Year of Marketing lessons: The Data Opportunity

5 Dec 2019 02:14 PM

Blog post by: Kannen Ramsamy, 4 December 2019.

The Year of Marketing (YoM) is a GCS initiative to help departments deliver world-class public service communications. Through a process of awareness raising and events, YoM keeps government communicators ahead of all the latest developments in the world of marketing.

This post comes to you as part of the ‘Year of Marketing Lessons’ blog series. The series aims to keep GCS readers up to date with the latest insights on the six ‘YoM Opportunities’, by laying out key learnings from individual YoM events that take place over the course of the programme. You can read more about the six opportunities in the YoM manifesto.

DWP & OmniGov on the Data Opportunity

DWP delivered an event on the ‘YoM Data Opportunity’ with government’s media-buying agency OmniGov. Attended by government communicators both in London and via webcast in Leeds and Sheffield, the session saw two marketing specialists from OmniGov discuss how data is expected to change the landscape of marketing in the future. They highlighted three areas of focus for the ‘YoM Data Opportunity’ – technology, ethics and planning. Below are some of the key lessons from the session:

Technology – the great enabler

Tech adoption will only continue to expand, with a projection for total adoption growing from 11.2% in 2019 to 21.5% in 2023.
As the ‘Internet of Things’ movement grows, communications will need to be considered from a device-led perspective beyond mobiles, extending into home appliances.
The roll-out of 5G will enhance the capacity for innovation in marketing by offering lower latency and greater network capacity. This means faster and more effective connectivity.

The ethical data usage debate

Brands and companies have access to a multitude of consumer data and this will continue to increase, so responsible and ethical use of data must remain a key consideration.
Restrictions in targeting are likely to emerge, particularly in potentially invasive fields like personal health.

Towards a data-led planning approach

Automation (AI) and machine learning (ML) have revolutionised the targeting landscape but government needs to be especially careful since it cannot and should not use all the AI/ML options on offer for marketing planning.
The target audience and the signals they give off should be adopted into a faster feedback process, resulting in greater effectiveness when media-buying.
There is increased opportunity for creative activation, such as live-ads that adjust to location and time. For instance adverts for umbrellas in a location where it’s raining!

To find out more about how you can get involved with YoM or if you have any questions, please contact yearofmarketing@cabinetoffice.gov.uk.

For more information on DWP’s involvement with the YoM, please contact Kiran Chahal at kiran.chahal@dwp.gov.uk.