Daniel Oliveira, executive director of planning and media at OMZ, believes that an analytical team is fundamental for data-driven
Graduated in statistics, Daniel Oliveira, executive director of planning and
media from OMZ, states that most large Brazilian companies have already
can be considered data-driven – when every decision and confirmation of business hypotheses are based on data analysis.
The problem, according to him, is that, in most cases, there is a lack of a systematic mindset in relation to decision-making for investments in communication and branding. Even in the early stages of the maturity curve, I often see difficulties in companies and agencies in structuring quality information, equalizing concepts, comparing bananas with bananas, exemplifies the executive.
In this interview, he talks a little more about the data-driven culture, workforce and data science work that OMZ performs for its clients with the support of Confirmatria, a strategic consulting arm based on analytics. For Oliveira, today’s professionals need to have an investigative and scientific profile, which we believe is fundamental to building data-driven communication operations with our clients.
state of art
A brand can be considered data-driven when systematically building data-driven methods for decision-making regarding brand and communication investments. There is a maturity curve to go through until reaching the state of the art (consisting of the highest level of knowledge) in relation to marketing analytics, and going through this curve demands investment in people, tools, research and other data sources, in addition to alignment in high management and well-defined objectives. Reaching the state of the art brings enormous gains, not only in assertiveness in decisions, but also in productivity and scale, generating important competitive differentials.
Study
In mid-2021, Dell presented the results of a study commissioned by it, referring to the use of data in companies in several countries, including Brazil. The survey was carried out by the consultancy Forrester, and it was understood that around 73% of companies in our country say they have data driven businesses (oriented by data), but only 28% consider data processing a priority.
Mo of work
Brazil has a highly qualified workforce in analytics and data science, and we have even exported a lot of this workforce. Undergraduate and postgraduate courses that prepare for a career in the subject are increasingly widespread and have accompanied the growth in demand for these professionals in recent years. In general, native technology companies are born data-driven, but large companies in Brazil have also managed to implement this culture. I started my career in the financial market 15 years ago, at a time when only banks and phone companies were truly data driven. Today, we see large companies in other segments, both in industry and retail, with a very mature data-driven culture within marketing, especially with regard to product offerings and other relationship actions, inside or outside digital channels. In terms of decision-making for investments in communication and branding, I feel that most companies lack a systematic mindset.
Maturity
Even in the early stages of the maturity curve, I often see difficulties in companies and agencies in structuring quality information, equalizing concepts, comparing bananas with bananas. As we go along this curve, I see that difficulties increase, especially with regard to the development of evaluation models and attribution of results for branding campaigns. Calculating the Mkt ROI for this type of campaign is a challenge and I see that companies and agencies need to mature more in this direction. I know a lot of people in the analytics market and I am often asked by very experienced and qualified professionals how we measure this type of campaign. Measurability in these cases is really more complex, there is almost always no direct short-term cause and effect relationship, as we observe, for example, in performance campaigns. I miss more science in this discussion and I believe that we will evolve a lot on this topic in the coming years here in Brazil.
Path
In my opinion, the main investment to build a data-driven company in people. Technology is also critical, as it provides data collection, attribution, automation, and scaling. But an analytical leadership, with an analytical team, is fundamental for the success of the data-driven implementation. I strongly believe in the multidisciplinary nature of teams, but it is essential that people have an analytical, scientific and investigative profile. I see some companies trying to implement this culture by putting technology before people, which in my opinion is a big mistake.
Methodologies
The literature presents some methodologies that have already been tested and have shown results, but it is fundamental that the right people bring these methodologies and adapt them to the context of the business in question. That is why people with an investigative and scientific profile are so important. Here at OMZ, together with Confirmatria (a consultancy incubated here at the agency), we have from simpler cases developed with purely descriptive methods, to more complex cases of attribution of results and calculation of Mkt ROI through statistical and econometric models. These models are used according to the business objective, which can be market share, sales, valuation, positivity and even the full-funnel, but they are always multivariate models that seek to isolate the effect of the investment, given all the other variables that can impact on the results. results. Many exogenous variables can generate such an impact, such as a change in pricing policy or some market movement, so the great challenge of these models is to isolate these effects so that we can attribute the real impact of investments in communication.
Read the full story in this week’s edition (February 13)
