Stagwell is dipping into Palantir’s toolbox to see if military-grade AI can sharpen its data targeting game. During its Q2 earnings call, CEO Mark Penn shared that they’re running a trial with Palantir’s technology to supercharge their ID Graph by combining both structured and unstructured data across platforms like BERA and the National Research Group. So far, the experiment is limited to one client and is being pipelined into Stage, the media planning and buying platform from Assembly, to assess its impact on media outcomes.
This controlled trial is the first real-world test of what Palantir can bring to commercial advertising. Penn has compared the process to drug testing: if it works, it scales. The integration hasn’t touched the main ID Graph yet, but that’s on deck if results are promising. Leading the charge is a newly-formed cross-agency tech team with some serious pedigree—think ex-Omnicom, Accenture, and Microsoft. Meanwhile, Stagwell is also building its own platform, cheekily named “The Machine,” to centralize workflows and performance insights under one roof.
Now, pairing with Palantir isn’t exactly playing it safe. The company’s government work with agencies like ICE and the DoD has sparked criticism over civil liberties concerns. But Stagwell seems focused on the upside: getting more value from its own data, and fast.
More details at AdWeek.