Obele Brown-West is helping lead the data transformation within brands in the world of advertising. Last year, Brown-West took on the role of president at Tracer, a startup data intelligence platform with an impressive roster of backers, including sports investors Alex Rodriguez and Kevin Durant. Tracer was incubated within VaynerMedia, and last year it raised more than $18 million, including money from S4S Ventures.
Brown-West’s remit at Tracer is to help brands get control of their data, she told Ad Age. Data is the lubricant that will keep marketing engines humming, especially first-party data collected directly by the brands, as the digital ad industry moves away from highly invasive third-party data sources. Data also helps chief marketing officers understand which ad vendors are delivering on campaigns and promises, Brown-West said. “Especially in the marketing world, people are just looking to really understand what the value of their dollar is and how they can actually get more actual insights in their business,” she added.
Tracer has brand and ad agency clients, including Sanofi, Headspace, Papa Johns, Media.Monks and VaynerMedia. The company provides software that consolidates data sources from all parts of a business. Brands that control their own data are not beholden to outside partners, and they can more freely make moves such as agency reviews, Brown-West said.
Tracer also watches out for bad actors in the ad industry that could waste a brand’s money. “We have caught some partners not necessarily being aboveboard, and because of Tracer, brands were able to actually recoup,” Brown-West said.