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

Chapter 12

The Bright, Enlightened World of Customer Experience

For decades science fiction movies have captured audiences imaginations—maybe because they allow us, for at least a few hours, to peer into the possibilities of the future. The high-tech gadgetry, biometric security features, interactive 3-D holograms, and vast information management systems that once seemed only possible on the silver screen are now becoming part of our daily lives—and marketers are at the forefront of these major technological and cultural shifts.

In 2013, McKinsey & Company painted its own picture of the future: an “on-demand world where consumers will judge brands by their ability to deliver heightened experiences—interactions, literally anywhere, that offer high levels of value and are radically customized and easy to access—along the consumer decision journey.”¹ In the report, McKinsey envisions mobile phones exchanging information with durable products like headsets and gym equipment to engage and empower peer-to-peer commerce. Interactions like these are already beginning to happen, and in the near future, these tools could be even more integral in managing consumer buying behavior, interacting with each other for upsell and cross-sell, and serving as the consumer's constant companion.

Will I be able to walk though a mall someday and see personalized advertisements appear on the walls, all perfectly correlated to my mental state (as in Steven Spielberg's film Minority Report)? Naturally, no ...