Swedish streaming service C More realised that to adopt a fully data-driven approach, they needed to find new ways to organise their internal teams and external partners. C More started this journey in the spring of 2018 with the goal of capitalising on their new model during the FIFA World Cup in Russia.
C More is Sweden’s fastest-growing streaming service, featuring a range of series, movies, sport and original drama with a distinctly local flavour. Owned by Bonnier AB, and a part of Bonnier Broadcasting, C More aims to provide Sweden’s best TV experience, available across multiple devices and digital TV operators, and featuring the kind of premium content that people enjoy watching and wish to access.
Streaming is a competitive business, with customers benefiting from huge choice and relatively few barriers to switching. According to Emma Frisk, C More’s Head of Marketing and Anton Vanhatalo van Rijn, C More’s Digital Marketing Specialist, this commercial pressure is at the heart of the brand’s commitment to data-driven decision-making. “We believe that a data-driven approach in our marketing is key,” says Anton, “enabling us to be personalised and relevant in our communications to both new and existing customers. It helps us achieve results both in short-term return-on-ad-spend (ROAS), and also longer-term by building a stronger brand with more loyal customers."
Building a data-driven business
To fully embrace a data-driven approach, C More first needed to optimise their organisational structure. “Our teams were mostly working in silos,” recalls Anton, who is responsible for campaign strategy at C More, “so we needed to break those down so we could share in a more structured process with common vision and goals.” In practice, this involved creating a ‘virtual team’, where marketing, sales, IT, agency partners and Google all came together under a single umbrella, sharing the same data and resources. Christoffer Riddersholm, Head of Programmatic at Bizkit Havas, explains how agency and client benefitted from working together in this way: “Adopting this strategy allowed us to make full use of all available data, both from C More and our own sources. Then, close collaboration with stakeholders ensured the necessary insights were integrated into the campaign strategy.”
The virtual team model simplified the task of applying data from various sources across the customer journey. Initially, C More's own data was combined with Google's audience signals to identify three customer segments for targeting. Smart Bidding then allowed C More to benefit from powerful machine learning to optimise acquisition against these audience targets. Finally, website data, CRM data, Google Analytics 360 and additional signals from Bizkit Havas fed into the campaign’s retargeting element.
In addition to a closely-aligned structure, the group also streamlined their technology stack with Google Marketing Platform. By consolidating media buying and using the suite’s full range of targeting, capping, tracking, auto-bidding and audience segmentation capabilities, the team were able to optimise spend and boost ROAS across a campaign that encompassed YouTube bumper ads, display, alongside Search activity running throughout to complete a full funnel approach.
We believe that a data-driven approach in our marketing is key, enabling us to be personalised and relevant in our communications to both new and existing customers. We achieved results in the short-term with return-on-ad-spend, and also longer-term by building a stronger brand with more loyal customers.
– Anton Vanhatalo van Rijn, Digital Marketing Specialist, C More
The Results
The payoff from C More’s marketing restructure has been considerable. Their FIFA World Cup campaign, which also included TV and outdoor components, ultimately achieved 70% more sign-ups than the original target. ROAS was 28% higher than target, while cost-per-acquisition was 23% below initial projections. Impact on the brand’s internal management and processes has been no less profound, with the virtual team model now cemented as C More’s preferred model for both limited and always-on campaigns.
“Bringing this virtual team together has increased our understanding of data-driven marketing, and helped us break down the internal silos that were preventing us from cutting through the noise in our customer communications,” says Anton summing up the value of the process. And with Bizkit Havas’ full service model integrated across C More, Christoffer Riddesholm says his team are able to provide the kind of agile optimisation that is often the difference between success and failure online. “An insight gained over lunch might require action just a few hours later,” he says, “which is possible since we have all our skills and resources under one roof.”
As for next steps, C More now want to bring this measured approach to the rest of their advertising. “The challenge for us is to really capitalise on our internal data,” says Emma Frisk, “and then apply a data-driven approach to every aspect of our marketing, both digital and off-line.”
