Data is Only Half the Battle

To say data is “sort of my thing,” is an understatement. I read about it. I speak about it on stage. I even dream about it. But lately, as I’ve been reading and thinking about what other folks have to say about data, I’ve noticed that something crucial is usually missing: the people.

In this age of big data, many companies are data obsessed—and rightly so. What data you look at and how you use it can mean the difference between a successful strategy and one that misses the mark. In my experience, if you’re not people-obsessed as well, then you’re only fighting half the battle. In other words, your data and reporting capabilities are only as good as the people working with them.

At Expedia Group Media Solutions, we have many people and teams that work with data to make sure our advertisers meet their goals—from business development managers, to marketers, to data analysts. Our Media Insights and Planning Team (featured below) is just one of the teams working to make advertisers’ campaigns more impactful and advertising spends more efficient through data analysis and recommendations.

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The goal of this team is to help advertisers deliver the right message, to the right people, at the right time. They do this by analyzing our first-party data, which encompasses data points from 144 million monthly unique visitors (Expedia Group™ global data: comScore July 2018) across over 200 global travel sites in 75 countries. They have a wealth of knowledge at their fingertips.

The Media Insights and Planning team mines Expedia Group’s proprietary data when working on campaign strategies. They also analyze third-party-research as well as our own commissioned studies to help fine-tune marketing strategies. For example, our latest research on Multi-National Travel Trends from 11 different countries shows that travel shoppers consider multiple destinations when they first decide to take a trip. Taking this insight even further, the Media Insights and Planning team might then look into our first-party, proprietary data to help destinations understand what other locations travel shoppers are exploring at the same time—ultimately helping the advertiser earn more visibility with qualified audiences by informing their campaign targeting strategy.

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The Media Insights and Planning team is just one example of where we combine our data power with our people power. To learn more about our broader data and reporting capabilities, download our guide.

Christine Walker Scarce

Senior Director, Product & Sales Marketing

Christine Walker Scarce leads the product marketing team at Expedia Group Media Solutions, overseeing the go-to-market strategies for the digital advertising products and services across the Expedia Group portfolio of leading travel brands. Her team is responsible for everything from product planning and positioning to marketing strategy to deliver innovative media offerings and reporting for marketing partners. Christine previously spent seven years at Expedia.com as the senior manager for destination management, where she led product strategy for Expedia.com. With more than 20 years in the marketing industry, Christine has experience in e-commerce, merchandising and technology industries, having led product strategy and development previously at Vegas.com and T-Mobile. She is a graduate from the University of Houston and lives in Seattle with her family.

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