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Looking for more offline data for marketers -- in a online world

Thu, 23 May 2013 17:18:57 -0400

A future big data grab for marketers -- and data companies -- is in collecting off-line data for advertisers.

As an industry, "we are just scratching the surface," says Chris Scoggins, senior vp and general manager, DLX Platform for Datalogix, in speaking on a OMMA Data Driven Marketing panel.

In this regard, Scoggins says many of clients he works with -- automotive and consumer products -- are changing their thinking. For those traditionally big TV marketers, "everyone now is a direct marketer."

Eoin Townsend, chief strategy officer of MediaMath, said: "There is a halo market around TV. But that market is fragmented. Everything we do from now on is going to be measurable."

Don't Believe The KPI Hype!

Thu, 23 May 2013 16:12:34 -0400

Beware of baloney KPIs -- and Facebook "likes" in particular! So stressed experts on an afternoon panel at OMMA DDB. "They know [a 'like'] doesn't matter -- They know it!" said Jon Bond, "Chief Tomorroist" at quasi holding company Tomorro LLC, and Kirshenbaum and Bond co-founder. Regarding KPIs in general, Bond warned: "They're generic; they're non-strategic." For brands, how they make money should be unique, "customized" -- and, thus, lead to competitive advantages -- Bond emphasized. Using the same KPIs as everyone else makes that virtually impossible, he said. Moreover, just because you can measure something doesn't mean you should make it the cornerstone of your marketing strategy. "KPIs and [campaign] goals are not one and the same," said Jason Lim, managing partner of performance and accountability at MediaCom.

Evidon: W3C's Effort To Forge Do-Not-Track Agreement Has 'Already Failed'

Thu, 23 May 2013 15:11:36 -0400

The Internet standards group World Wide Web Consortium has been trying for two years to figure out how to interpret do-not-track signals sent by browsers.

How McCormick Spiced Up Web Presence

Thu, 23 May 2013 14:35:00 -0400

If you're not aware, flavor company McCormick relaunched its Web site earlier this year. Trying to drive demand for its various spice, herb, and seasoning products, McCormick's site put the spotlight on food recipes. The result? The site experienced a 60% increase in "recipe views" year-over-year, according to Jennifer LaFrance, senior manager of digital marketing and social media at McCormick. Graciously, LaFrance told those in attendance at OMMA DDB that McCormick's digital agency, RGA, deserved more than a pinch of the credit. And, McCormick could use all the exposure it can get considering the company rolled out 250 new products in 2012 alone, according to LaFrance.

Experian Takes Universal View Of Data

Thu, 23 May 2013 12:21:00 -0400

Marcus Tewksbury, Global Vice President of Product Strategy, Experian Marketing Services, said the split between offline and online data and across channels is becoming a "more transparent view." Understanding the customer from things like summarized credit information or other variables, “we’re looking at making that information seamless or frictionless from how you’re going to deploy it from a marketing purpose,” he said. W. Bryan Smith, director, data science and analytics, at Sapient pointed out that from an internal perspective, merging online and offline data, isn’t necessarily so easy. It requires greater coordination between departments within an organization that may not be accustomed to working closely together.

Properly Valuing Data

Thu, 23 May 2013 12:02:00 -0400

How do you come up with the right campaign metric for measuring success? "Does it impact your relationship with long term customers?" asked Marcus Tewksbury, Global Vice President of Product Strategy at Experian Marketing Services. If not, then forget it, Tewksbury told OMMA DDB attendees on Thursday. Tewksbury also addressed how data should be valued more broadly. "Data is based on perceived value," he said -- a somewhat less scientific, quantifiable explanation than we were expecting. Another problem with differentiating good data from bad -- at least for those in attendance at OMM DDB -- is that the more valuable one's data is, the less they want to tell anyone about it, admitted Richard Frankel, president of ad tech startup Rocket Fuel.

