Use of Big Data in CPG marketing still a work in progress
Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is a summary of a current article from the monthly e-zine, CPGmatters.
A national survey by the Shopper Technology Institute of CPG marketers found that few companies have an enterprise Big Data strategy in place, and most are simply not ready with rationale, technology or the talent to put it to beneficial use.
Among the findings:
- Two thirds (68 percent) are still determining the business case for Big Data;
- Just six percent have deployed Big Data solutions in consumer marketing;
- Fewer than 10 percent have talent acquisition strategies that address Big Data opportunities;
- Only 35 percent measure their Big Data program ROI.
Yet the findings also showed that marketers are looking for ways to leverage Big Data to improve performance:
- Nearly half (47 percent) are integrating new data sources to gain a better view of consumers;
- More than half (54 percent) are linking syndicated data with new data sources to improve promotions;
- Seven in ten (70 percent) have applied Big Data insights to sharpen promotion strategies;
- One in three (33 percent) have invested in Big Data technology, and another 17 percent plan to this year.
The "Big Data in Marketing" survey was conducted in late 2014 by the Shopper Technology Institute, in conjunction with VSN Strategies. Gartner Group participated in an advisory role.
The survey reveals that CPG organizations are working diligently to get a handle on Big Data for consumer marketing. Four in ten are acquiring tools to enable them to process Big Data, which indicates the remainder haven’t commenced that activity yet. Referencing the subject of Big Data veracity, 41.5 percent indicate they are working on ensuring data "trust," with attention to data models, data quality and data governance.
Other findings:
- Only six percent indicated they had reached the deployment stage, while more than seven in 10 have yet to commence formulating a strategy;
- While the inability to measure program ROI may be a significant inhibitor, an encouraging sign is that 35 percent are already able to understand what they are getting from their Big Data investment;
- Most report success at finding new consumer insights as a result of Big Data activities, but other anticipated benefits have been slow to arrive.
Discussion Questions
What opportunities and challenges does the Big Data opportunity present for CPG companies versus retailers? What do you see as the short-term wins and long-term goals for CPG vendors around Big Data?
Poll
BrainTrust
Zel Bianco
President, founder and CEO Interactive Edge
Big Data is not an opportunity, it’s a tool. Companies that approach it as “we need to do this” will spend way more than they should and will get way less than they expect. Big Data is useful when you have a Big Data question — most of our questions are small data questions that can be answered with the data and the tools we have at hand.
Big Data and Internet of Things seem to be thrown around a whole lot. The power of Big Data comes from co-relation and statistical analysis. What’s the problem? Well, Big Data or small data, you always need to start with the problem then find the data points to connect, to paint the picture that solves your problem or provides some insight. It seems like a lot of people are going about this the other way: taking the data and trying to figure out problems to solve. It’s a lot of data.
Two of the more serious challenges:
Data can be helpful for after-the-fact diagnostics, but the highest ROI often derives from drawing attention to opportunities, issues and new information that can be acted on immediately.
Unlocking the value in data requires analysis, interpretation and linking the insight to actions. Too many solution providers and CPGs themselves invest in the data/technology but stop short of realizing its potential.
Today Big Data is a business imperative (beyond IT) and is providing (potential) solutions to long-standing business challenges for consumer product companies around the world. With extensive supply chains, often hundreds of unique brands and brand variations to manage, and millions of customers and consumers to serve, these companies rely on data to keep products moving efficiently and visibly.
While new sources of data like social media offer opportunities to uncover insights into consumer purchasing decisions and preferences, they also present new challenges associated with ingesting, managing and analyzing new types of data, such as free-form text, videos and geo-location coordinates. Moreover, consumers are expressing their opinions on brands — both good and bad — in very public ways that often involve hundreds of personal contacts.
So while the CPG/FMCG industry’s structured data is significant in size and scope, it is the world of unstructured data that is emerging as an even larger source of insight. Manufacturers need to harvest and leverage this information to gain a competitive advantage.
Therefore, developing a strategy to leverage this data is still a challenge for most companies, and the execution of a strategy if it exists is even more rare to observe. We are seeing leading CPG companies drive real successes, and they are not always big multinational corporations. Sometime we see small, nimble CPGs capturing the value of Big Data very effectively.
The biggest opportunity in Big Data right now is to approach it with a clear strategy. Collecting large amounts of data is useless unless it is easily and quickly accessible. Finding the right solutions to help your workforce make better data-driven decisions is essential to long-term success.
Chicken and egg analogies abound when it comes to Big Data. Both CPG companies and retailers should be thinking about big questions that need good answers!
If Big Data can offer relevant and worthwhile input for corporate strategies and solutions for challenges go for it. But if using Big Data is the goal and its application the secondary objective much time and money will be wasted.
It’s time to look at some of the case histories of how companies (CPG and retailer alike) have used big data with big returns. That’s how newcomers can determine if there’s something there for them.
Let me focus on the finding, “Just six percent have deployed Big Data solutions in consumer marketing.” This is factually WRONG! Every time a marketer uses programmatic or Facebook, they are using Big Data solutions. They might not THINK of it as Big Data because the media ecosystem of partners is doing the heavy lifting, but they are using Big Data just as certainly. CPG marketers need to realize they are already in the game and those who master this will derive competitive benefit just from data assets which can make the difference between profit stagnation and growth.
The problem with many of the approaches to Big Data is that the companies are using it for short term answers, particularly promotions. That is contrary to the real value of Big Data, which is in strategy. Big Data should be a driver of strategy, not a driver of tactics.
The challenge of course is being able to “read” it. The only way you can really understand it is to synthesize it, not analyze it. Analysis will take one into minutia and they will not “see the forest from the trees.” The problem is that most are taught analysis, not synthesis.
If the CPG shops want to know and understand the Millennials’ fast-changing market space then Big Data and the related apps that are proven in CPG are a must. The Millennials are the group that is moving into the domination role. Time to relearn some CPG tactics via the Millennials and Big Data will help better measure the impact of new products, packaging, etc.
Big Data is the sleeping giant of our industry.
Companies haven’t set up for the onslaught of information because many don’t know what lies within the data. There is a kind of blindness to the depth of understanding and opportunities inherent in the information streams.
That’s ok. Enter the insights professionals! This is the kind of thing we love. Exploring the data and bringing it to life to reveal insights, that’s what gets us up in the morning. In my insights group, I’m sending our people to data visualization training for exactly this reason. If you can see the data, it tells you a story.
Many great comments here. My thanks to all. Big Data remains a slippery subject in the CPG world – which may be the most significant finding in this study. If the criterion for adoption is any use of Facebook for marketing, then Joel is correct – near 100% of brands should reply “yes we do.”
But respondents seem to differentiate between using tactical marketing channels like social media versus applying Big Data analytics to their strategic objectives. Thanks, Ralph, for expanding on this point.
By assigning Big Meaning to two simple words used together, we have launched a rather mind-bending conversation about the future of digital marketing. Far from the last word, this STI study adds incrementally to our understanding.