The Creativ Brief: Data, data, data, what is it good for?
Marketers are obsessed with data.
‘Data-driven’ has become a marketing cliche in the industry.
The unfortunate reality is whether it's a decision, strategy, or campaign, data mostly serves as confirmation bias to whatever the agency and marketer want to do anyway.
Despite a professed love for data, most marketers use it as a crutch rather than a tool.
Data’s true value in marketing arises in two ways:
Data distilled into insight; which can inform an upcoming campaign
Data tested against a key-performance indicator (a ‘goal’ in non-marketing speak); which can determine effectiveness.
A research study we conducted for a streaming TV company demonstrated that the competitive field all used the same language, allowing them to differentiate their message. Data to insight.
Working with a large Sci-Fi game for almost two years, we constantly iterated on landing pages, characters, ships, and copy to find what consumers respond to most. We measured download rate to determine the best performing creative. Data to goal.
Know what you’re looking for or measuring against. Otherwise data is just noise.
3 Stories Dominating Media and Tech Headlines
Cable-TV craters. Nielsen’s latest viewership data reveals that traditional TV, cable and broadcast, for the first time ever, has sunk below 50% of usage in July. The quickening reality is causing havoc at major networks.
Why it Matters: Major networks receive the bulk of their revenue from ‘affiliate’ deals driven from cable bundle fees. They know that revenue has an expiration date. Networks are dancing between investing in streaming while keeping the cable profits open for as long as possible.
Trump Georgia trial will allow cameras. We don’t cover politics, but whether you love him or hate him, Trump drives viewership. News viewership hinges on big, drama-filled stories. A criminal trial of a former President, televised, will be as big as it gets.
Why it matters: Expect wall-to-wall coverage of the ex-President’s 4 criminal prosecutions over the next several months. The media circus will likely drown out the normal campaign cycle, other voices and issues. Buckle the hell up.
VC and investment cycles. General Partner Bill Gurley sat down with Bloomberg to cover the state of flux VCs and investors find themselves in. Topics include risk cycles, overview of capital markets, and why people piled into FTX (FOMO).
Why it Matters: The interview reveals some macro trends taking place in the investment community. Right now it appears to Gurley that investors are nursing their wounds from the Web3 bubble bursting. However, new investment dollars are beginning to emerge to chase new tech trends like AI; albeit with higher standards to risk profiles.
Client Spotlight - Mirriad/Kantar Study
86% of consumers actively avoid ads, according to a new study from the leader in digital product placement, Mirriad, and media research firm, Kantar.
You can download the study on ad avoidance free here.
Stat of the Week - Data on TV Consumption
The chart above demonstrates data distilled into the insight.
If you are a brand looking to advertise on one of these mediums, how would you allocate your spend?
Knowledge that less than half the total addressable U.S. market watches cable or broadcast should inform that decision.
Seeing streaming TV’s expanding audiences should tell you that’s where eye-balls are headed.
Data to insight to decision.
One Fun Thing - Big Data
Cartoon by Marketoonist
‘Big data’ is advertising jargon for we have no idea what we’re talking about.
Data itself is not useful. Insight distilled from data is.
When reviewing data, understanding what you are trying to look for or prove is crucial.