The New Religion of Marketing: In Data We Trust (Or Do We?)

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Judy Shapiro of EngageSimply sharply criticized the state of marketing data, calling out the industry for its reliance on inaccurate, fraudulent, and ultimately useless data. She highlighted three major issues:

1. Wrong Data: Shapiro points out that cohort profile data in adtech is riddled with inaccuracies. She cites an Ad Age report estimating that nearly half of all data used for ad targeting is incorrect, largely due to outdated information and mismatched user profiles. This disconnect is especially prevalent among individuals who move frequently or have multiple postal or email addresses.

2. False Data and Fraud: She underscores the magnitude of ad fraud, referencing Juniper Research's findings that nearly half (47.4%) of last year's internet traffic was bot-generated, with 30% of those bots specifically designed to create fake engagements. The financial impact of this fraud is staggering, costing $81 billion in 2022 and projected to reach $100 billion by 2024.

3. Useless Data: Shapiro argues that the blending of scale media and surveillance data leads to nonsensical marketing strategies. For example, targeting "car owners" who clearly can't afford a vehicle, resulting in wasted ad spend.

Shapiro criticizes the adtech industry for being a "closed system" that profits from unreliable data, maintaining the status quo because of financial incentives. She concludes by stating that while data is the lifeblood of marketing, the industry's dependency on toxic data has led to a systemic malaise that is difficult to diagnose or cure.

Her perspective brutally exposes the flaws in adtech's data ecosystem and challenges the industry to rethink its approach to data accuracy, transparency, and utility.

🔥 The Crisis of Faith: Is Your Data Built on Sand?

The world of digital advertising—where data is king, and the emperor has no clothes. Jamie Barnard is not just skeptical; he’s sounding the alarm like a fire marshal at a pyromaniac convention. He likens the state of digital advertising data to the subprime mortgage crisis, where junk loans were dressed up as gold-plated investments. Today, it’s low-quality data masquerading as premium insights, and marketers are buying it like it’s the last avocado toast on the planet.

The digital ad industry is playing a shell game, slapping price tags on garbage and calling it gourmet. Jamie puts it bluntly, saying the data being traded is “as valuable as Chuck E. Cheese tokens.” And people are paying real money for it, thinking they’re getting high-grade intelligence. Spoiler alert: they’re not.

Timur Yarnall, who’s been knee-deep in the muck of adtech as the CEO of Neutronian, doesn’t mince words either. “Unfortunately, most ad campaigns are fueled by irrelevant, untrustworthy data,” he says. “If you don’t have high-quality data, you’re in a lose-lose situation: you lose out on potential customers because of mistargeted ads, and you put yourself at risk financially, legally, and reputationally.” It’s like paying a premium for a fake Rolex that not even the guy at the flea market would buy.

Meanwhile, Sir Martin Sorrell, executive chairman of S4 Capital, thinks marketers have outsourced their brains along with their data. He’s yelling from the rooftops that CMOs need to “regain control over marketing efforts, particularly concerning first-party data, which has been outsourced to external agencies.” Stop letting external agencies make the decisions, or you’ll end up with the digital marketing equivalent of New Coke. His solution? A hybrid approach that blends agency know-how with in-house control, like the perfect cocktail of expertise and accountability.

But not everyone’s reaching for the panic button. Hazem Elmeleegy sees hope in data management platforms that, theoretically, can separate the wheat from the chaff. According to him, these platforms “allow businesses to identify audience segments, which can be used to target specific users and contexts in online advertising campaigns.” Sure, if done right, it could be revolutionary. But given the industry’s track record, that’s a big “if.”

So here’s the million-dollar question: Is your digital strategy built on data or just a house of cards waiting for a light breeze?

The industry can either face the truth or keep pretending that Chuck E. Cheese tokens are legal tender. Either way, it’s time to check your pockets.

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