How McCann Central streamlined reporting, boosted efficiency, and unlocked profitability with Supermetrics

McCann Central, a leading integrated marketing agency, faced significant challenges in managing their marketing data. With numerous clients spread across various industries, and with each discipline, such as Media, CRM, Social, PR, Client, and Commercial Data, manually generating reports from siloed data sources, they relied on legacy software that limited their ability to scale up with increasing data volumes.

To overcome these challenges, Oliver Dew and Simon Barks started searching for a better way to manage their marketing data. Their major goal was to consolidate multi-discipline reporting into a single view point and show cause and effect across channels, in short this meant omni-channel reporting that would provide deeper data insights for all their clients whilst improving efficiency for their business.

Oliver Dew, Operations Director at McCann Central, explains, "The major challenge was the heavy manual lifting of reporting for all these clients. Each discipline was kind of doing their own thing. So, Social Media had their own set up, Paid Media another, and so forth."

Simon Barks, Director of Analytics, expands on the limitations of their previous solution, "Our previous solution was somewhat capable but expensive and it didn't scale. We were capped by the number of rows of data we could ingest and we needed something that had AI capabilities and could provide predictive modeling in future. This is when we started looking for something new."

Looking for a more scalable and future-proof solution

Recognizing the need for a more efficient and future-proof solution, McCann Central started comparing different data management platforms. Simon says, “We needed our own solution that covered data collection and ETL, storage, and reporting. Essentially we had four major requirements around scalability, connectivity, flexibility, and longevity”

These key requirements were:

• Scalability: The ability to handle large volumes of data from diverse sources.
• API connectivity: Seamless integration with various marketing platforms and data sources.
• Data-destination flexibility: Compatibility with multiple data warehouses and reporting tools.
• Future-proof technology: A platform that could adapt to evolving data science and analytics needs through AI and predictive modeling.

After comparing multiple alternatives, there were six key factors that led Oliver and Simon to choose the Marketing Intelligence Cloud from Supermetrics:

1. Scaling for growth: They needed a platform that could keep pace with their expanding client base and ever-growing data volume. Supermetrics' API capabilities ensured seamless data ingestion from an array of marketing channels.
2. Flexibility is key: The agency wanted a solution that wouldn't lock them in to a specific ecosystem. They needed the freedom to integrate with their preferred data warehouse (Azure Synapse) and reporting tools (Power BI), creating a customizable data environment that fitted with their existing infrastructure, which Supermetrics delivered.
3. Empowering teams, big and small: From on-demand data access in spreadsheets for all of their disciplines to centralized data warehousing for advanced analytics, McCann Central needed a platform that catered to diverse needs.
4. A future-focused vision: Data science and advanced analytics were a priority. They chose a solution with an evolving product roadmap that aligned with their vision for exploring features like marketing mix modeling (MMM) and machine learning (ML) to optimize creative decisions based on data insights.
5. Making data accessible: A user-friendly interface was crucial for rapid adoption across teams. The familiar spreadsheet-like environment ensured media teams, already comfortable with Excel, could quickly leverage the platform's power.
6. Trust and familiarity matter: The existing agreement with McCann Worldgroup instilled confidence in the brand's reliability. Additionally, several team members were already strong advocates for Supermetrics, fostering internal buy-in.

The results: efficiency, profitability, and a scalable solution for the future

Simon and Oliver built the business case for Supermetrics on two major pillars; automating discipline agnostic reporting and increasing profitability of analytics projects. Simon says, “Essentially we were doing 360 days a year of manual reporting and we wanted to automate that low-level reporting. With Supermetrics we expected to save roughly 240 days a year which would allow us to increase efficiency and provide us with more time to focus on adding value to our clients.”

McCann Central's partnership with Supermetrics is impacting the following areas:

• Boosted efficiency: By automating reporting, reducing overheads, and freeing up time, the agency now has capacity to take on more clients and improve utilization rates.
• Increased profitability: Reduced manual reporting translates to higher realization rates and a healthier bottom line.
• Data-driven decisions: Gaining deeper client insights and optimizing campaigns for maximum impact.
• Future-proofed growth: Scalable data management ensures McCann Central is ready to handle future data challenges and opportunities.

Beyond the technology: a strong partnership matters

McCann Central highlights the importance of a strong partner. On the implementation, Simon says, “From the early days of implementation, Supermetrics brought in a partner, Calligo, who are very good. They’re very knowledgeable on the systems and the culture of working with Supermetrics and Calligo is great. Supermetrics' willingness to listen and collaborate is invaluable. The product is great but the people and partnership is so important."

This case study demonstrates how Supermetrics' Marketing Intelligence Cloud can empower marketing agencies like McCann Central to overcome data hurdles, achieve operational efficiency, and unlock the true potential of data-driven marketing.

Want to see what Supermetrics can do for your agency? Get a free demo today.