‘Being wrong might hurt you, but being slow will kill you’ – the maxim is attributed to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and it certainly resonated among the delegates at the MINT Data Driven Marketing Summit in central London last week, who were discussing innovation – how it is rapidly disrupting businesses and how marketers must strive to keep up – data usage and regulation (the incoming GDPR) and the effects of the new ‘data economy’.
“It’s scary, isn’t it, said Jenny Moseley (pictured right, co-founder of Opt-4 and consultant at the Data Protection Network), opening the proceedings at MINT 2018 and referring to GDPR. “But it’s a journey and we have to get it right.” She added: “I recall the words of one marketer who told me, ‘It may be a journey, but it’s not a holiday!’ And another sage, who commented, ‘GDPR compliance is simple – don’t be a git!’.”
Moseley was joined by a panel of experts who discussed the General Data Protection Regulation which comes into force across the UK and wider EU on May 25 – Nina Barakzai (group head, data protection and privacy, Sky), the Data Protection Network’s Julia Porter and Michael Bond (News UK), Tim Roe (compliance & deliverability director at RedEye) and Kevin Kiley (VP, OneTrust). They referred to GDPR as ‘a game-changer’ for marketers, but all described it as an opportunity to re-build trust with consumers. Michael Bond added: “People now understand the value and importance of data protection.”
Nina Barakzai (pictured left) said: “Compliance is not new. Data legislation has been in place for decades, but GDPR has added an extra impact because of the fines.” She referred to her role in data protection, saying: “I love privacy! Stripping data out is a quality decision – it’s about our conscience. Marketers should take a starting point with GDPR – ask yourself, do I need this information? If you don’t, that’s the starting point – then, further down the line, ask yourself, is this data still relevant, am I still using it? If you aren’t, have a clear out; strip it out.”
Later at MINT 2018, among the practitioners imparting their expertise on the subject of innovation was Karl Harvard (partner at PA Consulting @KarlHarvard), who looked to the marketing world of the (near) future and asked: “Will products soon be able to order themselves? The ‘connected home’ still feels like early days, but it is starting to build and a new wave of technology is being rapidly adopted.
“As more and more people take voice assistants such as Google Home into their homes, a new, people-centric, connected eco-system is emerging . . . and with it will come a tidal wave of data.”
He backed up his comments with case study details from Rentokill, which conducts vermin controls in schools, farms and various businesses and organisations. Harvard said the company’s reactive business approach had been for a ‘man in a van’ to routinely inspect premises for signs of vermin – “sprung traps, excrement – yes, batteries are working, yes, they just caught a rat”.
Harvard (pictured right) explained further: “Now, they use a more proactive approach, working with Google Cloud – harnessing intelligence in traps. Now, engineers have apps and are turning up at a site even before the client knows what has happened. And so, the Internet of Traps has arrived!”
He said: “Everything now is a source of data and data can change ‘traditional’ business models.
“For example, coffee cups – personal, connected cups, ideally solving recycling issues, but also ‘knowing’ what sort of coffee you take, if you have milk, your payment method – all via an app. What about sensors in sportswear; monitoring heart rate, breath, pulse, etc. Or, how about the Internet of Babies? Connected bottles – amounts consumed, what formula and frequency. Connected and digital diapers that notify via app when Junior needs changing – monitoring Junior while at nursery school, for example [much laughter in the audience]. Well, on its own, that might seem a bit random, but it’s building a picture of the nursery’s child care – mum and dad can check out the nursery dashboard. And it could help with eventual potty training – how often and when Junior goes! What about care homes for the elderly and issues there? Meanwhile, the nappy provider would be able to see when the nursery or care home needs a nappy re-supply in real time.”
He concluded: “It may spook people out, but there will be a cultural shift.” And he referred to the words of Geoffrey Moore, speaker and author of ‘Crossing the Chasm’, who said ‘Without big data analytics, companies are blind and deaf, wandering out onto the Web like deer on a freeway’.
Also speaking at MINT, Dave Littlechild (Emarsys @davelittlechild – pictured above right), echoed those words, saying: “Artificial intelligence is going to give marketers answers – it will dispel the myths and allay fears of The Terminator! Instead, it will provide scale, speed and agility in data analysis without any human bias.”
Agreeing, Maria Flores Portillo (general manager, Persado – pictured left) added: “AI won’t cost marketers their jobs – it will simply remove the boring stuff and allow them more time to focus on their creative.”
Hannah Foulds (head of marketing, Open Data Institute @hanfoulds – pictured right) discussed the growing power of open data to effect change and said marketers must in future “be smarter in how to find and use data”.
Rather than fearing the future, the experts agreed marketers and consumers generally should shape it and embrace it. A self-confessed ‘futurist’, Jeremy Spiller (CEO & co-founder White Hat Media @JeremySpiller – pictured left) asked delegates at MINT 2018 for a show 
of hands to his question on how AI, disruption and use of data might look in years to come: “Would you agree to have a chip painlessly put into your wrist if the data was absolutely secure and if the information it revealed could extend your life by five years?” All hands were raised.
David Arnoux (Growth Tribe founder @darnocks – pictured left) emphasised the importance of emerging technology, discussing ‘growth hacking’ and the full customer journey to the ‘wow’ moment, saying marketers should be quick to grasp the mettle, ever-improving their data analysis through a clear understanding of technology. He added: “We believe the top one per cent of tomorrow’s leaders will understand machine learning.”
But the new reality, according to David Lockie (Pragmatic founder @divydovy – pictured right) is not how “scary it is to think about humanising technology”, but how we are standing on the brink of an economic opportunity; the future of money in an age of Bitcoin and blockchain. He discussed how crypto-economics will disrupt digital marketing, for example by creating a culture of minimal payment for content – “being charged a penny for an email would hardly register with the payee, but would cost a spammer a fortune. It would be worth doing it if only to cut spam.” He referred to a ‘token model’: “Providing a world in which the granularity and transparency of blockchain data gives economic power to very specific communities. Everything that can be tokenised, will be tokenised.”
He quoted Jeremy Skule, the Nasdaq stock exchange’s chief marketing officer, who said: ‘Our role as marketers is ever-deeper relationships’.
And also on the subject of economics in marketing, Peter Abraham and Ben Salmon from weareCrank gave latest results of their survey among senior level marketers, ‘Demystifying the Bulls*t of Budgeting’, aiming to understand whether the industry is growing or declining. They revealed that 82 per cent of marketers polled say they are unable to quantify ROI from their marketing – yet 49 per cent believe their role has expanded the include financial responsibilities.
The MINT 2018 event also included hugely popular ‘roundtable’ discussions with moderators including some of the presenters and Julia Porter (Data Protection Network), Adrian Swinscoe (author of How to Wow), Tim Roe (RedEye) and Michael Bond (News UK, Data Protection Network) – view the video below.
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Trained as a journalist from the age of 18 and enjoying a long career in regional newspaper reporting and editing, Sally Hooton joined DMI (Direct Marketing International) magazine as editor in 2001. DMI then morphed into The GMA, taking her with it!
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