Lack Of Data About Data Drives Opportunity

Thu, 23 May 2013 12:02:00 -0400

Richard Frankel, president, Rocket Fuel, argues there won’t be a standard for evaluating the value of data any time soon because the very lack of marketplace information around data creates opportunity for smart people to exploit. Even the sellers of data have little understanding of the data they’re offering, he observed, speaking on a panel at OMMA Data-Driven Marketing. Rocket Fuel and other companies on the panel like Experian, DataXu and Sapient have different approaches to assessing and applying data, and they don’t share them with each other because they’re in competition.

The Year Of Big Data? More Like The Decade Of Big Data

Thu, 23 May 2013 11:49:55 -0400

Speaking at OMMA DDM in New York this afternoon, John Simpson, managing director, Blue State Digital, said, "...It'll be the year of big data for 10 more years." He commented that if you can't answer the question of what you want to do with data, it becomes meaningless. It's all about context. We've heard that before.

HarperCollins' Boyle On Boiling Your Data

Thu, 23 May 2013 10:54:00 -0400

Echoing the positions of other experts at OMMA DDB on Thursday, David Boyle, SVP of Consumer Insights at HarperCollins Publishers, is stressing the importance of "boiling down" your data to actionable insights. In recent months, the publisher has gathered "tens of thousands of really detailed consumer interviews," which, according to Boyle, would be worthless without the proper analytical reduction. Across platforms, Boyle said he's "constantly looking at new ways to gather data," because, these days, behavior varies so dramatically from one consumer to another. ... On an unrelated note, the British Boyle pronounces the end of the word "marketer" with a hard "er" -- like your average American would pronounce the word "Mouseketeer" -- which, well, has a nice ring to it.

That's Funny, David Boyle Doesn't Look Blueish

Thu, 23 May 2013 10:44:24 -0400

David Boyle, the consumer insights guru at HarperCollins Publishers describes himself as a "data geek" and to prove it, he worked blue during his morning presentation at OMMA DDM. He began by flashing some indecipherable data -- in the form of two sets of code -- on the screen: #2A5DB0 vs. #2200CC After asking the audience who could identify the codes, Boyle noted that they are the numeric representation of shades of blue that can be rendered on computer screens, and the reason for showing them, he said, was that Google conducted an A/B test to determine which one was the "optimum color of blue to use" for online searchers. "As a data geek, this excited me," Boyle confessed. If you ask me, that's code for the fact that there are keen insights to be derived from Big Data, if you just know how to look at it.

Permissions Pendiing

Thu, 23 May 2013 10:34:33 -0400

In her closing remarks on the opening Big Data/Marketers panel at OMMA DDM, Axciom's Nada Stirrat pointed out that the company currently has "1,600 data points on 17 million consumers around the world." With permissions like that, who needs patents?

Are Consumers Creeped Out By Big Data?

Thu, 23 May 2013 10:34:00 -0400

How comfortable are consumers with providing all this data exploited by marketers? Nada Stirrit, CRO, at Acxciom, said that if a marketer appears to be creepy or too aggressive or simply send the wrong message, you don’t have a second opportunity to correct that impression. Speaking at OMMA Data-Driven Marketing, she said she expects there to be a lot more focus on consumer control in the coming year. Jessica Kernan of Rapp emphasized the importance of providing utility—services that make people’s lives easier—in return for their data. She views that exchange as the privilege “of living in a data-rich world.” Pepsi’s Quinn Kilbury, meanwhile, said the company only wants to target people who want to see messages, and avoid others who marketing dollars would be wasted on.

'Permissions Are The New Patents'

Thu, 23 May 2013 10:30:59 -0400

I'm pretty sure that's what I heard, and I think it was Nada Stirrat, EVP-Chief Revenue Officer of Axciom, who said it as a I was meandering through the crowd in the back of the room at OMMA DDM this morning. It's a great line, whoever said it on the "Big Data and the Modern Brand Marketer" panel being moderated by Activate Founder Michael Wolf, and extremely apt is this era of "Big Data," and bigger concerns over consumer data privacy. By extension, it means the most valuable intellectual properties today are not registered with the government, but with consumers themselves.

