Ask the Expert: Tealium
- Andy Thornhill
- 4 days ago
- 6 min read
 | Andy | Damian, thanks for taking the time to talk on the eve of Digital Velocity. To start, could you give us a bit of background about yourself and what you do at Kingfisher? | |
 | Damian | Sure. I started out in the early 2000s as an end‑to‑end web developer, building websites with technologies like PHP and MySQL. Over time that evolved into working with Google Analytics, which meant building data layers for websites and then moving into tag management tools to make installing pixels and analytics much easier. That’s taken me through companies like Sage and Rank Group into roles where I’m responsible for analytics and tracking implementations, and that’s how I ended up specialising in Tealium products. Now I’m at Kingfisher, helping the business realise the value of the Tealium stack. | |
| Andy | How does Kingfisher use Tealium today, and what sort of value does it bring? Any interesting use cases you can talk about? | |
| Damian | Kingfisher has pretty much the full Tealium stack: Tealium iQ, EventStream and AudienceStream, and I focus mainly on the CDP layer with AudienceStream. We use it for abandoned basket campaigns, browse‑not‑bought, paid media audiences and, more recently, social media audiences. That includes not just targeting people, but also stopping targeting where it’s no longer needed, which helps us avoid wasted spend. I work across brands like B&Q, Castorama France and Screwfix, each with their own requirements, and we also work heavily with Braze, which integrates really well with Tealium. One interesting proof of concept I’m working on for one of the brands is a weather‑based module in Tealium. The idea is to use customers’ locations and weather forecasts to target different products on different types of days, so campaigns can be much more context‑aware. | |
| Andy | For a large enterprise, whether Kingfisher or any similar organisation, how would they typically use the different Tealium modules day to day? For example, what does EventStream do versus AudienceStream? | |
| Damian | AudienceStream is Tealium’s real‑time customer data platform, and that real‑time capability is its biggest strength. Most companies use it for real‑time personalisation, capturing customers in the moment and improving the experience on the app or website by tailoring it to the individual. It’s very good at tracking customers across channels, so you can define funnels like “registered,” “purchased” or “shown intent to buy,” and then target people while they’re still engaged. You can also use it to drive milestone‑based experiences. For example, once someone registers for a product or service, you can check if they’ve added their company name, completed a particular form or taken a key step in the last few days, and then trigger relevant messages through whatever vendors you’ve connected. EventStream is a bit different. Think of it more like an ETL-style data pipe: it lets you send events directly to whichever vendors you like, for example Facebook Conversion API, Google events and similar implementations. It doesn’t do the personalisation itself, but it’s great for server‑side tagging and for logging all of your events centrally. | |
| Andy | So would it be fair to say that EventStream is like a data pipe that moves data between systems, and AudienceStream is where you capture that data and filter, aggregate and activate it? | |
| Damian | That’s a good summary. EventStream is effectively Tealium iQ’s server‑side: you can filter and trigger events there, but it deals with events as they happen and doesn’t stitch customers together. AudienceStream reads from EventStream and lets you define which attributes in those events matter to you, then build audiences and attributes on top of that. It also has identity stitching capabilities, so you can tie customer IDs together from EventStream and many other sources into a unified profile. | |
| Andy | We’ve done quite a bit of work together as an agency supporting Kingfisher with Tealium use cases. How has it been working alongside us? | |
| Damian | It’s been great. I find you very collaborative and solutions‑focused, with strong technical knowledge and a willingness to explore different ideas together. It’s really helpful to have an agency you can bounce off, knowing that when there’s a use case or an issue you’re approachable and easy to work with. I also really value the documentation you produce. It’s highly detailed and very useful, and I’ll admit I’ve leaned on you quite a bit for that because documentation can be a bit of a slog, whereas you’re very good at it. | |
| Andy | We’ve talked a lot about Kingfisher and big enterprises. Do you think Tealium can also bring value to smaller or mid‑sized businesses, and if so, how? | |
| Damian | Yes, absolutely. Even for smaller or medium‑sized businesses, the challenge is often that you’ve bought multiple products to help you achieve your goals and your data is spread around. Tealium can bring that together under one roof, because it’s agnostic and can connect via APIs, file feeds and other methods. Once everything is connected, you can get a consolidated view of your customer and use that to drive campaigns, analytics and insights. It’s also a big time saver. Many of the connectors you need are already available and easy to configure, which means less heavy lifting compared to building and maintaining a large, complex data platform from scratch. And beyond the product itself, Tealium as a company offers strong support: if you’re setting up or trying something new, they’re very willing to help you achieve what you’re aiming for and make sure you get value from the investment. | |
| Andy | For anyone thinking about bringing Tealium onboard, what are the top three things they should consider before they start? | |
| Damian | The first is ownership. You need a clear owner for the platform who’s accountable for making sure it’s working, delivering value and being used properly. Alongside that, think about how you’ll measure success: how will you know it’s working, what metrics matter and how will you report on them? The second is data ownership and governance. You need a clear model for who owns which data, how it can be used and how you’ll maintain quality over time. The third is stakeholder engagement. A CDP like AudienceStream touches IT, marketing, social media and more, so you need those areas involved from the start. Getting key stakeholders on board early and keeping them involved in reviewing and approving what goes live helps a lot with adoption and long‑term success. | |
| Andy | Tealium is always evolving. Have any of the recent product updates been particularly interesting or useful for you? | |
| Damian | One standout feature released recently is historical audience look‑up. I had a use case for social media where I needed everyone who’d bought a certain category in the last 12 months, and I could pre‑fill that audience in Tealium. That let me estimate how many people would enter the audience and combine different attributes to deliver the right list to the social team. They’re also moving very quickly on AI‑related connectors. There are now connectors for platforms like Google Vertex, OpenAI and Amazon Bedrock, which means you can route data from AudienceStream, EventStream or iQ directly into those services. It makes it much easier to plug Tealium data into AI use cases inside the business. | |
| Andy | Looking ahead, what upcoming features over the next 12 months are you most looking forward to? | |
| Damian | One big one, which they’re announcing at Digital Velocity and is already on the roadmap, is edge computing. The concept is that you’ll be able to build and evaluate audiences on the device itself, using the device’s chips or AI chips, rather than centrally in the platform. That should enable very timely, on‑device targeting with the right message at the right moment, with aggregated data flowing back for measurement. I’m also expecting continued investment in identity resolution, potentially including partnerships with other identity providers. And more connectivity with cloud data warehouses is a big plus for me, because it means we can export data, analyse it more deeply and layer additional value on top. | |
| Andy | With Digital Velocity coming up next week, what are you most looking forward to at the conference? | |
| Damian | I always enjoy hearing from companies who are using the tools to solve real problems and achieve their goals. For example, hearing how organisations use AudienceStream to support AI models for call centres or marketing teams, or how they’ve structured themselves to work effectively across otherwise siloed areas. It’s really interesting to see how other companies tackle the same challenges we face and the processes they put in place to overcome them. | |
| Andy | You’ll be at Digital Velocity next week, and I’ll be there too. If someone reading this wants to pick your brains about Tealium, can they get in touch, and what’s the best way? | |
| Damian | The best way is probably LinkedIn, and we can include a link to my profile in the article. I’m always happy to answer questions or discuss ideas, and I’m pretty easy to get along with. | |
| Andy | Perfect. And of course, if you see either of us at Digital Velocity, feel free to come and grab us to talk all things Tealium. |
