
Sean Simon
Published on March 7, 2021
FindMine helped Adidas increase the number of outfits merchandised by 960%, while decreasing Merchandiser time spent by 95%.
For BCBG, FindMine helped deliver 10 MM outfits over a 6 week period. This increased revenue by 54x.
FindMine helped Cubavera generate a 23% increase in AOV, and increase conversion rate by 282%.
With all the changes happening to the eCommerce ecosystem these days, it’s more important than ever to retain and grow your existing customers. FindMine can help you build loyalty with existing customers and show new potential customers that you care about your long-term relationship with them. Sharing your expertise as a brand doesn’t cost you much. However, it will go a long way toward increasing the number of loyal customers who regularly spend more because they trust you.
Partner Spotlight
This week’s spotlight is on FindMine. They believe that a brand’s biggest differentiator is their unique experience and brand point of view. Their technology uses predictive intelligence to empower Merchants and Marketers to automate looks for 95% of their catalog, and drive millions in incremental revenue. Today they focus on fashion, home decor, and cosmetics.
At Cogent, we believe that brands need to help their shoppers use their products the right way. Consumers can become your biggest marketing channel if you arm them properly and teach them how to utilize your products together. This will make them happier with your products, and they will share their experiences with friends and on social media.
Most brands and retailers do a really good job showing consumers what others bought based on the products they are interested in. You see this within product page widgets and retargeting ads, both display and email. Consider for a moment that you just purchased a pair of pants from your favorite brand. Is it helpful to receive an email or ads with additional pairs of pants? Or, would it be more helpful receiving messages showing you items that go with the pants you bought? If the completed looks were on the PDP page, perhaps you would have bought some of those accessories when you bought the pants…
As a Merchant or Marketer that manages a large catalog of products, you can’t realistically merchandise every product across your catalog. FindMine is an extension of what you already do, it won’t replace you. You can think of FindMine as AI that extends your expertise across all the products in your catalog so that you can help all shoppers have a magical experience, while controlling your brands POV.
Googles Way or the Highway!
“Today, we’re making explicit that once third-party cookies are phased out, we will not build alternate identifiers to track individuals as they browse across the web, nor will we use them in our products,” wrote David Temkin, director of product management, ads privacy and trust ad Google in a company blog post published on March 3.
Many of the ads that Google sells run outside its own properties on other websites where it has allowed advertisers to target people based on what they do across the broader web, such as the various sites they visit. Now, those behavioral targeting capabilities will go away. The impact on digital ad targeting and measurement throughout Google’s ad universe could be drastic, but many details on just how the changes might affect specific ad products are yet to be determined.
Google wants to prove to advertisers that it believes in the targeting and measurement capabilities it has been developing through its Privacy Sandbox initiative. The company has faced skepticism from advertisers, ad sellers and industry watchers who have questioned the efficacy of the sandbox methods, and wondered whether Google will actually use the ad targeting solutions it’s developed to replace third-party cookies in its Chrome browser.
A Cogent Thought:
Apologies if you can’t read this full article. Ironically, the targeting changes coming to our industry (being led by Google) are causing publishers like Digiday to start charging for content, after you read a few.
Google has too much power in the industry for other players to drive change in a different direction.
Government will need to step in and address the overreach by some tech companies.
Google will not block non-Google DSPs from connecting with publishers.
While Google is stopping cross-site tracking and targeting across the web, advertisers buying through Google will be able to target ads on non-Google sites based on aggregate data, using its FLoC method. This enables targeting based on audience cohorts, rather than by targeting individual people.
Google will still allow targeting across its own properties when people are logged in to their Google accounts.
A Cogent Thought:
Faherty weathered the pandemic due to its diversified business model.
They went on a hiring spree to bring on writers who could develop the storytelling of the brand.
Content helped build deeper relationships with customers, which helped them survive the pandemic.
Retail expansion will be made easier by attractive real-estate opportunities.
Diversified supply chain and the art of storytelling
The company started off by establishing an online presence, then built a mobile beach house that traveled throughout the country. In 2014, the company expanded into wholesale by launching into retailers such as Nordstrom and Barney’s New York. By 2020, the brand was sold in 250 retailers throughout the world.
Alex said the company made sure to carefully select locations that varied geographically and in population size, to both sell and manufacture Faherty clothes. It was this diversified supply chain that helped the company survive the pandemic.
The company’s supply chain spans Europe, South America, North America, and Asia. When Asia saw the first shockwave of the coronavirus in early 2020, the company was able to lean on its European, South, and North American channels.
