• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, July 24, 2013

Conference chair Steve Smith is doing his warm-up act at OMMA DDM in Los Angeles this morning, and he’s mainly talking about the unintended consequences of data-driven marketing, and he’s making some great points about the Pandora Box it’s become.

He started off by noting how data-driven marketing isn’t entirely new -- it’s almost as old as marketing itself -- but that the nature, and especially the speed of delivery of data, has changed creating a whole new ball game, and new relationships between brands, agencies, publishers, and yes, especially consumers.

Consumers, in particular, are growing increasingly sophisticated -- and expectant -- about how marketers are utilizing data, and they are raising the bar with those expectations. And when brands underdeliver, Smith says consumers resent the brands that are using their data.

“It’s a set of expectations that they’re bringing to marketers and brands,” Smith noted, adding, “‘What do you know about me? How are you making life easier for me?’”