Third-Party Data

Intermediate 📣 Marketing / Advertising

Definition

Data about users purchased from data brokers who got it from... someone (unclear), which is increasingly worthless as privacy regulations destroy tracking.

Example Usage

We paid for third-party data to expand our reach, which is why our campaign performed worse than random targeting would have.

Origin

Data brokerage industry terminology, emerged in the 1990s

Fun Fact

Third-party data quality ranges from 'questionable' to 'complete fiction,' and the expensive providers aren't necessarily any better than cheap ones.

Source: Data Brokerage and Privacy Standards

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targeting

The practice of aiming your marketing arrows at specific demographics with the precision of a heat-seeking missile. It's how advertisers ensure that vegan yoga moms see ads for organic kombucha while gamers get energy drinks and RGB keyboards. The digital version involves so much data collection that your phone knows you're pregnant before you do.

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frankenmetric

A custom metric cobbled together from multiple data sources that may or may not be measuring anything meaningful. Born in a laboratory, questionable in real life.

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angel dusting

Adding just enough of a trendy ingredient or feature to claim it in marketing materials, despite it having zero meaningful impact. The corporate equivalent of sprinkling glitter on a turd.

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repositioning

The corporate art of pretending your product has always been something else when the original marketing plan fails spectacularly. It's like watching a failed actor reinvent themselves as a lifestyle guru, complete with new messaging and a suspiciously enthusiastic press release. Brands do this when they realize people actually hate what they thought they were selling.

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