Big Data Promotes a Culture of Data-Informed Decision Making and Adaptive Marketing – Antony Young-Mindshare

March 14, 2013 1 Comment

data

By Antony Young

Big Data is quickly being catapulted to the top of Marketing’s agenda, but it remains a challenge for many companies in preparing for this shift. According to a survey conducted by IBM, less than half of CMO’s feel prepared to cope with this increasing amount of marketing data over the next 5 years, with the data explosion cited as their #1 headache. The problem isn’t obtaining data, it’s figuring out how to turn it into marketing magic. I’m seeing a growing list of exceptional cases of marketer’s shifting their organizations to adopt a higher level of data-informed decision making, often with astonishing results.

It’s not so much big data, but smart data used at scale

Last week, I had dinner with Joe Rospars, founding partner at Blue State Digital, who served as Obama’s Chief Digital Strategist for his 2008 and 2012 campaigns, and asked him about big data. He responded, their approach “wasn’t so much big data, but smart data used at scale.” To win this election, they needed to get very granular in their targeting. By extracting voter files and collecting information via the tens of thousands of polling calls made to homes every night, they were able to identify by household individual voter likelihood, and then determine the communications they needed to deliver.

The Obama campaign expertly targeted via online advertising, email, door to door and phone canvassing very personalized messaging. They cleverly extended this strategy via social media. Nearly a million supporters that ‘liked’ the Obama 2012 page also allowed access to their profile data via Facebook Connect. This enabled Obama’s people to identify their Facebook friends in battleground States, cross tabulate with their own databases, which they then asked supporters to email or even personally call their friends that fit likely Obama voter profiles, to remind them to register or vote early.

Data is the engine for Adaptive Marketing

Data is allowing brands to move quicker and more decisively to gain a market advantage by dynamically informing their messaging and media.

Samsung a big investor in data, worked with insights firm Networked Insights, to use real-time social listening to help them keep a finger on the pulse of consumer sentiment and adjust their communications to capitalize on the web discussion about brands.

Within a couple of hours of Apple’s Tim Cook revealing their iPhone 5, Samsung reading the reaction in social channels, drafted new print, digital, and TV ads. The following week as the iPhone hit the stores, they aired TV ads mocking Apple customers queuing up for the new phone and some of its less flattering features. The commercial was a hit, and received more than 70 million views online.

They also used social listening as a real time guide to evaluate how effective their ads were with consumers by measuring what people are saying about them and what effect they’ve having on competitors’ brands. Stressing the importance of data in informing their marketing, Brian Wallace, the former VP of Marketing at Samsung, (who recently moved to Motorola to a global marketing role) said, “The data guys lead these conversations. Not the creative guys. Not the sale guys. And it’s not just analytics — it’s analysis.” He added, “[data] does not crush the art of advertising. It simply informs it — and ultimately improves it.” Samsung’s shift to a strategy of employing social data at the center was one of the key factors that assisted them to move from the number 4 mobile device manufacturer to pass the mighty Apple.

Creating a more personalized customer experience

I’m seeing a focus on data enabling marketers to create smarter, more engaged customer experiences.

I recently chaired a panel which included Sandra Zoratti, co-author of the book Precision Marketing. She cited Caesar’s Entertainment as a marketer that centralized data to better formulate its approach to marketing. They identified 0.15% of their customers that contributed to 12% of their casino revenues. This led to them employing Good Luck Ambassadors to monitor these customers. If they weren’t having a good night on the tables, they offered complimentary tickets to a show or dinner based on their known preferences to ensure they left their casinos with a positive experience.

Building a fluid organization that can capitalize on the data

Shifting to a fast moving data marketing organization isn’t just about software and strategy. It requires a shift in how the agency and clients teams work.

The Obama campaign quadrupled their data team from the previous election campaign, adding data technologists, behavioral scientists and mathematicians to crunch the data and help interpret them into actionable marketing insights.

