Candid is the world’s first marcom platform organization, offering a full set of modern media, creative and data agencies. The company connects its agencies with collaborative power to create scalable partnerships, allowing them to tackle complex challenges with faster and more innovative solutions that drives growth.
Candid’s labels
Creative: Havana Harbor, XXS Amsterdam, Digital The Online Company, daily dialogues
Media: M2M media, BBK Media & Stroom
Research: Vostr
The need for a privacy-first alternative to Google Analytics
Transparency and accessibility were built into the DNA of Candid from the start, which is easy to see just by looking at their brand’s name. That’s why they viewed the new GDPR privacy regulation as an opportunity to build even more open and honest relationships with their visitors.
They knew that to implement the idea of marketing based on consent in compliance with the new law, they had to make some changes. They were looking for an alternative to Google Analytics, which they had been using previously. They wanted an analytics platform that would empower them to not only track first-party data but also to make use of it while being privacy compliant.
Candid wanted to make this change across all of their brands, and at the same time their clients started asking questions about the upcoming regulation. More and more of their customers were exploring possibilities for lawfully collecting consents and using first-party data to run campaigns.
All in all, what they needed was a GDPR-compliant platform for collecting, analyzing and activating the gathered data, which they could recommend to their clients.
We teamed up with Piwik PRO over two years ago, not only for our own platform, but also for our customers. We’re working side by side with Piwik PRO to make sure that our customers’ first-party data is properly collected and used. Candid’s philosophy is to be open and curious, working with Piwik PRO enhances this.
They chose the total package
That’s when Piwik PRO Analytics Suite came into the picture. The deciding factors for Candid were its privacy-first approach and the fact that the platform offered a whole package of products.
It consisted of an analytics module, a consent manager for collecting visitors’ consents, tag manager, customer data platform, and on-site retargeting feature for marketing activities. The implementation started with a short training for one of Candid’s specialists, who deployed the platform across all of their brands. Piwik PRO’s dedicated support specialist was available during the whole process to help with any technical challenges. The whole process was also an interesting learning experience for the company, giving them a glimpse of what it takes to become GDPR compliant.
Compliance in regard to legislation often appears to be a hygiene factor. However, it seems to be that many companies are still in their infancy on this topic. Candid strives for governance professionalism on that matter and has found the perfect partner in Piwik PRO.
Our client’s success is our success!
Implementation for Candid’s clients usually started with the Consent Manager module, as one of their priorities was to gather visitors’ consents in accordance with the upcoming law.
That was also the case with one of their customers from the healthcare industry. It started as a conversation around privacy, and with time they discovered that Piwik PRO offers not only a consent management tool, but also (mainly!) a powerful analytics platform. Once they had lawfully collected data, they wanted to act on it, and they implemented other modules as well.
There were some exceptions – for one of their clients, IAB Netherlands, it started with the Customer Data Platform module. Candid chose to implement this module first, to demonstrate to their client the environment and possibilities that come with it. It was a challenge, as IAB Netherlands had their own partners they cooperated with and a set of rules that had to be followed for a successful deployment. It was also the first time that they’d heard of Piwik PRO and didn’t know what distinguished it from other tools, like Google Analytics. After the initial stage, they decided to go for the complete Piwik PRO Analytics Suite.
A partnership for the ages
From among all the modules offered by Piwik PRO Analytics Suite, Consent Manager was the gamechanger for Candid. It allowed them to complete their journey to GDPR compliance. 40% of their visitors consented to marketing activities when visiting the websites of their labels, with the number to grow further following future optimizations.
What’s more, it was also an opening point in many conversations with their clients regarding the importance of marketing based on consent, especially with the new regulation in tow. Candid and Piwik PRO teams cooperated on implementing the best version of the product for each client. The partnership proved beneficial to both parties and became permanent, with Candid as Piwik PRO’s sole partner in the Netherlands.
The analytics module was used mainly by Candid’s marketing department to handle such tasks as tracking white paper downloads, campaign effectiveness, user engagement, and to optimize website content.
One optimization based on analysis of the collected data was the change in the length of articles on the Frank.news website. Candid observed a very high bounce rate for those pages – articles took over 10 minutes to read and they were losing their visitors’ attention halfway through. After some testing, they shortened the articles to approximately 5-minute reads, which resulted in increased visitor engagement – people spent more time on the website, and the bounce rate dropped by 15%.
