Advertisers Need Addressable Targeting Tools and Gravity Connect Delivers

Media agency the7stars recently launched a brand new tool, Gravity Connects, to help advertisers and marketers solve the ongoing issue of audience targeting amid data privacy regulations. The geo-insights tool unifies diverse data sources at the full postcode level through geo-targeting, or by converting geographic data into actionable identifiers such as cookies, IDs, and hashed emails, which gives marketers the ability to – with precision – build buyable audiences.

It’s a well-timed launch amid industry issues spanning data and media fragmentation, cookie degradation, and concerns over the limitations of traditional precision targeting. In the words of Adam Chugg, head of data and technology at the7stars, “Gravity Connect future-proofs campaigns against evolving privacy regulations by leveraging anonymised and aggregated geo data.”

LBB caught up with Adam to learn more about the tool, how it uses rich data markers beyond geodemographics to build consistent audiences across platforms, and why user consent, privacy and security are fuel for this technology.

LBB> Let’s start with the basics! What exactly is Gravity Connect?

Adam> Gravity Connect is our new audience insights and activation platform that unifies different data sources to create a single, holistic and actionable view of who we want to reach. It uses geo as a foundation for privacy-centric modelling and scalable activation. In practice that means advertisers can now build highly-customised audiences and target them consistently across channels, either by targeting those specific geographies directly, or by converting that geo data into other identifiers like cookie-less IDs, hashed emails, or device IDs. It’s all about turning first, second and third-party data into something marketers can actually use across multiple platforms with scale

LBB> Why launch this now? What problem is Gravity Connect solving in today’s marketplace?

Adam> We’ve seen a real wave of scrutiny recently around the effectiveness of precision targeting. There’s growing recognition that it’s not always as precise as promised – you think you’re targeting a specific type of consumer, but often, you’re not. Add to that the fragmentation of data across walled gardens like Meta and Google, and it becomes very difficult to build consistent audiences across platforms. You’re often creating a number of unfaithful proxies.

Gravity Connect addresses that head-on. It offers a unified, privacy-safe way to build audiences from the ground up. It’s a bit of a renaissance for geo targeting – just like we’ve seen with econometrics, where advertisers are returning to robust, reliable data strategies that actually make sense. But, importantly, it’s also an evolution; Gravity Connect goes beyond geodemographics with much richer detail from dynamic datasets such as spending behaviours.

LBB> Is this then a move away from identity-first targeting?

Adam> Identity-first targeting has its place, but it’s about acknowledging the limitations of this, in terms of scale, accuracy, consistency and cost. We’re not trying to chase people around the internet based on patchy data trails. Instead, we’re using full postcode-level geo-data, which is stable, scalable and doesn’t rely on invasive tracking.

From there, we can build audiences that are either deployed directly – say, through out-of-home or regional TV – or converted into addressable IDs to use on digital platforms. It’s flexible, future-proof and privacy-first.

LBB> Who have you partnered with to make this happen?

Adam> We’ve commissioned Starcount to customise its platform specifically for Gravity Connect. Its geo-behavioural modelling is best-in-class, combining everything from demographics and lifestyle indicators to social interests, banking spend, and mobile movement patterns. We’ve also added exclusive datasets that we’ve licensed as an agency to enrich what’s available to our clients.

On top of that, we’re working with Evorra, which specialises in addressable audience technology. Its proprietary data spine allows us to take postcode-level data from Starcount and convert it into addressable IDs associated with individuals. So, when a client wants to activate those audiences digitally, be it through programmatic, social, connected TV, or anything else, we can push those segments straight into platforms with minimal friction. It’s a custom audience we can use in multiple end points. We can also use Evorra to enrich our audiences with additional behavioural signals.

LBB> It seems like transparency is major theme – how does Gravity Connect address that?

Adam> It’s at the heart of what we’re doing. Advertisers want to know where their data comes from and how it’s being used, and rightly so. Gravity Connect gives them a consistent, centralised view of audience-building, with full clarity on data provenance.

Just as importantly, we’ve decoupled data costs from media costs. That means clients pay for the data itself, not a bundled package where you don’t really know what you’re being charged for. It’s a cleaner, more accountable model.

LBB> You’ve mentioned that this tool is ‘future-proof’ – can you expand on what you mean by that?

Adam> We’ve built Gravity Connect with privacy and regulation in mind. The days of easy, cookie-based targeting are fading fast, and advertisers need solutions that don’t rely on intrusive methods. Because we’re using anonymised and aggregated geo data as our foundation, it’s compliant with current privacy standards, and flexible enough to adapt as those standards evolve. Plus, by focusing on something as universal as geography, we’re not beholden to the whims of any single tech platform. That independence is crucial for long-term resilience.

Where we do use precision data, Evorra combines multiple cookie-less identifiers to effectively hedge our bets and maximise scale – all with user consent, privacy and security at the heart of the technology.

LBB> How are your clients using Gravity Connect already? Are there any examples you can share?

Adam> We’re seeing really strong traction already. Clients are using it to streamline regional campaign planning, optimise media mix by location, and build omnichannel audiences that can be activated across digital and offline platforms. One advertiser, for example, used it to identify geo-clusters that over-index against behaviours associated with one of their core segments for consistent video targeting across walled gardens.

We’ve seen double 30% higher view-through rates on the geo-targeting versus using audiences native to the platforms. In the right circumstances, it’s amazing how informed geo-targeting alone can outperform precision targeting.

LBB> Some marketers have been disillusioned with precision targeting – what do you say to them?

Adam> You’re not alone. The industry’s starting to wake up to the limitations of data that looks great in theory, but falls short in execution. Gravity Connect is about offering something more grounded. We’re not promising magic – we’re delivering clarity, consistency and a smarter way to reach the right people. If you’ve ever felt like you’re building your strategy on shifting sand, this is your chance to reset on solid ground.