Finding Unexpected Insights....at Tourneau

I love how Don McNichol, the Senior VP of Marketing for Tourneau, describes big data as a "“digital constellation” made up of his many marketing channels – stores, web site, social media, mobile, and call centers – all orbiting around a single database." This visual helps me appreciate the connectedness of a well-planned integrated marketing strategy; how all the pieces ideally return metrics into one space.

Enter the big data problem. Because of our relative inexperience with this rapidly evolving digital technology, I think it is easier to rely on this data more as a backup, than as a challenge. We are quicker to use the information to support or refute what we intuitively proposed, rather than to use the information to gain insights that might not match our initial assumptions. For marketers, it is challenging to take a leap of faith on a newfound insight into the customer's mindset, particularly in a more hierarchical company. We need to examine the why's behind the numbers. Why consumers behave in certain patterns is often more telling than the pattern emergence itself.

Another unique quality of this data is that much of it is time sensitive. As we get information, sometimes on a second by second clock, we need to make important judgments as to what to react to and what to monitor. To continue on McNichol's metaphor, much of what's shared in the digital sphere is like a shooting star, quick to rise and just as quick to disappear.

Thank goodness for B school classes where we can take on the data mining challenge and hone our innovativeness-quotients!

http://www.forbes.com/sites/philjohnson/2012/06/05/time-management-what-buying-a-luxury-watch-can-teach-you-about-big-data/