A dnx and Circle Research report
March 2014

C ntents4. Introduction
6. Executive Summary
8. The sample
9. So what do marketers
mean by ‘big data’?
10. Big data: set to get
even bigger
12. Ownership of big data
16. Importance of big data
20. Current applications of big data
22. Future applications of big data
26. The benefits of big data
28. Has marketing been able
capitalise on the big
data opportunity?
30. What are the barriers to
benefitting from big data,
and how can marketers
overcome them?
34. Forcing a fundamental shift
36. Is big data propelling
marketers to the boardroom
and what other significant
opportunities for marketers
are there?
38. Why should marketers
become CEOs of the future?
40. Finally, when will
marketing be promoted
to the boardroom?
42. Conclusions
46. About dnx
48. About Circle Research
49. Sources
2 3

INTRODUCTION
Today’s marketers, tomorrow’s
data-empowered CEOs?
dnx has long championed
marketers as CEOs in-waiting,
and we think CMOs are in pole
position to finally be promoted
to the boardroom. So, we have
partnered with Circle Research
to interview a large sample of
enterprise marketers from B2B
and B2C organisations in the
UK and Europe to test our
hypothesis that marketing,
a function long seen as
secondary to business growth
and historically sidelined in
boardroom terms, is now taking
centre stage.
What’s more, we think that the advent
of big data — now a mission-critical
business intelligence tool for a large
percentage of enterprise organisations
— is a key factor driving this shift in
a marketers’ status.
It is our belief that big data — meaning
the unprecedented multiple streams of
customer data available to the connected
enterprise via digital platforms — is the
single largest catalyst accelerating this
step-change. Put simply, richer data
enables marketers to make better
informed decisions based on deeper
customer insight, driving improved
Marketing Return On Investment (MROI)
and ultimately leading to more sales.
This in turn empowers the marketer
within his or her organisation in diverse
ways, as we will explore.
4 5

EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
Marketers are well placed to
capitalise on the big data
opportunity by virtue of their
combination of skills and
attributes, but they need to
establish ownership of big data
manipulation for their own
function. And learn how to
translate their business objectives
clearly in order to collaborate
with other key departments more
successfully in the application of
big data. Additionally, if marketers
do claim ownership of big data,
they need to be aware of the
expectations on their department
to deliver profitable return in
the short term, given the
heavy investment needed in
this technology.
Act now: education will be key.
To get ahead of the competition,
marketers must be specifically
trained in analysis of big data.
At present, there is a lack ofunderstanding of how to use bigdata amongst marketers, and beingable to interpret the data skillfullywill become a critical requirementfor every ambitious marketer.
The data available is so prolificand complex that marketers
must be clear on exactly whatthey want to get out of it in
order to mine the data properlyand reap the rewards.
The largest opportunity that big data
represents to marketers is allowing them
to build a more detailed understanding
of their customers. To facilitate a more
personal and responsive relationship
with them over the coming years —
enhancing their role as customer
insight custodians.
Those marketers already using bigdata are seeing positive results andover 40% of them are using it moreheavily as a result.
The unique opportunity presented
to marketers to gain richer customer
insight and improve their marketing
effectiveness by using big data, is
enormous. And large numbers of
marketers agree; big data is viewed
by 69% of the marketers we surveyed
as becoming ever more central to
business strategy. It is increasing the
influence of the marketing department
and it should not be underestimated
or under-invested in at a departmental
or organisational level.
Outside of big data, other
significant opportunities for
marketers to increase their
influence and status are digital. One such opportunity is leadingthe growth of digital customercommunications channels
including social media.
6 7

When we refer to ‘big data’ in the
context of this report, we are referring
to data sets so large, so dense and so
diverse, that they cannot be managed
by standard software tools and must
be processed by specialist data
management programmes. To give
an idea of scale, there may be many
‘petabytes’ of data in a single set.
Business Intelligence is accepted to be
the common application of big data for
businesses, and is the most relevant to
marketers wanting to mine the data to
extract information and insight about
their customers. Business Intelligence
applies descriptive statistics to the
data to identify and measure trends.
What specifically do
marketers mean by
83% of enterprise
companies surveyed are
either using big data, or
plan to use it within the
next 3 years for marketing.
We surveyed 52 marketing professionals working
at multinational enterprise companies in the UK
and Europe (90% of these were in the UK),
across a range of industry sectors, including
both B2B and B2C organisations.
SAMP E
The
31%
12%
42%
15%
Board director
/CMO
Marketing
director
Other
marketing
positions
Marketing
manager
8 9

