One of the things that bothers me is how data [in marketing] has become law.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of data – or should I say, real data that has been amassed properly, read properly and used properly – but a lot of the stuff today is nothing more than small bits of information packaged to be big bits of information.
Worse, a lot of it has no texture whatsoever … designed to reinforce a position someone wants rather than to inform and enlighten on things you don’t know but would like to find out.
But even then, data is not infallible.
There, I said it.
Data is as good as the people who created it.
And yet day after day, I read about companies who treat their data like its god … even though you can see the flaws in their approach from 10,000 miles away.
From what they’re trying to discover.
To how they’re trying to discover it.
To what they want to do with it once they’ve got it.
No surprise then that so many then go on to report ‘lower than expected’ revenues.
I’m lucky that I work at a place with a progressive view of data, especially with the way we use our Ventures program.
But in addition to that, I work with an amazing data specialist.
She’s cheeky sod who is a bloody legend.
Not just for what she does but for what she pushes.
A believer in the role of culture not just habits.
But another part of her skill is that she knows what data does and what data doesn’t.
Data guides.
It heavily suggests.
It shines a light on important and essential behaviours.
It forces discussions about how best to approach situations.
But it rarely is undisputed, unquestionable, always certain, fact.
To be honest, I believe most people in the marketing field of data knows this but – as is the case with most things in marketing – we go around talking in certainties in an attempt to raise our professional standing when all it does is the opposite.
Hey, I get it, we see it being done in so many fields – from government to finance – but that still doesn’t mean it makes people believe what we’re saying, it just makes us complicit.
The reality is society is far smarter than we give them credit for. The only reason they let so much of this rubbish pass is because they literally don’t care what we say. They have seen so many facts that turned into fiction that they view what we do as literally a game … which is why, while data and strategy still play an important part in making creativity that helps brands move forward, the most powerful differentiator between ideas that culture sees and culture give a shit about is how interesting, intriguing and exciting it is.