With the end of third-party cookies, many brands are experiencing a loss of information about their audiences, which has led to growing concerns about collecting quality data and developing effective marketing strategies. But as is often the case, when there are gaps, a new solution provides a solution, as in the case of Utiq.
Utiq is an advertising solution for collecting and managing user data that was launched by some European operators in early 2023. In June 2023, this company arrived in Spain. We had the opportunity for an interview Mónica Rodríguez, General Director of Utiq in Spain to learn in depth what this solution consists of and how it is evolving.
E-Commerce News (EcN): What is Utiq? Why are European telecommunications companies behind this platform?
Monica Rodriguez (MR): Utiq is a European advertising technology company owned by four of Europe’s largest telecommunications operators: Deutsche Telekom AG, Orange SA, Telefónica SA and Vodafone Group Plc. to promote responsible digital marketing. This is a strategic commitment with a “privacy first” approach and the mission to build an ecosystem based on trust and transparency, offering users simple and straightforward control over their data and a model that focuses on data protection Priority for the European digital advertising sector.
EcN: How was your start in Spain?
MISTER: In June 2023, Utiq officially launched its service in Spain as well as Germany and France. Since arriving in Spain, we have formed strategic alliances with seven major communication groups such as Vocento, Prensa Ibérica, ElNacional.cat, Economía Digital, Unidad Editorial, Grupo Alayans and Eldiario.es. According to the results obtained, Utiq’s approval rating was over 70%.
On the other hand, we have also launched several success stories both in Spain and Germany and the first results are very encouraging for the industry, as we observe important improvements in managing campaign frequency and increasing reach in today’s environments. Not accessible via cookies such as Safari and Firefox. We believe this will be a game-changer in improving human-centered campaign measurement and optimizing brands’ advertising budgets. We will soon publish the specific data and insights on the maturity of the digital ecosystem to address the challenges without cookies.
EcN: What aspects differentiate Utiq from other digital identity management solutions on the market?
MISTER: Given the impending regulatory change in the use of cookies, as well as increasing technical limitations in various browsers, Utiq is a response to this. The Utiq service is initially based on the user’s free and informed consent. This consent will be integrated via a Utiq pop-up message on the websites of brands or publishers wishing to use the service and may be integrated into every CMP on the market in the coming weeks. In this way, they achieve greater transparency, visibility and control over their consent via a central portal. Approval HubHere, users have the opportunity to revoke their consent with a single click. Therefore, consent is completely voluntary and affirmative (Opt in), concrete and informed.
In addition, it is the only market solution with high scalability, since the potential coverage of the telecommunications companies that compose it in Spain is more than 70%, according to Statista data.
EcN: What type of analytics or metrics does Utiq provide to companies to help them understand their users’ behavior and needs?
MISTER: We believe that the foundations of brands’ online knowledge of consumers are today being shaken. Digital identity is controlled by the different browsers and operating systems. Therefore, the first value we can provide an organization is to provide measurement that focuses on people rather than devices. We have already been able to prove that there are more than 50% duplicates in web analysis even thanks to duplicate and triplicate cookies. This implies that it is very difficult for a company to generate personalization that adds value to its consumers in their online experiences.
EcN: What measures are taken to protect user privacy?
MISTER: Once the user gives consent and is not required to provide any further data, Utiq makes an API call to the user’s network operator to request a network token (pseudonym token) corresponding to this connection. Utiq does not store any personally identifiable information or other network signal data and no network signal information is shared with partners or participating websites. The network signal is used to create another variant of this primary token, called Consent pass. The happen is a value associated with the network signal and represented by a unique code: a random sequence of numbers and letters complemented by two signals: martechpass And adtechpass which are used for use cases of own channels or activation in digital advertising.
He martechpass is a token that remains active for 90 days on the website where consent was given. This pass acts as a “first-party ID” and can be used in use cases such as website personalization, analytics and machine learning model generation, and audience creation. On the other hand, that is adtechpass This is another variant of the token that enables the activation of brand audiences in programmatic advertising as well as the control of real cross-domain, cross-browser and cross-app web frequency. Additionally, Utiq guarantees that the advertising inventory to which its tokens are linked is 100% generated by humans and not bots.
Through this system of using different token variants, Utiq enables the entire marketing and advertising ecosystem to be securely connected, as only integrated brands and websites can use the Utiq system.
EcN: How will you collaborate with brands? Could it be customized to each brand’s specific needs and what kind of customization do they offer in their solutions?
MISTER: Personalization is no longer optional, and we believe that both consumers and the brands themselves are aware of this, but we must create a meeting point between the needs of both, leading us to the right balance between privacy and personalization.
At Utiq, we offer brands the opportunity to increase their knowledge of the interests and needs of the customers or “prospects” they engage with on their websites and apps and reach them in the advertising environment at scale. This implies a variety of use cases depending on the needs of each brand, such as: Such as personalizing the content or advertising for one’s website or app, negatively targeting existing customers in campaigns that do not apply to them, and improvements in the optimal management of the number of advertising impacts of advertising campaigns.
A slightly more specific but increasingly common use case is the application in media commerce environments, where brands need to improve their ability to get to know their users on the one hand, but even more so to be able to communicate with them outside of their own e-commerce environments. In this context, we see that we can offer a transparent, open and scalable solution.
EcN: In the future, how will you solve the appearance of a specific Utiq banner that the user has to accept?
MISTER: We believe that the basis of trust among digital users is undoubtedly transparency. For this reason, at Utiq we pay very strict attention to the visibility that the user must have regarding their consent and that is why our service was launched with a special consent banner. On the other hand, we are also familiar with the so-called “Consent fatigue” that we all suffer on the Internet and for this reason we are already integrated into the standard consent banner of websites, albeit in a much more visible and explicit way. Any company that wants to work with Utiq can now choose between our integrated or separate consent experience.
EcN: How do you see the marketing and advertising industry in Spain and what challenges do you face in the industry?
MISTER: I believe this year will be a key turning point in the transition to more ethical marketing focused on consumer privacy. Therefore, it is expected that both brands and publishers will place a significant increase in the importance of detailed knowledge about their users and consumers and, above all, the way in which this knowledge is collected and used. To develop effective and responsible campaigns in this new era, companies must view data protection as a strategic asset. Those who prioritize data protection will gain a competitive advantage. To implement this new way of communicating with their consumers, companies must analyze and select the right technological travel companions. Transparent, open and reliable solutions with clear data protection policies.
EcN: What expansion plans do you have for 2024?
MISTER: For this year the goal is to reach Italy and the UK and then expand to the rest of Europe. In addition, we want to further expand the network of publishers and communication groups that have joined the Utiq initiative and announce the first alliances with brands, agencies and marketing consultancies.