Data is your rocket fuel
Once you have enough of it, what do you do with it? Lucky Generals founder Andy Nairn dives into data.
In recent years, marketers have become fond of saying that “data is the new oil”. I’ve never been a fan of this expression (I’m old enough to remember similar pronouncements about integration, personalisation, experience, influence and many more). But the phrase did finally resonate with me on the 20th April last year: the day oil prices turned negative for the first time in history.
This incredible situation was yet another surprise consequence of the COVID-19 crisis. Global demand had dried up overnight but supply remained stable, so the industry ran out of storage. As panic mounted, traders started paying dealers to take oil off their hands.
To me, this development made the marketing metaphor much more powerful. Originally, the comparison was supposed to position data as a precious resource which can lubricate the cogs and wheels of an organisation (all true). But now, the analogy reminded us that a valuable commodity can also become a costly burden, if it’s allowed to build up in enormous quantities, without being used.