Big data can be said to have entered
the mainstream, but not to have reached
a tipping point as yet. In terms of how
many are using big data right now,
43% of marketing professionals surveyed
reported that they already use it, with a
further 40% confirming that they expect
to use big data within the next three years.
This means that a critical mass of those
enterprise companies we surveyed (83%)
have made the decision to invest in big
data by 2017, which is a large majority
and may be a strong indication of the
wider market.
Given the level of investment and early
management buy-in required for this
kind of enterprise purchase, we can
draw the conclusion that for this 40%,
big data is likely to be a planned
purchase which is relatively far down
the decision-making pipeline and
has therefore already had board level
approval to some extent.
Furthermore, those companies already
using big data are reporting 41% heavier
usage compared to just 18 months ago.
This suggests current users are deriving
ever greater value from their investment
and are fast becoming more adept at
extracting useful data.
From a longer term point of view,
it seems likely and almost inevitable,
that where the majority of enterprise
organisations go, the remaining
17% — those who said they have no
plans to invest in big data within the
next three years — will eventually follow.
With the large proportion of the market
already investing or planning to invest
heavily in this technology, it will become
the standard operating base in the near
long term future. This tipping point has
been referred to as the ‘plateau of
productivity’ by Gartner, who estimated
it to be between five and ten years
away in 2013.(1)
Big data: set to get even
BIGGER
43% of marketing
professionals surveyed
reported that they
already use big data
10 11

Out of one third (35%) of respondents
surveyed, the largest proportion,
reported that shared ownership of big
data is the current scenario within their
organisation. Only a fifth of respondents
(22%) think marketers are the main
gate-keepers of big data, although
marketers are perceived to be the single
largest group of owners, according to
our sample.
BIG DATA
Ownership of
It’s a tussle for turf
Sole departmental ownership of
big data is still largely up for grabs
between marketing, IT and dedicated
big data departments. No one has
yet successfully planted their flag,
and roles and responsibilities
surrounding big data are far
from clearly delineated.
The marketing
department
The IT
department
A dedicated
‘big data’
department
42%
14%
23%
18%9%
Other
No single
department
Quite a long way behind
marketing, dedicated big
data departments (17%),
and IT departments (13%)
take ownership.
12 13

This lack of clarity over which function
‘owns’ big data is not unexpected,
given the nascent nature of the
technology and processes within
most organisations. It may be the
case that the IT or big data department
are the software proprietors, but that
marketers, as recognised customer
insight gatekeepers, are responsible
for directing the extraction of the
right information to power strategic
business decisions.
In any case, marketing departments
have an open opportunity to spearhead
the big data revolution, exerting control
as the voice of the consumer within
their organisations, but only when they
can negotiate successful collaboration
with IT and data ­— implementing clear
and transparent processes which play
to each department’s strengths.
“BY 2017 THE
CMO WILL
SPEND MORE
ON IT THAN
THE CIO”
GARTNER.(2)
WHAT IS CLEAR IS THAT BIG DATA
IS DRIVING CMOs TO FORGE A
COMPLETELY NEW PATH IN TERMS
OF TECHNOLOGY PURCHASE
DECISION-MAKING, OFTEN IN
PARALLEL TO THE IT DEPARTMENT.
14 15

Of those marketers already using big
data, the large majority are in no doubt
that whoever currently owns big data,
it plays a pivotal role in the strategic
decision-making of their organisation.
69% of marketers currently using
big data expressed the opinion that
‘big data is central to shaping the
overall operational and commercial
strategy of my organisation’.
Additionally, 90% of these felt that big
data was so mission-critical, that failing
to put it right at the heart of business
strategy will lead to competitive
disadvantage. And big data is set to
become ever more vital to decision-
making at boardroom level, with 70%
of respondents agreeing or strongly
agreeing that big data will play an
increasingly important role in determining
their company’s overall strategy.
Those who use it increasingly rely on it
BIG
DATAof
16 17

of marketers view
big data as central
to shaping their
organisation’s
commercial
strategy
Most interestingly, a further 30% were
neutral on this point and not one of the
respondents disagreed or contradicted
the importance of big data. This suggests
an almost universally held view amongst
marketers that big data has become
a valuable asset, an important tool in
shaping strategy or at the very least,
that there is no perceptible downside
to using big data as a marketer.
But could this lead to
a temptation to blindly
rely on the data without
questioning?
Marketers must not lose sight of their
instincts and let the data do all the
talking. The data must be analysed
through the filter of experience and
knowledge of marketing theory.
69%
18 19

