1. 1. Big Data, PR and The Future Forrest W. Anderson Independent Communications Research and Strategy Consultant Forrest W. Anderson fanderson@forrestwanderson.com 415-513-5042 - @ForrestAnderson
2. 2. What Well Talk About Today What is Big Data? How Big Data is being used in PR and communications today How Big Data will be used in PR in the future How you can use (or prepare to use) Big Data today Forrest W. Anderson fanderson@forrestwanderson.com 415-513-5042 - @ForrestAnderson 2
3. 3. What Is Big Data? Forrest W. Anderson fanderson@forrestwanderson.com 415-513-5042 - @ForrestAnderson 3
4. 4. What is Big Data? According to Wikipedia Big data is an all-encompassing term for any collection of data sets so large and complex that it becomes difficult to process using on-hand data management tools or traditional data processing applications. Forrest W. Anderson fanderson@forrestwanderson.com 415-513-5042 - @ForrestAnderson 4
5. 5. What is Big Data? According to Wikipedia The trend to larger data sets is due to the additional information derivable from analysis of a single large set of related data, as compared to separate smaller sets with the same total amount of data, allowing correlations to be found to "spot business trends, prevent diseases, combat crime and so on. The data is coming from traditional sources, the Internet and the Internet of Things Government data Product warranty forms Internet Smart phones Cars Smart houses Personal health monitoring etc. Forrest W. Anderson fanderson@forrestwanderson.com 415-513-5042 - @ForrestAnderson 5
6. 6. What is Big Data Big Data Data Base 1 (e.g. Facebook) Data Base 2 (e.g. Patient History) Data Base 3 (e.g. Grocery Purchase Data) Date Base 4 e.g. (Drug Store Purchase Data) Data Base 5 (e.g. Contribution History) Forrest W. Anderson fanderson@forrestwanderson.com 415-513-5042 - @ForrestAnderson 6 Many to One
7. 7. Big Data Challenges How can you be sure the data is what is purports to be? How do you clean up the data? Is all the data on individuals, really specific to those individuals? How do you format the data base How do you manage the data base to deliver good data? How do you visualize and grasp the data? How do you manage the data to get insights that can drive communications programs? Forrest W. Anderson fanderson@forrestwanderson.com 415-513-5042 - @ForrestAnderson 7
8. 8. Big Data for PR The challenges I list above are real challenges But, in my view, they are not your challenges In almost all cases, other people will ensure the quality of the data It will behoove you to have a way to confirm they are right Trust Think critically about the data Some insight into how the data bases work Questions you can use to determine whether there are flaws Forrest W. Anderson fanderson@forrestwanderson.com 415-513-5042 - @ForrestAnderson 8
9. 9. Big Data for PR What PR people must do is learn to ask questions of the data Big data is just a big database that can answer lots of questions Your job as communications professionals is to ask the questions that will Give you insights that will enable you to execute communications programs Drive behaviors Help your organizations achieve their goals Forrest W. Anderson fanderson@forrestwanderson.com 415-513-5042 - @ForrestAnderson 9
10. 10. Big Data for PR You must become adept in: Information-driven communications Analytics KPIs Thinking critically about data These are really one and the same Its not so much Big Data as it is Analytics! Forrest W. Anderson fanderson@forrestwanderson.com 415-513-5042 - @ForrestAnderson 10
11. 11. Thinking Critically About Data Forrest W. Anderson fanderson@forrestwanderson.com 415-513-5042 - @ForrestAnderson 11 1.0 5.0 7.0 15.0 0.0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10.0 12.0 14.0 16.0 No exposure Consumer Ad Manufacturer's Ad Both Google Ad Sales Increase (%) Credit: Florian Zettlemeyer
12. 12. How Big Data Is Being Used in PR Today Forrest W. Anderson fanderson@forrestwanderson.com 415-513-5042 - @ForrestAnderson 12
13. 13. PR Examples Sparse Difficult to find examples of PR using Big Data at this point Anecdotally hear about Fortune 100 companies using it (IBM, Chevron) Influential PR leaders Know what questions to ask (insights they need) to drive successful communications campaigns Have access to data scientists within companies Manage data bases Apply statistics and other analytics to derive insights Big resources, including big budgets Forrest W. Anderson fanderson@forrestwanderson.com 415-513-5042 - @ForrestAnderson 13
14. 14. MasterCard Conversation Suite Forrest W. Anderson fanderson@forrestwanderson.com 415-513-5042 - @ForrestAnderson 14
15. 15. MasterCard Conversation Suite Web-based analytics tool supported by a global team of social media experts who monitor, analyze and engage in conversations around the world, in real-time, 24/7 MasterCard uses social intelligence to Shape ideation and product development Spur brand engagement and awareness Track brand performance and reputation Provide context around what consumers really want Forrest W. Anderson fanderson@forrestwanderson.com 415-513-5042 - @ForrestAnderson 15
