DG2 Worldwide Group’s Technology Solutions Can Optimize Your Marketing Investments

A significant pain-point that marketers often face is bringing unity and consistency to the data that comes to them from multiple platforms and making sense of it. DG2 Worldwide Group brings normalization and integrity across this spread of data, while the costs are impacted by the volume of data processed, with efficiencies always outweighing the investment.

Founded in 2001, DG2 built its data model to be flexible and adaptable, integrating with multiple systems to accommodate the needs of its clients in a cost-friendly manner. DG2 is the only advertising and marketing industry audit service provider using emerging digital technologies to revolutionize the contract compliance field covering the $1.4 trillion marketing communications industry. The company provides a proprietary, real-time and continuous monitoring reporting system with dashboards showing how every marketing dollar is invested. DG2 has taken what has long been an archaic “pen-and-paper” process and modernized it for today’s digital world.

“We use the reporting capabilities of existing systems to efficiently ingest data and use a robust visualization dashboard to display data in pre-designed and ad hoc reporting engine,” explained Michael Lay, the Founder and CEO of DG2 Worldwide Group in a brief interview with us. He further told us that the underlying goal of the DG2 Worldwide Group is to transition to a SaaS model in which client sales are realized from recurring revenue on a subscription basis. Read on for excerpts from the interview with the Founder and CEO.

Q. What crucial gap is DG2 Worldwide bridging? How important are your solutions in the modern context?

The media industry has been going through and continues to transform how it captures, tracks and uses consumer data in order to provide optimal consumer responses while wrestling with privacy policy issues. 

Advertisers, advertising agencies and media companies are all investing in upgraded and integrated systems to marry this consumer data to their own for creating competitive advantages and advanced consumer activations.    One can easily see a future where creative messages will be targeted to individual audiences based not only on age and geographic identifiers, but also individual behaviors, preferences and likely actions across even the most mass reaching media.

DG2 platform of solutions is adapted to the times. While system investments to manage consumer data has accelerated, we see a complementary need for real time reporting of advertising and marketing spending, budgets and compliance to ensure that advertisers maintain full visibility and control to make decisions in real-time.

Q. What is your vision for DG2 Worldwide Group?

Moving audits online is the initial step in this process. With audits delivered online, DG2 will be positioned as a tech-forward company with a more contemporary product than its competitors. In addition, once established as a tech-forward company, DG2 will be able to introduce new products in the same platform to deepen the relationship with advertisers. The underlying goal of the organization is to transition to a SaaS model in which client sales are realized from recurring revenue on a subscription basis.

Tell us about your full range of services.

We currently offer and plan on developing the following DG2 services:

1. Contract Compliance Services (CCS)
2. Media Performance Services (MPS)
3. Contract Analytics Services (CAS) – in development
4. Dealer Advertising Association Services (DAA)
5. Invoice Processing Services (IPS)
6. Continuous Monitoring as a Services (DG2-MD)
7. Market Value Services (AdComp360) – in development
8. Compensation Reconciliation Services (True SOW) – in development

We are developing multiple applications to position the company as an evolved leader in the advertising and marketing contract compliance field. The ultimate goal is to transition all activities to a digital platform, including the delivery of audit reports, and introduction of specific products aimed at assisting advertisers in their goal of increasing transparency and value in their agency portfolios.

“DG2 platform of solutions is adapted to the times.”

Q. Could you tell us about DG2-MD?

We find our clients often work with 10-1000+ organizations that are all operating with their own systems and tools. DG2-MD, our real-time reporting and continuous monitoring tool, was built to provide a centralized source for the data from these organizations. 

Client users can explore data through the DG2-MD dashboard, and also independently with data exports. We believe combining data is essential for putting into use across multiple organizations and teams within a company, while we solve for it by retaining the serial numbers and hash IDs other systems would use.

Q. How do you measure whether an organization is tapping the right opportunity? How do you make sure that your clients are increasing their success rate?

DG2 seeks to differentiate the company's product and service offering from competitors by implementing technology solutions that result in more transparency, cost savings and industry leading practices covering customer marketing spend.

Q. What makes DG2 unique?

We are developing multiple applications to position the company as an evolved leader in the advertising and marketing contract compliance field. The ultimate goal is to transition all activities to a digital platform, including the delivery of audit reports, and introduction of specific products aimed at assisting advertisers in their goal of increasing transparency and value in their agency portfolios.

The Leader

Michael Lay, Founder and CEO: Michael’s background includes 40 years of advertising and marketing experience, including 21 years as the former Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer for WPP, Omnicom and IPG operating agencies, and CEO of global industry audit firms.

In 2001, Michael helped launched the first U.S. advertising and marketing contract compliance and risk management firm. He led the company’s rapid growth, with $500+ billion in audit engagements across 80+ countries worldwide. 

Michael is an avid speaker at various Association of National Advertisers (ANA) events, including “Production Transparency” and “Cash Flow and Payment Terms,” and contributor to ANA published documents, including, “Agency Audits: How to Achieve Success.” In the 2017 far-reaching ANA study, “Production Transparency in the US Advertising Industry,” DG2 was recognized as the only global audit firm that is a “Subject Matter Expert” that has a “broad, deep, and diverse understanding of the advertising production industry.”

“DG2-MD, our real-time reporting and continuous monitoring tool, was built to provide a centralized source for the data from these organizations.”