The MAA run monthly events called #GreenJam which are designed to get account handlers together with industry experts to knowledge share, with the topics changing each month. I personally find them really interesting and inspiring as the insights can be applied directly to our work here at Jellybean. You even get a free glass of wine on arrival – bonus.

The most recent session we attended was on the topic of data – what it can mean for your clients’ businesses, where to go hunting for it, how to cut through to unearth the most useful insights etc. Here at Jellybean, the leading foodservice agency, we work in such a way as to ensure our activities have relevance and strength by building them on strong foundations of insight.

Here are my top take outs from the session:

· Less about buying lists – more about building up your own database

· Less about block segmentation of databases – more about real personalisation based on transactional data

· Less about looking at what your competitors are doing – more about working out what’s right for you and your brand and sticking to it

· Less about the 4Ps – more about the 5Ps (the 5th being Predictability which is what data can teach us about people’s buying and usage habits)

· Less about using data as an answer – more about using data as a source of information (it’s important to always layer on context)

· Less about only looking at what someone does after they’ve made the purchase i.e. if they repurchase – more about also looking into how they got to the point of purchase

An interesting case study referenced at the session from IKEA. No introductions needed.

· They could see from transactional data that a segment of people were frequently purchasing large amounts of furniture from their stores.

· They assumed for a long time that these people were just frequent redecorators, perhaps with larger families, who were true lovers and loyalists of IKEA and communicated with them accordingly.

· After a reassessment of the data they in fact discovered that these people were landlords and they’ve now readdressed and tailored their communication for better results.

I think often the idea of insight and data can be quite daunting but if you consider it in the way that it simply allows us to think differently about situations by highlighting how peoples’ buying and usage habits are continually evolving then it becomes a concept that’s a whole lot easier to digest.

Jellybean Creative is a leading foodservice agency. We help top brands with food service pr, food service marketing, digital and design. If you feel we could help you with your marcomms, strategy, public relations, creative or digital then drop us a line today.