According to Rospars, to improve speed of activation, they established a persona playbook on how the brand should speak, to allow them to delegate decision making down.

Personally, I love this shift to data-informed decision making. It is creating more adaptive, more relevant and more commercial marketing programs. We are barely scratching the surface, but it’s clear that going forward, data will be an enabler of more potent marketing.

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Leveraging Data to Embrace the Customer Experience

January 30, 2013

OMMA’s Data Driven Marketing panel I chaired last week: “Leveraging Data to Embrace The Customer Experience http://ow.ly/hem0e 

OMMA DDM

The One True View: Leveraging Data to Embrace The Customer Experience
It is not about the channel experience anymore. Big data makes possible a holistic view of a consumer “journey,” that is bigger and more personal than simply being online, in-store, on mobile, or watching TV. That 360-degree or “one true view” of that customer can inform how messaging is crafted and timed according to the user’s path, not the platform. It demands a new understanding of a consumer “lifecycle” and data that drives marketers towards the right touch points. Our panel of marketing practitioners shares examples of how data is best being used to understand and enhance the customer experience and the challenges of creating that “one true view.”
MODERATOR
Antony Young, CEO, Mindshare, N.A. @AntonyYoung
PANELISTS
Shaina Boone, VP, Marketing Science, Critical Mass
Greg Corso, VP, Media Solutions, dunnhumby @gjcorso
Pete Stein, President, Eastern Region, Razorfish @pstein211
Randy Watson, VP of Consulting, Digital Impact & Innovation, Acxiom
Sandra Zoratti, VP of Marketing, Executive Briefings and Education, Ricoh @sandraz
See the video of the panel by clicking this link.

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What Marketers Can Learn From the 2012 Presidential Campaigns

November 9, 2012

Target, Adapt and Respond — and Don’t Forget Your Ground Game

Mr. Obama’s skillful deployment of social media in 2008 caused marketers to sit up and take notice. So what can brands learn from this year’s massive, sophisticated presidential campaigns?
Barack Obama after his acceptance speech in Chicago
Daniel Acker/Bloomberg News

 

Focus on your swing voters
Both the Romney and Obama campaigns spent the bulk of their media dollars in the battleground states including Ohio, Virginia, Colorado, Florida, Wisconsin, Iowa and Nevada (sometimes to the despair of the states’ overwhelmed residents). And they trained much of their fire on the undecideds. That applied even to the individual TV shows they bought. Both campaigns largely avoided placements during cable news shows, for example, whose audiences were more likely to have already decided who they were voting for. Local news broadcasts, on the other hand, indexed highest for independents who were more likely to turn out on Election Day, according to Scarborough.Who are your swing voters? The real value of mass media, and where the economics really make sense, is in drawing new consumers into your brand.

Remember your ground game
The Obama campaign said it made 125 million voter contacts, more than twice the total reported by Republicans, with more field offices in key areas than the Romney campaign and more personal outreach. Marketers would do well to remember that activation, promotion and personal touches go a long way in locking in the benefits of media spending.

Video still works
While 2008 was considered by many “the Facebook Election,” TV — or, more precisely, video — reasserted its strategic importance in 2012. Mr. Obama had a challenging platform to sell given the performance of the economy, but he did in most cases outspend Romney in TV, in many cases 2 to 1. We also saw a heavy shift of dollars into online video. Hulu revealed that election spending on the online video site was up 700% from the last election.

Hyper-local is the new black
Part of the appeal of online video is the ability to hyper-target, that is, the ability to pinpoint media and commercial messaging within a narrow catchment area. In Blacksburg, Va., for example, there are 30,000 students residing at Virginia Tech. The Obama campaign’s Hulu buys targeted the schools’ zip code with “Gotta Vote” spots to encourage students to register and turn out.

Broadcast advertising, too, was tailored to local issues. In Ohio, Mr. Obama’s campaign targeted blue-collar women by promoting its track record on jobs, whereas in Florida, the Romney campaign sought Cuban-American voters with hard-hitting TV commercials claiming Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez supported Mr. Obama’s policies. We saw local radio play a role, too, in this localization.

