NEW YORK, Sept. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. marketers will more
than double their annual spending on online-derived data sources
over the next two years — investing as much as $840 million by 2012 on information about digital
audiences, transactions and "clickstream" behaviors.
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That's one of the principal findings of a new white paper
released this morning by Winterberry Group, a New York-based strategic consulting firm that
serves the advertising, marketing services and digital media
industries. Entitled The Changing Mission of Marketing Data,
the report explores how the utilization of data for marketing
purposes has been impacted by the accelerating shift in investment
to digital advertising channels, and further examines the impact of
this shift on both marketers and the rapidly changing industry of
data-driven marketing service providers.
The report was jointly sponsored by Acxiom® Corporation (a
recognized global leader in marketing data, services and
technology) and Netezza Corporation (the global leader in data
warehouse and analytic appliances).
Among other conclusions, Winterberry Group determined that U.S.
marketers invested a total of $7.8
billion in marketing data in 2009 — including spending on
both original information and complementary services such as
hosting, hygiene and analytics (focused both on- and offline). That
total is expected to increase slightly over the next two years — to
$8.0 billion in 2012 — but all
of that growth will be driven by "digital" channels including
e-mail, online display advertising and other integrated media.
"Over the next few years, it's clear that a substantial sum —
perhaps as much as $1.5 billion —
will be chasing new marketing and data models onto the Internet,
pushing the boundaries of what's now possible with respect to
targeting and optimization," said Bruce
Biegel, a managing director at Winterberry Group. "This has
the potential to make online acquisition and engagement channels
significantly more effective and accelerate the shift of even more
advertiser spending from traditional to online channels."
The white paper outlines five trends that illustrate the
substantial shifts now defining the marketing data industry. They
include:
- The current wave of new data investment was initially driven by
marketer desire to apply the basic principles of direct mail —
embodied by the "right offer, right audience, right time" targeting
concept — to underleveraged online channels such as e-mail,
affiliate marketing and search. But rapid advances in technology
and an explosion of information availability have given rise to a
new set of data-driven digital applications (including Web
site optimization, lead generation and real-time media buying) that
align with a broader array of business objectives and integrate
inputs from multiple sources
- Companies are increasingly coming to view virtually
all data sets as critical core assets, with
insight into such (as enabled by analytics processes and tools)
representing an important source of potential differentiation and
competitive advantage. Though the same marketers are anxious to
make use of the burgeoning quantity of "unstructured" information
being generated across the Web, most remain hamstrung by
inefficient data management infrastructures built to handle
"structured" data funneled through a well-defined set of
channels
- The service provider landscape supporting integrated data
utilization has yet to fully coalesce. But it is already clear that
the industry will grow increasingly fragmented, led by new
influencers including online data compilers and exchange platforms,
database management vendors, publishers, e-commerce platforms and a
wide range of technology-focused performance optimization
providers
- The most fundamental execution challenge facing the users of
"integrated data" — that which is derived from both on- and offline
sources — is rooted in technology and infrastructure. Both digital
and traditional data sources must be compiled, standardized,
segmented and made appropriate for use in near-real time,
demanding process controls, storage technologies and
segmentation algorithms that can efficiently manage high data
volumes and progressively "learn" from past performance
- Among the potential obstacles that are likely to vex users of
"integrated data" in the years ahead, one supersedes all others:
the still-unsettled question of what standards count as
"responsible" with respect to data security, transparency and
consumer choice. Marketers overwhelmingly say they want to
abide by a set of universal best practices in this regard, but
rapid technological proliferation and the continuing threat of
regulation are raising concerns about their ability to collect and
use virtually any online data, especially when that
information is embedded with personally identifiable ("PII")
elements.
"We are at a turning point in history with new digital channels
creating an explosion of data — a 'digital exhaust' — as consumers
interact with them. This is a defining moment for modern marketers,
since many of their most critical marketing challenges are now
actually technology and large-scale data analysis challenges," said
Brad Terrell, Netezza's vice
president and general manager, Digital Media. "This study helps
provide marketers with a roadmap to help them navigate the
previously uncharted landscape of marketing data that is becoming
their primary source of competitive advantage."
"The proliferation of data is something that marketers have been
seeking to address — and capitalize upon — for many years," added
Todd Greer, Acxiom's senior vice
president for Consumer Insight Products. "But 'proliferation' isn't
just about gathering more of the same traditional sources of
information. Real insight comes through integrating multiple
dynamic data streams — including the vast quantities of information
generated on the Web. While that may have made for good marketing
theory in the past, now marketers and suppliers are applying the
theory for effective returns on their investment."
The Changing Mission of Marketing Data is available for
complimentary download via the Our Insights page of Winterberry
Group's Web site, located at
www.winterberrygroup.com/ourinsights.
About Winterberry Group
Winterberry Group is a unique, global strategic consulting firm
that helps advertising and marketing companies grow shareholder
value. Through a combination of corporate strategy, market
intelligence and transaction support solutions, the Firm leverages
its deep expertise, industry relationships and years of experience
to help marketers, service providers, technology developers and the
financial community identify opportunities for growth and achieve
transformative business results. The Firm is affiliated with Pesky
Prunier LLC, a leading investment bank serving the marketing,
information and digital media industries.
Winterberry Group's clients represent every segment of the
advertising and marketing industries, and extend their offerings
across virtually all consumer-facing vertical markets. They include
Alta Communications, Alterian plc., American Capital Strategies,
arvato Services (the marketing services division of Bertelsmann
AG), Canada Post Corporation, Capital One Financial Corp., The
Carlyle Group, Eastman Kodak Company, eCircle AG, Epsilon,
Experian, Hewlett-Packard Co., MediMedia USA, Meredith, Onex
Corporation, Quadrangle Group, Rosetta, Transcontinental, Inc.,
Xerox and Yahoo!.
For more information, visit www.winterberrygroup.com.
About Acxiom Corporation
Acxiom Corporation (Nasdaq: ACXM) is a recognized leader in
marketing technology and services that enable marketers to
successfully manage audiences, personalize consumer experiences and
create profitable customer relationships. Our superior
industry-focused, consultative approach combines consumer data and
analytics, databases, data integration and consulting solutions for
personalized, multichannel marketing strategies. Acxiom leverages
over 40 years of experience of data management to deliver
high-performance, highly secure, reliable information management
services.
Founded in 1969, Acxiom® is headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas, USA and serves clients
around the world from locations in the
United States, Europe,
Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.
For more information, please visit www.acxiom.com.
About Netezza Corporation
Netezza Corporation (NYSE: NZ) is the global leader in data
warehouse and analytic appliances that dramatically simplify
high-performance analytics across an extended enterprise. Netezza's
technology enables organizations to process enormous amounts of
captured data at exceptional speed, providing a significant
competitive and operational advantage in today's data-intensive
industries, including digital media, energy, financial services,
government, health and life sciences, retail and
telecommunications. Netezza's customers include Acxiom, AHOLD, AOL
Advertising, Blue Cross Blue Shield Massachusetts, Con-way Freight,
FICO, Marriott, Nationwide, Neiman
Marcus, NYSE Euronext, Time Warner Cable, United Health
Group, and Virgin Media. Netezza is headquartered in Marlborough, Massachusetts and has offices in
Northern Virginia, the
United Kingdom, Germany, France, Japan, Korea, Australia and Singapore.
For more information, visit www.netezza.com.
Contact:
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Jonathan Margulies
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(212) 842-6031
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jonathan@winterberrygroup.com
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SOURCE Winterberry Group
Copyright t. 8 PR Newswire