The Data Revolution in PR and Marketing Disruption is the overused word of our time. But it’s important to consider why it’s so frequent, and what thinkers and observers are saying needs to be done in reaction to it. In communications, PR and marketing disciplines, disruption truly hinges on the use of data. An obvious statement, yes; eliciting a true “of course we’ve been doing that” reaction. What has changed? We are fortunate to live in a time where something fantastic came in to our society: The internet. As the internet has advanced, the ability to collect data has advanced, as has our ability to sift through it, understand it, and derive insights from it. There is a direct relationship between the breadth of communications needs and services and the rise of processor speed, the sophistication of digital storage, the commoditization of data collection and analysis, and the proliferation of the web into everything from phones to cars to refrigerators. Where is PR and marketing going as a result? What are the signals coming from futurists and industry watchers? This is a short brief intended to answer this question. It’s a high-level overview of the dominant theme of data in public relations, marketing, and communications. This reflects not just what we are focused as a firm, but what communications practitioners, scholars, and futurists are predicting and doing. It’s an introduction for communicators and communication teams pivoting to better use of more and better data. It’s a summary of thought leadership and industry studies that a CEO or senior PR exec can digest in 10 minutes. October 2016

1. N
Implications and Considerations
OCTOBER 2016
The Data Revolution and PR

2. The Data Revolution in PR and Marketing
Disruption is the overused word of our time. But it’s important to
consider why it’s so frequent, and what thinkers and observers
are saying needs to be done in reaction to it. In communications,
PR and marketing disciplines, disruption truly hinges on the use
of data. An obvious statement, yes; eliciting a true “of course
we’ve been doing that” reaction. What has changed?
We are fortunate to live in a time where something fantastic
came in to our society: The internet. As the internet has
advanced, the ability to collect data has advanced, as has our
ability to sift through it, understand it, and derive insights from it.
There is a direct relationship between the breadth of
communications needs and services and the rise of processor
speed, the sophistication of digital storage, the commoditization
of data collection and analysis, and the proliferation of the web
into everything from phones to cars to refrigerators. Where is PR
and marketing going as a result? What are the signals coming
from futurists and industry watchers?
This is a short brief intended to answer this question. It’s a high-
level overview of the dominant theme of data in public
relations, marketing, and communications. This reflects not
just what we are focused as a firm, but what communications
practitioners, scholars, and futurists are predicting and doing. It’s
an introduction for communicators and communication teams
pivoting to better use of more and better data. It’s a summary of
thought leadership and industry studies that a CEO or senior PR
exec can digest in 10 minutes.
October 2016

3. Data is the dominant
theme of public
relations today
Data is the common thread between thinkers and
practitioners.
Land was the raw material of the agricultural age.
Iron was the raw material of the industrial age.
Data is the raw material of the information age.
Alec Ross
Author, “The Industries of the Future”
Senior Innovation Advisor, U.S. State Department

4. Websites
E-Commerce
Database Connectivity
Mass Email
CRM
Database Integrations
Mass Email
CRM
SEO
SEM
Web development
Web design
Why is data the dominant theme?
As our access to data and insight from data
has grown, the PR and communications
world has equally grown.
Websites
E-Commerce
Database Connectivity
Web development
Web design
2000 2006
SERVICES
OFFERED
BY AGENCIES
TECHNOLOGICAL
ADVANCEMENT

5. Websites
E-Commerce
Database Connectivity
Mass Email
CRM
Database Integrations
Social Media
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube
Analytics
Mobile
User Experience
Mobile–Web and Apps
Multi-screen
Mass Email
CRM
SEO, SEM
Web development
Web design
Data Visualization
Analytics
Responsive Design
Community
Management
Crisis Communications
Content Strategy
Content Creation
Digital Reputation
Blogging
Influencer Outreach
Monitoring
Online Research
Video
Websites
E-Commerce
Database Connectivity
Mass Email
CRM
Database Integrations
Social Media
Mobile
Better CRM
Data Management
Analytics
Multi-context
Customer Journey
AGENCY AS INTEGRATOR
AGENCY AS DATA
STEWARD & INSIGHT
FINDER
Websites
E-Commerce
Database Connectivity
Mass Email
CRM
Database Integrations
Mass Email
CRM
SEO
SEM
Web development
Web design
Websites
E-Commerce
Database Connectivity
Web development
Web design
2000 20172006
SERVICES
OFFERED
BY AGENCIES
TECHNOLOGICAL
ADVANCEMENT
Why? As the web gets richer, data gets richer.