Are we as marketers really taking opportunity of localizing our media and messaging? Despite a lot of talk about targeting, many marketers still emphasize efficiency in spending over relevance to different customer segments and markets.

Adaptive marketing is rising
I’ve written previously about adaptive marketing, but both candidates just demonstrated its value again as they reacted to voter polls and feedback in nearly real time. And although all marketers listen to consumer responses, it was the speed and consistency with which both the Romney and Obama campaigns were able to respond that impressed me.

On multiple occasions we saw Mr. Romney test a message or storyline in a campaign rally speech. If it got a reaction from the audience, video spots would quickly follow online. If there was strong response online or pickup by cable news networks, the ads would appear on broadcast TV … all within a matter of days, often adjusting further as the campaign progressed.

Adaptive marketing doesn’t always require massive spending and machinery, either. Both candidates also expertly tapped into their advocates to push out tweets during the debates to reinforce key punctuation points to the base or counter comments by their opponent.

Long-form content can persuade 
A good showing in the first debate jolted Mr. Romney out of the doldrums and into contention. While he didn’t win in the end, he closed the gap sharply. Brands, for their part, don’t have to win an election; all they need to do is improve market share. What can be learnt from this? First, all brands have the opportunity to re-invent — or at least drive re-consideration — and it can happen quickly if done well. Second, long-form branded video content is a medium that is underused. Sure, the mass reach of a presidential debate and the subsequent news coverage isn’t available to brands. But deeper content outside of ad units can change opinions.

Negative ads are a negative
Negative advertising was a feature of both candidates’ campaigns, subjecting each candidate’s brand to a beating. According to the Wesleyan Media Project, negative ads between June and October accounted for 62.9% of spots, compared to 39.7% in 2008. I suspect that turned off voters and contributed to the apparent decline in voter turnout from 2008. I hope we don’t see this as a trend for brands in 2013.

Presidential elections are not just a boost to the coffers of the media companies, but serve as a benchmark for brands. For me, the next election can’t come soon enough.

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To Win the Pitch or Get Your First Big Job, Three Steps Are the Same

October 30, 2012

Mindshare North America CEO on Careers, Media and the Lessons of his Mistakes

Young media planners gunning for their first big job should follow the same advice that applies before a big new-business pitch, said Antony Young, CEO at Mindshare North America, in our latest Basics Q&A with a media agency leader.

He also identified the career mistake he sees too many people making — and four lessons of his own mistakes.

Advertising Age: How did you get your first job?

Antony Young: I started my career in New Zealand, and advertising found me, so I guess advertising does work. It was a well-written classified ad that got me intrigued about working in advertising. The ad sold the job well and it was obviously written by one of the copywriters and it explained what a media planner and buyer does and it did it in a way that pulled me in.

Ad Age: Had you planned to work in advertising?

Mr. Young: Before that, I hadn’t thought seriously about advertising, but I did remember walking past a building and seeing a whole bunch of luxury European cars and BMWs parked outside and I thought, “I don’t know what they do in that company but I wouldn’t mind getting a job there,” and it later turned out it was an ad agency.

Maybe if you live in New York or New Jersey advertising is more on your radar, but in New Zealand it wasn’t the first thing that came up. I sort of fell into the ad business, and I assumed everyone was similar, but now in college there are students who want to end up in advertising. I lecture a bit at Syracuse University at the Newhouse School of Public Communications and when I did my last lecture I said, “You probably don’t know what a media agency is,” but they all did.

Ad Age: How have people responded over the years when you say what you do for a living?

Mr. Young: After I’d been working in the business for a year, I was at a party and someone asked what do you do for a living. I said I worked in advertising, and he said, “You’re one of those unscrupulous people who sells products to people that they don’t need.” I said, “Yes, what do you do?” He said, “I’m a lawyer.”

