Think about this for a min: Every day, we generate 2.5 quintillion bytes of data. I didn’t even know “quintillion bytes” was a measurement! That’s a lot of data, and how about this for perspective: 90% of the data in the world today was created in the last few years.
It’s never been easier for us to share our opinions, needs, wants, desires, etc., with our “network” whether that’s in text message or a Snap – these bits and bytes are just some of the data points contributing to what is now known as “big data.”
While we aren’t big data scientists here at Full Contact, we believe in listening to these conversations and analyzing the data to better understand our clients’ business, customers, category and competitors. These exercises can produce a variety of insights including unmet needs and opportunities to develop products and services designed to better fit the needs of the consumer. Here are a few of our favorites:
Arbella Insurance
Instead of simply retrofitting a marketing message that “speaks to” millennials, Full Contact and Arbella wanted to make a much more meaningful connection with this target. From that came a new product offering just for this hard to reach target audience—one that fit perfectly into the millennial lifestyle. We worked with Arbella to introduce Carpartment, a new insurance program that combined renters and auto insurance at a lower cost—perfect for Millennial consumers who were out on their own for the first time.
Uber
At the City Awake and Boston Chamber of Commerce convention just a few weeks back, representatives from Uber talked of how their entire product was developed out of listening to consumers who said that they needed easier ways to get around. As they evolved, Uber added options to their product such as UberPool and flat rates to answer feedback from consumers. As an avid Uber user myself, I can attest to their high level of customer service and rapid response when things go wrong. If it hadn’t been for listening to an unmet consumer need, the entire Uber product may not exist today.
theSkimm
It doesn’t just have to be products or services that are developed from a real, untapped consumer need. I start everyday with theSkimm newsletter, a new media property that was developed out of the insight that traditional news is tedious to read, and something that not everyone has the time or interest to commit to daily. But, consumers do want to be in the know and smarter about the worlds current events. Thanks to theSkimm, a younger generation is able to get their daily dose of what is happening in the world without having to commit to watching the 5 o’clock news every night.
Much like my closest girlfriends, brands are starting to understand me and provide a service or product before I even know that I need it. While this may have been an impossible feat requiring hours of focus group testing just a few decades ago, today’s consumers are more than happy to voice what they dislike, like, and need from brands in every corner of the social sphere. It is our job as an agency to constantly monitor those conversations for our clients and ultimately develop solutions that resonate with consumers and drive our clients’ business.