Big Data is one of the buzzwords of the year, if not the buzzword. It describes collection of data sets so large and complex that it becomes difficult to process using on-hand database management tools. The challenges include capture, curation, storage, search, sharing, analysis, and visualization. Information Technology is now increasingly able to sort through these massive amounts of data. The implications for the advertising and marketing industries are very important.
Oscar Padilla, VP of Strategy at Luminar, urged the audience to take analytics more seriously, and to learn how to “translate data into business intelligence,” during his presentation at Portada’s recent Annual Conference.
“Data is not only more important than many people think, but also much more overwhelming than imagined. For starters, data shows that 2.9 million emails are sent out every second worldwide,” said Padilla. Padilla noted that Big Data can help marketers reach their goals and make an effective sell of everything, from credit cards and hair-care products to automobiles and political messages. Luminar licenses data from about 2,000 different sources to create a master file and come up with the right analytics.
Big Data not only applies to the so-called general market, it will also strongly impact marketing and advertising in the U.S. Hispanic market. Major media players in the U.S. Hispanic market have already been taking their first steps. In fact, Padilla’s company Luminar is owned by Hispanic media company Entravision.
“Big Data is how we get the right message, to the right people, at the right time, on the right platform, on the right place.”
The double Whammy of Big Data and the U.S. Hispanic market
“We see a tsunami of Big Data forming and another tidal wave of Hispanics population in the U.S.. I would not be surprised to see a lot of activity in that intersection soon as the advertisement industry goes from Mad men to Math men, “Esteban Lopez Blanco, Chief Strategy Officer, Corporate Development and Innovation at Entravision Communications, tells Portada. To Lopez Blanco, “Big Data is how we get to the right message, to the right people, at the right time, on the right platform, on the right place.”
Implications for the Advertising Model
The current display ad model is typically based on advertisers demographically targeting areas of consumer interest on website properties or off-line. The new model, driven by Big Data, helps brands target consumers digitally based on their actual behaviors. Ads are targeted based on much more than just cookie data. Data Management Platforms (DMPs) are helping marketers better understand and segment in complex ways based on user attributes and user consumption habits. Players in the digital media market including DSPs (Demand side platforms) and SSP’s (Supply Side Platforms) are gravitating to also have the role of DMP’s or Data Management Platforms.
According to Blanco, “Google and Facebook have been doing big data for a while and technologies like hadoop and others will bring this to all forward looking companies.”
