Run on Toast

Data visualisation rules

 

This is a subject getting increasing conversation time on various blogs. One of the consistent challenges is to avoid visualisation for the sake of it.

In thinking about our rule set I like very much Manuel Lima's information visualisation manifesto:

1. "Form follows function
2. Start with a question
3. Interactivity is key
4. Cite your source
5. The power of narrative
6. Do not glorify aesthetics
7. Look for relevancy
8. Embrace time
9. Aspire to knowledge
10. Avoid gratuitous visualisations"

However in avoiding Lima's points 6 & 10 Edward R Tufte is still the authoritative source. Below is Tufte's own manifesto quoted from his excellent book page 13 - the second bullet encapsulates it all really.

"Excellence in statistical graphics consists of complex ideas communicated with clarity, precision and efficiency. Graphical displays should

• show the data
• induce the viewer to think about the substance rather than about methodology, graphic design, the technology of graphic production, or something else
• avoid distorting what the data have to say
• present many numbers in a small space
• make large data sets coherent
• encourage the eye to compare different pieces of data
• reveal the data at several levels of detail, from a broad overview to the fine structure
• serve a reasonably clear purpose: description, exploration, tabulation or decoration
• be closely integrated with the statistical and verbal descriptions of a data set.

Graphics reveal data".

The image above is one of my favourites from his fantastic collection of visualisations - Napoleon's march into Russia. The brown line is proportionate in size to his army as he begins his campaign. The advance of the army is shown across a map of Russia. The black line is Napoleon's retreat with date and temperature plotted - revealing with great articulation the human tragedy.

Being creative with data - IPA event

Link to a recent IPA event I helped to organise. Thanks again to all those who participated.

Social media numbers

It's quite scary to think that if Facebook was a country, it would be the fifth biggest country in the world. Some more scary numbers in this video:

Visually complex

On Tuesday I was lucky enough to see Manuel Lima speak at BBH thanks to Made by Many. Sadly I'd just had a massive lunch and was a bit sleepy (damn pasta). For those who don't know, Manuel Lima is an interaction designer, researcher and founder of [the brilliant] Visual Complexity (description stolen from his website). It was pretty useful though. A couple of nuggets:

I liked the idea that 'data is the currency of online services', a belief that I've held true, and which will make a nice quote for a slide someday.

The most interesting things for me were the idea of finding practical applications for data visualisation, what it might look like in the future and also finding out about the sites Many Eyes and Swivel, which allow you to do fun things with your data.

Lima gave this example of using Flickr data (I think) to geotag where photos were taken in Barcelona and at what time over a certain period. This data was then mapped onto a geographical map of the city showing how traffic moved over a day - the most popular routes, paths taken. This sort of stuff could be invaluable to tourist boards. I also liked the example of creating emotional maps of cities by measuring heartrate (not quite sure how this would be done) - would this be invaluable to marketers?

The most exciting thing that Manuel Lima talked about was the frontiers of data visualisation. I didn't catch the names of the experiments but they involved domes and sounds representing nodes - sounds awesome. If anyone was there and got better notes on this stuff, please let me know - I'd really love to learn more.

Big Brother or Marketing People Want?

The news that the BBC is to use behavioural targeting on its global websites outside the UK (Marketing Week 27.04.09) is an important milestone for this (relatively) new and highly controversial technology for 2-reasons...

1. It is seen as a key enabler to commercialising their websites
2. If the ultra-cautious BBC are happy to adopt it should your company be doing the same?  

  
Behavioural targeting uses knowledge of the websites you visit to serve you more relevant online advertising. It is seen as a crucial technology for both ISPs and web owners to monetise their sites, and to revitalise online display advertising.

It's controversial because of privacy - do you want your web-surfing habits to be tracked and used in this way? The answer is of course - it depends! If it is genuinely useful then yes. There is a distinct generation gap in the attitude of those consumers (often younger and social-networking literate) who understand the value of sharing their personal information.