Ad Age: Is the perception of advertising different now?

Mr. Young: A lot of people come in because they are attracted to the media business, because media is this cross section between pop culture and technology and business, and it’s constantly being talked about even at a young age. Media has become more accessible and it touches your regular life a lot more.

Ad Age: What advice would you give to media planners trying to get their first big job?

Mr. Young: I would give them the same advice I would give myself in preparing for a big pitch. I tell myself three things when we are pitching for an account. First, make sure you are super-prepared. Second, figure out what makes you different and interesting and spend time discussing what makes you stand out. Lastly, say something memorable in your interview.

For my first job, the media director at the time asked me what did I think made me right to be in media department, and I said, “I’m Chinese, I’ve got to be good with numbers.” He said, “That’s a bit of a silly response.” But at least they saw that it was a real response.

Ad Age: What mistakes have you made and what have you learned from them?

Mr. Young: When people talk about experience, it usually means you have made a lot of mistakes. I’ve made plenty in the past months, let alone my career. Here are four things I’ve learned that have come from mistakes. The first is: Don’t raise issues, present solutions. Everyone appreciates a problem solver. The second thing is: Don’t just present numbers, but offer an insight. The third is: Never reply to an annoying email immediately. Always save it in the drafts for a day. And never miss a deadline. No matter what, you will have underdelivered.

Ad Age: What mistakes do you see young media planners and buyers making?

Mr. Young: This is not just young people, but we see all people struggle to delegate. You almost think it’s a good thing to make yourself indispensable or irreplaceable. But don’t. I’ve been lucky about being promoted, in part because people realize there is someone who can take over. Develop your team. If you haven’t groomed someone to take over, that can limit you.

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Why Creative Agencies Rule Media… at Least at Cannes

July 2, 2012

Why Media Agencies Don’t Win More Media Lions, and How They Can Do Better

By:  Appeared in Ad Age: June 26, 2012

The results are out for the Cannes Media Lions and appear to be a blow for the established media agency networks. Congratulations go to Manning GotliebOMD in London for winning the Grand Prix, to be sure, but fellow media shops didn’t fare so well when it came to picking up the silverware.

From more than 100 media trophies handed out last week in the Grand Audi of the Palais des Festivals, a paltry 22 went to media planning and buying agencies. An overwhelming 80% of the awards were picked up largely by creative agencies, with a smattering of digital or content specialists. Now, I’m not about to dis the festival. I admit I would have liked our agency to have done better. But what does it say if the agencies entrusted with media budgets of billions of dollars aren’t winning these awards?

Creative agencies are just more focused on trophies. Let’s face it: Creative agencies want to win awards more badly.

The reputations and careers of creatives are made at Cannes, with job offers often following success at the festival. A communications planner or media buyer primarily gets kudos from the agency and the satisfaction of a job well done. Rarely does winning a media award have a monetary impact to their monthly pay that correlates with the impact for creative professionals.

Perhaps it’s more clear that a media award is the result of many hands in the agency touching the campaign … planners, print buyers, broadcast negotiators, out-of-home staff, digital/social teams, the insights group, media partners and, of course, creative agencies. There’s a lot of credit that gets shared across the agency and beyond, so it’s hard for two to three individuals to truly claim it. We’re a little more altruistic at the media agencies.

Creative agencies are also much better storytellers — which comes in handy when they’re telling their own story in awards applications. Last year, I judged an awards show where the media jury was completely seduced by the case video and written submission for the Microsoft Bing/JayZ out-of-home campaign. Even though the campaign ran in New York City, none of the New Yorkers on the final panel could recall ever seeing it. No matter. And no excuses: If the media agencies want to win at Cannes, then we just have to want it more — certainly more than we want it now.

Cannes is still about ‘creative’ media awards. While media agencies see their principle role as media-investment advisers and distributors of messaging, Cannes is still really about how creative and inventive a marketer and their agencies can be. Take the Gold Lions awarded in media this year. Six of the clients were nonprofits or causes. That suggests that not only have big media budgets become irrelevant to winning, they are threatening to become a hindrance.

