Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
This year, or more precisely on 12 May, ARK Regional Branding Symposium will be held in Belgrade, where the main speaker will be Martin Lindstrom. During the eight hours of the symposium, Martin will share his practical knowledge of brand building with 500 participants, with a focus on the specifics of the region from a global perspective, through case studies and an opportunity for delegates to present their business dilemma and get free consultation on the spot.
Martin is the author of seven global bestsellers in branding, one of which is Buyology, a book that struck the foundation of science today known as neuromarketing.
On the occasion of his arrival in Belgrade, in an exclusive for Media Marketing, Martin Lindstrom gave answers to several questions.
Media Marketing: Big data seems to threaten creativity. In your new book “Small Data” you prove that human insight is still irreplaceable. How do you see the future of artists and creative people in advertising and brand building?
Martin Lindstrom: First of all the advertising industry is doomed and is likely never to recover again. Instead it has become a numbers game – driven by a somewhat naive conviction that selling is all about numbers – not emotions. Only very few creatives will survive in the advertising industry – of that simple reason that they’re likely to be squeezed creativity by clients never ending demand for results, budget reductions and speed. It is really essential that those creatives does not give in but instead see this as an opportunity to reinvent advertising – and the role of the advertising agency – keeping the creative core of the industry intact.
A second concern is more personal. We’re all affected by technology on a daily basis – its immense addictive nature means that many creatives, authors, artists and visionaries have been caught by the temptation to live online. However – I’ve come to realize studying human psychology throughout 77 different countries in more than 2,500 homes, that this behavior kills creativity. You see we’re never present these days – constantly hardwired to fill every second of our daily lives with content and entertainment. The consequence is that we never get bored anymore.
Media Marketing: Tell us about one of your latest small data discovery on your travels and how do you interpret it.
Martin Lindstrom: We’ll I’m right now conducting extensive research for a global luxury hotel chain and thus have had unrestricted access to hotel rooms minutes after guests has checked out. All of course on an anonymous basis. Without knowing anything about the guests it has become clear that just the way people leave a hotel room tells more about the person that what a personal interview can reveal. For example we discovered that we in fact were able to detect the self esteem level of guests based on the way they used their bathroom amenities (crazy but true) or peoples degree of superstition. I’ve in all honesty never thought that Small Data would be this prominent – after a guests 24 hour stay in a room.
Media Marketing: You are most famous in these regions as the man who wrote Buyology and pioneer of Neuromarketing. Related to your new book, when did you realize that Big Data is just not enough on it’s own?
Martin Lindstrom: This has been an evolution – as everything is with me. Just as I back in 2008 realize that conventional surveys can’t reveal true insight about our relationship with our senses – thus neuromarketing was born! I realized through my work with neuroscience that there’s certain aspects which we simply cannot uncover through science – this is where Small Data was born.
Here’s the reality – you cannot break down love. My best evidence in point was the fact that Mark Zuckerberg, after having read my book, decided to tour the U.S. and spend time with real consumers in order to understand the population better. Facebook sits on the largest database in the world on consumer behavior – why would he do such thing? Because they’ve realized that big data can’t tell it all – you need to pick up those seemingly insignificant observations in people’s lives – in order to truly understand what’s going on. I realized this as an increasing number of predictions based on Big Data were completely wrong and asked myself – what’s even more powerful – and that’s where I coined the term Small Data – and developed the methodology behind it.