‘Front line’ tasks include; utilising
rich customer insight to determine
marketing strategy (68%), to discover
new micro-markets (68%), predict future
trends, and improve marketing campaign
performance and MROI.
These are indeed key tasks for marketers,
but enhancing their performance in these
areas is potentially the tip of the iceberg
in terms of maximising the opportunities
that big data can offer. To tap into its full
potential, marketers will need to become
adept at shaping and developing the
data into a customised data set that
delivers on their specific objectives.
Commentators on the application of big
data see that the genuinely revolutionary
long-term opportunity for business...
“isn’t about large organisations
running parallel software on
tens of thousands of servers,
but about more people than
ever being able to collaborate
effectively around a distributed
ecosystem of information,
an ecosystem of small data.” (3)
BIG DATA
Current
applications of
Big data is mainly
deployed for front
line marketing tasks
Big data has multiple applications
for the marketing department.
For example, at a purely functional
level, it serves as a repository of
multi-channel information.
However, marketers are primarily
using big data to answer key
marketing objective-related ‘front
line’ tasks, which is predictable
enough given that the technology
and application is in its infancy in
most organisations.
This gives us a glimpse of how marketers
are just starting to realise the possibilities
that big data can offer, to position
them right at the forefront of the
ever-expanding frontier of customer
interaction and strategic insight.
Real time
social requests
and complaints
Collaborating
organisations /
data sharing
Using big data
to set price
points
27% 18% 9%
OTHER CURRENT
APPLICATIONS
that survey respondents are using
big data for include:
20 21

The future is personal for
marketers – and now forseeable.
How will the application of big
data by marketers change in
the near future? Overall,
big data will help marketers
continue to deepen and
strengthen the relationship
between brand and customer,
and personalisation is a key
trend. The prolific amount of
data available from our digital
landscape and the ease with
which automated content
management systems can
deploy this data, will allow for
“almost infinite personalisation.
Enabling marketers to realise
the panacea of 1-2-1 marketing.”
James Nethercott, Miele Ltd.(4)
The most commonly anticipated
shift over the next three years is how
big data will support more and better
interactions with customers as
individuals with changing and very
‘human’ patterns of behaviour.
BIG DATA
Future
applications of
22 23

This is seen in the anticipated dramatic
346% increase in the use of big data for
more personal customer offers by 2017
(13% of respondents use big data for
this currently, increasing to 58% in 2017).
And the 114% increase in those using big
data for customer segmentation, and the
208% increase in usage of big data to
respond to individual customer requests
and complaints in real-time (primarily via
social media channels).
There was also a marked 220% increase
in those respondents reporting that they
anticipate using big data to spot trends
(from 15% currently to 48% in 2017).
This is a major new facet of the role
of the marketer, to be the predictor
of future customer behaviour.
Current vs. Future applications of big data by the marketing department.
Which of the following does your marketing
department currently use big data for?
Which of the following, if any, do you expect
to use big data for in the next 3 years?
Storemulti-channel
information
Segment
customers
Ithinkwewillstop
usingbigdata
Other
Predictfuture
trends
Collaboratewithother
organisations
Selllists
ofdata
Set‘price-points’
Respondto
customerrequests
Developpersonalised
offers
Developpersonalised
communications
Justifymarketing
strategy
Determinemarketing
strategy
Analysebuying
behaviourpatterns
31
%
48
%
29
62
23
52
29
60
23
48
21
63
13
58
12
37
8
19
15
48
0.5
1
0.5
0.5
0.5
1
0.5
0
increase in use of big data for
more personal customer offers
increase in the use of big data
to spot trends
24 25

The benefits of
BIG DATABetter insight drives better
results for marketers
Marketers who are already using big data
are experiencing multiple positive side-effects,
as well as the more obvious customer insight
benefits derived from its usage.
As might be expected, 64% felt that increased
understanding of customer behaviour was the
most significant benefit of big data, as well as
increased MROI.
But less obviously, higher customer
satisfaction (measured via Net Promoter
Score) was felt to be a direct benefit
of using big data by almost one third
(27%) of those surveyed. Additionally an
increased ability to ‘speak the language’
of IT and finance, was reported as
a benefit by nearly one fifth (18%)
of respondents.
In this way, big data can be said to be
helping marketers to break new ground
with the key boardroom pillars of IT and
finance, which can only strengthen their
pathway to promotion.
64% 27% 18%
Understanding
behaviour is
a significant
benefit.
Higher customer
satisfaction is a
direct benefit.
An increased
ability to speak
IT and finance
language.
Benefits to marketers of using big data
26 27

Whilst 61% of marketers who use
big data feel that it has increased
their strategic influence within their
organisation and 54% agree that using
big data has enhanced the reputation
of the marketing department, only 23%
of marketers feel that they are the
gatekeepers of all customer data.
• To capitalise fully on the benefits
of big data, marketers need to act
decisively in three key areas: they
need to be capable of identifying
the right data to shape strategic
decision-making (by thinking harder
about what they want to find out
about their customers, and focusing
on what kind of insight is most useful
• they need to own their role in the
big data play (as directors of data
extraction, and current and future
custodians of customer insight)
• and they need to apply the data to
the right tasks (again, thinking outside
their mission-critical marketing
objectives and looking to future-proof
their marketing strategy by focusing
on data predicting future trends).
Has marketing been
able to capitalise on the
BIG DATA
Marketers are clearly benefitting
­— but they need to act to
consolidate their position.
There is no doubt that marketers’
reputations are benefitting from
the positive effects of using big
data, but they don’t yet feel they
have ownership or primary
responsibility for it and this
may be preventing them from
benefitting more comprehensively.
28 29

