• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, September 26, 2017

So here we are, pretty much smack dab in the middle of Advertising Week New York getting our heads filled with lots of interesting sound bites, insights and, of course, a bit of meaningless cockapoopoo. Because, well, some people just like to hear the sound of their own voices regardless of whether the string of words and sentences being uttered from their pie hole actually makes any sense at all.

But let me stress that for the most part — meaning more than 50% of the time — the sessions I’ve gone to or tuned into have been worth the effort.

In baseball terms—and I apologize for the analogy but I’m going to use it nonetheless—that’s like way beyond automatic entry into the Hall of Fame from a batting perspective, where anything above .300 is seen as exceptional.

Special kudos to Brightcove, which has been tasked with live-streaming every event being produced at the weeklong conference. A top-notch performance by the Brightcove team responsible for the streaming. You’re like the Netflix of Advertising Week New York. Even better, really. Not just on-demand, but live stream and on-demand stream. Awesome!

Awesome but not perfect, and I wouldn’t expect you to be. I mean nobody’s perfect, right? (It’s a rhetorical question.)

I was listening online to a great session about data featuring the incomparable Quentin George as moderator (filling in it seems for the legendary Wall Street Journal reporter Suzanne Vranica), along with three data-obsessed brainiacs from the marketing world—Target’s Kristi Argyilan, L’Oreal’s Brigitte King and Merkle’s Andy Fisher.

First, let me say, if you weren’t at the session, try to catch the replay because it really was brilliant. And while Suzanne is a totally awesome journalist, George is a data wonk—he helped found and initially led Mediabrands’ tech platform Cadreon.

One takeaway is that first-party data is the cat’s meow. It’s the crème de la crème of data. Argyilan said it helped Target better understand consumers and what they’re looking for.

Second- and third-party data can be beneficial but it has to be thoroughly vetted and scrutinized because as Fisher put it, some of it is “crap.” But apply some due diligence and it can round out a consumer profile, per Argyilan.

Oh, and here’s the imperfect part about the streaming, and I have to say it hasn’t happened often, to me anyway.

But during this session, fairly frequently, George would ask an astute question and just before one of the panelists would answer—boom!—I was suddenly slammed into another session, leaving me to say, “What The Fu@K!”

Then, 15- or 20-seconds later, I'd pop back into the data session. I’m guessing it was a capacity issue, which if true, is good news for Advertising Week. Lots of curious people with too little time wanting to know about how to put data to good use.

Anyway, as King put it, “Not all data is created equally.” But clearly it is and will continue to be invaluable to marketers trying to create bonds with consumers.

So, if you have any interest about the impact that data has on the present and future of advertising and marketing, check out this panel. Even if the replay has the same burbs as the live feed, it’ll be worth your while.