6. Today, Gartner’s Hype Cycle puts data-related outputs
squarely on the upswing.
What’s the Gartner Hype Cycle?  

7. What’s the Gartner Hype Cycle?
The Hype Cycle provides a graphic representation of the
maturity and adoption of technologies and applications,
and how they are potentially relevant to solving real
business problems and exploiting new opportunities. It’s a
well-vetted, much followed visualization on what’s
plateauing, dropping, and trending in terms of use and
interest.
Technology Trigger: A potential technology breakthrough
kicks things off. Early proof-of-concept stories and media
interest trigger significant publicity. Often no usable
products exist and commercial viability is unproven.
Peak of Inflated Expectations: Early publicity produces
a number of success stories—often accompanied by
scores of failures. Some companies take action; many do
not.
Trough of Disillusionment: Interest wanes as
experiments and implementations fail to deliver.
Producers of the technology shake out or fail. Investments
continue only if the surviving providers improve their
products to the satisfaction of early adopters.
Slope of Enlightenment: More instances of how the technology can
benefit the enterprise start to crystallize and become more widely
understood. Second- and third-generation products appear from
technology providers. More enterprises fund pilots; conservative
companies remain cautious.
Plateau of Productivity: Mainstream adoption starts to take off. Criteria
for assessing provider viability are more clearly defined. The technology’s
broad market applicability and relevance are clearly paying off.
http://www.gartner.com/technology/research/methodologies/hype-cycle.jsp

8. Gartner’s Hype
Cycle 2016 points to
the maturation of
technologies that
require data
gathering,
managing,
measurement and
insight from
communicators—on
a larger scale than
ever before.
http://www.gartner.com/technology/research/
methodologies/hype-cycle.jsp

9. But the industry has been talking about
data for years. What’s different now?
[Historically] the vast majority of research on the
human condition has relied on single-shot, self-
report data on relationships: a yearly census,
public polls, focus groups, and the like.
World Economic Forum
Global Information Technology Report, 08-09
As the 2016 edition of The Global Information
Technology Report is released, the world is
entering the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Processing and storage capacities are rising
exponentially, and knowledge is becoming
accessible to more people than ever before in
human history. The future holds an even higher
potential for human development as the full effects
of new technologies such as the Internet of Things,
artificial intelligence, 3-D Printing, energy storage,
and quantum computing unfold….
Innovation is increasingly based on digital
technologies and business models, which can
drive economic and social gains if channeled in
a smart way…
World Economic Forum
Global Information Technology Report, 2016
http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GITR_Report_2009.pdf
https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-global-information-technology-report-2016/

10. As storage capacity for data has grown, so has
our ability to mine and understand it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hilbert_InfoGrowth.png

11. We have more access to
more data with
commoditized tools to
mine, probe, analyze
Today’s data gives us ridiculous amounts of information
about the behavior of customers, employees, and
prospects.
It's not just about the things we post on Facebook, and
it's not about our searches on Google… and it's not data
from internal company processes and RFIDs.
Today’s data comes from things like location services
running on your cell phone or from credit card swipes,
it's all those little-data breadcrumbs that you leave
behind you as you move around in the world.
REINVENTING SOCIETY IN THE WAKE OF BIG DATA
https://www.edge.org/conversation/alex_sandy_pentland-
reinventing-society-in-the-wake-of-big-data
Sandy Pentland, MIT Professor
Connection Science and Human Dynamics lab

12. The ballooning scale and diversity of customer
data in 2016 will provide rich new sources of
insight, equipping firms to engage with customers
in novel ways and disrupt entire industries.
Predictions 2016: The Path From Data To
Action For Marketers
https://www.forrester.com/report/Predictions+2016+The+
Path+From+Data+To+Action+For+Marketers/-/E-
RES129198
17 Predictions about the Future of Big Data
Everyone Should Read
http://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2016/03/15/17-
predictions-about-the-future-of-big-data-everyone-
should-read/#19b2dad6157c
And with commoditization, companies are striving to become
data businesses, moving from “big data” to fast and actionable
data (i.e. data that can be used)
Smartphone MB consumption

13. Data, and building around
data, is our greatest
opportunity
PR stands to be the biggest loser as an industry if
PR doesn’t come to grasp with the landscape.
On the flip side, if you as a PR practitioner
understand and embrace the roles of video, of
content marketing, of effective measurement, and
of algorithmic thinking, then you stand to seize a
massive amount of market share from the
laggards.
Chris Penn, VP of Marketing Technology, SHIFT
Digital Marketing Trends 2015

14. • Full-service now includes back-end technology
and integration
• Optimizing across owned/earned/paid channels
• New skills are in demand: data, design, content,
cross-channel analytics.
E-Consultancy, Future of Agencies
https://econsultancy.com/reports/the-future-of-
agencies/
Agencies have been remodeling to meet
the challenge and opportunity

15. Implications

16. Implications for PR
PR professionals need to embrace data,
beyond where they are today, to understand
its implications, its power, the insight it
provides.
Putting data to use competitively and
strategically will foster growth and better all
traditional programs.
https://hello.econsultancy.com/the-role-of-the-agency-in-data-management/
Our ability as an organization
to have conversations with our
clients and broader market
players that are based on
research-driven intellectually
rigorous insights is quite frankly
an expectation that clients
rightly have.
Ian Rumsby, Chairman of
Weber Shandwick Australia

17. Where are investments happening?
A new full-service model is emerging
from agencies and from client
departments that is blending front-end,
marketing, design and communications
capabilities with back-end technology
and integration.
The lure of data allows us to not only collect and mine
data, but to also make more things that generate data.
Clients and agencies are investing in analytics, data
management, data analysis, and the technology stack
to drive data-driven work.
This investment informs and drives a broad set of
integrated needs, such as better content
marketing, data management platforms, and CRM.
E-Consultancy, Future of Agencies
https://econsultancy.com/reports/the-future-of-agencies/

