Ad Ex Machina

This article argues that the use of big data in marketing resembles the transactions data financial services have collected for a longer period of time, and that marketers should put more energy into understanding 'why', and looking tot he future, and less on monitoring what has passed.

Ad Ex Machina

Margaret ColesGoodby Silverstein & Partners

Does Big Data inspire or hinder creative thinking?

This essay was entered into The Admap Prize 2015. For more information visit the Prize page.

Anyone who has ever bought a stock or even invested in a mutual fund will have seen some version of this phrase in the marketing materials: 'Past performance is not an indicator of future outcomes.' So powerful is the lure of past returns that the US Securities and Exchange Commission felt compelled to regulate1this warning to consumers as a bulwark against the...

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