What's the big deal?

Big Data is seen by marketers as a tool for creating targeted and effective advertising. Will it ultimately prove advertising's relevancy? Or is the obsession with Big Data only hurting the industry?

Advertisers shouldn't shy away from Big Data: Gagandeep Arora

Advertising and marketing are a major source of revenue for many companies and Big Data is quickly becoming one of the core priorities for advertisers and marketers. IDC estimates enterprises will invest more than $120 billion by 2015 to capture the business impact of analytics, across hardware, software and services. In fact, the "Consumerisation of Technology" is changing the way the consumers interact, share their experiences, demand attention and the only way to 'capture' all this 'wealth' is in form of data.

Advertisers want to do more with the data available, to reach to the right target group as well as drive business efficiency for their clients. That said, data is not really a new phenomena for advertisers and marketers. The deluge of data they faced was largely due to direct marketing. Today, the rapid explosion of technology and channels is driving huge growth in the number of interactions customers are having with brands, partners and with one another. There's information at every turn, in every click, every check-in and connection. But this information will remain just that unless it is looked at from various lenses - the lens of your target audience, your partners and your business. Turning this information to insights will help marketers and advertisers tailor the right message, for the right person.

Big Data can drive an integrated marketing and business strategy like nothing else. According to a recent IBM study, high-performing CMOs are integrating internal and external data to garner deep insights which, in turn, provide them with a much deeper understanding of their customers.

The challenge for effective ad targeting also has the ability to look beyond the last click or the most recent search to provide an experience that covers a consumer's entire purchasing journey. Unfortunately, marketers tend to have difficulty locating, accessing and collecting multi-channel purchase data. Big Data and analytics technologies help marketers overlay offline transaction data with all of these other online data types - including data from various third-party sources - to gain insights and improve campaign ROI. With the right interpretation of data, advertisers can understand their customers as individuals, know each customer in context (leader marketers are 2.6 times more likely than the average to be adjusting real-time offers based on context) and co-create authentic brand experiences.

With Big Data technologies, advertisers can:

• Conduct real time analysis of customer behaviour to produce tailored experiences and targeted promotions
• Measure the effectiveness of online advertising to fine-tune campaigns while they are in progress
• Adopt advanced content analytics solutions to mine social media posts and call centre logs in order to assess customer sentiment and avoid churn
• Analyse data continuously streaming in from to increase service uptime, facilitate better planning
• Implement predictive analytics solutions to anticipate future customer behaviour

Advertisers shouldn't shy away from Big Data. It combines insight and innovation to form a creative ad experience - one that connects with consumers. And, of course, doing it all at lightning speed.

Gagandeep Arora
Industry solutions leader, IBM India/South Asia

 
Use common sense instead of Big Data: Zafar Rais

We are making steady progress towards the state where 'more is not always better'. Understanding the difference between key performance indicators (KPI) and performance indicators (PI) is important in the Big Data. A KPI is an action that is tied to ROI (something that can be tested and optimised). A PI is just that - some indicator of performance that can be measured. Just because you can measure it does not mean you should pay attention to it. Big Data is more than a buzzword surrounding our business. We now have the capability to tap into this intricate realm of analytics that can be used to understand, track and predict consumer behaviour and preferences. And from there, we are able to strategically place our creative messages in the right channel at the most receptive moment.

Big Data has become a grossly overused term. The reason everyone is fed up with hearing the term is because it is a bit like the term "advertising." It covers so much ground that, really, it is no longer useful. If you were asked to write about the state of the advertising industry, you'd have to cover a variety of topics including old media and new, creative, research and reporting, social and mobile, agencies and client-specific trends. Although there are some trends that run through all of these topics, the most interesting information is found by being specific.

So is the case with Big Data. Everyone has some part of their company that they would like to improve. And no matter what that is - purchasing, selling, accounting - Big Data is here to help. You can now not only see the trends, but also the parts that make up the trends. And often we find that what we thought was a simple trend is made up of more interesting separate parts.

Data impacts advertising in two areas: efficiency of delivery and effectiveness of experience. We use data to drive the right experience to the right user, at the right time and in the right place. Brands like Homeshop18, MaxBupa have realised the importance of Big Data and are generally referring to the use of sets of information from inside and outside of company that then can be analysed for better profitability. Rather than just retargeting the same user 30 times after visiting a site, this means integrating customer profile data with third party data to deliver a more rewarding experience. Our use of sophisticated segmentation systems provides users the same experience across all touch points - from desktop and mobile to apps and advertising. This is a departure from traditional marketing where you might test creative among a small audience and optimise media based on clicks. In this method, the question about ROI was: Does my marketing work? Now, the question is: How do I manage marketing on an ongoing basis, maximise the right KPIs and provide the best experience for my most valuable users?

We believe data shifts the onus of the industry from proving value to making effectiveness an ongoing process: we create, test, refine and repeat; we keep learning as our users keep evolving. What's hurting the industry is a focus on short-term results and immediate financial return. The future lies in mastering the right combination of strategically placed ads and engaging with consumers through these messages and content. Only then will the 'buzzy' concept of big data truly prove its relevance in advertising. The best practice for Big Data: use common sense and only place confidence in those measurements that have a proven connection to business growth. Deciding what to focus on and then applying the right tools will separate the winners from the frustrated participants.

Zafar Rais
founder & CEO, MindShift Interactive