Keynote, Sevilla Room, InterContinental Miami

The media marketplace has evolved to the point that marketers can no longer afford to build their brands or businesses with paid media alone. As a result, the earned disciplines of PR, social, influencer and experiential will necessarily move upstream in the marketing mix. The expectation for precise and efficacious insight, execution, and delivery will increase commensurately. Data and analytics will be central to this marketing evolution. As a discipline, data and analytics have, not just an opportunity, but a responsibility to move our field upstream to lead that charge. To focus not just on the ‘measurement and evaluation’ of communications but on the objective setting, audience understanding, communications planning and only then on measurement and evaluation. By doing so, we will ensure that the data and analytics teams in the communications discipline are at the forefront of an inevitable evolution in our industry. And, in lockstep, we should recognise that the primary focus of AMEC needs to shift from post-campaign evaluation to upstream strategic planning, in order for our industry, and brand marketing as a whole, to be earned-led and triumphant.

Key takeaways include:

• How PR through using data needs to move upstream in the marketing mix;
• Data focus should be weighted towards objective setting, audience understanding and planning and not evaluation.