Infobesity: It’s Called Big Data for a Reason

July 1, 2014

“Infobesity” was coined to describe the modern affliction of too much data. Marketing2020 identified infobesity as one of the top challenges facing marketers around the world. During the qualitative portion of the survey, respondents used words like “mess,” “abundance,” and “excessive” to describe data overload.

Data is useless without the ability to draw insights and use them to drive decisions. Companies need to move from collecting data about their customers to collecting data with their customers. Marketing2020 found that companies that leverage each customer interaction (online and offline) to improve marketing effectiveness showed real business results.

Only 30 percent of marketers working at companies designated as underperformers by the survey agreed with the statement, “We are able to leverage all data and analytics to improve our marketing effectiveness.” In contrast, 49 percent of marketers at overperforming companies responded that their companies use data and analytics effectively.

Collecting the right data is key to marketing success. If data collection strategies aren’t aligned with business needs, marketers could find themselves trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. Only 26 percent of U.S. respondents to the survey said that marketing always works closely with IT on CRM or big data technology strategies; 27 percent said that marketing rarely aligns with IT on these strategies.

Marketers aren’t the only ones suffering from information overload. It’s also a growing consumer trend. As Sheryl Connelly, head of global trends and futuring at Ford Motor Company, expressed during a Q&A session at the 2014 ANA Advertising Financial Management Conference, “Our reliance on information is starting to reach a breaking point. There’s a lot of fatigue in the marketplace… We’re seeing a trend toward people wanting to take back their time.”

About Marketing2020

Marketing2020 – Organizing for Growth is the most comprehensive global marketing leadership initiative ever undertaken. Led by Millward Brown Vermeer in partnership with the ANA, Spencer Stuart, and Adobe, Marketing2020 is focused on how to best align marketing strategy, structure, and capabilities for business growth. The Marketing2020 fieldwork included vision interviews with more than 250 leading CMOs and an in-depth online survey of 10,491 contributors from 92 countries.