With the exception of Mediacom’s delightful campaign for Canon, I doubt if the total combined paid media budget for the other Gold campaigns was more than $300,000.

I wouldn’t want to take anything away from the terrific winning submissions. They were all worthy winners. But I would say the media award shows are in danger of become media’s equivalent of an haute couture fashion show, rather than ready to wear. Then again, no one is going to want to see a best use of data award!

The definition of “media” continues to broaden. Any campaign that smacked of conventional or heavily traditional media wasn’t even shortlisted — and rightly so. This year, new media ranged from an Antwerp movie theater full of bikers for Carlsberg to floating foam crosses promoting World Aids Day to a couple of polar bears watching the Super Bowl for Coca-Cola. Whatever the media idea or platform, YouTube, Facebook, Google and Twitter featured in almost every one of the best campaigns. Note to planners: if the campaign you’re planning isn’t social by design, then don’t bother entering next year.

The winning campaigns were, on the whole, quite inspirational. And if this is how the judges see the best that media has to offer, then fair game, that’s the bar we all need to aspire to. It’s incumbent on everyone working in media, whichever agency you work for, to come back next year with more groundbreaking media innovation.

Click here to view the winning 2012 Media Lion award submissions.

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MediaPost: Mindshare’s Young Is Focused On Data, Clients, Choices

June 26, 2012

by , appeared in MediaPost Monday 25 June 2012

YoungBig data, big clients — and someday soon, big mobile. Those are just a few of the items high on the priority list of Antony Young, who joined Mindshare as North American CEO nearly nine months ago.

Young also says the agency needs to do more work in the area of “discovery-based” communications, such as search and social. With a new platform emerging almost daily, he said, clients are hungry for advice on how to use them to best advantage.

“It’s really about choices,” said Young. Because most clients don’t have a need for — nor can they afford to use — all the media channels that are available, media selection is key, and meshing it all together in the most efficient way for individual clients is critical, he adds.

One of the “big bets” that Mindshare is making is that data management technology will help clients find answers quickly about consumer needs, behavior and the kinds of relationships they want to have with marketers. Ultimately, having that knowledge should boost client profits, which is what agencies are being increasingly called upon to do, Young said.

Just last week, Mindshare launched a new tech platform that it believes will advance clients’ ability to aggregate and massage massive amounts of data in ways that will sharply improve strategic planning and integrated communication capabilities.

Called Core, the platform was created with the help of a number of outside data and market research firms, including Acxiom and Nielsen. It’s an open-source, “always on” system that crunches media, pricing, consumer and client data including sales, supply chain and CRM stats.

According to Young, that platform and other data-related capability enhancements the shop is undertaking  are “probably the most important piece of the puzzle for clients.” It contains all of the information required to finding links to improved results. “That’s huge,” he said. “That syncing up and marrying of media, consumer and business data can unlock a lot of business value for clients.”

Agency-client relationships are another key focus at the agency, said Young, who notes that in the time he has been at Mindshare, the CMOs or top-ranking marketing executives at 16 clients have changed. Keeping up with the new strategies and agendas of the shifting players is crucial.

Young made several reorganizational moves recently to ensure that the agency is keenly focused on clients and potential new business.

In May, Lee Doyle, a GroupM veteran and former CEO at sibling agency MEC, was appointed president of client development at Mindshare, a new position at the agency. Doyle will focus on multinational clients and seeing that the agency has the right resources and strategies in place at client teams. Doyle’s appointment, said Young, is a signal that “we really want to be engaged with clients at a more senior level and earlier in the planning stages.”

Staying “constantly fluid is a really important part of that,” added Young. “Especially when you look at the [management] changes at clients and shifting priorities as their own businesses change.”

