June 20, 2023 | By Michael Bürgi
Continuing its rollout of new partnerships and collaborations in the commerce media space that it’s announcing at Cannes Lions this week, Digiday has learned that Omnicom Media Group has partnered with Uber Advertising on a data collaboration that will let the media agency network serve up its clients’ advertising using Uber’s mobility and delivery signals.
It’s the first partnership with an agency holding company that Uber has struck to date.
The pact kicks off in the U.S., but according to Dr. Mark Gether, Uber Advertising’s general manager, it’s expected to expand to include Uber’s global markets. Megan Pagliuca, Omnicom Media Group’s chief activation officer, added that OMG will also be considered a priority partner for new product releases from Uber advertising.
Uber Advertising’s platform is said to reach some 130 million active users globally. And the data it’s throwing off that OMG can use will be fed into Omni, the operating system that powers all of parent Omnicom’s data and insights. Pairing the two, agreed both Grether and Pagliuca, makes for a potent combination that generates deeper insights using consumers’ specific commerce journeys (since Uber helps get them there) along with Omni’s open architecture that allows for data to be imported from an external source to support activation and precise measurement. They stressed that all the data is privacy-safe.
“Uber is just in such a unique position where we can reach an individual in real time and know where they’re about to be — whether they’re going to an event or they’re going to a bar, whether they’re going to a retailer,” said Pagliuca. “The only thing I like to think of comparing it to is search intent.”
Grether said the appeal for Uber is Omni. “It is an ideal place for us to be used as a measurement and activation platform … they have the proper technology [via Omni] to actually make it a reality.”
But he added having early access to OMG’s client roster, which includes CPG, quick serve restaurants, food and beverage and automotive advertisers, is a plus. “We can jointly provide more value to them so that they can actually spend their dollars more effectively and efficiently, using more data using more audience segments on their platforms, but also on our platform,” he added.
The two have already been working behind the scenes testing out the partnership, with HBO Max sponsoring a Lizzo concert via a takeover through Uber.
According to recent research from LiveIntent that asked 200 marketers their thoughts on retail media networks, 61% said they want inventory that is logged-in, like email newsletters and alerts, video/streaming or social media. A blog post explaining the research noted that “This reflects what advertisers know: logged-in environments provide access to real, fraud-free inventory and audiences, and are also protected from the impact of cookie deprecation on the open web.”
Additionally, 58% of LiveIntent’s respondents said they want the ability to target ads based on customer browsing history within an RMN, which the Uber/OMG partnership appears to do.
It doesn’t hurt that Uber just last week announced it’s launching video advertising across its network too as users wait for their car to arrive, opening up another window of opportunity.
Omnicom on Monday launched Omni Commerce, a solution that aims to bring all inputs in retail media into one dashboard.
