Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) ran an advert a few years ago, showing identical twins born 10 minutes apart. The advert shows how this small difference had a great bearing on their lives, with two very different personalities developing, and, of course, both eventually finding contrasting but equally fulfilling careers at the bank. I
I begin this blog post with one goal in mind. I want to raise awareness on the subject of customer and marketing analytics, and why this field is exploding in interest and popularity. Let's begin with a primer for the uninitiated, and lay down some definitions: Customer Analytics: The processes, technologies, and
Marketers have used segmentation as a technique to target customers for communications, products, and services since the introduction of customer relationship management (i.e., CRM) and database marketing. Within the context of segmentation, there are a variety of applications, ranging from consumer demographics, geography, behavior, psychographics, events and cultural backgrounds. Over time, segmentation has proven its value,
I get the most interesting insights from questions my kids ask me about my work. Why? Because they know very little about big data or analytics, and the questions they ask are sometimes about things that I’ve taken for granted. Every time that happens, it reminds me that the questions you
As a customer intelligence adviser, my work exposes me to a wide range of organisations with various marketing challenges and available resources. One of the common themes that have emerged is omni-channel marketing as a business imperative. Changes in the ways customers engage with brands across an explosion of channels
As we all know, marketing today is moving fast (although everyone was saying that in 2005, and will be in 2025!) Currently, one of the “accelerators” is that of digital marketing, with real time event driven campaigns being one of the latest mantras. For example when a customer puts something
Once upon a time, the festive countdown began when towns and cities switched on their Christmas lights. We all sat at home, eagerly waiting for Christmas adverts to debut. Retailers could plan based on the number of weekends left until Christmas. But last year, all that changed – the Black
Marketers are walking a tightrope today with data privacy issues: Data can simultaneously bring customers and brands together and further drive them apart. Recent data breaches, potential changes in data-privacy legislation and regulations loom large as customer expectations concerning marketing data continue to rise. As a result, today’s complex data
Recently I read an article on National Retail Federation's "Halloween Headquarters" that 1 out of 6 millennials will dress up their animal for Halloween versus 13% of adults. With the rise in cat lovers and hipsters, I wasn’t surprised. I’m not going to lie, I once had a Pomeranian named Armani
We have finally arrived to our last stop in this Journey Towards Direct Marketing Optimization. If you have read the entire series of articles, you are now ready to understand what optimization means and how to perform it. For those who have not read the previous articles, I suggest you
