An enduring factor or a passing fad? We asked some honored laborers in the marketing tech trenches to give us their thoughts on some of the buzzwords (and phrases) of 2016. Let’s play Holiday Buzz or Bust: The Internet of Things from a marketing perspective.
Lewis Gersh (“Chief Stamp Licker” at Pebblepost): It’s a bust, or soon to be. The FTC is smart to smart TVs, and what they may mean for consumer privacy. Also, recently consumer watchdogs filed with federal regulators saying a children’s toy-maker is violating the privacy of children via its speech-recognition software.
Daniel Incandela (SVP for global marketing at Return Path): I’m going with “bust” on this one. IoT often feels like technology for the sake of technology. IoT should exist to enhance people’s lives and from a brand perspective, it has to fit into the entire product strategy and roadmap. Strategy around IoT feels somewhat scattered at the moment, but it’s clearly still evolving.
Digital Transformation
Kevin Gavin (CMO at Five9): The term digital transformation was without a doubt a “hot” term of 2016, but in 2017 we will still feel the impacts of its importance on industries of all types. From healthcare to retail to government, organization leaders will continue to realize that if they do not make changes to become more digital, modern and agile in the way they operate, they will not be able to compete any longer. You can call it a digital transformation or not, but with nearly every business function moving to the cloud these days, it’s inevitable that operating a business in a more traditional way will not be successful.
Predictive Analytics
Anita Gandhi (VP of Consumer Analytics at PlaceIQ): Location data will begin to play an essential role in transforming predictive analytics for marketers, but it’s not the only ingredient. Different data sets will continue to work in harmony help brands better understand the consumer path to purchase, in order to make strategic marketing decisions. In 2017, more brands will leverage data about TV viewership, in-store purchases, automotive ownership to build that understanding, with location data acting as the connecting bridge, and filling in the traditional blind-spot of the physical consumer journey.
Programmatic
Lewis Gersh (“Chief Stamp Licker” at Pebblepost): Buzz, with a caveat. I define programmatic as “data-driven decisioning with high levels of automation that continually enhance efficiency and efficacy of a marketer’s goals.” With this balance, it’s a definite buzz as the value-add to the marketer’s ROI — and the consumer’s experience — is all hockey stick.
