecommerce sites to declare their commercial intent. In response, we created a way for marketers to leverage these intent signals to discover new audiences that could not be reached via traditional methods of targeting because we know that where you reach a consumer in their intent path means everything.

"By empowering marketers with the ability to reach consumers when they are still considering a purchase, and prove the value of targeting audiences by measuring success 'beyond-the-click,' we are educating the industry on how to connect with audiences, on their terms, when they are most open to influence."

Panelists included:

• Eli Goodman, media evangelist, comScore
• Kenton Langstroth, director of partner integration, IPG Media Lab
• Tom Cramer, mobile practice lead, Razorfish
• St. John Dunne, vp client services, Edelman
• Rob Griffin, global head of digital, Havas Media Group
• Anthony Martinez, director, communication planning & investment, Coca-Cola
• Rachel Pasqua, head of mobility, MEC Global
• Christine Peterson, US group media director, MRY
• Kelley Elizabeth Train, US director, digital investment, OmnicomMediaGroup

Notes to Editor
*comScore Media Metrix Multi-Platform report, U.S., Feb 2013 - Aug 2014.

About Qualia
Qualia, an Intent targeting pioneer, empowers marketers with the ability to respond to real-time expressions of consumer intent. Our Intent Quality™ Decision Engine creates a composite of multiple intent signals from a consumer and overlays our targeting capabilities to reach a marketer's most qualified audience. Our technology then targets that consumer across any or all of their devices (mobile, tablet, laptop, desktop) and platforms (web, app) with any type of IAB-standard creative. Qualia's proprietary Return on Intent™ Analytics Suite measures campaign success "beyond the click" -- helping marketers understand how they have influenced a consumer's journey toward purchase.

In market since 2011, Qualia is led by Kathy Leake, CEO (co-founder Media6Degrees/Dstillery) and Niels Meersschaert, CTO (founding Principal Architect of Magnetic) who are committed to defining the next generation of intent targeting. Qualia is headquartered in NYC and has offices in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Detroit and Atlanta. For additional information, visit www.qualia-media.com.