Achieving true intimacy at scale has long been the advertiser’s holy grail — but a complex one to achieve.
The answer, as ever, could be AI, which allows advertisers to analyze audiences down to a single person and orchestrate a journey across a fragmented landscape of social media, streaming platforms, and e-commerce sites.
But this approach hinges on the strategic collapse of data silos to follow the modern consumer, Ray Lansigan, EVP, corporate strategy, digital experience, Publicis Groupe, said in this video interview with Beet.TV.
AI powers the one-to-one connection
“What AI allows us to do is get much more nimble in terms of how we analyze those audiences down to a level of one,” Lansigan said. “If we have a brand that wants to connect one-to-one with a consumer, that’s the AI layer that allows us to do that sequentially, across channels.”
This pursuit of personalization is balanced with a stringent focus on data protection. “The privacy component is incredibly important. It’s something that we take very seriously at Publicis Groupe,” he said. “As we think about personalization, it’s very much about finding those signals without violating any of the privacy laws or even venturing anywhere near that territory.”
Publicis Groupe is backing this strategy with significant capital. The company announced in January 2024 an investment of €300 million over three years into CoreAI, an internal platform designed to embed AI capabilities across its operations, from insights to creative production.
Follow the consumer, collapse the silos
To determine which data partnerships are most valuable, Lansigan’s advice is straightforward. “The best way to answer that question is to follow the consumer,” he said. “Find out the places where they spend time and where they dwell. And so we know that consumers are spending a lot of time in social, that they’re spending a lot of time in streaming, and they’re spending a lot of time in commerce.”
When data owners in these areas collaborate, it creates a “triple win” for the brand, the consumer, and the data owner itself, Lansigan noted. “Ultimately, we’re in the business of delivering value to our consumer, showing up in the places where they are at the moments that they need with the information that they want,” he added.
This strategy builds on the company’s 2019 acquisition of data marketing firm Epsilon, which placed identity at the center of its operations. Publicis Groupe has continued to expand these capabilities, including through its 2025 acquisition of data solutions provider Lotame, which aims to enhance Epsilon’s ability to reach consumers with personalized messaging.
The CDP is the secret unlock
Data clean rooms and customer data platforms (CDPs) are becoming critical assets for more than just analytics teams. Lansigan sees them evolving into strategic tools for the entire marketing organization. “If you don’t have the data, you’re missing half the story,” he said.
He envisions creative and strategy teams reaching into the CDP “to pull out those insights at scale about an audience, about a persona, about a person.” This informs the entire creative supply chain, which is vital when it can take numerous interactions to win over a customer. “It takes something like 10 touches for a brand to convert a consumer. And so the CDP is the secret unlock to be able to know how the consumer has engaged with the brand,” Lansigan said.
The focus on these technologies reflects a booming market. The global market for AI-driven identity and access management is projected to reach $15.3 billion by 2026, according to a report from Forrester Research, as brands increasingly seek solutions that balance personalization with privacy compliance.