LEFT BRAIN THINKERS
Prefer to rely heavily on the ‘data’
evidence, focus on concrete product
benefits, logical storytellers.
For many marketers, the main
barrier to benefitting from
big data is the data itself.
More specifically, marketers
struggle when the data is
misleading or when it is difficult
to identify the same customer
over different data points,
as 55% of those using big data
reported. This makes it more
difficult to track customer
behaviour accurately and target
communications responsively.
Additionally, a big data specialist skills
shortage within the marketing department
compounds any problems with the data
itself potentially being misleading.
Firstly, not all marketers are born data
analysts — there are ‘left brain thinkers’
(prefer to rely heavily on the ‘data’
evidence, focus on concrete product
benefits, logical storytellers) and there
are ‘right brain thinkers’ (creatively-led,
big picture thinkers, prone to skim the
evidence in favour of gut instincts, seek
emotional responses). Data analysis is not
necessarily a natural fit for those leaning
towards the ‘right brain’ traits, who are
perceived to have a tendency to retro-fit
the data to the ‘story’ on which their
instinct is telling them to focus.
BIG DATA
What are the barriers to benefitting from
and how can marketers overcome them?
RIGHT BRAIN THINKERS
Creatively-led, big picture thinkers,
prone to skim the evidence in
favour of gut instincts.
DATA ANALYSIS...
...is not necessarily a natural fit for those leaning towards the ‘right brain’ traits,
who are perceived to have a tendency to retro-fit the data to the ‘story’ on which
their instinct is telling them to focus.
30 31

Alternatively, marketing departments must
consider hiring specialist data expertise to
plug the gaps in the short term.
Finally, a lack of integration with the IT
department is a significant barrier for 41%
of respondents currently using big data.
This points to the need for marketers to
learn to speak the language of IT more
fluently to be clearer about what they
need to get out of big data to achieve
right businesses results and to invest
time in working with other departments
to put the right processes in place in
order to achieve this.
As a 2013 Forrester report on better
collaboration between the CMO and
CIO concluded;
“To close the gap, IT must
ramp up its marketing chops
to understand marketing.
In return, marketing must
clearly outline its priorities,
link them to business results
and then communicate those
needs to IT.” (5)
Interestingly and perhaps unexpectedly,
budget was viewed by respondents as
much less of a barrier to benefitting from
big data than lack of training or skills
shortage. A relatively small 27% thought
investment in IT infrastructure would
have an impact and only 23% cited
increased marketing departmental
budget as a significant way to benefit
more from big data.
Finally, less than 10% of companies
we surveyed who use big data are
experiencing no barriers at all, showing
that for the large majority of marketers
there are indeed multiple issues around
training and recruitment to be ironed
out before they can further leverage
the benefits of big data.
Secondly, to overcome the barriers that
the data itself presents, marketers must
develop a new skill set — Marketing
Intelligence. For this they may need
specific big data training in the ability
to apply marketing theory and the
knowledge of sales process to extract
meaning and insight from data.
In fact, the marketers we
surveyed recognise their own
shortcomings in this area,
with 64% of respondents citing
training in analytics as the most
effective way to overcome the
barriers presented by big data.
What is interesting is that educators of
future marketers have already identified
and responded to this skills shortage,
and BA degrees in marketing now
offer this as part of the curriculum,
with Marketing Intelligence being taught
in the undergraduate foundation year.
So whilst we can look forward to a new
generation of data-literate graduate
marketers coming up through the ranks,
those already practising the discipline
must catch up fast and learn to
manipulate data with skill.
32 33

