Beyond demographics: Wavemaker's audience solutions offering

In early 2023, international media house Wavemaker announced the launch of its data solutions division, which comprises five pillars — including audience solutions.

In a media-saturated world, personalisation matters — consumers expect to receive content that's targeted to their needs. Brands understand this and have made creating tailored content a priority. The best way to do this is through Wavemaker’s new audience solutions offering.

“We need to move beyond demographics,” says Nadine Vermeulen, Wavemaker’s head of audience solutions.

“We need to delve into consumers’ mindsets, identify their pain and passion points, and understand how they consume and interact with media touch points. Only with this insight can we ensure we speak to consumers throughout their purchase journey, while minimising the risk of alienation.”

Using proprietary research and first-, second- and third-party data connections, the offering segments audiences to provide clients with detailed and actionable insight into their consumers.

In 2022, Wavemaker worked with long-standing client Colgate-Palmolive to deliver a step change in personalisation. “As part of our digital transformation at Colgate-Palmolive, we wanted to engage better with the people of SA,” says Carrick Massey, marketing director at Colgate-Palmolive SA.

“Leveraging data and analytics, the Wavemaker team developed rich and granular audiences with whom we could communicate. The team were able to develop targeted communication to each audience. We are now able to target growth audiences for our brands, which has led to improved media efficiency and better financial and market share performance.”

Not every need can be addressed using cookie-cutter solutions. In these instances, the Wavemaker team create, deploy and implement bespoke alternatives to ensure that decisions are made using reliable and actionable data.

Vermeulen, with the support of data and analytics specialist Kholofelo Makgopa, is establishing Wavemaker audience solutions as the bridge to where clients need to be. “Our goal is to ensure our clients always stay ahead of the curve,” she says.

This article was sponsored by Wavemaker.