What do Ryan Reynolds, Dirk Nowitzki, and Sheldon Cooper (Big Bang Theory) have in common?
They all played a surprisingly important role at this year’s OMR Festival in Hamburg.
The OMR Festival 2025, one of Europe’s biggest digital marketing events, brought together over 67,000 marketing pros for two days packed with inspiration, innovation, and just the right amount of nerdiness.
And speaking of nerds, our Big Data Theory masterclass brought Sheldon-level precision to the OMR stage. Tealium’s Ulisse Sarmiento teamed up with Vodafone’s Jeroen Jaspar and Nico Glibber to reveal how Vodafone is using smart data, real-time orchestration, and AI to cut through complexity, overcome privacy challenges, and drive real business impact, like breaking down data silos and boosting conversion rates.
#1 What Is The Formula To Achieve Amazing Results (AR) With Your Customer Data?
A question not only Sheldon should ask but any digital marketer who wants to stay ahead of the curve.
The session introduced a powerful framework:
RT*(1PD + 0PD)AI = AR, which means Real-Time Data *(First-Party Data + Zero-Party Data)AI = Amazing Results.
Now, if you really want to crack the code behind amazing results (AR), first you need to get a grip on the four key types of customer data and how to actually activate them in real-time. These four data types are zero-party data, first-party data, second-party data and third-party data.
The equation also underpins Vodafone’s strategy to build rich, privacy-first customer profiles, and enable AI models that deliver timely, relevant customer experiences.
#2 The Vodafone Formula: Capabilities, Structure, And The Right Team For CDP Success
Success didn’t happen overnight. Before implementing a Customer Data Platform (CDP), Vodafone identified four core capabilities where a CDP would serve as a central enabler: paid media personalisation, owned media personalisation, prospect targeting, and machine learning.
To keep existing customers engaged and satisfied, they prioritised tailored experiences across both paid and owned channels. At the same time, building smarter prospect journeys and developing in-house machine learning models allowed Vodafone to maintain full control and retain valuable expertise.
These four essential components were then defined for the operation of Vodafone’s CDP.
- A cross-functional team: Assembling a cross-functional, embedded CDP team to capture ideas for new use and business cases.
- An operating model: Integrating the CDP into existing systems (no parallel tech stacks)
- Implemented SteerCos: So that senior management roles ensure funding, guidance and decision making
- Evangelism: Using evangelism internally with tracked results and clear wins, an easy to understand communication about the complex topic of a CDP
#3 How To Break Down Data Silos And Implement Personalisation At Scale
One of Vodafone’s amazing results is that with a CDP they were finally able to break down data silos. Anyone who’s been working in marketing for a long time knows that marketing tools often still operate in silos, making it difficult to get the data to the rest of the company.
Vodafone explains how with a CDP as the heart of their martech brings together their clickstream data from their web and app for example, and distributes it to all their other channels. Vodafone’s data scientists work directly within platforms like Google Cloud and AWS. Instead of pulling the data into digital tools, they bring digital data to where the richest data already lives, inside their enterprise systems. For a company like Vodafone, this approach has been key to unlocking some truly impressive results. Based on that, they developed a number of use cases. Let’s dive into them.
- Use Case 1: Personalisation at Scale
One of Vodafone’s first CDP campaigns centred around a personalised availability check on their website. Using the CDP, they captured real-time visitor data, built audiences based on 360 customer profiles, and fed those insights back into their targeting engine to display tailored banners. Want to see how it works in real time? Watch the full masterclass to catch their demo and experience the use case in action, powered by real-time customer behaviour. - Use Case 2: CDP Returnfeed
Another impactful use case Vodafone implemented is the CDP return feed for existing customers. By sending cart abandonment data, including a deep link to the product page, back into their decision engine, Vodafone triggers a personalised follow-up email 24 hours later. This seamless handoff between the website, CDP, and campaign engine allows customers to return directly to their shopping cart and complete the purchase. The result? A clear win for smart, timely re-engagement—proving just how powerful the right message at the right moment can be. - Use Case 3: Propensity-to-Buy Models
Vodafone’s third and most advanced use case leverages machine learning to predict which users are most likely to convert, enabling smarter, more focused engagement across channels. To support this, Vodafone’s in-house data scientists built a propensity-to-buy model using a random forest algorithm within their own infrastructure. The goal: predict with confidence when a user is likely to make a purchase within the next hour. After training the model on a wide range of behavioural data (such as product page visits, cart activity, and service-related browsing patterns), they defined a score—67% likelihood of conversion—as the internal benchmark for high purchase intent. While this number is specific to Vodafone’s business model and data structure, the results have been remarkable. One standout application of this model is in Vodafone’s omnichannel sales experience. When high-intent users browse the website, they’re shown a personalised hotline number, allowing them to connect directly with a telesales advisor if they prefer not to complete the purchase online. Now, Vodafone uses the propensity score to prioritise calls in the telesales queue, essentially creating a “fast lane” for customers most likely to buy, similar to VIP boarding at an airport.
This approach led to a more than 50% increase in conversions among high-propensity users calling the hotline. It also helped sales teams focus their time on actual purchase opportunities, rather than handling low-intent service queries. The key takeaway? With the right data signals, AI models, and orchestration, Vodafone turned predictive intelligence into measurable sales impact, and this is only the beginning. The same model can now be adapted for countless other use cases across their customer journey.
#4 Use Data To Fuel AI – Not The Other Way Around
Before you unleash AI magic, you’ll need more than just good intentions – you need clean, connected, AI-ready data. The real blocker to AI success? It’s not the algorithm… it’s your messy data. Our nerds-in-chief from Vodafone and Tealium broke it down – smart data foundations, real-time orchestration, and how to stop your AI dreams from crashing on bad data.One key takeaway from Vodafone: keep AI and machine learning efforts in-house to retain control and build lasting expertise. Want to see how they’re doing it?
Watch the full episode of The Big Data Theory masterclass and get inspired to level up your own data strategy: 👉 Watch now
#5 A Tool Is Only As Powerful As The Team Using It
“A fool with a tool is still a fool,” joked Jeroen Jaspar, highlighting that the real power of a CDP lies in the people behind it. At Vodafone, building the right cross-functional team was essential, starting with IT and development roles to get the infrastructure right, and later expanding to operational roles like CDP Operators.
Just like Leonard bridges Sheldon’s logic with Penny’s spontaneity, Vodafone’s team acts as the bridge between technical complexity and real-world marketing outcomes, bringing structure, communication, and collaboration to the heart of data orchestration.
As marketers and organisations, we’re facing no shortage of challenges, rising ad costs, economic uncertainty, fragmented customer journeys, and messy data aren’t going anywhere. The key isn’t to fear the complexity, but to prepare for it, and keep learning from those who are already turning theory into impact.
That’s exactly what Vodafone shared in the Big Data Theory masterclass at OMR. From structuring teams to building AI-ready data foundations, their learnings offer a real-world playbook for tackling today’s challenges head-on.
Want to see how your team can put these principles into practice?
Watch the full masterclass, plus a Q&A packed with practical insights, and start unlocking the full value of your customer data.