SHIFT
Forcing a departmental
Numbers and analytics, not PhotoShop and colours
75% of marketers surveyed
take the view that big data
will become more influential
to the way in which marketing
departments operate. A further
75% recognised the need to
acquire new skills and be better
trained, in order to succeed in
their roles. Whilst creativity and
inspirational thinking will always
be a vital attribute for CMOs,
they will become increasingly
exposed if they don’t work on
their data analytics skills.
Both of these findings point to a
fundamental shift in the future make
up of the marketer and big data
truly is a game-changer in that
respect. ‘Right brain’ marketers will
increasingly need to bring their
‘left brain’ into play and acquire new
data analytics skills, and CMOs may
need to re-think their recruitment
briefs to identify candidates with a
totally new marketing personality
that comprises a unique hybrid of
skills — a ‘Data Marketer’.
Conversely, marketers do not think
that this acquisition of new skills
and new responsibilities around the
handling of big data will result in
more budget for their department.
In fact, only 32% anticipated that
CMOs will have more budget than
CIOs in future. In budget terms,
CMOs still have a way to go to
prove their case and achieve parity.
On the subject of numbers,
marketers will also need to
“integrate more fully with the
finance department, working more
closely on the cost of the campaign
and the outcomes which will give
them more credibility at boardroom
level by connecting the marketing
function more directly with business
results.” Jane Gray, SAP (6)
75% THINK THAT
MARKETERS WILL
NEED TO LEARN
NEW SKILLS TO
KEEP UP WITH
BIG DATA
34 35

IS BIG
DATApropelling marketers to the boardroom and what
other significant opportunities for marketers are there?
No question, big data is
the biggest opportunity
for marketers.
Big data is viewed by over half of the
marketers we surveyed (55%) to be
the single biggest opportunity currently
available to marketers. Additionally,
two thirds (66%) agreed that big data
has, or will, help elevate marketing to
a boardroom position.
The difference between these two figures
is interesting to note, as it suggests that
even those 11% who don’t currently view
big data as the biggest opportunity for
the promotion of their function, do view
it as their likely single biggest opportunity
in the future. These responses clearly
suggest that, based on our sample of
enterprise marketers, big data is not
something that can be safely ignored —
even if they are not currently engaging
with it — most marketers would benefit
from considering how big data fits in to
their long term strategy.
Leading the digital march
Outside of big data, marketers saw their
leadership of the organisation’s digital
interactions with the customer as the
strongest area of opportunity for
increasing their influence, specifically;
through the increasing need for use of
digital communications channels (73%),
and accelerating marketing activities
through social media channels (58%).
This puts marketers in an even stronger
position, as stewards of arguably the
two most important channels for
enhancing customer communication
(digital communications) and customer
insight (big data).
58% of respondents also saw a
significant opportunity in the requirement
of marketing to lead on cross-function
projects. This delivers three key benefits to
marketers looking for board level credibility:
• valuable exposure to other functions
and better insight into how the
business works
• increased ability to speak the language
of other functions leading to more
productive collaboration
• an opportunity to test and assert
leadership skills in preparation for
the top job.
agreed that big data has, or will, help elevate
marketing to a boardroom position.
view big data as the biggest opportunity
currently available to marketers.
36 37

Take Christopher Bailey at UK fashion
powerhouse Burberry, as a recent example
of a senior creative come of age. Since his
appointment as Creative Director in 2001,
the brand has gone from strength to
strength driven by his creative vision and
understanding of the business, and he has
been selected to succeed Angela Ahrendts
as Chief Executive Officer of Burberry when
she steps down this year. Perhaps one of the
most well-known marketers to famously
achieve the title of CEO is Sir Terry Leahy,
a marketing pioneer and the first retail
marketer to understand the implications
of leveraging customer data, with the
out-and-out success of the Tesco Clubcard
— still the biggest and most successful
international customer loyalty scheme
of its kind today. In 1992, Leahy was the
first Marketing Director ever to sit on the
board of Tesco and five years later he took
the role of CEO.
This strongly echoes Leahy’s view that
“the rise of digital technology and the
subsequent changing needs of consumers
mean that marketers are now better
positioned than ever to take on senior
leadership roles.” However, he cautions
that to succeed, marketers “must be
willing to take risks, even in a recession,
and produce new and innovative
marketing techniques.” (7)
Why should marketers become
CEOsof the future?An unrivalled combination of
skills and attributes
Marketers are a great fit for the role
of CEO, and more and more organisations
are becoming aware of the strengths
of creative professionals.
Marketers offer an attractive blend of
professional skills (great communicators,
proven innovators, developers of customer
insight, strong leaders, powerful
spokespeople, operators across a breadth
of functions) and what can loosely be
defined as typical attributes (for example,
the ability to build their own brand).
These give them a significant advantage
over other departments who may be
equally as influential, but much more siloed.
It’s this combination which puts them in a
strong position as natural successors and
CEOs of the future.
When we asked marketers themselves what
they believed their strongest attributes were in
terms of achieving a potential future CEO role,
they cited:
Knowledge of customer
insight and its applications71%
69%
67%
62%
Excellent communication skills
An in-depth understanding
of the competitive landscape
A willingness to take risks
38 39

