Big Data Marketing: Engage Your Customers More Effectively and Drive Value

Chapter 6

Step One

Get Smart, Get Strategic

Source: © Teradata 2013

I met the chief marketing officer (CMO) of a well-known brand at the 2013 Direct Marketing News Marketing Hall of Femme in New York City. She told a story to a group of CMOs, chuckling as she recalled how the company CEO had burst into her office just a few weeks before. He began his fly-by by discussing how digital was changing the game for their industry, and then he quizzed her with a question from out-of-the-blue. “Have you heard about this thing called ‘big data’?” he asked. The CMO said she laughed in response—of course she had. Next, he mandated that she and the organization needed to “do something!” about it. No worries. She was already on the case.

Yes, the headlines about big data continue to capture front page ink in the business section—and continue to spur a fever-pitch that can instill the dreaded deer-in-the-headlights response from even the most credible and stalwart members of the C-suite. But, does all the noise about big data sound a little familiar to you? To me, the stories have the ring of 1999 all over again. Who can forget the mad rush to dot.com—or should I say, dot.gone?

The current frenzy over big data reminds me of digital's early days because, once again, we're seeing the hype around the latest trend become so intense that it distracts business leaders and threatens to mask the actual ...