October 21, 2015 was the day that Doc Brown and Marty McFly were transported to from 1985. This fictionalized future had hover boards, drones, virtual reality, and 80’s nostalgia. But there was one thing that even the most visionary thinkers in 1985 could not have envisioned: the massive streams of data that would be flowing through the air in downtown Hill Valley as the present-day reality is one where Big Data is driving advertising and communications… Back to the Future.
That “Big Data” has revolutionized online marketing efforts is no longer a matter of theory and speculation. We see the transformative real-world power of Big Data in action every day, notably through audience segmentation and predictive analysis tools that drive programmatic ad buying. The sea change in Big Data increasingly enables marketers to make reaching their audiences in the ways they had always dreamed – with “the right message, to the right person, in the right place, at the right time.” This is today’s reality – one that doesn’t require fictionalization – as it plays out around the clock, every single day.
Given that marketers need to utilize the power of Big Data in reaching customers and potential customers, the question now becomes, “is that enough?” Decision-makers both in and beyond the marketing suite are now asking timely, pointed, critical questions about what the Big Data revolution means to their broader organizational goals. Executive decision-makers are seeking next-steps in an ecosystem of Big Data maturity: how can businesses carve out meaningful competitive differentiation using Big Data, when everyone is doing it? How can Big Data ultimately drive market share, growth, and profitability? What does the future of a data-driven organization look like? How do we move beyond the tactical, and start asking the right strategic questions about how to leverage Big Data to drive bottom-line accomplishment across the enterprise?
Our partners at Winterberry Group set out to answer those questions through a survey of more than 100 executive-level advertisers, marketers, publishers, technology developers and marketing service providers. We are thrilled to present the results of their efforts in the white paper, “Data as Competitive Advantage.” Some of the key insights contained in the white paper include:
- Competitive advantage is something that’s driven by a better understanding of customers, with greatest successes to date being found in use of first-party data.
- Data practitioners continue to struggle with a significant performance gap when it comes to applying audience data in support of broader business objectives.
- Future competitive advantage will be grounded in how practitioners use data to support their unique needs.
Unlocking the true potential of Big Data requires leveraging it beyond the marketing suite, to CRM, ecommerce, and beyond. But Big Data offers no silver bullet. The use of Big Data as applied to current marketing efforts will need to grow beyond current tactical considerations and become integral to the enterprise technology stack. This requires buy-in from decision-makers who can integrate Big Data into the lifeblood of their strategic organizational leadership. To realize the vision of an idealized future where competitive advantage is actually realized, decision-makers will need to leverage Big Data in conjunction with other organizational competencies. How – and whether – decision makers tackle these daunting challenges will in large measure dictate if competitive advantages of Big Data will actually be realized.
This white paper represents an important slice-in-time view of how marketing and publishing executives are grappling with these issues. The stakes could not be higher for those entrusted with the fate of their companies. This is why the IAB Data Council’s mission is to explore how businesses can enable revenue growth through the establishment of quality, transparency, accountability, and consumer protection in data usage.
The future of Big Data is already here. Is your organization ready?
Data as Competitive Advantage Whitepaper