Validating Data Quality: How PMG And Truthset Are Building Smarter Marketing Workflows

At Cannes Lions, Marketecture Media CEO Ari Paparo sat down with Crissi Cupak, Head of Product at PMG, and Scott McKinley, CEO of Truthset, to explore a new partnership bringing data accuracy ratings into PMG’s Alli platform. The conversation covers why data quality matters more than ever, how PMG’s new Alli Marketplace is making integrations discoverable, and how Truthset’s ratings help marketers eliminate noise and boost ROI.

Ari Paparo: We’re here to talk about data innovation. A lot of interesting developments are happening, so let’s start with introductions. Crissi?

Crissi Cupak: I’m Crissi Cupak, Head of Product at PMG. PMG has its own platform technology called Alli—that’s really our flagship product.

Ari Paparo: Scott?

Scott McKinley: I’m Scott McKinley, Founder and CEO of Truthset. Truthset validates the accuracy of consumer data—a new but critical area. A lot of the data driving ad targeting today is essentially noise. Even good datasets can contain a mix of accurate, middling, and outright wrong information, and no one knows the difference.

We built a collective of the 22 largest U.S. data providers—a federated identity and attribute system—that assigns accurate identity and demographic data to 1.4 billion email addresses and 285 million adults. We’ve also created data ratings to help buyers and sellers easily understand quality, similar to how ratings work in media measurement.

Ari Paparo: And those ratings are based on cross-referencing datasets?

Scott McKinley: Yes, but with a patented Bayesian method. We pretest every provider by attribute against a validation set, then weight their contributions accordingly. That way, when multiple sources disagree—say, about someone’s gender—we can assign a probability and rating.

Ari Paparo: Crissi, how is PMG using Truthset, and how does it tie into your product?

Crissi Cupak: Alli is PMG’s marketing operating system—100% of our clients use it for workflows, reporting, planning, and measurement. We’re launching the Alli Marketplace, which expands the value of our platform by integrating third-party partners like Truthset.

The marketplace allows clients to extend their onboarded data—first-party, third-party, performance data—into partner solutions directly within Alli. It’s discoverable, transparent, and easy to activate. We’re demoing this integration at our PMG Villa here in Cannes.

Ari Paparo: Tell me more about the marketplace. Is it self-serve, or does it involve consultation?

Crissi Cupak: It’s a mix. We’ve had integrations since 2014—over 100 partners—but they weren’t discoverable. This marketplace lets us proactively curate solutions to client challenges, with vetted partners and transparent pricing. Sometimes we connect to full platforms; other times we build bespoke applications with partners to offer something new.

Ari Paparo: Scott, which use cases are best served by Truthset’s data ratings?

Scott McKinley: Right now, we focus on 25 demographics—human-based, email/postal-linked, census-mapped data. Clients can bring their audience into Alli and instantly see census reach by demographic, then expand as needed. Better accuracy reduces noise, improves ROI, and enables people-based marketing instead of relying on cookies or device IDs.

Ari Paparo: Any success stories you can share?

Crissi Cupak: Marketplace is still in beta, but we’ve seen strong results embedding partner data—like Amazon, Meta, and Google—directly into workflows. It shortens time-to-value for clients and teams alike.

Scott McKinley: Better data benefits everyone: brands get precision, publishers improve yield, and consumers receive more relevant ads. We’ve worked with TV networks, major publishers, and large CPGs to eliminate waste and increase accuracy.

Ari Paparo: What’s next for each of you?

Crissi Cupak: We’re expanding marketplace categories—starting with data extension and validation, then adding creative insights, audience discovery, measurement, and forecasting. We’re also building a launchpad for startups, giving emerging tech greater visibility and integration opportunities.

Scott McKinley: For us, this is the first time our rated audiences are available through any platform. We aim to scale adoption and level the playing field—bringing open programmatic up to the accuracy of walled gardens.