16. 16. MasterCard Conversation Suite Earlier this year, released results from first ever global study of mobile payments space, based entirely on insights gleaned from 85,000 different comments Scattered across social channels like Twitter, Facebook, blogs and forums 43 markets 26 languages Forrest W. Anderson fanderson@forrestwanderson.com 415-513-5042 - @ForrestAnderson 16
17. 17. MasterCard Conversation Suite Those who had already used a mobile money service were less positive and enthusiastic about the idea than consumers who hadnt tried one yet. Early adopter sentiment was 58% positive, while for those yet to adopt was 76% positive. Also differences by global region MasterCard then used these insights to Refine its MasterPass e-payments service Re-orient marketing campaign Forrest W. Anderson fanderson@forrestwanderson.com 415-513-5042 - @ForrestAnderson 17
18. 18. The 2012 Obama Campaign Source: The real story of how big data analytics helped Obama win, InfoWorld, February 14, 2013 Forrest W. Anderson fanderson@forrestwanderson.com 415-513-5042 - @ForrestAnderson 18
19. 19. The Obama Campaign Forrest W. Anderson fanderson@forrestwanderson.com 415-513-5042 - @ForrestAnderson 19
20. 20. The Obama Campaign "We were going to demand data on everything, we were going to measure everything ... we were going to put an analytics team inside of us to study us the entire time to make sure we were being smart about things." [To ensure everything was measured, staff were evaluated on whether they entered data. The mantra became:] "If you didn't enter the data, you didn't do the work. -- 2012 Obama Campaign Manager, Jim Messina Forrest W. Anderson fanderson@forrestwanderson.com 415-513-5042 - @ForrestAnderson 20
21. 21. The Obama Campaign 100 analytics staffers 50 worked in a dedicated analytics department 20 analysts spread throughout the campaign's various headquarters 30 in the field interpreting data Forrest W. Anderson fanderson@forrestwanderson.com 415-513-5042 - @ForrestAnderson 21
22. 22. The Obama Campaign According to Chris Wegrzyn, director of data architecture for the Democratic National Committee The key measurements centered on The data itselfthe facts about the electorate and the campaign operation Modelingto understand the electorate at the individual voter level Experimentationto help the campaign learn how its actions actually influenced people Forrest W. Anderson fanderson@forrestwanderson.com 415-513-5042 - @ForrestAnderson 22
23. 23. The Obama Campaign According to Chris Wegrzyn, director of data architecture for the Democratic National Committee The key performance indicator for the campaign The number who planned to vote for Obama, divided by those who planned to vote overall Three levers to maximize that number: Registrationencourage target voters to register Persuasionpersuade the undecided to vote for Obama TurnoutDo all they could to ensure that Obama voters would show up to vote on Election Day Forrest W. Anderson fanderson@forrestwanderson.com 415-513-5042 - @ForrestAnderson 23
24. 24. The Obama Campaign Organization The field team, the personal face of the campaign: The people on the ground organizing volunteers Handling registrations Encouraging turnout, and so on The digital team responsible for Online presence Email campaigns Online fundraising Social media, and more Forrest W. Anderson fanderson@forrestwanderson.com 415-513-5042 - @ForrestAnderson 24
25. 25. The Obama Campaign Organization (cont.) The communications and media teams, responsible for Obama's personal messaging with interviews Ad buying, and so on Finance focused on the overall campaign fundraising strategy Executive buy-in from campaign manager Messina was essential Without that authority, any ambitious initiative might have been sidestepped or dropped altogether Team chose HP Vertica to drive Big Data Engine Forrest W. Anderson fanderson@forrestwanderson.com 415-513-5042 - @ForrestAnderson 25
26. 26. The Obama Campaign Analytics in action examples AirWolf Built to integrate the field and digital teams' efforts Common problem in prior campaigns was that Field teams' actions, such as recording a person's particular interest in voting issues Could not be easily followed up by the Digital team (for example, with email correspondences) With AirWolf Voter contacted by the field team in a door-to-door campaign, Voter's particular interests were recorded and fed back to Vertica Digital team ran email blasts from the local organizer to voters, each corresponding to a voter's favorite campaign issues Greatly enhanced the ability to pinpoint messaging and made it more feasible to sway voters Forrest W. Anderson fanderson@forrestwanderson.com 415-513-5042 - @ForrestAnderson 26