Reaching Consumers Between Schenectady And Beverly Hills

Thu, 23 May 2013 10:28:00 -0400

Going by the personal information that consumers provide marketers, the vast majority of Americans live in Schenectady, New York or Beverly Hills, California. That's because they most often offer 12345 or 90210 as their zip codes, according to Nada Stirrat, EVP and CRO of data broker Acxiom. More than a fun fact, Stirrat just shared the insight with OMMA DDB attendees to illustrate the challenges that still face marketers' geo-targeting efforts. The goal of most marketers, therefore, is to more accurately marry consumer profiles to where they actually are in the world, said Michael Stoeckel, head of ad opperations of the Digital Marketing Group at JPMorgan Chase. Alas, "We aren't doing [that] just yet," Stoeckel said.

Initial Data Collection Point Is Vital

Thu, 23 May 2013 10:11:04 -0400

Jocelyn Cripps, EVP, global B2C marketing, Financial Times, said that she can't remember when FT wasn't completely dependent on behavioral data. Speaking on the "Big Data And The Modern Brand Marketer" at OMMA DDM this morning, Cripps said that data is "at the heart of everything" the company does.

Pepsi Merging Online, Offline Data To Boost Sales

Thu, 23 May 2013 10:04:49 -0400

PepsiCo doesn’t sell any of its CPG brands directly online, but it’s trying to use Big Data to match online and offline information to boost sales. Speaking on a panel at the OMMA Data-Driven Marketing conference, Quinn Kilbury, Senior Brand Manager,Pepsi NEXT & Pepsi Innovation, at PepsiCo, said the company is trying to align online social and other data with its truck delivery routes to help drive foot traffic to some 50,000 stores nationwide. How does Pepsi find cola drinkers? Kilbury said it relies on loyalty card data from supermarkets collected by Nielsen and other companies to help find to right people to market to based on purchase history, as well as to target by geography and lifestyle. That data can also yield users' email addresses. He added that it’s also important to figure out the people you shouldn’t be trying to reach through that process.

Consumers Are Not "Ad Targets"

Thu, 23 May 2013 09:56:00 -0400

At OMMA DDB, today, attendees shouldn't think of consumers as "ad targets," according to Michael Wolf, founder of consulting firm Activate, and formerly CEO of MTV. Rather, they should think about them as "people" -- people they can better understand to increase their chances of turning into customers, of course.

Thinking Of Data As A Natural Resource

Thu, 23 May 2013 09:42:36 -0400

At OMMA DDM in IWNY this morning, 1-8000-Flowers President Chris McCann called data ithe next natural resource, he said. Some will have more than others. Some will be better equipped to handle it. But everyone will be seeking it.

1-800-Flowers Taps Big Data On Relationships

Thu, 23 May 2013 09:38:13 -0400

We’re at the very early stages of Big Data, according to Chris McCann, president, 1-800-Flowers.com. Keynoting OMMA Data-Driven Marketing on Thursday, McCann said the Big Data explosion can be used by businesses in many ways including reducing costs an enhancing productivity. For marketers, it can be used to grow the top line in two ways: finding new markets and deepen customer relationships. 1-800-Flowers does both.

To enhance customer relationships, one of the keys is to understand relationships between sender of flowers or gifts and the recipient, said McCann. Tapping into social data allows the company to prompt customers’ about friends’ upcoming birthdays, for example, and gain marketing insights from how people interact in social media. Social gifting is also emerging as a new area with initiatives like Facebook Gifts.

Local is extremely important for 1-800-Flowers and you can tie mobile data into local. “The best marketing vehicle we have that can drive traffic into stores is mobile advertising,” said McCann. E-commerce is moving to m-commerce. The ability to stay connected to the "always addressable" consumer is an opportunity like we’ve never seen before, he said.

'Data Is The Next Natural Resource'

Thu, 23 May 2013 09:37:15 -0400

Has the ad industry struck oil and perhaps they don't quite know how to process it? "We need to create the infrastructure to analyze data," Chris McCann, president of 1-800-flowers.com, told attendees at OMMA DDM. The company participated in a beta test with Affirm payment service, a startup from Max Levchin, PayPal cofounder.

