Another competitor, Acxiom, has pumped investment dollars into
digital ad-targeting technology, and Experian is also offering agency
services.
Clients may not be so quick to switch to data providers for
agency services, warned Fatemeh Khatibloo, a senior analyst at
Forrester Research who tracks the data-services industry. The firms
might have trouble attracting creative talent and clients will be
disappointed if they hand over strategic work to data-services
firms if their account teams "don't have access to the right
resources to get that done," she said.
"I don't feel threatened" by data firms building out agency
services, said Todd Cullen, global chief data officer at Ogilvy & Mather. "I don't see their
ability or intent to use the data for anything besides
direct-marketing campaigns," he continued.
But Barb Kittridge, CMO of data and digital marketing services
firm Cardinal Path, thinks agencies themselves
have created an opening for data companies. It's "in part a
response to clients' frustration by what their agency partners have
been able to deliver," said Ms. Kittridge, whose company sometimes
partners with Acxiom. Because data firms traditionally have access
to their clients' CRM and other proprietary data through their
management services, she suggested they could win business away
from agencies that sometimes have trouble getting their hands on
that information.