The Netherlands might be a relatively small nation but they have an increasingly global reach when it comes to big data and analytics in marketing.
I recently spent a week in Amsterdam and Utrecht meeting with various digital media customers along with having the pleasure of speaking at MIE2014. During the show, I presented on a variety of topics including the creation of downstream value for MSPs, infusing analytics across the enterprise, understanding demand forecasting in M&E and, of course, digging through the hype of big data to find the reality for today’s transforming marketer.
Thanks to my gracious hosts from i3 Groep, an award winning IBM Business Partner, and their Information Management division, Smart Information Solutions, it was a highly productive week which generated some fascinating conversations around how their clients are using IBM PureData for Analytics, powered by Netezza, to reduce data latency, generate new opportunities for service delivery and dramatically increase business results.
One client in particular, the DMA Institute, provided me with a fascinating demo (and a strong cup of coffee) that gave an in-depth look into how their dashboard measures, in real-time, the performance of every variable in every online advertising campaign.
This is one of the exact points I made when I was speaking at MIE2014 about how CMOs are applying advanced analytics to improve campaign performance and how marketers can finally look beyond the last click to truly understand how individual audience members progress through the purchase funnel.
Marcel, Theng and Jeroen from the DMA showed me, for example, how their dashboard matches and measures the exact quantity and quality of impressions delivered in each campaign, how they can be broken down into granular-level details and how they can line up the results for the respondents of the panel in the countries the campaign is served. And when we stop to consider how their move to PureData for Analytics improved their performance by a staggering 6000 percent, (yes, you read that correctly) we can start to see why they are quickly becoming a leader in their space and greatly expanding beyond the borders in which they traditionally work. In fact, they just launched their service in the US! Congrats!
Following my closing keynote at MIE2014, I had some great conversations (over bitteballen and beer) about the role that market research, focus groups and surveys still play in a world that is moving at the speed of thought. We toss around terms like “real time” and “milliseconds” more than we used to and that trend has some marketing professionals thinking that it means that the traditional ways in which marketers measure their efforts or get to know their audiences are a dying art.
I believe that is not the case. I believe that a human centered approach will always be part of the puzzle that data-driven marketers must assemble in a programmatic world. Just like the need for good, well-planned and executed creative, there will also be a need for deep-diving market research to give marketers and advertisers a foundation upon which to build a solid ROI. From that base, we can move more confidently at higher and higher speeds so we can give consumers what they want, when and where they want it. Remember the 4 RIGHTS: “Right Message, Right Person, Right Time, Right Price.” It takes more than technology to deliver them, it takes tools and talent as well.
I’m already looking forward to heading back to Amsterdam in September for IBC. More than that, I’m looking forward to participating in a fun and fascinating client dinner aboard my friend Rene’s sloop: The Mindsweeper.
Now that sounds like a good time!