Chicken Or Egg: Consumer Behavior Or Tech Innovation

Thu, 23 May 2013 09:26:00 -0400

Does consumer behavior drive technology or does technology drive consumer behavior? Having shepherded 1-800-Flowers.com through four waves of technological change, president Chris McCann still doesn't know the answer, he admitted to OMM DDB attendees on Thursday morning. What McCann is certain of, however, is that the "veracity of data is ever increasing," and companies planning to survive the next wave of tech innovation need to foster a "culture of analytics." Clarifying the name of his morning keynote, "Data is Not a Magic Bullet," McCann explained: "Insights don't mean anything unless [marketers are] using them correctly." As such, 1-800-Flowers is "constantly optimizing content and creative based on what's working and what's not working," McCann said.

Migrating from desktop to mobile: What gets left behind

Wed, 22 May 2013 17:19:00 -0400

Does migration from desktop to mobile change the nature of content? One thing for sure: There are limited insights.

For example, Ken Burbary, chief digital officer of Campbell Ewald, speaking at OMMA Mobile, says when it comes to looking at some mobile data -- like Facebook "likes" -- the site doesn't really tell marketers much.

"I'd like to see analytics improve -- and to compare and contrast with tablet and desktops."

Entertainment, Travel Bet On Mobile Banners

Wed, 22 May 2013 15:16:00 -0400

Banner ads have long been the whipping boy of online advertising, and the same is now true for mobile. On an OMMA Mobile panel focusing on whether mobile display even works, agency executives gave some examples of industry categories including entertainment, travel, and auto where they’ve seen results.

Steve Minichini, at TargetCast pointed to entertainment advertising in mobile as a sort of “softball” you can’t miss with if ads are designed right. “It’s really ripe for full interaction regardless of the technology” because of the strength of the content. Think movie trailers.

When it comes to travel, the focus is more on comparison pricing. As technology allows more tracking of how ads are served and sequenced, he believes interaction and success will grow. Staying in the travel sector, Scott Swanson, CEO of Mobile Theory, said the ad network ran a campaign for an international airline that resulted in a dozen tickets being purchased directly through the ad. That might not sound like much, but Swanson called it “impressive” given the cost level of the tickets. He added the client was also “extremely excited” to get that result.

Michael Lieberman, group account director at MEC, meanwhile, noted that people tend to spend more time engaging on mobile and tablets, but still end up converting on the desktop. He said the rates can be twice as high as for someone who’s only seen an ad on the PC. “So we know mobile and tablets are having an impact on consumer decisions, even if we can’t follow the ROI chain on one single device,” he said. But no one uses just one device.

The Restless Are Natives

Wed, 22 May 2013 15:15:00 -0400

Well, the "mobile display" panel at OMMA Mobile got pretty worked up when moderator Craig Weinberg mobile practice lead at MindShare, invoked the "n" word. You know, "native." Specifically, when he asked his panelists to explain what they think native advertising is. "It could mean 100 things to 100 people," said Louis Gump, CEO of LSN Mobile. "Nobody knows exactly what it will be," said Lars Albright, co-founder and CEO of SessionM. "Is Buzzfeed to blame for this whole native thing," asked Scott Swanson, CEO of Mobile Theory, adding that while it works really well on Buzzfeed's news feeds, it doesn't work that well on a lot of other sites. At least one panelist seemed fairly sure about what "native" advertising is, and what the benefit of it is for a brand and a consumer. "It's a relevant piece of content that connects with consumer intent," asserted TargetCast President of Interactive Marketing Steve Minichini, adding. "If it connects with consumer intent, it's the way to go."

TargetCast's Minichini: Mobile Banners Are Like A Gateway Drug

Wed, 22 May 2013 14:52:21 -0400

Speaking on a panel at OMMA Mobile, Steve Minichini, president of interactive marketing at MDC Partners' TargetCast, acknowledged that the agency doesn't buy many mobile banners -- yet. And it it does, it's mainly looking at them as a means to an end. "It's almost like a gateway drug," he said, noting that the real goal is to figure out how to do a "data capture," or launch a video campaign, not to serve a banner ad impression on a mobile device, per se. The mobile banner dilemma is further complicated, he said, by the fact that many client campaigns are split between brand-building ones, and performance-oriented ones.

