EU data reforms will help us be better marketers

You might as well be talking to a goldfish… these are challenging times for marketers. The average attention span of consumers is eight seconds and they’re pickier than ever about who and what they want to give their attention (and data) to. Add to that the draft Data Protection Regulation, which could make marketing virtually impossible, and the future looks bleak. Or does it?

Nick Banbury, data strategy partner, Tangible, says we should embrace EU data protection reform as it’s going to force us to be better marketers.

Speaking at the DMA’s annual data summit Data protection 2014 on Friday 7 March 2014, Nick calls on brands to be ‘sexier’, more interesting and relevant and to stop bombarding customers with messages that they think are important.

It’s the only way brands will gain trust from people, a big issue for governments and citizens after the NSA spying scandal and our ‘summer of Snowden’. Rightly or wrongly, people are jittery about the security of their data and how it’s used.

Marketers need to help the public see the difference between data and privacy, and ensure they know how and why their data is being collected and how it will benefit them. The key is gaining trust and demonstrating a genuine value exchange.

It’s not just the data we share, we’re dropping tons of data as we go about our everyday life through our smartphones about where we’re going and what we’re doing. Again, consumers need to be educated about the value exchange rather than the feeling of being tracked Big Brother style. This data can be a force for good, says Matthew Bayfield, head of data practice at OgilvyOne, (the final speaker at Data protection 2014).

Data from the fitness and diet apps that we’re using on our smartphones is being analysed to help predict the likelihood of a person being at risk of a heart attack or type II diabetes for instance. I for one welcome that use of data – it could save my life one day.

How will you persuade consumers to share their data with your business?

By Smarayda Christoforou, Copywriter, DMA

Watch two short clips from Data protection 2014
Nick Banbury data strategy partner, Tangible, urges us to embrace the EU data protection reforms.
Matthew Bayfield head of data practice at OgilvyOne, looks at the future of data for consumers.