Finally,
A massive 82% of the 52 enterprise
marketers we surveyed think that
marketing already is a boardroom
position, or will become a boardroom
position by 2018. This is a reflection
of the momentum of digital marketing
innovation over the past 15 years, which
has propelled marketers to the forefront
of their organisation and put them in the
vanguard of the data revolution and its
powerful applications. It also reinforces
marketers’ belief that boardroom respect
and recognition has been long-fought
and hard-won, and demonstrates their
confidence in their new pivotal role in
strategic decision-making.
A further 16% believe that marketing will
achieve a boardroom position, but it will
take longer to get there — not for at least
five years. It’s a vote of confidence that
the goal of most ambitious marketers is
achievable in the near future.
Respondents also expressed the view
that the extent of the opportunity for
their function depends also on the
nature and genesis of the organisation.
For example, millennial brands like
Facebook are more likely to be
marketing-led and therefore the
marketing function within this type
of organisation is more likely to be
“perceived as a legitimate boardroom
post.” (6)
Ambitious marketers may
want to take this factor into account.
WHEN WILL
MARKETING BE
PROMOTED
TO THE
BOARDROOM
?
A MASSIVE 82%
…THINK THAT
MARKETING
ALREADY IS A
BOARDROOM
POSITION
THE BOARDROOM
IS WITHIN SIGHT
40 41

As James Nethercott
of Miele Ltd comments,
“in terms of the business and
its shareholders, how is the
investment to be returned?” (4)
Marketers are well-positioned
and naturally advantaged to
become the CEOs of tomorrow,
but must put the necessary
processes in place to reap
the full benefits of big data.
Our findings highlight how
nascent the role of big data is
within most organisations and
how there is a lack of clearly
defined ownership, training, and
sophisticated big data analytical
skills across the board.
It’s worth noting however that,
if marketers are striving to ‘own’
big data ahead of all other
departments, they must be clear
how it can deliver on shareholder
returns in the short term. Will it be
viewed as a departmental cost to
be absorbed over 25 years, or will
there be an expectation of more
immediate benefits to offset the
significant investment required?
The need to always demonstrate business
value must be kept front of mind.
To summarisee, our research reveals that
big data is the single biggest opportunity
for more marketers to take on the top job.
However the major barriers to using big
data — lack of data analysis skills, lack of
focus on the right data and inefficient
interdepartmental collaboration —
needs to be tackled successfully before
they can do so.
CONCLUSIONS
42 43

Marketers and analysts agree that
right now there is an unprecedented
opportunity — a perfect storm scenario
for marketers to increase their influence —
via big data and other significant factors,
such as the increasingly digital landscape
and the coming of age of marketing-led
organisations. Big data is undeniably a
hot topic, so much so that it is frequently
referred to as the ‘Big Data Bubble’, (8)
but it is much more than that, it is a
genuine marketing revolution,
a Pandora’s box and it’s not going away.
Marketers will need to find a way to get
to grips with the practicalities of engaging
with it or risk losing territory to other
departments or competitors. Big data’s
applications empower marketers like
nothing before and it allows for real-time
personalised targeting based on a
consumer’s last action.
CONCLUSIONS
continued
But perhaps the biggest story here for
marketers is training — big data will only
empower the marketing department
once they are trained in how to extract
the right ‘small data’ to guide strategic
decision making.
On a very positive note, our research
reveals that overall marketers are
confident in their ability to lead the
astonishing and rapid advances in
customer insight successfully and of the
seat they have earned at the boardroom
table by being able to irrefutably tie
customer insight directly to business
results. An encouraging majority of the
broad sample of marketers we spoke to
felt that they had already achieved an
unprecedented level of recognition and
that marketing is already a boardroom
position, or will be within the next few
years. What’s more, there are an
increasing number of high-profile
precedents for marketers making
the transition to CEO — a succession
trend which encourages the view that
marketing is in the ascendancy and that
marketers’ particular skill set — budding
ownership of big data, and natural
aptitude for personal brand building —
gives them a distinct advantage in
pursuing this end goal.
If marketers continue to acquire new
skills around number-crunching and
analytics, and hone their existing
communication and project leadership
skills in collaborating with other
departments, they will be able to
cement an unassailably powerful position
within their organisation, supported by
increasingly detailed real-time customer
insight and the ability to predict future
trends, as a result of big data.
Big data is undeniably a hot
topic, so much so that it is
frequently referred to as the
‘Big Data Bubble’ (8)
44 45

