Christopher Hogg, Chief Revenue Officer at Lotame, on why ungating all content transforms the quality of incoming pipeline, why the open internet represents two-thirds of audience attention that brands routinely miss by living entirely in walled gardens, and why data collaboration is the next frontier in audience management.
"The CRM is only the beginning. Two-thirds of attention on the internet lives outside the walled gardens."
Why ungating content changes B2B pipeline quality and why the open internet is where two-thirds of audience attention lives
Christopher Hogg has spent eleven years at Lotame, arriving as a customer using the platform at France Telecom before crossing over to build the European business. He understands both what brands want from their data and what technology genuinely enables.
In this conversation Hogg makes the case that ungating content entirely transformed the quality of pipeline coming into Lotame. When brands force prospects through a gate as the first interaction, they set a tone of extraction before value. He also argues that the industry has become too comfortable inside walled gardens, neglecting the open internet where two-thirds of audience attention still lives.
Our mission is to help our customers grow through the value of their data. How do they deploy that data quicker, smarter, faster to get business results.
Hogg frames Lotame's value proposition around speed and commercial outcome rather than technology. The platform sits at the intersection of audience management and data collaboration, serving both brands and publishers.
We put everything behind a gate because we wanted email addresses. We've navigated from that because you cannot force people into a pipeline with a blunt object. They need to get there on their own steam.
Hogg describes a deliberate evolution in Lotame's content strategy. The move to ungating everything was driven by observing what happened to pipeline quality. Prospects who eventually reach out after consuming ungated content arrive with real intent, not because a gate forced them into a form.
If you are a brand, you could quite easily spend all your money in the walled gardens, but you are missing out on two-thirds of the attention on the internet, which comes from the open market space.
The walled garden dominance of programmatic advertising has created a default that Hogg argues is commercially suboptimal. The three major walled gardens command significant share of digital ad spend but a much smaller share of digital attention.
We split the marketing team into three core verticals: demand generation covering SEO, search, and all SDR activity; creative, managing PR agencies, content, and branding; and product marketing, which looks at competitive intelligence and go-to-market positioning.
Hogg is precise about why the three-function model works. Product marketing sits at the intersection of product, sales, and market, ensuring commercial messaging reflects what is being built and that sales teams are equipped to have the right conversations.
I think we are moving into an area where partnerships and collaboration is key. The relationships businesses have and the ability to make data collaborable across that ecosystem is really where we are aiming.
Hogg points to data collaboration as the defining theme of the next phase of audience management. As the open internet becomes more challenging to address without third-party cookies, the value of first-party data and the ability to share and activate it in partnership with trusted players increases dramatically.
"Our digital ecosystem is one of our most important assets. It is another salesperson."
Justin Cooke What does Lotame do?
Christopher Hogg Our mission is to help our customers grow through the value of their data. Whether that is a brand marketer trying to re-engage an existing customer or a publisher monetising their content and inventory. Quicker, smarter, faster.
Justin Cooke Tell me about your approach to gating content.
Christopher Hogg We put everything behind a gate because we wanted email addresses. But you cannot force people into a pipeline with a blunt object. They need to get there on their own steam. So we ungated all of our content. Users come in, we take them on a journey through our digital properties, with the end goal that they are ready to reach out having genuine intent.
Justin Cooke What is the open internet opportunity?
Christopher Hogg If you are a brand, you could quite easily spend all your money in the walled gardens, but you are missing out on two-thirds of the attention on the internet. You need tools that can operate through the open internet too.
Justin Cooke What is next for Lotame?
Christopher Hogg Data collaboration. Partnerships and collaboration are key. The ability to make data collaborable across the supply-demand ecosystem is where we are heading. Working for a business that touches both the supply and demand side is going to be hugely important as the open internet becomes challenged in terms of addressability.
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