In a related bid to stengthen client ties, the shop promoted Michael Epstein to president, strategic resources and client services. He is responsible for the management of new business, corporate communications, digital, multicultural and promotions. Epstein previously served as the lead on a number of key client accounts, including Unilever.

The potential of mobile is no longer a subject of debate, says Young. He believes society is headed toward a “mobile-dominated media world,” where tablets will almost supplant PCs. While he says agencies and clients alike probably aren’t moving fast enough to prepare for that eventuality, the agency made a move last week, forming a joint venture with Google, called “Mobile Garage.” It’s designed to educate companies about mobile technology and expedite their use of the medium in their marketing plans.

“Everyone is trying to catch up,” in the mobile sector, said Young, noting that 15% of Amazon.com transactions are now done via mobile, as are 20% of Google searches. “To me, that’s a pretty sharp signal that marketers and agencies are behind the eight ball and we need to get ahead of it.”

Read more: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/177554/mindshares-young-is-focused-on-data-clients-cho.html#ixzz1ytVSYqUW

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Let’s Not Write-Off Facebook Just Yet

June 2, 2012

By Antony Young, CEO Mindshare North America

They say that a week is a long time in our business, and surely the folks at Facebook would agree.

The overwhelming media darling for the past few years saw its IPO become a catalyst for the press, and every other news channels to turn on the social media network.  I guess the largest IPO in history was either going to go one of two ways with them.  As a journalist once told me, to the news media, a plane that crashes is a much better story than one that takes off!

Mark Zuckerberg strikes me as being quite different than most other digital entrepreneurs.  He never particularly chased the limelight.  In fact the notoriously media-shy executive was relentless sort out by the media.  He never seemed in a hurry to sell to advertisers.  Until recently we mostly pursued him.  And it would seem that the necessity to go public came more from the desire by the money men and the large number of employees looking to realize value for their stock.

So what does a disappointing IPO and disgruntled investors mean for Facebook and the advertising and media community?

Nothing.  Facebook is no different this month than it was last month.

It is a powerful, ubiquitous venue for social interaction by consumers … about half a billion exchanging or viewing content every day.

It remains an interesting platform for brands.  I’m not sure if we have yet figured out its full potential just yet or indeed how to monetize or measure it satisfactorily.

It has become a venue for advertising with some rich and fairly unique insight into their users profile, interests and behavior.

A flawed IPO and fledging stock price doesn’t really change that.

Those of us that recall the great dot com stumble in 2000 will remember that while catastrophic for many investors really didn’t impact the underlining development and growth in the Internet as a channel and a marketing medium.

But here’s what I fear…

The overwhelming attention by Wall Street and now its public shareholders to its quarterly earnings, cause their management to lose its focus.   The ad community isn’t going to spend more just because they need to hit their numbers.  Continue to work with us to find the models, listen and by all means sell.  The dollars will come because it makes sense to marketers when it delivers an ROI that we can justify on our timetable.  Stay the course.  I worry that expectations at this point seem unsubstantially high and that they could quickly lose patience and prompt them into making rash decisions.

Here’s what I hope for from them …

They use the cash well.  Acquiring new companies, new technologies; and entering new venues is going to be what is going to define Facebook Inc. in the future.

When one looks at its peer companies … Google, Microsoft, AOL and Yahoo! Their stock valuation and performance as media companies has been defined as much by their new businesses as their core business model.

Google for example, bought the companies or technologies behind YouTube, Gmail, Google Maps, Chrome, Adsense, Android, Google Books, Google TV, Google+ and Google Wallet.  They are now much more than a search engine/Adwords business.

I don’t plan to invest in Facebook stock anytime soon.  But what is more important to Facebook is if they can get me and the rest of the marketer community investing in their products.

