That Distant Rumble Is Big Data

‘Big Data’ is the phrase of the moment in tech circles which probably means it will be appearing on the to-do lists of marketing folk soon.  The expression refers mainly to the oceans of information being poured continuously onto the open web and social networks by ever more connected consumers (aka people).  This tsunami comes in the shape of comments, images, scans, tweets, likes, views, posts, videos and a kaleidoscope of other digital expressions.  However, whilst people's everyday lives are providing a big piece of the pie, the scope of Big Data goes much further.  Less obvious but just as vast are the intelligence flows that stem from our web browsing behaviour or location signals from smartphones.  Other component parts include corporations publishing market information , governments opening up public data for others to use, or vast social platforms that encourage smart developers to weave new applications and services.  The result is a share-and-compare economy where people, companies and organisations trade digital views, opinions and information in order to help make decisions - commercial or otherwise.  As ever, this creates challenges and opportunities for marketing and brand folk.  But there’s no shortage...

...of suppliers, including IBM, Adobe and Accenture bombarding the fabled C-Suite with offers of help. All of these technology giants are offering services that gather and make sense of the data being created within networked media oceans, thereby improving decisions about marketing strategy, and throwing light on the most famous dilemma in advertising.  

In reality, despite the buzz, it’s early days.  However, whilst still a distant rumble, there seems little doubt that Big Data will be one of the next mega-waves to crash onto the shores of the marketing industry creating a new set of difficulties to navigate, not to mention new super-competitors to battle.  This is because more and more media, including TV, is gradually becoming software driven and subsequently being drawn into the Big Data explosion.

Last week’s Campaign Magazine gave a taster of the impact this new wave of digital technology may have.  IBM, a $200bn top-predator from the technology sector, had a full-page advertisement promoting its survey of 1700 CMOs who describe their priorities being less about creativity and more about getting to grips with a world of Big Data.  Meanwhile, in the same edition, Claire Beale, the magazine's editor, commented that she found IBM's findings, 'depressing,' and that, 'creativity defies data'.  However, the reality is that this data-driven world is shaping up and will be the new reality sooner than might seem likely.  And while fantastic creative thinking is always going to be a vital aspect of brand strategy, Chairmen and shareholders are just as excited by data that helps work out where their money is going.

Comments

[bradbell.tv]

Dear future marketers, please do not use big data to find more clever ways of advertising. Please use it to create a more useful product. It would seem likely that advertising is the product of analog media and a scarcity of communications media. At a certain point, it becomes redundant.

Google's targeting is now so good it backfires. I am slammed continuously on YouTube with a banner ad for a charity which it rightly connects me with. I don't know how it knows. However, the constant whack a mole with banner ads means I find the organisation really irritating. The targeting is too good for the frequency. It's like a sniper shooting somebody right between the eyes, over and over and over again.

Would you consider Siri a product of big data, James? From what I know of it, it sounds like the kind of thing that at least makes it possible to imagine why advertising would become redundant, ie. you can discover what you want, and get what you want, when you want it. You no longer need your unconscious mind battered with repetitive, interruptive, background messaging for months in the event that one day, you will be standing in an isle looking blankly at rows of sanitary napkins, thinking "The one on the left reminds me of bicycles."

From what I understand Siri is a less about speech recognition and more about the artificial intelligence that interprets the meaning of speech in the context of all information about the user and their current situation - in the bigger context of Siri users nationally and globally. Siri is essentially a big data community brain dump in the sky that learns.

[James Cherkoff]

Hey Brad, to be honest I struggle to define what is and is not within the world of Big Data. It basically seems if it's connected it's Big Data. Which means that it's unfathomably vast and diverse.

Very interesting what you say about Siri. I hadn't heard about it's aggregating context. It strikes me that it's a really helpful way to help navigate, and as you say, does suggest that there will be less opportunities to place ads.

Illuminating as ever, thanks Brad... ;-)