Kenshoo is teaming up with Omnicom Media Group to develop research, campaign auditing and retail workshops, as well as collaborate on employee training and accreditation. The idea is to improve performance across search, social and e-commerce advertising.

The partnership will support brands in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) through what the two companies call the Digital Centers of Excellence (DCOEs).

The DCOEs are designed to help agencies and marketers that may not fully understand the technology or rely on multiple channels to run campaigns, but lack the experience. These brands may have multiple silos of data and segmented organizational structures, which are some of the major challenges for brands, said Matt Vignieri, managing director at Kenshoo EMEA.

“It’s about educating marketers and creating new talent,” Vignieri said.

Through DCOE, clients gain digital access to the latest information through a library of resources, as well as one-on-one support from their Omnicom Media Group rep, wherever that person might work within EMEA.

When asked whether there are plans to bring this service to the United States, Gemma Spence, CEO Ecommerce EMEA at Omnicom Media Group, said the plan is to test the concept in EMEA first before offering it in other regions.

“We take our client’s core objectives, challenges, and key performance indicators, and through the partnership look at the most pertinent new solutions to give them the competitive edge,” Spence said.   

Findings from a CMO Council study released this week suggest that education and hiring skilled marketers to support emerging technology creates the biggest challenges. Some 43% of the 100 CMO Council members participating in the study said the biggest obstacle is finding people with the necessary skill set.

Some 40% said data is not unified and clean, complete and accurate across all marketing systems. About 36% said the biggest challenge is leadership’s appetite for throwing money into technology when the return on investment is not immediately obvious.

The Kenshoo partnership is not exclusive to Omnicom Media Group and vice versa, Spence said. “We have many partnerships in place with many other providers,” working in a similar capacity, she said.