Carsales claims it's hashed walled garden precision with open web extensibility to triple conversion

By Andrew Birmingham | 27 Aug 2024 | Carsales claims it's hashed walled garden precision with open web extensibility to triple conversion | Mi3 (mi-3.com.au)

With the release of Carsales CAPI (Conversion API), the company now lays claim to being able to offer the best of two usually competing adtech worlds by marrying the first party certainties of a walled garden with the extensibility of the open web. Perhaps most importantly, it also says it has the ability to connect and measure the two. At its upfront in Melbourne yesterday executives claimed its tech stack update closes the loop on years of development in anticipation of a cookie-less world fuelled by first-party data, and developed to privacy by design principles. It also arguably reinforces Carsales' differentiation as a data and technology business that enables media, compared to its traditional rivals who are typically media businesses that deploy technology. And Carsales claims the early experience of clients beta testing the solution delivered 3X better conversion rates... though it declined to name the client.

What you need to know:

• Carsales yesterday announced Carsales CAPI (Conversion API) which it says enables its advertisers to securely combine its first-party data trove with their own website data,  and better understand how visitors to their websites behave across the Carsales network.
• According to the company, its solution lets brands retarget, build lookalikes of their most valuable customers, and leverage Carsales’ proprietary prediction modelling, all without the need for third-party cookies.
• It also revealed its generative AI play, part of what it calls an integrated partnership with brand management platform Sesimi built around Carsales' self-serve ad manager Ignition, which aims to streamline campaign activation, and the development of AI Enhanced Imagery.
• Per Vanya Mariani, Commercial Director, Media, the early experience of beta testers delivers up to 3X improvements in conversion rates. But no brand names were mentioned.
• And there's a new deal with Publift which represents roughly 5,000 websites across the globe that will see Carsales IDs and identity solutions deployed on those sites.
• That means when a Carsales user goes to any of Publift's websites, Carsales will be able to stitch the journey together.

Carsales' CAPI is designed to address a lot of the signal loss that marketing in the media industry is going through at the moment. It gives our customers the ability to understand what their customers are doing in our environment before they get to their website, and vice versa.

— Vanya Mariani, Commercial Director. Media, Carsales

Carsales says it can now compete with the global digital giants by providing comparable walled garden capabilities for advertisers – while also delivering the extensibility of the open web, all while enabling its advertisers to eliminate signal loss, and track and match audiences between the two environments. And of course, there are new generative AI capabilities to enhance creativity within its self-serve ad manager.

Its big upfront announcement in Melbourne yesterday was its Conversions API (CAPI). Apparently it's the wrapping on years of tech stack development. But the company also announced new generative AI capabilities, as well as some beefy new partner relationships, including deals with Publift and brand management platform Sesimi.

Stephen Kyefulumya, GM Media, product and technology, claimed Carsales is now "a premium publisher with a wall garden ecosystem combined with the flexibility of the open web."

With new privacy legislation expected in mid-September he said Carsales would give brands the advantages of third-party cookies... without the cookies – and the attendant regulatory risks since everything has been built on Privacy by Design principles.

Vanya Mariani, Commercial Director, Media for Carsales said the new Conversions API was all about giving customers – i.e. firms selling cars – clearer visibility of the path to purchase. As she put it: "It gives our customers the ability to understand what their customers are doing in our environment before they get to their website, and vice versa."

She said brands can use it for retargeting, something she underlined will become increasingly difficult as third-party cookies depreciate over time, to build lookalike audiences, and she said it will "help to build insights on the two audiences – the brand's and Carsales' – and what they're doing through cross-site measurement.”

During his keynote presentation, Kyefulumya said "Carsales conversions API enables brands to have deeper connections with your customers, to drive better ad performance, all with privacy by design at its core"

CAPI is actually powered by Adfixus, an Australian technology business that Kyefulumya describes as  privacy-focused.

"User ad interactions on our network will be reconciled with the interactions they drive on your [the brands] website," he explained.

"After receiving those conversions, we are able to offer custom measurement, optimisation and targeting to drive better return on investment," he added.

"This delivers two key components: measurement and targeting. Customer insights will reveal how visitors from your website behave across our network and help inform your planning and activation."

He said all of this was easily accessible via Carsales' Ignition platform providing cross-site performance measurement. That's a big issue for a lot of brands and something that has become much more difficult, in some cases impossible, he claimed, since Google deprecated Spotlight.

"By combining both data assets, we provide the clearest view of how your investment is driving performance. And we will take this further by expanding Carsales' ID into our audience network via Carsales' extension and in partnership with Publift to show attribution more broadly."

Per Kyefulumya: "The adoption of Carsales CAPI allows you to implement tactics like website retargeting without the need for third-party cookies. This enables you to re-engage your visitors as they continue their research across our network, to complement retargeting and build a look-alike audience for your most valuable customers."

"And lastly, if your goal is towards a specific objective, our in-house built propriety model can be applied to help you achieve this."

He also touched on the integration of generative AI into the platform. "This year, we plan to leverage generative AI to enable you to expand your creative presence across our network. As part of our Brand Terms offering, all creative will have an option for AI-enhanced imagery."

"Furthermore, a key feature of Ignition is the creative builder. This allows you to launch your creative in minutes, often without the need for you to bring your own creative assets. And this year, we're taking this up a level through a new partnership with Sesimi (a brand management platform)."

Full stack

According to Davor Vilusic, EGM Media for Carsales, “Carsales CAPI is like the last part of a whole suite of solutions that we've built. We built our own identity solution with Carsales ID. We've built our own creative agency within our business that can help with more strategic briefs. We launched Carsales Match, which is our PII to PII match. And we launched Ignition, which is our self-serve ad manager. Carsales CAPI is the part that wraps the whole around and allows us to have that full measurability."

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