DataXu and Team Detroit Partner to Redefine Digital Marketing for Ford Motor Company

BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - Jul 10, 2012) - In collaboration with Team Detroit, DataXu (http://www.dataxu.com), provider of the industry's leading digital marketing management (DMM) platform, today announced that the companies enabled Ford Motor Company to achieve double-digit campaign improvements using an innovative, co-developed strategic approach -- Programmatic Premium. Marking the first use of the approach in the digital marketing industry, DataXu's data-driven, impression-level decisioning was applied to Ford's premium direct advertising buys on endemic automotive sites, matching 15 different car and truck model campaigns to the most receptive buyers.

Ford's traditional approach to premium guaranteed buys included displaying a series of ads with multiple messaging concepts, in random rotation, based on assumptions and historical performance. The new approach yielded a 20% increase in consumer action rates across all optimized campaigns, compared to baseline campaigns using their traditional approach.

"Ford is committed to providing customers with the best brand experience possible," said Erica Bigley, Digital Marketing Manager at Ford Motor Company. "But, it is equally important that we achieve that in a highly-efficient manner. Given the global nature and scale of our efforts, we make it a priority to continually push for process improvements. Programmatic premium taps into the analytics power of DataXu's DX3 platform and enables us to leverage the technology for efficiencies across our broader media plan. Ultimately, the joint team delivered a market-driven solution specifically tailored to our needs and objectives."

Digital marketing management platforms have proven their value in enabling advertisers to capitalize on programmatic buying for exchange-traded media. However, global advertisers tend to spend the majority of their digital budgets -- approximately 85%, based on industry statistics -- on direct-sourced buys on premium and endemic sites, because of the close alignment with target audience profiles and the guaranteed high-quality context in which ads appear. According to eMarketer, U.S. online advertising spending reached $32.03 billion in 2011. With Programmatic Premium, 85% of that spend (roughly $27 billion) can now be optimized through Programmatic Premium.

"Programmatic Premium is a powerful new use of the DX3 digital marketing platform," said John Gray, Senior Vice President, Director of Interactive Media at Team Detroit. "As a strategic partner, we understood the power of the DX3 platform, so we developed a pioneering approach beyond just buying inventory. By applying DataXu's proven technology in a new way, we produced double-digit improvements in consumer engagement and cost-efficiency."

"Programmatic Premium is the next wave in marketing," said Mike Baker, CEO and co-founder of DataXu. "It will enable marketers to reduce waste and improve returns on their direct media investments, and publishers to innovate with technology that enhances the value of their premium inventories while maintaining their direct relationships with advertisers."

Programmatic Premium is currently available for select DataXu customers, and will be generally available in September 2012. For more information about Programmatic Premium, watch the on-demand webinar featuring Forrester Research Senior Analyst Michael Greene and Team Detroit's SVP of Interactive Media John Gray, "Programmatic Premium Drives Higher Returns on Premium Media Investments", download the Ford case study or contact sales@dataxu.com.

About DataXu
At DataXu, we are transforming the way global brands market to consumers in the digital age. An enterprise data and analytics company, DataXu offers DX3, the first omni-channel marketing management platform. DX3 helps you easily manage the deluge of big data, turning insights about consumer behavior into immediate decisions that impact Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI). We help brands to more effectively and efficiently reach and engage consumers, resulting in improved brand engagement, customer acquisition, and sales.

The private company is backed by Atlas Venture, Flybridge Capital Partners and Menlo Ventures. For more information, visit http://www.dataxu.com or follow us at Twitter.com/dataxu.