Mi9 hits back at 'small data' and retargeting claims

By Rosie Baker | 22 August 2013
 

Mi9's head of data Richard McLaren has poured cold water on claims made earlier this week that third party retargeting might be the saviour of Australia's "small" big data.

Earlier this week US agency founder Marty Weintraub said that “big data in Australia is small data everywhere else ... There's not tonnes and tonnes of data because there aren't tonnes and tonnes of you," he told marketers at a Sydney conference.

McLaren, director of Mi9's data and services division, said that while Mi9 has a database of 14 million accounts lined up with household and postcode data, it was not about size, but insight.

“Whether data is 'big' or not is missing the point. It's about the level of insight we can provide for marketers and we have plenty of good insight in our market.”

“The assumption that having a small population means you have less marketing insight is incorrect. Obviously 23 million [in Australia] is a smaller number of people than 300 million [in the US] but the implication the marketing insight is less good is flatly wrong,” he added.

McLaren also warned that suggesting third party retargetting is a “simple but shallow” way to approach data. He advised retailers starting out on the path to data-driven marketing to seek out techniques with more longevity.

He said: “It's great for short term highly transactional models but for instances of brand engagement, affinity and ad impact marketers need to find a way to find something more consistent.”

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