18. The Holmes Report: Global
Communications Report
Where are agencies growing?
E-Consultancy: Future of Agencies
Where are client decision-makers predicting they will
spend money and invest more in the next 5 years?
http://www.holmesreport.com/ranking-and-data/global-communications-report https://econsultancy.com/reports/the-future-of-agencies/

19. http://www.holmesreport.com/ranking-and-data/global-communications-report https://econsultancy.com/reports/the-future-of-agencies/
The Holmes Report: Global
Communications Report
Where are agencies seeing growth?
E-Consultancy: Future of Agencies
Where are client decision-makers predicting
they will spend money and invest more?
Two of the top three predictions
for investment involve data.

20. Where are budgets
coming from?
By 2017 the CMO will spend more on IT
than the CIO.
Marketing/Communications departments
are purchasing significant marketing-related
technology and services from their own
capital and expense budgets–both outside
the control of the internal IT organization
and in conjunction with them.
Gartner Webinar
http://www.gartner.com/webinar/1871515

21. Agencies as data stewards
and insight miners:
The new trusted advisor
The agency role must be to combine data,
technology and content with our knowledge
of the purchase/persuasion/advocacy
journey to create more relevant
experiences.
https://hello.econsultancy.com/the-role-of-
the-agency-in-data-management/
“I don’t really care about data
or for that matter how big it is.
What I care about is insight –
insight that translates into
action that drives sustainable
business results for my clients.
The right tools and tech allow
me to get to the insight quickly
and efficiently.”
Arun Kumar, Head of
Analytics, Razorfish

22. Today's digital audience platforms enable us
to identify and communicate directly with
individual consumers who are "always on," at
a scale never before fathomable. And
because these platforms are proliferating at a
blinding rate, the technology requirements for
executing customer-centric strategies are
constantly changing.
The new breed of marketer–the Platform
Marketer–must develop a new set of
capabilities, tools, metrics, and
processes–along with the new skillsets
required to utilize them effectively.
Matthew Mobley, CTO, Merkle
Technology stacks: Not just for developers
Channels
Elements
https://hello.econsultancy.com/the-role-of-the-agency-in-data-management/

23. People are using an increasing range of tools and technologies—from social media to smartphones—to help make
more informed purchasing decisions.
That evolution is, in turn, transforming marketing [and PR and all communications] into an increasingly technical
function requiring new roles, such as that of the marketing technologist (link).
What’s a marketing technology (MT) stack?
Marketing has fundamentally become a
technology-powered discipline, and it’s leading to
the rise of new kinds of marketing professionals. A
marketing technologist is a technically skilled
person who designs and operates technology
solutions in the service of marketing. This isn’t just
about embedding IT services within marketing,
though. Good marketing technologists strive to
understand the context of the technology. They’re
passionate about reimagining what marketing can
do in a digital world. They help nontechnical
marketers craft better campaigns, programs, and
customer experiences that effectively leverage
software and data.
Scott Brinker, Founder & CTO, Ion Interactive
http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-
sales/our-insights/making-marketing-technology-work
Most of the marketing technology stacks follow the same format:
• Tools to build awareness
• Tools to build engagement/education
• Tools to build consideration
• Tools to build conversion
• Tools to build loyalty
Where do we see the impact of public relations?
• Organic search results as PR generates branded search intent
• Social media results as PR generates engagement
• Earned media results as PR generates coverage of our brand
• Owned media properties grow as PR creates inbound web
traffic
• Paid media performance improves as awareness of our brand
increases ad engagement
Chris Penn, VP Marketing Technology, SHIFT
http://www.shiftcomm.com/blog/public-relations-fit-marketing-technology-stack/

24. What talents are needed?
In-demand skills now and projected to last:
Design Thinking Data Analytics
Content Marketing Multi-Channel Integrator
Media Buying
Holmes Report: This is the CV of the Future (see enlargement at
http://www.holmesreport.com/sponsored/article/this-is-the-cv-of-the-
future)
The big resulting question is who should be in charge and which
system, or what data, should drive the other?
Do you dump your media agency and give it all to a
management consultancy who is good with business/CRM data
and can use programmatic platforms to drive the top of the
funnel?
Or do you open up your back office data to your media agency
and target them on metrics like sales and margin rather than
more traditional media metrics?
Ashley Friedlein, Founder, E-Consultancy
https://econsultancy.com/blog/67397-ashley-friedlein-s-10-digital-
marketing-ecommerce-trends-for-2016/
.

25. Focus Areas
SKILL AND TALENT DEVELOPMENT
Data, Insight, Technology, Content.
TECHNOLOGY
Create capacity to use, recommend, and deploy.
MARKETING TECHNOLOGY
Operationalize, go to market, refine.
MOMENTUM OVER PERFECTION
Our industry will not be static. Momentum over
perfection on the data front is a guiding principle.

26. Sources
Expanded reading list and source material:
http://bit.ly/nationalfuture