Croud links with Essex for digital marketing project

Digital marketing budgeting and analysis could be transformed by a new partnership between global, full-service agency Croud and the University of Essex.

The brand new Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) will look to use pioneering academic expertise in the mathematical sciences to advance Croud's industry-leading marketing measurement and incrementality solutions.

The new KTP is worth over £185,000 and supported by funding from UKRI through Innovate UK. It will span 24 months with researchers working closely with Croud’s in-house team of developers to apply advanced mathematical approaches and data science techniques to innovatively enhance the accuracy of targeted advertising measurement and deployment, while at the same time maintaining GDPR and privacy policy compliance.

Luke Smith, CEO and co-founder at Croud, said, “We’re thrilled to be partnering with the University of Essex to access funding and expertise that will take Croud’s data solutions to the next level. With incrementality and intelligence at the heart of everything we do, this industry-leading partnership will enable Croud’s teams to deliver even smarter solutions for clients.”

Through the partnership with Essex, Croud will work with world-class academics Professor Hongsheng Dai, Dr Jackie Wong Siaw Tze, Dr Vasileios Giagos and Dr Yanchun Bao from the University’s School of Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Science, who will provide leading-edge knowledge of Bayesian statistics and Bayesian network theory to the project.

Accessing this academic expertise will embed advanced mathematics within the agency’s approach to measurement and incrementality solutions. It will also further enhance their media mix modelling tool for analysing marketing reach and return on investment for a given spend strategy.

Professor Hongsheng Dai, Head of the School of Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Science at Essex, comments: “It has been my goal to see our ever-growing department and academics working dynamically with industry to deliver positive impact. This collaborative project with Croud is a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate the significance of knowledge transfer in enhancing existing analytical tools, through our strengths and expertise in Bayesian statistics.

“The partnership will bring us one step closer to realising our vision, and we are very excited to contribute to making a positive difference in the digital marketing space.”

The collaborative project will be delivered as part of the KTP programme, which creates a dynamic three-way partnership between a business, a specialist academic team and a talented graduate or postgraduate (the KTP Associate). The programme, funded by UKRI through Innovate UK, has been running for over 45 years and during that time has enabled more than 14,000 businesses to drive innovation for positive impact.

The University of Essex is currently the number one institution in the UK for active KTPs with over 40 live projects and a portfolio worth over £10 million.