Mint was launched in France a few months ago. The company creates a new category in the complex world of Adtech: Advertising Resource Management. We wanted to know more. We met Tristan Ougier, his sales manager.
A few words about Mint?
Tristan Ougier: Definitely. Mint is an Italian company based in Milan. It has been in existence for eight years and has undergone a remarkable evolution from an agency to a software company. Our long-standing customers include renowned brands such as Mastercard and Coca Cola, both in Italy and internationally. We currently employ 240 people across our various offices in Milan, Rome, Berlin, Paris, London, Sao Paulo and New York. Three weeks ago we opened our new office in the United States.
A large part of our teams is now dedicated to the development of our SAS products, around 60% of our workforce. In 2021 we raised €50 million in funding to support our existing growth and international expansion. On the software side, we already work with big brands in Italy, such as Tim and Enel, equivalents of Orange and Engie for the Italian market.
What is Advertising Resource Management (ARM)?
Tristan Ougier: We have created a unique category with no direct competition: Advertising Resource Management (ARM), or the management of advertising resources. In fact, we’re right in line with ERP and CRM, filling a gap in advertising that traditional business management software hasn’t filled. We rise to the challenges that arise from the complexity of the advertising ecosystem.
In fact, marketing managers face a major challenge: the exponential increase in the complexity of this ecosystem. In the last decade, we have seen a phenomenal increase in the technology offering in online advertising. This complexity leads to many problems: fragmented data and tools, heterogeneous processes, and scattered and heterogeneous data.
Our role has been similar to that of ERPs for 20 years in finance, human resources, accounting and logistics.
How does ARM work?
Tristan Ougier: Our goal is to connect all data sources that are not intended for collaboration or communication due to their language and format differences. We unify them into a single data repository and standardize them to give organizations a unified approach to data versus fragmented data from different chains or different tools to enable different channels. We are also improving the management of this data.
We enable better management of “walled gardens” such as Meta, Google and others, which are now the new models that marketing managers have to deal with, especially related to the end of third-party cookies
Specifically, by leveraging the advertising data from these walled gardens, we create “data equity” like a CRM does for customer knowledge. We standardize this data and then leverage it with automation tools to extract more value from it. We utilize all DSPs and SSPs once this data is unified and standardized, and consistent communication is ensured across the brand advertising ecosystem. We work on streamlining processes to improve the productivity and operational excellence of companies to have a positive impact on their bottom line.
What advantages do brands have?
Tristan Ougier:
- The first benefit is governance, especially for global companies. As I mentioned earlier, data is everywhere but nowhere, certainly not with advertisers. Today we enable them to collect all their ad data and recover it as an asset for their business. Customer data is unanimously considered a valuable treasure for brands, a real enrichment. We collect all this data by using it internally at the brands, which enables them to create a new asset within their company. This new asset, unified, cleansed and standardized, strengthens their governance. It allows brands to better control their advertising investments and understand in detail the operations performed on their budgets. Large advertisers often take global approaches, reaching multiple markets, brands, products and categories. They involve various stakeholders internally or through agencies in activating their advertising investments. Therefore, it is difficult to understand the performance and results achieved with these budgets on a daily basis. The first benefit for brands is therefore that they improve their governance and have a clearer view of how their budgets are being used.
- The second big advantage is the data quality. It often happens that my interlocutors point out inconsistencies in their data to me, be it media data, agency data or even the various reports and data sources they have at their disposal. The problem of a single and reliable source arises. That’s why we offer a true “single golden source” that is authoritative for all stakeholders active in advertising. We currently have 400 connectors integrated into our platform, which allow us to collect data from all media channels in the market directly at the source.
- The third benefit is also related to transparency. Advertising investment as a percentage of sales has never been so low in modern history, falling below 7%. As a result, marketing departments are faced with budget constraints that force them to increase productivity and performance. The transparency and quality of the data allows them to better understand the entire media buying process, including margins and the way buying processes are performed. This gives them a clearer view and better understanding of media performance globally and across all channels.
Finally, one of the main benefits of ARM is process optimization. If all actors use a common language, they can move in the same direction by introducing common processes. This breaks down organizational barriers that often arise, where there are often separate teams for branding, acquisition, international markets, etc.
Artificial intelligence: what contribution?
Tristan Ougier: We don’t see artificial intelligence as a replacement for humans, but as a decision support tool. We see AI as a way to liberate the human spirit.
In fact, our approach is based on the concept of “Human Thinking”, which aims to improve human thinking. In fact, we are positioning AI as a lever that allows us to deepen the analytical skills of individuals, thus freeing them from tedious and time-consuming tasks that place a significant mental strain on them. I am thinking in particular of activities such as traffic management, media planning and analyzing the astronomical amounts of data that marketers are faced with today.
All of these tasks can be automated, making it easier for them to understand the problems they face and find solutions more easily, while also deepening their analytical skills. All of this is backed by automation and automation. At Mint, AI is a lever to empower human intelligence and a way to take thinking to a higher level.
