It's that time of the year when I am being exposed to a large variety of firms in different domains. In my journey through their myriad presentations I have discovered something about myself. I have a problem with firms who have a preponderance with technology.
It is ironical that I should be the one writing this, since last year I remember having a discussion with Saral sir where I was defending the online marketing strategies of the firm in one of the cases. I guess Sir finally gave up in his endeavor to convert me, hoping perhaps that fate would be a better teacher. Time has made sure that I understand his wisdom.
There is a whole plethora of technology firms out there throwing around "Social Media Analytics", "Big Data" and "Consumer Insights" like it was nobody's business. Just sitting behind a screen they attempt to dissect the life of the "consumer" - an amorphous entity - and they believe that this consumer's is actually always online. Their entire vision of the consumer is from behind this screen and they call their mined data "insights". What a joke!
Large volume CPG companies attempt to get the insight behind what their consumers do online and they turn to these prophets of data who promise complete tracking up to the point of consumption and measured results - a preponderance with numbers and quantitative case building. But I fear that those who get married to this trend will enter a dangerous downward spiral.
Data is of many kinds. And as humans we tend to specialize in the kinds of data which we ourselves have not learnt to measure yet.
There is still VALUE in physically living the life of our consumer. ONLY this will help us make the correct interpretation of their lives and their actions and design the correct products or services for them. Only then will we truly "GET IT".
But till then let us not get wowed by firms who do not even see the value in doing a physical sales pitch. Until we see ourselves projecting our entire selves online, I suggest we hold our horses on this one.