27. 27. The Obama Campaign Analytics in action examples (cont.) Media Optimizer--enable much more targeted ad purchases Prior to Media Optimizer, TV ad buys were based on broad demographics--costly and inefficient With Media Optimizer, the campaign Used statistical analysis to identify the target voters in the DNC database Enriched voter data with demographics data from TV ratings as well as advertisement pricing data Results were fed back into Vertica and reanalyzed for further tuning. Forrest W. Anderson fanderson@forrestwanderson.com 415-513-5042 - @ForrestAnderson 27
28. 28. The Obama Campaign Analytics in action examples (cont.) Media Optimizer (cont.) Overall picture combined Likely voters for Obama Shows they watch Prices of the ads Analysis feedback loop One result: Obama campaign purchased twice as many cable TV advertisements as the Romney campaign Many during niche programs Targeted the precise demographic slices the Obama campaign was trying to reach Forrest W. Anderson fanderson@forrestwanderson.com 415-513-5042 - @ForrestAnderson 28
29. 29. The Obama Campaign Campaign lessons All analytic solutions Were a combined effort of analysts, engineers and communicators Were time-sensitive, implemented in weeks rather than months Were built around an unconstrained, yet centralized environment with Vertica. The analyst-driven organization empowered the team to achieve a number of key objectives All the data from the disparate teams was brought together within Vertica, enabling a 360-degree view of the data Analysts could answer nearly any question quickly and easily, no matter where the data originally came from The platform was continually improved thanks to its built-in feedback loop Forrest W. Anderson fanderson@forrestwanderson.com 415-513-5042 - @ForrestAnderson 29
30. 30. The Obama Campaign Campaign lessons A unified big data analytics environment seems sure to take its place as a standard requirement for campaigns to come Forrest W. Anderson fanderson@forrestwanderson.com 415-513-5042 - @ForrestAnderson 30
31. 31. Stephanie Sharp Explains VoteSharp Forrest W. Anderson fanderson@forrestwanderson.com 415-513-5042 - @ForrestAnderson 31
32. 32. How Big Data Can and Will Be Used in PR Tomorrow Forrest W. Anderson fanderson@forrestwanderson.com 415-513-5042 - @ForrestAnderson 32
33. 33. The Promise of Big Data When you look for applications of Big Data in PR, most of what you see is Weve monitored trends in Twitter and Facebook data. That is not the promise of Big Data Forrest W. Anderson fanderson@forrestwanderson.com 415-513-5042 - @ForrestAnderson 33
34. 34. The Promise of Big Data An extraordinarily refined understanding of target audience wants, needs, and activities, including media habits The ability to communicate with specific individuals keyed to those specific wants, needs, activities and media habits Making not only communications but business decisions based on this data MasterCard product design and marketing decisions Obama election targeting and messaging Forrest W. Anderson fanderson@forrestwanderson.com 415-513-5042 - @ForrestAnderson 34
35. 35. How You Can Use (Or Prepare to Use) Big Data Today Forrest W. Anderson fanderson@forrestwanderson.com 415-513-5042 - @ForrestAnderson 35
36. 36. Recipe for Communications Success with Big Data 1. Ask the right questions A. Who is my target? B. What must they do to help my organization achieve its goals? C. How can I translate that into KPIs? D. What do they know, want, do, use, think? E. What media do they use? How? Why? F. And more G. Think creatively, but constrain yourself by your organizations business objectives Forrest W. Anderson fanderson@forrestwanderson.com 415-513-5042 - @ForrestAnderson 36
37. 37. Recipe for Communications Success with Big Data 2. Find people who know how to manage data bases and extract insight from them A. Data base building and grooming B. Data base analysis using advanced statistics and other analytics C. Look inside your organizations, the data doesnt need to be big, it needs to be accurate and applicable D. Understand what they do E. Explain to them what you do F. Think critically about the data Forrest W. Anderson fanderson@forrestwanderson.com 415-513-5042 - @ForrestAnderson 37
38. 38. Recipe for Communications Success with Big Data 3. Put all of that together to come up with efficient and effective communications programs 4. Get buy-in from your senior executives, so they A. Approve and support you as you do things differently B. Accept your measures of results Forrest W. Anderson fanderson@forrestwanderson.com 415-513-5042 - @ForrestAnderson 38
39. 39. Forrest W. Anderson fanderson@forrestwanderson.com 415-513-5042 - @ForrestAnderson 39
40. 40. Big Data, PR and The Future Forrest W. Anderson Independent Communications Research and Strategy Consultant Forrest W. Anderson fanderson@forrestwanderson.com 415-513-5042 - @ForrestAnderson 40