“Work from Anywhere”: Queens to Colombia

Next up in our “Work from Anywhere” series is Datonics’ superstar vet William Li. Will is no stranger to remote work — work is something that he does (and does very well!), not somewhere he has to go. Prior to COVID-19 and our official Datonics’ “Work from Anywhere” policy, Will spent five months working remotely while exploring Peru.

For the past month, Will has brought his virtual Zoom background to life and found home in Cartagena, Colombia. One of the blessings of working remotely is the opportunity to live a more active lifestyle instead of being deskbound. While off the clock, Will has been enjoying Cartagena’s white sand beach and palm tree-lined city limits while leveling up his Spanish skills.

We’re not jealous of the shorts and t-shirt weather at all!

"Work from Anywhere": Datonics’ New World View

One of the silver linings of the pandemic has been the ability to work from home and have more flexibility with our schedules. The freedom of remote work quickly led us to adopt a new mindset – why work from home when you can work from anywhere?

The  “Work from Anywhere” movement inspired us to institute a new policy allowing employees to temporarily relocate to any destination of their choice, so long as they’re able to access work.

Many on our team are taking this opportunity to explore living in a new environment and travelling for extended periods.

In the coming weeks we’ll be highlighting different Datonics digital nomads as they get creative with their work from anywhere locale. First up is Donna Fintzi, who recently embarked on an adventure out West. The native New Yorker is currently staying in the beautiful mountains of Montana with plans to travel south toward Idaho, Utah, and Arizona — and all while repping her hometown Mets. The expansive nature has been a welcome change from mid-pandemic New York City for Donna.

Not a bad backyard view!

Datonics' Q4 2020 Data for Food Initiative

At Datonics, we are fortunate enough to continue our work despite the challenging circumstances this year has brought. We recognize that many across the nation are facing enormous hardship and we feel it is both a privilege and a responsibility of ours to give back to our communities, both locally and nationally. Earlier this year, we proudly leveraged Grubhub, Seamless & UberEats to support local restaurants, NYC Fund for Public Schools to ensure equal access to necessary technology among students, Team Daya to build schools in the developing world, and Futures and Options to do our part in providing opportunities to underserved high schoolers.

But we recognize there is so much more we can do.

We are pleased to announce Datonics’ Q4 2020 Data for Food Initiative to help fight hunger here in the United States and Canada. Sadly, millions across North America continue to face food insecurity, especially young children, and this issue has only been exacerbated by the economic crisis caused by COVID-19.

Datonics will donate 2.75% of revenue received by Datonics (up to a total donation of US$250,000 in North America) for qualifying advertising campaigns* run from October 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020.  All donations will go to a charity designated by the applicable agency or brand, and if none is selected, the donations will go to food banks located in New York or Toronto.

We are motivated by the opportunity to help make a difference in the lives of many and are encouraged by the kindness and generosity we have seen from others in the advertising industry and the business community. If you too are in a position to give back, we hope you will consider supporting those in need in any way you can. 

* Datonics’ Q4 2020 Food for Data Initiative Rules & Regulations

Qualifying advertising campaigns include (i) all verified new customers running verified ad campaigns using Datonics data and (ii) all existing customers running verified ad campaigns using Datonics data to market products and services not previously marketed by them with Datonics data.

Datonics Helps Local Communities During COVID-19

Datonics pledges $25K to support local restaurants, and receives overwhelming response from agencies and brands across the country.

Working from home? Lunch is on us!

With the onset of COVID-19 & migration to work from home for all, Datonics responded by immediately launching a program to support local restaurants affected by mandatory closures. We pledged $25k to this effort, which was geared towards encouraging partners in the advertising community to purchase lunch from local eateries through Seamless, Grubhub, and UberEats. Throughout April and May, Datonics has been reaching out to partners with e-gift cards, which were redeemed for the purchase of meals at local restaurants across the country in NYC, San Francisco, Chicago and many others.

Datonics received an overwhelming response from agencies and brands. To date over $11,000 has been redeemed. We encourage qualified agency and brand partners to reach out if they’ve not had the opportunity to redeem since $14,000 of funds remain for this program.

Please don’t forget to support your local restaurants! 

Datonics Supports Fund for Public Schools

Datonics is committed to helping local communities during COVID-19. Recently, the company partnered with a wonderful organization devoted to closing the digital divide among students: Fund For Public Schools. The New York City-based organization is working to ensure that all students in the five boroughs are able to access the technology they need to continue their education, which has shifted to a remote learning model in light of city-wide school closures related to COVID-19.

Many students who are low-income or homeless face significant hurdles to learning online. As the NYC Department of Education works urgently and tirelessly to prioritize students in shelters to receive devices, there is still a need to deliver tens of thousands of additional devices and headphones.

Join Datonics in empowering NYC students and families by pledging support for new devices (laptops, iPads, tablets) or headphones/earplugs to make it easier for households with more than one child or limited space to complete lessons without disruption.

Please visit Fund For Public Schools to see how your donation will impact children in need during these times.

Power, Precision, and Privacy: The Value of Third-Party Data

By Donna Fintzi, Product Lead

Over the last couple of years, industry chatter has demonstrated uncertainty about what the future of third-party data will look like. Unease over bad actors, new and pending regulations, and increasing consumer skepticism has created heightened anxiety surrounding the viability of third-party data. Despite concerns, it’s clear that third-party data remains a vital tool. According to the Winterberry Group, brands in the United States continued to grow their investment on third‐party audience data (and related activation solutions) with total expenditures growing by 17.5% year‐over‐year to a total of $19.174B in 2018. This is because such data is critical in understanding consumers and empowering brands to create meaningful, relevant, and efficient customer experiences.

Datonics, the data division of the AlmondNet Group that was established in 1998, has a long track record of promoting an efficient and, importantly, ethical approach to third-party data. We pride ourselves on the transparency of our data provenance. As industry pioneers and members of the NAI: Network Advertising Initiative, Datonics not only adheres to the current regulatory climate, but actively participates in the conversation surrounding the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the passage of soon to be implemented state laws like the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). This active participation in the conversation about consumer privacy uniquely positions Datonics to empower businesses with the benefits of data-driven marketing while always adhering to the strictest ethical standards surrounding consumer privacy.

As marketing and regulation evolve, so too have the ways in which marketers can utilize Datonics’ data to their advantage. Datonics takes a multidimensional approach to ensure the highest quality data — constantly looking for ways to maximize audience reach while maintaining marketing precision. We do not accept the supposition that there must exist a trade-off between audience scale and performance.

New and compelling use cases at the intersection of first and third-party data, such as CRM enrichment, content personalization, and look-alike modeling, challenge this age-old tradeoff. The combination of first-party CRM data and third-party data allows marketers to get a better understanding of the interests, demographics, and behaviors of their customers in real-time and deliver personalized targeted content at scale. Similarly, look-alike modelling enables an extended, highly precise prospecting reach that previously has not been possible.

We differentiate our services from generic, off-the-shelf, data firms by offering our clients custom audience segmentation, yielding increased ROI compared with standard segmentation (Check out: https://www.datonics.com/the-story-behind-custom-segments for more information).

In the ever more digital ecosystem, it can be difficult for brands to find the right audiences and communicate with customers ethically, efficiently, and effectively. Datonics is here to help. Our commitment to data excellence distinguishes us from the competition and allows to leverage our main advantage – accuracy.