When the Asian markets opened back up, the company was able to shift back to its manufacturing over there, as its supply chain was taking a hit in the European and American markets in mid-March.
When physical retailers began to close last year, the company shifted to e-commerce. As people fled New York City, their Soho store emptied out but their locations in the Hamptons and Martha’s Vineyard saw an increase in sales.
Gaming Is Emerging As Next Dominant Tech Platform
Gaming is emerging as not just the fastest growing media behavior among Americans, but as the next dominant tech platform, akin to what we saw in search starting 20 years ago and social over the past decade.
“Video Games: Gaming is the new technology paradigm as most digital activities (e.g., search, social, shopping, live events) will increasingly take place inside of gaming.”
Just look at “Fortnite.” The free-to-play game now has more than 300 million registered users around the world, and is streaming private concerts and full movies to gamers logging on, while collecting more than $5 billion this year in micro-transactions from a small subset of users who buy virtual goods and capabilities to use in the game.
If advertisers want to be welcomed into video game environments, they will need to treat them like the Oscars and the Super Bowl: Create great ads, highly relevant to the event, and fun and memorable to experience.
A Cogent Thought:
Beyond games like Fortnite, brands need to think about how they will use VR.
Gaming is another platform that will help make the world smaller and bring diverse groups of people together.
Gaming will have an impact on society, business, education, commerce, and politics.
Gaming and social will merge, creating the need for brands to have a cohesive strategy to touch consumers properly and allow them to share in unique ways.
A Cogent Thought:
1st party data will help retailers monetize their visitors beyond sales, but it will also help them drive more sales efficiently.
With the right programs in place, retailers can learn more about the intent of their shoppers and what they really want.
Direct consumer relationships will help brands build deeper, long-term relationships with their customers.
Discovering new products online is more difficult than in-store. Retailers need to find creative ways to help consumers discover products. This presents another opportunity to learn more about them, and build relationships with brands and consumers.
Retailers Continue to Realize Media Potential
Last week, Macy’s said the media network it launched in August had already hauled in more than $35 million. Home Depot, Kroger, CVS and Walgreens each has its own media platform too, but they haven’t disclosed revenue. Neither has Walmart, although Morgan Stanley estimates it brings in ~$500 million.
Amazon racked in $13.18 billion in e-commerce search ad revenues in 2020, per an eMarketer report from Insider Intelligence.
Advertisers want access to first-party shopping data, and big box retailers are lining up to provide it. But as with their e-comm platforms, they’ll face stiff competition for business.
Podcast of the Week
Programmatic Convergence
Cogent Takeaways:
Programmatic is a holistic strategy. It shouldn’t be viewed as a “channel” with a specific budget.
“Traditional” Channels are becoming more like digital thanks to Programmatic Buying, which now spans beyond Display and Social.
- TV is shifting toward OTT/CTV
- Linear Radio is shifting toward Streaming Audio – We partnered with Frequency who built a platform that enables experienced audio advertisers to take their campaigns to the next level, and first-timers burst out of the gate!
- OOH is morphing into DOOH – Adomni, who makes buying and measuring out of home as easy as pie, is emerging as a leader in this space.
- DirectMail can now leverage real-time intent signals and Look-A-Like audiences can be built. Our former company, PebblePost, pioneered this space.
Privacy Regulations including; iOS 14, IDFA limitations, and the depreciation of the cookie, will have a greater impact on measurement than targeting.
This will lead to an increased need for “Data Clean Rooms”, but this is a “heavy lift” for brands and agencies.
Rigorous “Test & Learn” will be crucial.
Last Click is a scam and MTA’s are dead – The future is incrementality testing! Cogent has partnered with the best-in-class incrementality testing platform, Measured!
Brian brings a diverse background to the Cogent Collective. After spending the first 10 years of his career on the publisher side, most of which was in Silicon Valley, Brian made the jump to the agency holding company world. After 11 years working across a variety of agencies in senior level roles in New York, Brian decided that he could serve brands better by launching an independent agency.
Having this unique perspective enables Brian to evaluate our partners and potential partners with a critical lens that benefits our entire membership. I think that because Brian is now independent and agnostic, he can encourage his clients to test emerging technology solutions to help them grow, and be more efficient and effective in the marketing solutions they execute.
While planning out the launch of Cogent, I spoke to Brian about the concept. What he liked the most was that we weren’t simply trying to be advisors or just make introductions and disappear. He appreciates that Cogent rides side-by-side with our members, and holds our partners accountable. Brian has been a member since July 2020.
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