A taste of today´s technology

Hiding insight

H

Russell Parsons, the editor of the UK’s Marketing Weekly, has responded to EasyJet replacing their CMO with a Chief Data Officer, which I previously wrote about in the context of there not being enough data scientists.

He makes an appeal for strategy, and not data, to lead the way, saying:

“But there’s no utopia without first working out what you’re trying to do with your brand and for your customers. Only then does any piece of data mean anything to anyone. Only then can you glean any kind of insight. Seems to me the perfect job for a marketer.  The promise of data is far from realised, and will perhaps never be when compared with the huge expectations. I am struggling to remember too many instances where data-driven communication has propelled my experience of a brand from good to great. On the contrary, most attempts at personalisation have left me cold.”

I think he makes valuable points but also misses the point somewhat.

  • Valuable is that we still don’t really know what the heck to do with all this data that’s all over the place and so its hype may never become hope.
  • Also valuable is how cold some of the attempts at personalisation have left him.  In my case, I find the efforts primitive, intrusive, a little creepy, and a lot annoying.  Having that video of someone doing yoga that I slowed as I scrolled past on Facebook pop up as all the ads I see on my Instagram feed is annoying.  I am deliberately staying away from the like button, or clicking through to see funny cat videos.
  • However, truly individual data has been a marketing nirvana for all the years the function has hoped to know which part of its budget was effective.   It’s not going to be put back into the lamp now we’ve given the thing such a polished gleam.

Now that possibility is in reach.  But only if you know what do with it.  And that takes marketing knowledge AND data knowledge.

I completely agree you need to understand the context of what the data is showing in order to develop the insights, but if you don’t have the foggiest clue about how to get at it, and look at it, the insights will never come.  In future, the ubiquitous availability of large amounts of consumer behaviour data that can be applied for commercial gain means we will use it.  Its promise is too seductively fact-based for us not to.  Unfortunately, right now, it’s those who seek to weaponise information who appear, if the Russian interference in the US presidential elections proves true, to have gotten the jump on becoming proficient hidden persuaders, rather than the marketing department itself.  Those in Marketing (procurement, HR, finance, sales….) who do not recognise what this means for our functions will be replaced by those who do.

About the author

Michelle

I buy technology. I am curious about how technology has changed, and its impact in the workplace and upon society. I also like street art. And dachshunds. Especially dachshunds.

A taste of today´s technology

Meta