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Google Products You May or May Not of Heard of …

April 16, 2012

Google is constantly developing new ideas and then seeing if they stick.  This is a great list compiled by Adam Vincenzini of Paratus Communications.
  1. Google Takeout – No, this is not Google’s food delivery service (although that’d be handy), this is a tool which allows you to download an archive of your data from things like your +1′s, Google+ Circles, Contacts and Picasa Web albums.
  2. Google Mars – While you’re probably familiar with Google Earth, Google Mars is a little less well known. However, what it lacks in notoriety it makes up for in in geeky coolness. It gives you the ability to check out spacecraft landing locations, crater depth and even comes with an infrared option.
  3. Google Health – This is one of the (many) products Google launched that didn’t quite capture the imagination of the public as anticipated. It was designed to be a portal for all of your health and wellness information. This service officially shuts down on January 1, 2013.
  4. Google SketchUp – Now, this definitely falls into the ‘incredibly useful’ category of Google products. Google SketchUp allows you to create anything in 3D from coffee pots to skyscrapers. Check out the community gallery for added inspiration.
  5. Google Correlate – If you’ve been watching the new TV show starring Kiefer Sutherland called Touch you’ll appreciate this one as it allows you to find patterns within data samples. Oooh yeah, go get your geek on!
  6. Google Sites – It’s surprising Google hasn’t done more with this in light of the self-publishing explosion of the last few years. If and when you do need a spot online to share content with a specific group, this is a decent option
  7. Google HotPot – With SO MANY food review and recommendation services in existence, this seems like an odd one to add to the Google bucket list. And although it sits pretty seamlessly on top of Google Places. But I don’t know anyone who uses it, do you?
  8. What Do You Love? (from Google) – You may have heard about this one when it was launched a little while back but if you haven’t, it is worth putting on your ‘to-do’ list. On the back of the ‘interest graph’ explosion, this aggregates content relating to specified topics from across the Google product network.
  9. YouTube Feather – A slight cheat here as we’re looking at a sub-product from the Google-owned YouTube product. While it was released in 2009, it’s still being trialed and this means you may not have come across it yet. In short, YouTube Feather is a ‘light’ version of YouTube that aims to take the strain away from your browser and internet connection.
  10. Panoramio – A photo sharing community that invites people to share their pictures of the world mashed up over the Google maps tool.

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The 20 most watched TedTalks

April 1, 2012

I’m always inspired by TED Talks.

Here is a list of the top  TEDTalks videos and links.

They’re all great speeches … very inspiring.

Sir Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity (2006): 8,660,010 views
Jill Bolte Taylor‘s stroke of insight (2008): 8,087,935
Pranav Mistry on the thrilling potential of SixthSense (2009): 6,747,410
Pattie Maes and Pranav Mistry demo SixthSense (2009): 6,731,153
David Gallo‘s underwater astonishments (2007): 6,411,705
Tony Robbins asks Why we do what we do (2006): 4,909,505
Hans Rosling shows the best stats you’ve ever seen (2006): 3,954,776
Arthur Benjamin does mathemagic (2005): 3,664,705
Jeff Han demos his breakthrough multi-touchscreen (2006): 3,592,795
Johnny Lee shows Wii Remote hacks for educators (2008): 3,225,864
Blaise Aguera y Arcas runs through the Photosynth demo (2007): 3,007,440
Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing your genius (2009): 2,978,288
Dan Gilbert asks: Why are we happy? (2004): 2,903,993
Stephen Hawking asks big questions about the universe (2008): 2,629,230
Daniel Pink on the surprising science of motivation (2009): 2,616,363
Barry Schwartz on the paradox of choice (2005): 2,263,065
Richard St. John shares 8 secrets of success (2005): 2,252,911
Mary Roach 10 things you didn’t know about orgasm (2009): 2,223,822
Simon Sinek on how great leaders inspire action (2010): 2,187,868
Chimamanda Adichie shares the danger of a single story (2009): 2,143,763

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Adaptive Marketing … How Brands Can Use Data to Personalize and Market Themselves

February 15, 2012

Google took a lot of heat last month when it announced its decision to incorporate personal data into its search results. The “Don’t Be Evil” people were vilified by commentators and competitors. But its move was just another step in a shift by many marketers toward more actively tracking and responding to consumers.

