Q+A: How Curation in Clearline Unlocks Smarter Reach with Zenzi’s Values-Driven Audiences

In today’s crowded media landscape, advertisers are challenged to connect with people in ways that feel personal and impactful. Traditional demographic and behavioral signals often fall short, leaving brands searching for approaches that unlock deeper relevance. Zenzi, a premium data offering with audiences built on the behavioral science of human values such as achievement, tradition, and purpose, provides a solution by turning those values into actionable audience insights that go beyond surface-level.

Now, through Magnite’s ClearLine, which unifies curation and activation in one unified platform across the company’s premium omnichannel footprint, these values-driven audiences are easier than ever to activate. It enables buyers and curators to discover, package, and activate premium inventory across every screen in a single, unified workflow. By combining Zenzi’s human-centered audience intelligence with Magnite’s transparent, efficient, and direct supply path, brands can reach consumers in environments that elevate both trust and performance. 

Together, Zenzi and Magnite are bridging the gap between emotional intelligence and programmatic precision, making it easier than ever for advertisers to connect with audiences in meaningful ways.

We caught up with Patrick Derdeyn, head of business development, to learn more about how understanding people at their core can transform the way brands engage with audiences through curation. 

How does Zenzi combine market research with technology to create more actionable audience segments?

For over 20 years, Zenzi has conducted primary consumer research rooted in the behavioral science of human values by assessing consumer data, behaviors, and surveys to understand what truly motivates people. Drawing on this extensive repository of values-based data, we’ve matched surveyed individuals to an identity graph to scale audiences deterministically. This ensures that each segment is both values-driven—reflecting the motivations behind consumer behavior—and addressable, enabling precise reach across devices. Today, these values-based audiences reach significant scale – over 150 million individuals in the U.S. across all segments combined. The result is addressable values-based segments backed by years of proven research.

What challenges do advertisers face with audience data today, and how does Zenzi address those gaps?

Too often, campaigns rely on demographic or behavioral data alone, and they simply don’t deliver the lift brands need. Values are the primary driver of consumer decision-making, which makes them a great predictor of engagement. In a new study alongside WARC (World Advertising Research Center), a leading authority on advertising effectiveness, results show that values-aligned ads were perceived as more likable and more personally relevant. This data suggests that values-based audiences succeeded in creating an emotional connection with respondents. On the performance side, the study showed that ads shown to values-driven audiences outperformed ads shown to a standard audience by 82%. By focusing on what motivates people at their core, Zenzi Values-Driven Audiences outperform other activation methodologies and give marketers a clear path to better performance.

What does a values-driven audience approach look like in practice for brands?

When you reach people based on their values, they’re naturally more receptive and more likely to act. With Magnite’s data curation, we can pair values-driven audiences with inventory best suited to those values—putting the right message in front of the right person, in the right place, at the right time. That combination drives stronger performance and more efficient spend. 

The new study conducted by WARC and Aletheia showed the power of values in predicting ad preference. The key findings state: “In every instance, someone’s ValuesType proved to be a far more accurate predictor of ad preference. As in most areas of marketing, this is not an either/or choice. Demographics and life stages often play an important role in targeting. The learning is not that values should replace these parameters, but that their integration enhances precision.”

Why was Magnite the right partner to help bring Zenzi’s audience data to market?

Magnite is the largest and most respected sell-side ad tech company in the digital marketing landscape. Magnite’s scale and credibility make them the right partner. Through its integration in ClearLine, curation enables buyers and curators to seamlessly package Zenzi’s audiences with premium, brand-safe inventory from Magnite’s extensive omnichannel supply.

Curated campaigns are executed closer to the impression, improving data fidelity and reducing signal loss. This means advertisers can activate Zenzi audiences with greater accuracy, scale, and efficiency, ensuring that values-based reach translates directly into measurable performance outcomes.

Who can most benefit from Zenzi Audiences or a values-based strategy?

Values apply everywhere because at the end of every ad is a human making a decision. Whether B2C or B2B, core values shape how people interpret messages, build affinity with brands, and make choices. Zenzi audiences help marketers not only improve performance metrics but also deepen long-term brand affinity.