Ad buyers are rethinking how they target audiences. Culture Hive’s new scoring system lets brands reach communities by cultural relevance, not just age or gender. Early results show higher returns and fewer missteps.
Media buyers and publishers are facing a major shift in how audiences are targeted. Joe Ligé, Founder and CEO of Culture Hive Media Group, argues that traditional demographic targeting-by age, gender, or income-misses the mark. Instead, he says, advertisers should focus on cultural signals that reflect people’s real interests and communities. This approach, according to Ligé, allows brands to reach audiences where their passions and identities actually live, such as targeting runners through training content and race-day moments rather than broad age brackets.
Culture Hive’s Cultural Relevance Score (CRS™) is now integrated into Magnite’s ClearLine platform, enabling advertisers to buy media based on cultural resonance. As third-party cookies decline and AI-driven search changes how consumers discover products, Ligé believes the old playbook is losing effectiveness. He reports that brands using CRS have seen up to four times higher return on ad spend and a 300% increase in retail media performance, though he notes that these gains require ongoing investment in what he calls “emotional equity.”
Ligé distinguishes culture from both demographics and DEI initiatives. He defines culture as the shared identity, values, interests, rituals, and communities that shape how people see themselves. While pop culture trends move quickly, deeper cultural groups-like sneakerheads or ethnic communities-change more slowly. Ligé says that targeting by demographics alone can miss a significant portion of a cultural group’s actual members and content consumption habits. He also points out that DEI is about individual inclusion within organizations, while culture is fundamentally communal.
The CRS system quantifies how closely an audience, creative, or content aligns with a defined culture. For example, someone with Hispanic roots who doesn’t speak Spanish might score 60 to 65, while someone deeply immersed in the culture could score above 90. Agencies and brands can use these segments across SSPs and DSPs-including PubMatic, Magnite, and OpenX-to test and measure cultural relevance in campaigns. Ligé says the system can also flag creative that scores low on relevance but high on visibility, helping brands avoid tokenism, stereotyping, or offensive missteps before campaigns launch.
This approach aims to prevent incidents like the controversial ad featuring a Black child in a green hoodie with the phrase “Coolest Monkey in the Jungle.” Ligé recalls that the family involved did not perceive the ad as racist due to cultural context, highlighting the importance of understanding how messages land across different cultures. By measuring cultural resonance, he believes brands can catch potential issues early and avoid costly mistakes at scale.
At industry events like Cannes, Ligé observes that many discussions about culture lack clear definitions or actionable metrics. He challenges marketers to define culture precisely and optimize toward it, rather than defaulting to what’s trending. He says that brands using CRS have achieved measurable improvements in return on ad spend and retail media lift, but cautions that building authentic resonance requires sustained effort, not quick fixes. The system helps brands identify where they already connect with cultural groups, allowing them to focus resources for long-term impact.
Key performance indicators for CRS include resonance, brand lift, and brand safety. Ligé emphasizes that placing creative in the right cultural context from the start can save budget and improve campaign outcomes. He maintains that cultural relevance captures the nuance of real audiences, moving beyond the limitations of demographic boxes.
For publishers and content creators, the shift toward cultural targeting could reshape how inventory is packaged and sold. As seen in other areas of digital media, such as the need for editorial depth in live blogs to drive engagement, understanding the context and community behind content is becoming increasingly valuable. For more on how context and audience engagement intersect, see this analysis of how live blogs benefit from deeper editorial strategy.
Culture Hive Media Group, founded by Joe Ligé, has positioned its Cultural Relevance Score as a new standard for audience targeting. The company’s integration with major SSPs and DSPs, including Magnite and PubMatic, has expanded its reach among brands and agencies. According to company figures, brands using CRS have reported up to 4x return on ad spend and a 300% lift in retail media performance. Culture Hive continues to develop its measurement tools as advertisers seek more precise and authentic ways to connect with audiences.
