Speaking at OMMA DDM in New York today, Charlie Swift, VP, Marketing Analysis and Operations, Hearst Magazines, said that there has been an "acceptance of data." Moderator Stephanie Miller started the question by citing a Harvard Business Review that says Data Scientists have the coolest job for 2013.

Interesting to hear the changes that companies are making to analyze and use data for marketing and advertising. At Hearst Magazines, analytics has moved from the back, hidden in the corner office, to upfront and center in New York, according to Charlie Swift, VP of marketing analysis and operations for the company, at the MediaPost OMMA DDM.

Yes, it's a fine line between using customer data to provide a better brand experience and appearing to betray their privacy standards and trust. So admitted Steven Ireland, Executive Director and Head of Advertising Strategy & Platforms at JP Morgan Chase. "If we don't keep our trust, then we don't keep our customers," Ireland told OMMA DDB attendees on Wednesday. Given that risk, the trick is figuring out "how to make sure you're treating the customer as well as you possibly can given the data available," Ireland said.

Julie Bernard, Group VP, Consumer Centricity, Direct Marketing and Loyalty at Macy's, told MediaPost attendees at the OMMA DDM: Data Driven Marketing conference Wednesday, we have been customizing print, running a large-scale print campaign for 7 million, thousands of unique versions and customized for the customer. She said it's very expensive in print and digital to customize on a personalize level, so expensive that the company abandoned the really custom versions. Macy's went back to traditional methods for another reason, too, believing too relevant pieces becomes boring. Sometimes customers look at the marketing pieces for fashion inspiration. If it's too …

That's what Macy's Julie Bernard seemed to suggest Big Data analysis, indicating that in some cases, it is actually harming brands by making them "too relevant."

In the day’s first panel featuring brand marketers, Grazia Ochoa, Director, Global Digital Marketing, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, warned against getting too caught up in possibilities opened up by Big Data. She said marketers can lured into creating and trakcking peripheral kpis instead of focusing on traditional ones. At Starwood, the bottom line is that “We’re there to put heads in beds. I can try to prove brand goals all day but those goals must trickle down,” said Ochoa. She also noted that incorporating more data into marketing is expensive and can end up cost more than it’s worth …

The flexibility of modern messaging mediums, via the Web and mobile devices, makes it necessary for brands to embrace data. So said Steven Ireland, Executive Director and Head of Advertising Strategy & Platforms at JP Morgan Chase. In other words, now that marketers can tailor their messages to an individual customer level, they are obliged to do so.

Julie Bernard, group VP, consumer centricity, direct marketing & loyalty for Macy's Corp, explained three ways in which data-driven marketing is different today. Bernard is speaking on the "Teaching Big Data To Market Engagement: The Brand Perspective" panel at today's OMMA DDM in New York. First, Bernard says a big difference today is "the explosion of the availability of data." There is no doubt that we will hear that phrase again today. Bernard also says that even with all of the data available, we are better at reducing it to "simplicity" today.

That's more or less what the opening "brand perspective" panel at OMMA DMM seems to be starting off. Both Macy's loyalty marketing exec Julie Bernard and Hearst Magazines marketing analyst Charlie Swift suggested it's not about the data, but about what it's enabling marketers to understand about their consumers.

In the context of big data, "What's different now?" Stephanie Miller -- VP of Member Relations and Chief Listening Officer at the Direct Marketing Association -- asks a morning panel at OMMA DDB. For starters, "The explosion of the available of data ... and understanding what data counts," according to Julie Bernard, Group VP of Consumer Centricity at Direct Marketing & Loyalty at Macy's Corp.