Marketers across the APAC region face a dizzying array of data utilisation and activation challenges, from establishing cohesive first-party data strategies and reliable identity resolution to the looming and long-delayed demise of third-party cookies. With many of programmatic advertising’s most promising advancements — such as curation — relying on a mature and ready-to-activate bank of audience data, the clock is ticking for marketers to future-proof their tech stack.
If you struggle with data, you’re not alone
Nearly all marketers and agencies (99 per cent) in APAC report meeting barriers in their data strategies, according to Lotame’s latest research.
In SEA, leveraging internal data for campaign personalisation is a major pain point for marketers. A staggering 78 per cent of marketers here emphasise the importance of using first-party data — 8 per cent higher than the global average. There is a clear urgency among marketers in SEA to possess their own insights for campaign targeting personalisation, yet they remain constrained by unstable identifiers like email addresses and mobile IDs.
Compounding this issue, reliance on third-party cookies is still substantial, with over half of marketers and a quarter of agencies entirely dependent on these soon-to-be-obsolete identifiers. However, this has not held back the adoption of alternative IDs, with an average of three solutions used in tandem to maximise reach.
However, marketers in ANZ face a different landscape. The reliance on third-party cookies is significantly lower: just 17 per cent of marketers and 6 per cent of agencies are entirely dependent on them, compared to much higher global averages. This lower reliance suggests that marketers are already further along in their transition away from third-party cookies and — like in Singapore — have embraced a portfolio of identity solutions that averages three options.
With cookies less of a pressing issue, the main challenge for Australians lies in finding quality data sources, emphasising the need for technology that can facilitate mutually beneficial partnerships that can unlock them.
A new generation of collaborative data solutions
Though data challenges are ubiquitous, so too are solutions. Marketers in both ANZ and SEA are refreshing their tech stacks, with nearly all respondents (98 per cent in Australia and 99 per cent in Singapore) planning to invest in new marketing or data technology over the next year.
Data collaboration platforms are gaining significant traction in this tech spending spree. Such platforms enable marketers to overcome data limitations by pooling resources with external partners (as well as breaking down internal silos) allowing for more comprehensive insights and richer audience intelligence.
In SEA, data collaboration platform adoption has reached 64 per cent, and with an average of 2.3 reported improvements in marketing operations, marketers here are already seeing tangible benefits in their ability to effectively orchestrate and activate data.
This trend is even more pronounced in ANZ, where 70 per cent of marketers have embraced data collaboration platforms. marketers here report an average of 2.3 positive changes in their marketing operations as a result of adopting these technologies.
Another solution that marketers in both regions are exploring is the use of clean rooms for secure data sharing. However, clean rooms are not without challenges of their own. In Singapore — where three in five marketers use clean rooms — significant issues were reported, such as lack of data overlap and the technical expertise required to maximize the potential of these platforms.
In Australia, dissatisfaction with clean rooms is even more pronounced, with over a third of current agency adopters planning to retire the technology in the next six months. In both markets, there is a clear appetite for solutions that deliver alignment with privacy regulations equivalent to clean rooms while offering more scalable, user-friendly applications.
Curation gives marketers a strong incentive to get their data ducks in a row
Programmatic curation is a major incentive for marketers to achieve maturity in their data operations. Emerging from widespread dissatisfaction with post-cookie addressability and transparency in open programmatic auctions, this approach leverages vetted data from both ends of the supply chain to offer curated inventory tailored to a specific campaign’s needs.
This more hands-on and selective method of managing the glut of inventory and audience data that crowds programmatic channels allows marketers to optimise ad buys with greater precision, transparency, and efficiency.
Programmatic curation is particularly valuable in the context of third-party cookies’ diminishing role. By allowing marketers to leverage first-party data and privacy-friendly identifiers, programmatic curation offers an alternative to cookie-based targeting.
In SEA, where third-party cookie dependence remains high, adopting curation can help marketers reach unique audiences without relying on fragile identifiers. This can help plug the ‘addressability gap’ as marketers move away from third-party cookies, preserving audience reach and effective targeting in this period of transition.
The ANZ market, with its lower reliance on third-party cookies, is already well-positioned to benefit from programmatic curation. Once their data ducks are in a row, marketers can plug their audience data into curated private marketplaces (PMPs) to find and engage with these audiences in highly targeted advertising without sacrificing transparency or control over their ad buys.
Programmatic curation also brings operational efficiency to the forefront. By consolidating suppliers and streamlining the supply chain, it reduces the complexity that often hampers programmatic advertising efforts, and instead brings operational efficiency to the forefront.
For APAC marketers who are grappling with fragmented identity signals and fractured audience data, the ability to manage ad campaigns more effectively through programmatic curation presents a significant competitive advantage. Then there are the cost savings and enhanced performance that come from optimizing ad placements based on rich data, which make programmatic curation vital to any cost-savvy marketing strategy.
Transforming data challenges into opportunities
Though data challenges persist, the tech investment surge among APAC marketers is set to turn them into opportunities. Investment in data collaboration platforms and the curated marketplaces that they feed into can unlock a wealth of advancements in audience targeting and personalization.
For Singaporean marketers, the focus will likely remain on overcoming their reliance on third-party cookies. In Australia, the challenge will be to continue building strong data partnerships while ensuring that their marketing technologies remain flexible and scalable enough to adapt to an ever-changing digital landscape.
In both markets, the ability to utilize and activate data effectively will be key to staying competitive. By embracing a collaborative mindset over “winner takes all” competitiveness, marketers in APAC can stake their claim in the future of digital advertising, where data — and what you do with it — will define success.