Roots Bear

Wed, 22 May 2013 14:32:00 -0400

There's a bear in the woods. And Liz Bazner wants to bring it back. The A&W Restaurants' trademark mascot Rooty, the bear. Bazner is social & digital communications strategist for A&W and she's presenting a case study on the brand's mobile strategy at OMMA Mobile this afternoon. Bazner gets the bear, because she grew up with it. Her dad began working at A&W when she was four-years-old. But most of her contemporaries did not, and as a result, when Bazner posted her new job at A&W on Facebook, she got comments from friends suggesting, "They went out of business." Moreover, perceptions and awareness of Rooty had hit an all-time low, and Bazner said A&W's previous management killed Rooty, "which broke my heart." Brazner set out to resurrect him, and is using A&W's digital, social and mobile strategy to do it. She began by overhauling A&W's website, and dialing up its social media strategy. Part of the site overhaul included a IP address identifier that could immediately inform users on where their closest local A&W is located. Another thing was putting Rooty in charge of A&W's social CRM, because, says Bazner, "It's a lot harder to yell at a stuffed bear than at me." She also used social media to help personify Rooty, by having him have conversations with other brand mascots, like Long John Silver and the Aflac duck.

NYT Backs Tablet Apps

Wed, 22 May 2013 12:59:00 -0400

Responding to OnSwipe CEO’s Jason Baptiste declaration that “apps are bullshit,” Seth Rogin, VP of advertising at The New York Times, said the company doesn’t make a judgment between the two platforms, providing options for wherever users want to be. “The behavior is going to drive what we do, not just the creative tools,” he said, on an OMMA Mobile panel on Wednesday. Tracey Weber, head of Internet and mobile banking at Citi, offered that brands and publishers need to start designing browser based experiences for tablets and touch-based interaction. “We’re thinking a lot about that at Citi,” she said.

Are Apps "Bullshit?"

Wed, 22 May 2013 12:45:00 -0400

Yes, apps are "bullshit!" -- or, at least according to Jason Baptiste, CEO of Onswipe, which helps publishers build Web sites optimized for iPads and other touchscreen gadgets. Bullshit? Seth Rogin, VP of advertising at The New York Times, begged to differ on an afternoon panel at OMMA Mobile. Sure, "Safari is a huge part of what we do," Rogin said, referring to NYTimes' reliance on Web browsers to reach readers. Yet, "There is value in a combined app experience," he insisted. Backtracking a bit, Baptiste conceded: "Ok, We're talking about the paper of record here" -- to which Rogin responded, "Now you're talking!" That said, Baptiste said there are "no more brands than I can count on my fingers" that will succeed with apps alone.

Explainding Pandora's Mobile Content Cap

Wed, 22 May 2013 12:00:29 -0400

Earlier this year, when Pandora began capping mobile content consumption, founder Tim Westergren admitted it was "a very unusual thing to do." Months later, the personalized radio service is still struggling to explain the move. "We're really clear about it," John Trimble, Pandora's Chief Revenue Officer, told OMMA Mobile attendees on Wednesday. Officially, however, Pandora still bills itself as "free, personalized radio" -- and that's how Trimble described the service on Wednesday. Well, "We've been clear that we need to be profitable," Trimble clarified. (Westergren has said publically that the cap was necessary because per-track royalties have increased over 25% over the past 3 years, and 9% in 2013 alone.) That said, "The cap is a short term focus," Trimble added -- and good thing considering that Pandora's listener hours dropped 12% in April, the company revealed last month.

Apple Embracing More Social Networks?

Wed, 22 May 2013 11:41:52 -0400

Apple reportedly plans to give third-party social networks -- including Flickr and Vimeo -- a bigger presence on the next version of its iOS mobile operating system. That said, "Since the new software is yet to be even officially announced, there is a very real possibility that any feature in testing could be removed prior to the announcement," 9to5Mac reports. "Last year, Apple added Facebook integration to iOS, and in 2011, the company struck a deal to integrate Twitter."