Amazon gives shoppers personalized recommendations. Nike lets runners customize their trainers via Nike ID. Coca-Cola has introduced Freestyle vending machines, which enable patrons to create their own beverage by mixing together existing Coke products and then sharing their favorite creations with their friends via Facebook.

Consumers are increasingly comfortable providing their information with companies they know will use it to help personalize their products and communications, or companies providing essential services such as insurance. According to a recent study in the U.K., 75% of consumers that have an existing relationship with a company are happy to share their information with it, while 62% would share their information with a company selling products or services they need.

At Mindshare we have a name for this accelerated data-driven and consumer-focused mentality:adaptive marketing. It’s an approach that enables marketers to truly tailor their activities in rapid and unparalleled ways to meet their customers’ interests and needs based on data. It’s not just about advertising, but adapting every part of the marketing mix as well as the product itself to connect more consumers with the brand, make it more relevant to everyone and deliver more benefits.

Why is this the most exciting development in marketing in decades?

Adaptive marketing allows you to create more personalized brands, thereby eliminating commoditization. Adaptive marketing rips apart the concept of “the consumer,” a label that marketers have used to conveniently aggregate a picture of who they are trying to sell to. It assumes a classic model of mass-production, mass-appeal products promoted in mass media. The problem with this model is that it speaks to the most basic of needs, resulting in lowest common denominator marketing. This drives brands towards commodification, resulting in downward pressure on pricing… every marketer’s doomsday scenario.

You can personalize your Kleenex box.

You can personalize your Kleenex box.

KLM lets you link your network with your seat.

KLM lets you link your network with your seat.

Adaptive marketing looks to debunk that model. Personalizing a product to a customer increases its relevance and customer satisfaction, making it less likely they will want to switch brands.

Kleenex has introduced personalized packaging to great effect. M&M’s allow you to order customized candies. Dutch airline KLM has just introduced a service called “Meet & Seat” to help travelers decide who they might want to sit next to by linking your Facebook or LinkedIn profile to your flight. (Presumably, you could also use the service to decide who not to sit next to.)

Behavioral pricing is an interesting idea that’s being discussed where brands could differentiate pricing based on data collected. For example, consumers that “like” a brand could in theory conceivably be prepared to pay more. For prospects which have searched or visited a brand online, a marketer might be more willing to provide a bigger incentive to purchase.

Adaptive Marketing is about being more responsive to customers more quickly Communication is an essential part of the approach. Whirlpool responds individually to people complaints raised online about their appliances. Companies such as Starbucks and Apple for years have been crowdsourcing for new product and service ideas within communities on Twitter and Facebook.

Today’s media, technology and data provide the channels to facilitate adaptive marketing. In a way media has always been integral in steering marketing strategy. National broadcast TV helped broad branding and awareness drive advertising. Magazines create opportunities to segment the market and promote products to niche targets. The early days of the internet ushered in e-commerce marketing.

Of course direct-response agencies have preached some element of response-based marketing for years. But the coming availability of addressable TV, location-based and hyper-local media platforms, digital out-of-home and the multitude of tablet and mobile media devices is making adaptive marketing a universal brand marketing opportunity.

Becoming an adaptive marketer can require serious structural changes. The entire media process — budgeting, planning, buying, and optimizing — needs to become more fluid and “always-on” rather than static and sporadic. Brands need to develop a library of creative assets — images, calls-to-action, applications — that can instantly be deployed into advertising units when required.

Aggregating, then mining, buyer and audience data to allow personalized product development, marketing and messaging is the key to unlocking adaptive marketing gold. That’s going to be the next space race for marketers and their agencies. We hope you’re ready.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Antony Young is CEO of Mindshare North America, a WPP media strategy and investment agency. Norm Johnstonis co-global digital lead of Mindshare Worldwide.

Filed under The media and Ad world Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

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