Newsletter: data disrupting marketing

• February 20, 2017
• Ryan Garner
• no comments

Last Friday we launched a newsletter covering disruption and innovation in the data economy. Here is our first issue. We probably won’t publish each newsletter as a blog post this is just a sample so subscribe here.

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Welcome to the first issue of Citizenme’s Newsletter. We’ve met a lot of people over the past year who have shown incredible support and interest in our work. You’re one of them, so thanks!

The digital and data driven economy is reshaping all areas of the marketing wheel from market research to advertising. This is creating huge opportunities for businesses to innovate and establish stronger relationships with their customers. A lot has already happened in 2017 (consumers opting-out of marketing, new business models and big changes in generating consumer insights) so let’s jump straight in…

What consumers are up to

A question we get a lot is; “how do attitudes stated in surveys impact real behaviour”. In the chart below we’ve hacked together data from two separate studies to give us a rough idea.

There is a correlation at an aggregated country level. Those countries more willing to share their personal information (for decent benefits) are less likely to have installed an ad blocker. So attitudes are mapping well against behaviours in the advertising industry. We’re convinced there’s a huge opportunity here for brands to gain competitive advantage by improving the value exchange for consumers sharing their personal information.

Advertising’s issues

Digital advertising has big structural issues. Internet users are blocking them because they’re seen as an interruption rather than providing value. Further to that, Google blocked 1.7bn bad ads in 2016, twice as many as they blocked in 2015.

This in part is adding to the woes of UK publishers, who are facing increasingly rockier times. Falling circulation, increased ad blocking, falling ad spend and fake news is all taking its toll. Can the news industry find a business model not reliant on advertising?  It sounds like Medium are looking for one. Founder and CEO, Ev Williams recently wrote:

“…it’s clear that the broken system is ad-driven media on the internet. It simply doesn’t serve people. In fact, it’s not designed to. The vast majority of articles, videos, and other “content” we all consume on a daily basis is paid for — directly or indirectly — by corporations who are funding it in order to advance their goals. And it is measured, amplified, and rewarded based on its ability to do that. Period. As a result, we get…well, what we get. And it’s getting worse.”

Advertising provides a channel for businesses to speak to consumers. This function is hugely important for any digital brand. But the disconnection between the advertiser and consumer is getting worse. The world’s biggest advertiser, P&G, also made a bold statement about making advertising better. With brands like Medium and P&G being very vocal about these issues, there’s a huge opportunity for innovators to provide a solution that works better for businesses and consumers.

Who’s data is it anyway?