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Privacy & Data

Better Intelligence Doesn’t Require Knowing Everything About Everyone. 

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Data is fundamental
to modern advertising

It helps us recognize patterns, understand behavior, identify emerging intent, build audiences and measure what happens next. But more data isn’t automatically better data. 

At MarketStorm, we believe the value of data comes from understanding which signals matter and using them responsibly. The MarketStorm Intelligence Engine™ was 
built to find meaningful patterns within behavioral data, 
not to create the largest possible collection of information about an individual. 

That distinction matters. Our objective is not to know everything about a consumer. It is to understand enough about relevant behavior to make better marketing decisions. 

We Look for Signals, 
Not Digital Dossiers

MarketStorm’s approach begins with behavioral signals. We are interested in patterns that may indicate that a consumer’s relationship to a category is changing: a need may be emerging, research may be increasing or an interest may be becoming more relevant. 

Through ProtoSignals™, our technology looks for those early behavioral patterns and uses algorithms to help distinguish broad relevance from emerging intent. This is fundamentally different from assuming that the best marketing strategy is simply to accumulate as much information about an individual as possible. 

MarketStorm doesn’t need to understand every aspect of someone’s life to recognize that a particular pattern of behavior may be relevant to an advertiser.

WE LOOK FOR Behavioral Signals

  • Emerging needs
  • Increasing research
  • Changing interests

NOT Digital Dossiers

  • Extensive personal profiles
  • Every detail of someone’s life
  • Maximum data collection

The intelligence comes from identifying 
meaningful signals within the data,  not from maximizing the amount of personal information collected.

Identity and Intent Are Different Things 

One of the principles behind the MarketStorm Intelligence Engine™ is that knowing who someone is isn’t the same as understanding what they may need. Demographic and identity-based information can provide useful context, but those characteristics are often relatively static. Intent changes. 

Someone can fit an advertiser’s demographic profile for years without having any current need for its product or service. Another consumer may suddenly become highly relevant because something in their behavior has changed. 

That is why MarketStorm puts so much emphasis on behavioral intelligence. We are interested in what behavior may be telling us about emerging intent rather than assuming that identity alone determines relevance. 

The objective isn’t to know more about the person. 
It is to understand more about the moment. 

  • Commuters cross a city street at sunset.

    IDENTITY

    • Demographics
    • Characteristics
    • Relatively Static

  • AgeLocationIncomeLifestyle

  • A hand holds a phone in front of a city street at night.

    INTENT

    • Changing Behaviors
    • Emerging Needs
    • Dynamic Relevance

  • Search ActivityContent InterestPurchase SignalsCategory Engagement

Human Verification Without Making the Human the Product

Human verification is an important part of the MarketStorm approach. Behavioral signals can indicate potential intent, but a signal alone isn’t enough for us to continue targeting an audience member. An initial ad is served, giving MarketStorm the opportunity to verify that the interaction represents a human rather than automated traffic. 

Once human-verified, that consumer can become eligible for MarketStorm’s Intent Retargeting across available channels. The purpose of human verification is not to build a more invasive profile. It is to improve the quality of the audience and reduce the likelihood that our technology is continuing to invest advertising resources against automated or irrelevant activity. 

  1. BEHAVIORAL SIGNALS Signal alone isn’t enough. Potential intent  |⁠  Initial ad is servedVerification needed

  2. HUMAN VERIFICATION Confirms real people. Validates human activity  |⁠  Filters out automated trafficEnsures higher quality audiences

  3. BETTER OUTCOMES More relevant audiences Less wasted spend  |⁠  Higher quality dataStronger campaign performance

We verify the audience because better 
data produces better decisions.

Data Should Have a Purpose

MarketStorm’s technology ecosystem can involve multiple types of data and multiple technology providers. Behavioral signals may help identify emerging intent. Programmatic platforms provide information about media delivery and exposure. Independent analytics can provide information about website activity. CRM systems can provide information about leads and customers. Location and visitation data can help illuminate physical-world outcomes. 

Each source exists for a reason. 

Our approach is to use data in support of a defined marketing objective rather than treating data collection itself as the objective. 

This principle becomes increasingly important as technology makes it possible to collect, combine and analyze enormous amounts of information. The question should not simply be, “Can we collect this?” 

THE BETTER QUESTION IS “Does this information meaningfully improve the intelligence or measurement required for the business objective?”

Our Intelligence Doesn’t Depend on a Single Data Source

Just as MarketStorm’s media strategy isn’t tied to one channel, 
our intelligence isn’t designed around one source of data.

The MarketStorm Intelligence Engine™ can draw insight from different signals depending on the business, market, objective and technology environment. That flexibility matters because the digital ecosystem continues to change. Browsers change. Platforms change. Identifiers change. Privacy expectations change. Regulations change. Data that is readily available today may be restricted, replaced or become less useful tomorrow. 

A technology architecture built around a single identifier or data source becomes vulnerable when that environment changes. MarketStorm’s approach is designed around the underlying problem instead: understanding meaningful consumer behavior. 

The signals available to solve that problem may evolve. The intelligence should be able to evolve with them. 

