About us
About True Relevance
True Relevance is an adtech company from Hamburg, Germany. It offers psychographic contextual targeting: an artificial neural network, trained by psychologists, analyses which human motives a piece of content speaks to and places campaigns in matching environments – without cookies, IDs or personal data.
- Company
- True Relevance GmbH
- Headquarters
- Hamburg, Germany (Große Bäckerstraße 2, 20095 Hamburg)
- Founded
- Independent company since 2024; the technology grew out of brand-strategy work with Cronbach since 2017
- Offering
- Psychographic contextual targeting for display, online video, connected TV (CTV) and digital out-of-home (DOOH)
- Activation
- Segments via existing DSP and SSP seats; self-service in Segment Studio
- Partners
- Active Agent, The Trade Desk, Xandr, The ADEX, PubMatic, Adform, Equativ, Index Exchange, Displayce, Allon and Sinus-Institut
- Leadership
- Prof. Dr. Joost van Treeck (CEO & CPO), Jörg Vogelsang (CGO), Till Thelosen (CTO)
- Membership
- BVDW – German Association for the Digital Economy
What is psychographic contextual targeting?
Classic contextual targeting asks what a page is about. Psychographic contextual targeting also asks why a piece of content appeals to people: which motive it speaks to and on which level a decision plays out.
The model, developed with founder and CPO Prof. Dr. Joost van Treeck, combines three motives from McClelland’s motivation research – achievement, affiliation and power (status) – with three decision levels described by Triandis – emotional, rational and habitual. Together they form nine psychographic patterns that describe why content moves the people who read it.
Because the signal sits in the content itself, the approach works without cookies, IDs or logins – including the more than 50 % of open-web traffic that carries no ID and is invisible to ID-based targeting.
An example: a football fan reading a tactical analysis is in a rational, performance-oriented mindset; the same fan reading about away days and fan culture is in an emotional, belonging-oriented one. Topic targeting sees “football” both times. Psychographic contextual targeting tells the two moments apart, so the performance message can run next to the analysis and the community message next to the fan story.
How it works
- Define your audience. You describe who you want to reach. A short text or the URL of your website describing a persona or your brand profile is enough.
- Detect the motives. The artificial neural network analyses your input and detects the psychological motives behind your product and audience – such as power, achievement or affiliation – instead of demographics.
- Match the content. The technology identifies articles, pages and contexts that match these psychological patterns and enriches them with brand-specific context.
- Activate the reach. You build the targeting in the self-service tool Segment Studio, receive the segment instantly via SSP or DSP and activate it with the inventory you choose – cookieless.
Frequently asked questions
What does True Relevance do?
True Relevance provides psychographic contextual targeting. Its AI analyses the psychological effect of content – which motives a page speaks to – and uses it to place campaigns in environments that fit the brand and the audience. Agencies, marketers and advertisers book the resulting segments through the platforms they already use.
Does True Relevance use cookies or personal data?
No. The technology analyses the content of a page, not the person reading it. It works without cookies, IDs, logins or personal data and is built on the principle of privacy by design.
How is it different from classic contextual targeting?
Classic contextual targeting classifies topics and keywords. True Relevance also reads what the content does to the reader – which motive it speaks to (achievement, affiliation, power) and on which decision level (emotional, rational, habitual). It is designed as an addition to the contextual targeting a campaign already uses, not as a replacement.
Which channels and formats are supported?
Display, online video, connected TV (CTV) and digital out-of-home (DOOH).
How are segments booked and activated?
In the self-service tool Segment Studio you describe your audience and build the targeting. The segment is delivered via SSP or DSP and activated through existing seats, for example with deal IDs. Partners include Active Agent, The Trade Desk, Xandr, The ADEX, PubMatic, Adform, Equativ, Index Exchange, Displayce, Allon and Sinus-Institut.
How transparent is the targeting?
Every placement is transparent down to the URL – no black box. In Segment Studio, customers can download sample lists of the assigned URLs as CSV and view and adjust the input of their segments.
What results does True Relevance report?
From campaigns, True Relevance reports up to +90 % click-through rate (CTR), up to −60 % cost per lead (CPL) and up to seven times more conversions.
Who is behind True Relevance?
Prof. Dr. Joost van Treeck (founder, CEO and CPO; professor of advertising and consumer psychology), Jörg Vogelsang (Chief Growth Officer; chair of Programmatic at the BVDW and co-chair of the IAB Europe AMC) and Till Thelosen (Chief Technology Officer). The team works from Hamburg and remotely across Germany.
Where did the technology come from?
The neural network grew out of real brand-strategy work: since 2017 it has been developed and applied with Cronbach – grounded in science and psychological precision. In 2024 True Relevance was spun off as an independent company.
Is True Relevance hiring?
Open positions are listed on the careers page.
How can I contact True Relevance?
Write to hello [at] true-relevance.com or request a demo. True Relevance GmbH, Große Bäckerstraße 2, 20095 Hamburg, Germany.
Let’s talk
Want to see psychographic contextual targeting in action? Request a demo – we will get back to you right away.
True Relevance GmbH · Große Bäckerstraße 2 · 20095 Hamburg · Germany