BT got is spectacularly wrong last year in its test on the Phorm behavioural targeting platform. Rather than invite customers to participate in a beta-test (Google style) it picked customers randomly. Whilst their anonymity was assured the customers in the trial did not appreciate being selected without permission.

Online display advertising is at a bit of a crossroads - despite comprising 19% of online advertising expenditure in 2008 (IAB) the effectiveness of this media is coming under intense scrutiny. Network buys have become the norm where you pay for impressions but are blind to the web sites you might end up on with the organisational risk and wastage that entails.

On a more positive note the combination of behavioural targeting and the interactive display formats that are increasingly available promise greater customer relevancy and a better branded experience - potentially moving from the interruptive to the genuinely engaging.

If this sounds to you a bit like the cookie debate of 5-years or so ago - you'd be right - using much the same technology. Whilst consumers are beginning to accept that cookies are useful for improving their internet experience there is a way to go to win the debate on highly targeted advertising. 

Brand and digital media owners need to demonstrate to consumers that they can use behavioural targeting responsibly to genuinely deliver marketing people want. The IAB's good practice guide is an excellent place to start.

Death of a Salesman

It is rumoured that Capital One the credit card company is to drop direct mail from its acquisition marketing mix in 2009The company spent c£6m in 07 (14m items) with 86% directed at acquisition, placing it mid way in the Top 100 direct mailers according to Marketing Magazine. In 06 they were ranked number 2.

(As an aside another credit card provider, MBNA headed the charts in 07 spending £35m to send 78m pieces 63% of which were focused on acquisition. However, even this is a 22% decline on 06) Why are Capital One pulling out of DM for acquisition activity? Sadly I suspect the reason is less to do with corporate responsibility regarding the environment or the public's intense irritation with junkmail of this kind but instead a simple commercial calculation - it simply no longer pays to do it. Does this mean the death of acquisition direct mail, a reliable cold-call salesman for the last 20-years? I think it does but direct selling couldn't be healthier. The direct battle for customers has simply shifted from the door mat to the Google search box with the direct marketing budgets following. Again from Marketing Magazine's 2008 review Capital One were ranked 4th in the "Top 100 online advertisers" spending c£14.7m in 07 up from 39th the year before. The IAB's analysis supports this. In the first half of 07 internet advertising spend increased by 41.3%, whilst direct mail declined by 6.3%. If acquisition direct mail is to survive it needs to be integrated far more effectively - driving customers online. Sound obvious? Maybe. But in my experience your average marketing department struggles with the organisational alignment to achieve this as well as the holistic measurement required.

Matt

The Genius of Genius

The recently launched Genius Playlists application in iTunes is a great example of the marketing as a service movement, and perhaps the kind of new stuff that advertising agencies should be producing.

Play a song, click the Genius button, and iTunes creates a playlist of other songs from your library that go great together. Then in the Genius sidebar it recommends songs that you’ll enjoy but don’t already own. Genius.

By providing a service (instant intelligent playlists to suit your mood) it gains permission to sell to you (your recommendations). As we all know the best way to sell anything is to make it feel like a service. No need for an email with all the challenges of marketing permission, personalisation requirements and will it get opened. It has created a direct channel to the customer. Genius.

It also satisfies one of the three key forces of the long tail – “help me find it”. By making it feel like a utility it goes well beyond the current recommendation engine paradigms of sites like Amazon.com.

Many advertising agencies are already waking-up to the fact that the stuff they produce needs to be more than letters, posters or TV-adverts. Why shouldn’t agencies create software with its potentially more lucrative financial licensing model? (See The Agency of the Future p22 and Agency as Entrepreneur p44 in Contagious 12 below).

After all isn’t it about The Idea to be advertised rather than the Advertising Idea? Of course you pure-play Digital Folks already know this.

Welcome to the direct marketing of the future. Genius.

Matt.

Download contagious_extracts_issue_12.pdf