DATABASE MARKETING | MANAGING EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION MANAGING EDITOR | ANTONY BEGLEY
DATA IS NOT THE NEW OIL: IT’S MORE IMPORTANT THAN THAT
DATA IS OFTEN REFERRED TO AS ‘THE NEW OIL’ – BUT THAT METAPHOR IS MISLDEADING ON A NUMBER OF FRONTS, SAYS ANTONY BEGLEY.
Data is the new oil. It’s a phrase that’s uttered so often that it’s already become a cliché, and a pretty tired one at that. And apart from anything else, as a metaphor it’s wholly inaccurate and extremely misleading.
For one thing, oil is running out – hence the rush to sustainable, alternative fuels – yet there is absolutely no danger of data running out any time soon. Quite the opposite in fact, with ‘big data’ – another cliché – being the current hot ticket. Our ability to capture, store, analyse, slice and dice data in increasingly mind- bogglingly huge volume has never been better and the biggest challenge today’s marketers face is coping with such gargantuan quantities of data. Another weakness of the oil metaphor is that oil is nowhere near as
Communicating direct with tailored messages to huge numbers of people is becoming increasingly feasible and it’s got everyone hot under the collar. And rightly so. But when it comes right down to it, it means that the geeks are back on top.
Just as it’s always been, the results that ‘marketing’ delivers will depend on the quality of the data that underpins all of the activity that sits on top of it. Creatives will still be precious and
“Data is not the new oil – for one thing, oil is running out, and yet there is
absolutely no danger of data running out any time soon.”
ubiquitious as data. The metaphor may be meant as a compliment to those of us who earn a crust working in data, but the reality is that is doesn’t come close to doing the role of data justice. Data is everywhere. Data is everything. Data is forever. There is no conceivable way back and it is very clear to most of us that data is what will drive the future. What is the point of broadcast media when narrowcast exists? Why send the same message to everyone when data allows you to send a tailored, relevant message to one, single individual? The implications for this new world order are enormous for us all – and if they weren’t so daunting, they’d be very exciting indeed. Far from being yesterday’s news, direct marketing – in it’s sexy new 2012 guise – is suddenly the hottest thing on the marketing planet.
February 2012 | Database Marketing
unpreditable, FD’s will still be relentless and demanding, but at the end of the day, it will be the quality of the data that is the single biggest factor in the ROI success of all future marketing activity.
Maybe this time around the database heroes will actually get
some credit? We can always live in hope. This special feature offers a few highly articulate, insightful opinion pieces from three of the industry’s best minds as they consider areas that will be crucial to ‘new marketing’. The pieces tackle issues that sit at the very heart of what today’s database marketers do – customer data integration, the evolution of CRM, reporting and analysis – and offer a brief glimpse of what lies ahead for the industry, and what marekters must do to be part of that brave new world. It’s an exciting time to be in this space. Read and enjoy.
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