Welcome And Q2 Setup

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey everyone, I'm your host, Ava Hines, and today we're getting radically with Michael Lieberman, our CTO Hero Cognition. In this episode, we're recapping Q2 and building on everything we covered last quarter. We're talking about new platform features like automatic ad tag for Amazon, the insights is uncovered across the full customer journey from streaming ad to search to final purchase, and how those patterns are reshaping the way our partners think about media execution. We're also getting into DB360 measurement and attribution, the added visibility we're giving OEM programs, and how the team is working to unify our tools to speed up decision making across the board. If you want a behind-the-scenes look at how Cognition's platform evolved this quarter and a hint of what's coming in Q3 and Q4, this is the episode for you. Enjoy. Hi, Michael. Welcome. We hit in this for Q1. Now we're going to do it for Q2 of just a little recap. So I'll introduce yourself again.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Hey guys, Michael Everman. I'm the CTO at Cognition. Happy

Building On Q1 Foundations

SPEAKER_01 1:12

to be back with you.

SPEAKER_00 1:13

So in Q1, we talked a lot about HAD and DD360 and kind of playing down the groundwork of the platform that's here. What was the most exciting thing that you guys did in Q2?

SPEAKER_02 1:24

I think Q2 is largely building on the foundation of what we've done in Q1, a lot of setup around infrastructure and piping and ensuring that our clients and partners are able to consume and get the data that we're collecting on their behalf. There are a few different features that came out in the platform.

Automatic Amazon Tag Injection

SPEAKER_02 1:46

I think one of the interesting things that we released around just making it easier for our partners to execute is the ability to automatically inject the Amazon ad tags and other types of tags into site. So it's just one less operational step and getting campaigns up and running and effectively getting signal back to the DSP so that we can target better and obviously use the results of those campaigns to influence the next set of optimizations in the platform as far as media execution and targeting, et cetera. So I think that was probably one of the interesting things that everybody's pretty excited about because again, it helps our team when we're we're working as a managed provider, and it also helps any of our partners that are executing independently to go in and basically just run the media.

Customer Journey Insights That Change Plans

SPEAKER_00 2:39

And then in Q1, you talked about kind of doing all this JL with how with a search, not just streaming. Did you guys uncover any insights?

SPEAKER_02 2:49

I mean, we uncover insights all the time. And I think what's interesting is that they're unique to each advertiser. You know, different regions, things behave differently, different types of retailers or dealers, the type of people that are visiting their sites and what they're looking for. So, you know, media mix is different across the board. I mean, there's there's obviously certain aspects that are are the same everywhere in certain patterns. But I think the exciting part is when you see what's what you can tailor for a specific dealer or advertiser retailer, and use that to optimize again the campaign. And in some cases, it's not even just optimizing the campaign. You see, you're driving great traffic there, but some of the on-site activity indicates, hey, you know, maybe there's a there's a site change that we want to do. So it's the user experience as well. And with that visibility from impression all the way through to a conversion, buying a vehicle, with that full customer journey, you start getting visibility into areas where you can optimize. And in some cases, you know, the campaigns are are very effective, and the obstacle is is a site obstacle. In other cases, it's not, you know, and that's why you're going to optimize some of your media spend. So the full customer journey is a big part of understanding where you want to put your effort and what you want to fix.

SPEAKER_00 4:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:08

Optimize or improve or whichever term you want to use.

SPEAKER_00 4:11

And do you have an example you want to share that you guys discovered?

SPEAKER_02 4:16

One interesting thing that we've uncovered in a couple cases is maybe more so in some of the OEM programs that we've run where I'm sitting and I, you know, I see an ad on streaming TV, I search for it on my phone, I end up at the OEM of the dealer that I'm trying to get to, but eventually making it to that retailer or dealer that's still achieving that goal. But we always saw kind of a different path to getting there that I think in the past, a lot of the retailers or dealers at that level would have missed that. They wouldn't have been able to see that. So that's one of the interesting patterns that we found.

SPEAKER_00 4:53

And measurement is a big theme. I know we're going into, but have you taught anything with the DV360 stuff as well with that?