Behavioral Signals Emerging intent, search activity, content engagement

Media Data Delivery & exposure, channel performance, cross-channel insights

Analytics Website activity, consumer interactions, audience trends

Business Signals Leads & consumers, conversion data, physical-world outcomes

The MarketStorm Intelligence Engine™ Understanding meaningful 
consumer behavior

A woman works at a desk in a dark office, with streams of light around her.

Independent Systems Create Important Boundaries

MarketStorm works with specialized technology providers across advertising, analytics, CRM, location intelligence and other areas. Those systems do not all need to become one enormous database to be useful. In many cases, maintaining appropriate boundaries between systems is a strength. 

A DSP can perform the role it was designed to perform. An independent analytics platform can provide a separate view of website activity. A CRM can remain the system of record for leads and customers. MarketStorm can use relevant outputs from those systems to inform strategy without pretending that every piece of information needs to live in one place. 

This is consistent with the broader MarketStorm technology philosophy: use the right technology for the right problem and connect the intelligence where it creates value.

Privacy Is Part of 
Good Data Architecture

Privacy is sometimes treated as something added to advertising technology after the system has been built. We believe it should be considered as part of the architecture. 

That means being deliberate about the information being used, the purpose for which it is being used, how systems interact and where appropriate boundaries should exist. It also means recognizing that different data sources, technology partners, jurisdictions and business use cases may carry different requirements. 

MarketStorm’s responsibility is to build and operate its technology and data practices with those considerations in mind while continuing to adapt as the regulatory and technology environment evolves. Good privacy practices and good data architecture are not opposing goals. 

Both require understanding what data is necessary, why it is necessary and what should happen to it next. 

  • A laptop shows a dashboard of charts beside paper coffee cups.

    DATA What information is 
    necessary?

  • A man in glasses works on a laptop at a desk by a window.

    PURPOSE Why is it being used?

  • Two people work at computers in a bright office.

    BOUNDARIES How should systems
    interact?

  • A hand writes with a pen beside a laptop.

    RESPONSIBILITY What should happen to the data next?

Measurement Should Respect the Same Principles

The same philosophy applies to measurement. MarketStorm wants to understand as much of the consumer journey as the available data responsibly allows, but that does not mean pretending that every interaction can or should be connected to an individual. 

Modern customer journeys cross browsers, devices, applications, advertising platforms and physical environments. Some connections can be measured with confidence. Others can be understood only in aggregate or through patterns. Some cannot be observed at all. 

Our measurement philosophy recognizes those differences. 

The objective is not surveillance-level certainty. The objective is enough reliable information to make better decisions. 

That is also why we distinguish between what the data shows directly, what it strongly indicates and what cannot be known from the available signals. 

Privacy and Intelligence
Can Evolve Together

The advertising ecosystem will continue to change. Consumers will develop new expectations. Regulators will establish new requirements. Browsers and operating systems will change what information is available. Advertising platforms will introduce new approaches to identity, targeting and measurement. 

MarketStorm’s technology needs to be able to operate within that changing environment. 
Because the MarketStorm Intelligence Engine™ is built around understanding patterns of behavior rather than depending entirely on a single identifier, platform or audience category, our approach can evolve as the data environment evolves. 

  1. 01 Consumer Expectations Consumers will continue to develop new expectations around privacy and data.

  2. 02 Regulatory Requirements Regulators will establish new requirements as the advertising ecosystem evolves.

  3. 03 Browsers & Operating Systems Changes in technology will affect what information is available.

  4. 04 Advertising Platforms Platforms will introduce new approaches to identity, targeting and measurement.

That adaptability is important.  The future of advertising will not be about finding ways around consumer privacy expectations.  It will be about building better intelligence within them. 

Privacy & Data, the MarketStorm Way

MarketStorm uses data because data helps us understand behavior. We use AI because the volume and complexity of those signals require technology capable of recognizing patterns at scale. We use custom algorithms because the patterns that matter are different for different businesses and markets. 

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But none of those things require the assumption that more personal data is always better. Our objective is much more focused: identify the signals that matter, understand what they may tell us about emerging intent, verify that we are reaching humans, use that intelligence to influence relevant audiences and learn from what happens next. 

That philosophy connects Privacy & Data to everything else in the MarketStorm technology architecture. 

ProtoSignals™ helps us identify meaningful behavioral change. Audience Intelligence helps us understand who matters now. Human verification improves audience quality. Intent Retargeting allows us to continue the relationship. JourneyIQ™ helps us understand the journey. Measurement helps us learn what happened next. 

Data makes all of that possible. Discipline determines whether the 
data is useful. 

We don’t need to know everything about everyone. We need to recognize the signals that matter.

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Good to Know

Programmatic can be complicated. It doesn’t have to be. Here are a few things worth knowing.  

  • Does MarketStorm need to know everything about a consumer to identify intent?

    No. Our objective is not to build a digital dossier on every person. We look for behavioral signals and patterns that can help us understand whether a particular advertising opportunity may be relevant.

    The objective isn’t to know more about the person. It is to understand more about the moment.

  • What is the difference between identity and intent?

  • Why does MarketStorm use human verification?

  • How does privacy affect MarketStorm’s approach to measurement?