Guest Blog: Is 'Big Data' a big deal?

This is a first, my first guest blogger and an important subject needing covered, Big Data. It is written from the perspective of an International Relations graduate with relevant links for further reading.

My following of recent US political campaigns isn't just out of an interest in US politics. Its also because these campaigns, particularly the innovative Obama for America campaigns, have in some ways been interesting barometers for new trends in marketing communication and how businesses use technology as a whole.

After President Obama successfully won re-election in 2012, there was a wave of media coverage suggesting this was really a victory for Big Data [1, 2, 3]. The campaign had used data to revolutionize online fundraising, the targeting of television of digital advertisements and had found a way to produce models of voters that allowed a better honing of phone-calls, direct mailings and social media. This was partly possible because the Obama campaign had created a huge new system that merged information from previously separate databases, such as polling information, data from fundraising, data from field-workers, consumer databases and also data gathered from social media. This subsequently allowed the campaign to gain a better perception of what kind of message would appeal to different variations of voters [1].

There are signs that using data in this way to gain new insights in business has become an increasing trend; the new IBM CEO discussing how technology will transform business has stated that it will better allow companies to make more objective calls [4]. Mashable have also predicted that Big Data will become a key part of services offered by digital agencies in order to maintain competitive advantage [5]. So to business studies and/or marketing management students out there, and anyone else with an interest, big data is definitely something worth researching in your spare time, as the current generation of students intending on going into marketing will likely be dealing with it to a greater extent than industry currently is today.

Links are as follows:

1. http://swampland.time.com/2012/11/07/inside-the-secret-world-of-quants-and-data-crunchers-who-helped-obama-win/2/ 

2. http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/508836/how-obama-used-big-data-to-rally-voters-part-1/ 

3. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/17/opinion/beware-the-big-data-campaign.html?_r=0 

4. http://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2013/03/08/ibm-ceo-predicts-three-ways-technology-will-transform-the-future-of-business/  

5. http://mashable.com/2012/07/06/big-data-playbook/

 

What role do you think 'Big Data' has in the marketing world? contact via Twitter to let me know @nickwilliamgale