Death of the Deep Dive

 

Over the years I heard many people requesting that I or my team take a really “deep dive” into a particular topic. Some really meant it and others seemed to be paying lip service to the concept.

 

I particularly loved it when someone gave me in depth sales data following a recent media campaign. Along with a team member or two, we would take a legitimate “deep dive” into the sales numbers. Very early in the game, I learned that very few products or services delivered per capita sales “flat” across the country. One big exception appeared to be Colgate toothpaste but most had pockets of strength and, at the same time, other Nielsen Designated Markets (DMA) that were quite weak relative to the national average of sales.

 

Variables appeared to be distribution, age or ethnicity of the market, wealth, and, of course, media delivery for our supported brand in the DMA. The more we learned, the more that we tried to customize an effort in each market which was often referred to as market-by-market planning.

 

It was a great deal of work at times. Yet, when we stuck with it, often we could “level the playing field” somewhat relative to a better financed or more well-known competitor. Once, senior management told me to back off. To paraphrase their marching orders, it went: “I know that you are doing the right thing but the hours you spend are not appreciated by the client. They do not even read many of your reports although they are happy that sales are trending upward in a weak market environment.” I continued to do it on my own during nights and weekends.

 

Today, with media buying services dominating conventional media execution, my dogged and time-consuming approach is gone with the wind. Also, it is difficult to isolate the impact of some mix of digital and conventional media although Big Data is telling us amazing things about our customer base for most brands and many services.

 

Some argue that Consumer Behavior will soon get weaker as a discipline as customer profiles provided by the amazing array of facts spun out by Big Data will largely eliminate the WHY people are buying you factor.

 

My friends, this is not a rant by an old man wishing for the good old days (that never were!). The concern that I have is that the mountain of information being provided needs a few astute analysts who will sift through the tonnage and make informed decisions.

 

If you would like to contact Don Cole directly, you may reach him at doncolemedia@gmail.com or leave a message on the blog.