In B2B, businesses talk to businesses, but
businesses don't buy products or attend
webinars or tweet or comment on blogs;
people do — and we've kept that front
of mind from the moment we set up shop
in 2000.
Since then, we've developed some
impressively long-term client relationships
with companies like Mastercard, Vodafone,
Cisco and SAP, and picked up numerous
prestigious awards along the way, including
B2B Agency of the Year in 2012/13 and
2013/14.
We pride ourselves on keeping an ear to
the ground, and being able to interpret
what industry trends and challenges mean
for our clients’ businesses — and on helping
them steer a safe course through.
We are also strong advocates of marketing
as a discipline, and we champion marketers
as the true ‘all-rounder’ of the enterprise
organisation, which is why we wanted
to hear their thoughts on the hugely
important subject of what’s driving
their ever more frequent promotion
to the boardroom — straight from the
horse’s mouth.
As champions of marketers — and marketing
champions — we have produced a series
of case studies and insight documents which
outline our award-winning approach to key
B2B marketing challenges, which we call
the ‘New Science of marketing’ — the dnx
formula for turning customer insight into
competitive advantage.
ABOUT DNXThe marketer’s choice of marketers
– officially (twice)
Visit science.dnxmarketing.com
to learn how to make friends with
data, create successful channel
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and build brand awareness like
never before.
46 47

Circle is the B2B market research company.
We use research to help B2B brands solve
business issues, grasp opportunities and
develop competitive advantage.
ABOUT
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IAG Cargo and Randstad, call us when they’re
wondering what their stakeholders think, want or do:
• What makes our target market tick?
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for our brand?
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This experience, all exclusively in a B2B context, means we
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1 The 2013 Hype Cycle, Gartner
2 Gartner, January 2012.
3 Dr. Rufus Pollock, Forget big data, small data is the real revolution.
4 James Nethercott, Online and CRM Marketing Manager, Miele Ltd
5 ‘CMO and CIO must accelerate on their path to better collaboration’,
Forrester Report, October 2013
6 Jane Gray, Director – Customer Central, SAP
7 Sir Terry Leahy, speaking to Marketing Week at the Marketing Society’s Creative
For Commerce conference in London (21 November 2013)
8 whatsthebigdata.com/category/big-data-bubble/
SOURCES
48 49

When will marketing be promoted to the boardroom?
Survey Results
1) Just so that your later answers can be placed in context, please indicate which
of the following best describes your job role.
Company Owner, Director of Board Member 10%
CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) 2%
Marketing Director 31%
Marketing Manager 42%
Marketing Executive 2%
Marketing Assistant 2%
Other 12%
3) Who within your organisation ‘owns’ or is primarily responsible for big data?
The marketing department 23%
The IT department 14%
A dedicated ‘big data’ department 18%
Other (please write in) 14%
No single department (i.e. shared ownership) 36%
4) Which of the following does your marketing department currently use big data for?
Store multi-channel information (e.g. sales, website, mobile, social media data, etc.) 30%
Segment customers (discover new micro-markets) 29%
Analyse buying behaviour patterns 23%
Determine marketing strategy 29%
Justify marketing strategy 23%
Develop personalised communications for individual customers 21%
Develop personalised offers for individual customers 13%
Respond to customer requests and/or complaints in real-time (e.g. on social media) 12%
Set ‘price-points’ 4%
Sell lists of data to generate revenue 2%
Collaborate with other organisations (i.e. share data) 8%
Predict future trends 15%
Other (please write in) 4%
None of the above 2%
2) Which of the following statements best describes your company’s use of big data?
We were one of the first to use big data 17%
We weren’t amongst the first to use big data but we started to use it once it became more mainstream 25%
We don’t currently use big data but expect to do so within the next 3 years 40%
We don’t currently use big data nor do we have any plans to start using it within the next 3 years 17%
50 51

5) And has the marketing department been able to use big data to increase its
strategic influence within your organisation?
Yes 61%
No 39%
6) To what extent would you agree with the following statements?
‘Marketers are the gatekeepers of all customer data’
Strongly disagree 14%
Disagree 32%
Neither agree nor disagree 27%
Agree 27%
Strongly agree 0%
‘Failing to put big data at the heart of business strategy will lead
to competitive disadvantage’
Strongly disagree 0%
Disagree 5%
Neither agree nor disagree 5%
Agree 41%
Strongly agree 50%
‘Using big data has enhanced the reputation of the marketing
department within my organisation’
Strongly disagree 0%
Disagree 5%
Neither agree nor disagree 41%
Agree 45%
Strongly agree 9%
‘Big data is central to shaping the overall operational and
commercial strategy of my organisation’
Strongly disagree 0%
Disagree 5%
Neither agree nor disagree 27%
Agree 55%
Strongly agree 14%
‘We are using big data a lot more now than we were doing 18 months ago’
Strongly disagree 0%
Disagree 14%
Neither agree nor disagree 18%
Agree 41%
Strongly agree 27%
52 53

