Havas Media Network
Bringing Analytics Upstream

Parvati Vaish, senior vice president, analytics, at Havas Media Network doesn’t believe in taking a gamble when it comes to accessing the right data to best support her clients tactically and ensure partners deliver on plan. “Having analytics upstream can help evaluate the right KPIs and make the right optimizations that drive ROI and script impact,” she said. In a recent conversation, she shared how integrating analytics upfront in your media planning provides a competitive advantage and helps you maximize your media investment.

Set a measurement framework and define KPIs

Bringing the brand, media agency, and measurement analytics partner together at the start of planning can help everyone better understand the campaign strategy and goals and agree on the most appropriate KPIs. “We can be strategic partners and ensure we go to market with an integrated and outcome-driven process,” says Vaish. A strong measurement framework – including a test-and-learn mindset – helps your media agency focus on reaching the right audience and converting them. “If you have a way to measure outcomes and know what you are looking for, you can make ongoing optimizations to ensure your plan meets its marketing goals,” says Vaish.

Get better insight from data

“Data on its own is not valuable,” shares Vaish. “It’s the interpretation of the data and the action you take from it that makes the greatest impact.” Setting objectives up front with teams can help get to deeper insights for more effective campaign optimizations. Havas has strong internal alignment across the analytics, investment planning, and strategy teams and extended it to brand counterparts. “This gets everyone in agreement on what data we are focusing on, how we are approaching it, and ultimately what we’re doing with it,” she says. “This alignment also creates trust when it comes to interpreting the data.”

“Data on its own is not valuable. It’s the interpretation of the data and the action you take from it that makes the greatest impact.” Parvati Vaish, Senior Vice President, Analytics, Havas Media Network

Vaish says this collaboration from the get-go allows her team to approach data with a new lens and look beyond a high-level reporting view to see more of the “so what” and the “why.” For example, looking at health outcomes and audience quality in addition to traditional media metrics such as click-through rates. “You can make smart changes by tying data points together in the context of the consumer experience to understand what is working for them and what isn’t,” she says.

Have confidence to take action on data

Vaish also stresses the importance of using data to establish and understand how to deliver a truly meaningful experience, which adds assurance when optimizing campaigns. In addition to outlining primary and secondary KPIs, she recommends identifying benchmarks and benchmark thresholds. These thresholds set a clearly defined approach for how the team makes both micro and macro optimizations. For example, the team might decide that +/- 5% within the benchmark means they continue to monitor, whereas if it’s +/-10-15%, they will make changes. “If we are way below the benchmark, we can then make optimizations and use those insights to optimize across other indications and brands in different therapeutic areas,” says Vaish.

Another way to confidently take action on data insights is to leverage historical campaign performance when planning upcoming go-to-market initiatives. Vaish and team tap into past Veeva Crossix campaign insights to ensure they reach the right audience from day one without wasting time and resources.

Get access to timely input and optimizations

Getting timely input throughout a campaign helps you make the best optimizations to achieve your conversion goals and ROI. “Having Crossix as a data partner has helped us make the right changes to drive ROI and new patient starts,” says Vaish. Most of Havas’ clients utilize marketing mix models, but these are only delivered twice a year with a six to eight-month lag. “If we were only optimizing based on those ROI results, we would be taking a huge gamble on the changes we make before understanding the results.”

Crossix Net Impact reports show Havas which partners are most effective at driving incremental conversions from a net conversion perspective and help them understand audience quality and reach frequency. They can also look at which healthcare professionals (HCPs) see media and are detailed by the field versus those who are detailed only.

Putting data into action and improving ROI

Havas has improved campaign performance and delivery for their clients by integrating data and analytics from the start. Havas implemented 200+ optimizations for one brand over a year-long direct-to-consumer (DTC) campaign. These included eliminating specific audience segments, moving dollars from one tactic to another, upweighting certain partners, and moving from linear TV to streaming – all informed by Crossix data. “We saw a 1:2:1 lift in ROI from those optimizations because they were all based on conversions, which brought us up to a 3:8:1 ROI for the year at a highly competitive time,” says Vaish.

While 200+ micro-optimizations are not the norm for every campaign, Vaish says that tracking changes in performance both pre- and post-optimization and looking at the delta you can achieve allows her team to highlight macro takeaways and learnings quickly. These themes can often be applied more broadly across other indications and areas to help the team go to market faster and optimize campaigns rapidly.

“Having analytics upstream can help evaluate the right KPIs and make the right optimizations that drive ROI and script impact.” Parvati Vaish, Senior Vice President, Analytics, Havas Media Network

Integrating analytics from the start allows you to be more agile, make dynamic campaign changes, and get the best return. While data, tools, and technology all play an essential part in success, Vaish also reminds people that there’s one more necessary ingredient for success. “Be creative with how you’re thinking about applying your data,” she says. “There’s a lot there; if you keep an open mind, you can get to better insights much faster.”

Learn more about what to look for and the right questions to ask when choosing a marketing analytics partner.