Data Is Awesome

DATA IS AWESOME

Please welcome Causeway Solutions’ Bill Skelly to our #StrategySession today where Majority Strategies CEO Brett Buerck asks….

Bill, a lot has been written of late regarding Google’s decision to limit targeting capabilities in political advertising on their platform. We know that many marketers who use those capabilities are unhappy with Google’s decision, but what does it really mean for data analysts, firms, and data modelers?

Bill: the short answer - it does not really mean anything.

Think of modeling like Legos, thousands of tiny blocks that come in all shapes and sizes that you can assemble into any form, creature, vehicle, or object you can dream up. You can make a princess castle, the Millennium Falcon, a monster from another world, or a flower garden.

Our data offers the same scalability and flexibility.

We assemble our Legos into whatever shape is needed to get the job done. That’s why the entire conversation about banning “microtargeting” in political advertising doesn’t make any sense.

If Google limits our ability to target to Age+ Gender+ Zip Code, we can still use the exact same data analysis we’ve always performed and aggregate our scores to whichever buckets the platform is expecting. We can still use our modeling to fit into Google’s metrics, shaping our analytics to match the requirements of their platform.

Modeling doesn’t care if Google changes their targeting requirements to street name and dog ownership; we have all of the Lego pieces. Each platform is going to demand that we build a different product, and we are designed for that exact capability.

Modeling prescribes a course of action that enables a campaign to reach its goals. It provides insights about individual people and the issues that matter to them. Predictive modeling allows us to tailor the specific message to the specific individual, so it is applicable to them. If you have the right data and the right team, Google’s changes won’t impact you in the least.

Bruce Lee once said that you have to fight like water, that is, be formless and take the shape of whatever the situation requires. Google’s changes aren’t going to limit predictive modeling in advertising.

For those of us who use the tool and do so really well, it is actually going to make our product stronger.

Thanks, Bill! For more information go to www.causewaysolutions.com