6) CTD – To what extent would you agree with the following statements?
‘The marketing department is viewed within my organisation as being
central to the overall success of the organisation’
Strongly disagree 0%
Disagree 14%
Neither agree nor disagree 32%
Agree 36%
Strongly agree 18%
7) There has been a lot of talk about the ‘potential’ benefits to marketing of using big
data. Please indicate which of the following, if any, you have experienced.
Increased MROI (Marketing Return on Investment) 45%
Increased budget 5%
Lower advertising costs (e.g. due to targeted or online campaigns) 36%
Increased ability to ‘speak the language’ of IT and Finance 18%
Increased understanding of customer behaviour 64%
Higher customer satisfaction (e.g. NPS) 27%
Competitive advantage (e.g. from being a ‘first-mover’) 32%
Other 5%
We have not experienced any benefits from big data 14%
8) Which of the following are barriers that are preventing the marketing department
from benefitting from big data?
Physical constraints (e.g. server space, need to adopt cloud storage, processing power, etc.) 0%
Budget constraints 32%
Being ‘overwhelmed’ by data 32%
‘Incorrect’ or ‘misleading’ data 50%
Difficulties in identifying the same customer across different data points 55%
Internal resistance from other business areas 14%
Lack of suitable data analytics software 32%
Knowledge / skill shortage within the marketing department 41%
Lack of integration / a disconnect with the IT department 41%
Other 9%
We are not experiencing any barriers 9%
54 55

9) And what do you think needs to happen in order to overcome these barriers?
Investment in IT infrastructure (e.g. cloud) 27%
Investment in data analytics software 32%
Training of existing marketing staff 64%
Significantly increased budget 23%
Hiring of big data specialists to operate within the marketing team 36%
Increased collaboration with external providers 32%
Creation of a new dedicated ‘big data’ team 9%
Greater utilisation of the skills and experiences of ‘Digital Natives’ 23%
Greater collaboration with other departments (e.g. IT) 45%
Other 9%
10) Which of the following, if any, do you expect to use big data for in the next 3 years?
Store multi-channel information (e.g. sales, website, mobile, social media data, etc.) 48%
Segment customers (discover new micro-markets) 62%
Analyse buying behaviour patterns 63%
Determine marketing strategy 77%
Justify marketing strategy 48%
Develop personalised communications for individual customers 63%
Develop personalised offers for individual customers 58%
Respond to customer requests and/or complaints in real-time (e.g. on social media) 37%
Set ‘price-points’ 6%
Sell lists of data to generate revenue 5%
Collaborate with other organisations (i.e. share data) 19%
Predict future trends 48%
Other 6%
I think we will stop using big data 0%
56 57

11) To what extent would you agree with the following statements?
‘In the future, the CMO will have access to more IT budget than the CIO’
Strongly disagree 12%
Disagree 32%
Neither agree nor disagree 24%
Agree 15%
Strongly agree 17%
Marketers will need to know more about numbers and analytics, than about
Photoshop and colours
Strongly disagree 0%
Disagree 0%
Neither agree nor disagree 5%
Agree 41%
Strongly agree 54%
Big data will become more influential in determining my company’s overall strategy
Strongly disagree 0%
Disagree 0%
Neither agree nor disagree 12%
Agree 49%
Strongly agree 39%
Big data will become more influential to the way in which the
marketing department operates
Strongly disagree 0%
Disagree 7%
Neither agree nor disagree 2%
Agree 44%
Strongly agree 47%
Big data is the biggest opportunity currently available to marketers
Strongly disagree 0%
Disagree 19%
Neither agree nor disagree 26%
Agree 35%
Strongly agree 21%
Big data has helped, or will help, to elevate marketing to a board room position
Strongly disagree 5%
Disagree 12%
Neither agree nor disagree 17%
Agree 34%
Strongly agree 32%
58 59

12) Leaving big data aside for the final 3 questions, do you see any of the
following as current significant opportunities for marketing?
Leading cross-function projects 58%
Shaping research and development 37%
Increasing use of digital communications channels 73%
Accelerating marketing activities through social media influencers 58%
Increased marketing budget (not due to big data requirements) 25%
Other 4%
No other opportunities 2%
13) And which of the following attributes, if any, do you think lend themselves
to marketers becoming the CEOs of the future?
Knowledge of customer insight and its applications 71%
Experience of leading cross-function projects 54%
Management of large, complex budgets 29%
Knowledge of the drivers of innovation 48%
Excellent communication skills 69%
Willingness to take ‘calculated risks’ 62%
In-depth understanding of the sales cycle 42%
In-depth understanding of the competitive landscape 67%
Other 6%
No other opportunities 0%
14) Finally, do you think that marketing is, or will be elevated to, a board room
position? If so when do you think this is most likely to happen?
It already is 48%
Within the next year 8%
Within the next 2 years 6%
Within the next 4 years 20%
It will happen, but not for at least 5 or more years 16%
It will never happen 2%
60 61

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