Solution
Working alongside PHD Media Denmark, Audi Denmark ran two contextual targeting test campaigns with Semasio.
Campaign 01
Compare Semasio’s Audience and Contextual Inclusion and Exclusion targeting solutions.
Audi targeted the personae of the most likely buyers while excluding the personae of the least likely buyers based on their typical media consumption patterns and socio-demographic characteristics.
This occurred on both user (audience targeting) and page (contextual targeting) levels. Each strategy was further split into identifiable and non-identifiable devices for mutual exclusion. Equal spending was dedicated to all four personae targeting strategies.
Campaign 02
Use the results of Campaign 01 to see what was possible with Semasio’s extension capabilities.
First, Audi used first-party data to model and target more users with similar semantic profiles to actual converters from Campaign 01 through Audience Extension. Then, they took it one step further with Contextual Audience Extension. In this approach, they combined the accuracy of audiences with the reach of context to predict the sites and pages where the converters are overrepresented.
Targeting strategies were again split into identifiable and non-identifiable devices to compare Audience Extension with Contextual Audience Extension.
To ensure full control and transparency over the test campaigns, Campaign 02 was split into two phases. As a result, Audi was able to put actionable insights to work and optimize the bidding strategy at run time, enabling real-time optimization.
Results
Performance
With equal spend on all four persona targeting strategies in Campaign 01, the novel Audience and Contextual Exclusion of the least likely buyer personae was the most powerful, driving 70% of total conversions.
Outperformance
Both of the first-party data-based targeting strategies employed in Campaign 02 outperformed the inclusion strategies of Campaign 01 and proved to be just as effective as exclusion strategies.
The more traditional Audience Extension approach reduced eCPA by 59%, while Contextual Audience Extension delivered even bigger results, reducing eCPA by 81%.
Exponential Returns
Through both campaigns, Audi Denmark demonstrated that novel targeting strategies such as excluding the least likely buyers is an effective, privacy-first way to reach new prospects and content not captured by more traditional targeting methods.
Contextual Audience Extension, however, delivered exponentially more, allowing Audi Denmark to get the most value out of first-party data and discover new consumers, deliver personalized ads on pages competitors haven’t found and boost engagement and reach more cost-effectively.
