Looking over the prow at the first quarter of 2014, it’s an excellent time to take stock of the year that was for the digital industry. When it came to all things data and analytics, 2013 saw a huge shift in public perception of what data privacy means as the Snowden revelations threw personal security and the governmental manipulation of data into the spotlight. We also celebrated the idea that the roles of CTO and CMO began converging in a big way, with technology budgets being shifted firmly into the media and marketing camp. And finally, Google took a swipe at brand marketers by making SEO that much harder, and paid search that much easier to invest in. Ahead of yet another newsworthy year in analytics, TagMan looks back at 2013’s 13 data analytics highlights.

1. 13 Highlights in Data Analytics
Impacting 2014

2. When it came to all things
and
2013 saw a big shift in public perception
of what data privacy means.

3. The roles of CTO and CMO began
converging in a big way.

4. The roles of CTO and CMO began
converging in a big way.
With technology budgets being
shifted firmly into marketing.

5. With 2014 shaping up to be another
newsworthy year in analytics, TagMan
looks back at 2013’s
13 data analytics highlights…

6. 1. Spotify uses analytics to prove
its worth to doubting musicians

7. 1. Spotify uses analytics to prove
its worth to doubting musicians
The music streaming service opened up
free analytic services for artists.
Giving even the most niche of
bands insight into the potential to earn
$17K/month through streaming and
merchandise.

8. 2.
Twitter ranks tweet
performance for free
on its analytics
platform

9. 2.
Twitter ranks tweet
performance for free
on its analytics
platform
Social got analytical when Twitter
opened analytic dashboards to the
public, providing in-depth data
about users, as well as ranking the
performance of recent tweets.

10. 3. Prioritizing Business Intelligence

11. 3. Prioritizing Business Intelligence
According to Gartner’s latest CIO
survey, the top priority for Chief
Innovation Officers is enterprise
growth, with analytics and
business intelligence remaining
their number one technology
priority in 2013.
Following a major shift in focus
which began in 2008, almost a
fifth of CIOs now act as their
enterprise’s chief digital officer
(CDO), responsible for digital
commerce and channels.

12. 4. Data Privacy

13. 4. Data Privacy
Web security made the headlines for
all the wrong reasons in 2013.
Edward Snowden blew the whistle on the NSA’s widespread
phone surveillance and governments put increasing
pressure on tech companies to disclose their data collection
processes.
Google agreed to pay $7 million to settle charges that the
company collected network data from user Wi-Fi accounts
while its Street View vehicles passed by homes and
businesses.
Microsoft capitalised on public anxiety by creating an
advertising campaign around the fact that it doesn’t snoop
through its users’ emails – unlike arch-rival, Google.

14. 5
Marketing Agility
Data-driven decision making
became a reality. Marketers
made great progress in cutting
through the data “noise” to
begin generating genuine ROI
using first and third party data.

15. 5
Marketing Agility
In a survey into marketers’
attitudes conducted by TagMan,
60% of marketers agreed that
Big Data can have a real
impact on revenue and
profits.

16. Data is no longer considered a by-product, but
rather is being actively used as digital currency.

17. Data is no longer considered a by-product, but
rather is being actively used as digital currency.
Users have become increasingly aware that their
personal data is valuable to advertisers and can
even be used to “pay” for services online.

18. 7. Data visualization gets sophisticated

19. 7. Data visualization gets sophisticated
Marketing data visualization took off in an interactive, real-time
and increasingly advanced way in 2013.
Visual dashboards, advanced heat maps and attention maps are
all designed to track how users interact with web pages and
understand which are the most popular areas.

20. 8.
Google’s Hummingbird update

21. 8.
Google’s Hummingbird update
Conversational search became the talk of the town last
year and high-quality content has reached even more of
a premium since Hummingbird came on the scene.
The algorithm’s aim is to give meaning to longer search
queries by paying closer attention to each word and
ensuring that the whole sentence is taken into account.
Time will tell whether it truly works...

22. 9. Google Search moves to becoming
a fully-subscribed service

23. 9. Google Search moves to becoming
a fully-subscribed service
Marketers took a hit at the end of 2013 with the
changes made by Google to SEO keywords. The
dominant analytics player recently switched off
organic search keywords referral data, meaning
that an advertiser can no longer view which
natural search terms visitors used to get to their
website.

24. 10. Rise in data partnerships
Partnerships were forged in 2013 between a number of companies in
the data and tag management sector, aimed at bringing even more
flexibility for advertisers and value for money for online marketing tools.

25. 10. Rise in data partnerships
Partnerships were forged in 2013 between a number of companies in
the data and tag management sector, aimed at bringing even more
flexibility for advertisers and value for money for online marketing tools.
In 2013 Facebook announced a number of
partnerships as part of its Custom Audiences
program with data providers like BlueKai, Datalogix,
Epsilon and Acxiom, allowing advertisers to target
hashed lists of existing and potential customers.

26. 11. Cross-device tracking
The next development in joining up the
consumer journey will be in near-field
As data management companies develop
communication technology, allowing
new ways of puzzling out how users interact
augmented reality-style interactions with
with apps and browsers physically in stores.
consumers when they’re on various platforms
throughout the day, advertisers started to
reap the benefits of joined up marketing
campaigns.

27. 11. Cross-device tracking
As data management companies develop
new ways of puzzling in how users
The next developmentoutjoining up the
interact with apps and browsers on
consumer journey will be in near-field
various platforms throughout the day,
communication technology, allowing
advertisers started to reap the benefits of
augmentedup marketing interactions with
joined reality-style campaigns.
consumers when they’re physically in
stores.

28. 12. Tag Management introduces the
first ever Marketing Data Platform

29. 12. Tag Management introduces the
first ever Marketing Data Platform
The launch of the Marketing Data Platform provides marketers
with access to real-time marketing data collected and unified by
tags. By expanding marketers control to this new marketing data
layer, marketers have the ability to collect, unify and distribute a
clean layer of third-party and CRM data to technology vendors in
real-time.

30. 13. The Rise of Tech-Savvy
Marketers

31. 13. The Rise of Tech-Savvy
Marketers
“By 2017 the CMO will spend more on IT systems
than the CTO”
The rise of Big Data, technology and new tools
and developments during 2013 signifies the start
of a real power shift within businesses.

32. In the past, we’ve only touched the tip of the
iceberg when it comes to data and analytics.
The global conversation around security and
data privacy is no doubt set to become an even
more complex one in the next few months.

33. For users though, they should be looking forward
to a more personalized digital experience across
the board, and more seamless interactions across
mobiles, tablets, desktops, in games and beyond.

34. Here’s to celebrating an eventful
and progressive 2014 in data
analytics this time next year.

35. About TagMan
TagMan is a leading global Tag Management System, Marketing Data,
and Marketing Attribution provider. Since 2007, e-commerce
professionals and digital marketers have relied on TagMan to improve
website performance and harness third party vendor tags. TagMan's
industry first Marketing Data Platform (MDP) provides access to
TagMan’s marketing data layer collected in real-time and unified by
tags. Marketers can now visualize the customer journey and path to
purchase through comprehensive dashboards to reveal the true
impact of advertising spend and drive revenue through tag-powered
data.
More than 350 enterprise websites across all major industries make
TagMan their go-to partner including, Vodafone, Travelocity, John
Lewis, Virgin Atlantic, The Body Shop, Air New Zealand, Debenhams,
DIRECTV, TiVo and Tesco Mobile. Find out more at www.tagman.com.
TagMan’s Top 13 Highlights also
featured in Smart Data Collective:
tgmn.co/13