DV360 Measurement And Attribution Added

SPEAKER_02 5:01

Yeah, we released some pieces around DV360, both on the just on the measurement side, pulling data into our platform and being able to report on it. Also on attribution. So how are our campaigns in DV360 and in the Google world performing? So I think that's an important piece to add to our overall mix is one of the platforms we support, specifically YouTube. And I think it just gives more options and ways to to hit fundamentally inventory that you know is outside maybe the Amazon world. You want to hit YouTube, you go through that path. So with even those two platforms, we're covering really where most of the audience of our partners and clients are consuming.

SPEAKER_00 5:49

Yeah,

Faster OEM Reporting And Decisions

SPEAKER_00 5:50

and you brought up OEM as well. And any of the work in Q2 created more visibility for the OEM programs?

SPEAKER_02 5:56

I mean, I think the OEM programs and some of the reporting that we've rolled out specifically for those entities is really powerful and gives them a level of visibility that, you know, maybe they would have been able to pull together from a number of different sources. And, you know, often at a large organization, you you gotta get in a cue for, hey, I need some information back. I think what's what's exciting about the pieces on the measurement and reporting for OEM is that it's become easier to get what you need fast. And to be frank, you gotta make those decisions faster, especially on you know some of the campaigns you're running and on-site activity, than you would get waiting in that queue for an analysis or analytics or you know, data team to give you that back. I think that's an exciting and a really valuable part, not just the type of information we're able to provide them through Hat and some of our reporting tools, but the speed at which they can get to it and then act on that or execute.

SPEAKER_00 6:57

Right. So the speed's gotten faster.

SPEAKER_02 6:59

The speed is faster than definitely what they're used to, but even within what we were able to share with them and offer them three months ago, it's it's it's faster now as well.

SPEAKER_00 7:09

Right.

Unifying Tools And Teasing Q3

SPEAKER_00 7:10

I feel like game and just unifying everything and putting everything into one. And has that just improved over this past this year as well?

SPEAKER_02 7:18

Yeah, I mean, we we we've got entities or or our organization's been built with you know a number of different acquisitions and pieces of technology brought together. This last couple of months or quarter efforts, a big part of it is to unify that so that everything works better and and we can deliver quicker and more effectively.

SPEAKER_00 7:39

And it's been a few updates in the platform, just with custom audience dashboards and first party data. What are these updates? What are you guys doing for the future? How have these been better for the platform for the development team?

SPEAKER_02 7:53

I mean, I think the key thing with all of these pieces is they're about helping the operation of executing media be more effective, reporting on the results more effective, the specific features, each and all every one of them. They solve a tiny piece, but in aggregate, they're about how do I execute everything more effectively. The first example that I gave was the Amazon Ad tag injector. That, and then the reporting and better visibility into whether audiences are created and the DSP based on, you know, the first party data that's all these pieces are work together to help achieve the goal or or that desired outcome that our clients are there to provide to, you know, to the retailers and dealers that they work with. So it's about making the the process more effective.

SPEAKER_00 8:43

And then what are you guys working on for Q3 and for the rest of the year that did add on to this?

SPEAKER_02 8:49

A lot of building on the themes that I've discussed today and a lot of really interesting new approaches to how to work with with the media that that you're executing on. I think I'm gonna leave it at that as opposed to saying what what it is, because I think it'd be more exciting to see things as we roll them out, as opposed to telling you what we're working on. It's more fun to make a cool announcement about something coming up. But I guess we can leave it with the there's exciting stuff that'll be out in the next little bit.

SPEAKER_00 9:22

Yeah, no, it definitely is very exciting. And do you have anything else you want to add for a recap of Q1, Q2?

SPEAKER_02 9:30

I think that you know, the team's really been heads down, working hard on putting stuff together that, as I mentioned, will will help us launch some new and exciting things in the near, the near future.

SPEAKER_00 9:44

We're all excited to definitely hear about that for next quarter and so on. But thank you, Michael. And I think that's all for the Q2 recap.

SPEAKER_02 9:53

Awesome. Thanks.

SPEAKER_00 9:54

Bye.