Echoing the positions of other experts at OMMA DDB on Thursday, David Boyle, SVP of Consumer Insights at HarperCollins Publishers, is stressing the importance of "boiling down" your data to actionable insights. In recent months, the publisher has gathered "tens of thousands of really detailed consumer interviews," which, according to Boyle, would be worthless without the proper analytical reduction. Across platforms, Boyle said he's "constantly looking at new ways to gather data," because, these days, behavior varies so dramatically from one consumer to another. ... On an unrelated note, the British Boyle pronounces the end of the word "marketer" with …

David Boyle, the consumer insights guru at HarperCollins Publishers describes himself as a "data geek" and to prove it, he worked blue during his morning presentation at OMMA DDM. He began by flashing some indecipherable data -- in the form of two sets of code -- on the screen: #2A5DB0 vs. #2200CC After asking the audience who could identify the codes, Boyle noted that they are the numeric representation of shades of blue that can be rendered on computer screens, and the reason for showing them, he said, was that Google conducted an A/B test to determine which one was …

In her closing remarks on the opening Big Data/Marketers panel at OMMA DDM, Axciom's Nada Stirrat pointed out that the company currently has "1,600 data points on 17 million consumers around the world." With permissions like that, who needs patents?

How comfortable are consumers with providing all this data exploited by marketers? Nada Stirrit, CRO, at Acxciom, said that if a marketer appears to be creepy or too aggressive or simply send the wrong message, you don’t have a second opportunity to correct that impression. Speaking at OMMA Data-Driven Marketing, she said she expects there to be a lot more focus on consumer control in the coming year. Jessica Kernan of Rapp emphasized the importance of providing utility—services that make people’s lives easier—in return for their data. She …

I'm pretty sure that's what I heard, and I think it was Nada Stirrat, EVP-Chief Revenue Officer of Axciom, who said it as a I was meandering through the crowd in the back of the room at OMMA DDM this morning. It's a great line, whoever said it on the "Big Data and the Modern Brand Marketer" panel being moderated by Activate Founder Michael Wolf, and extremely apt is this era of "Big Data," and bigger concerns over consumer data privacy. By extension, it means the most valuable intellectual properties today are not registered with the government, but with consumers …

Going by the personal information that consumers provide marketers, the vast majority of Americans live in Schenectady, New York or Beverly Hills, California. That's because they most often offer 12345 or 90210 as their zip codes, according to Nada Stirrat, EVP and CRO of data broker Acxiom. More than a fun fact, Stirrat just shared the insight with OMMA DDB attendees to illustrate the challenges that still face marketers' geo-targeting efforts. The goal of most marketers, therefore, is to more accurately marry consumer profiles to where they actually are in the world, said Michael Stoeckel, head of ad opperations of …

Jocelyn Cripps, EVP, global B2C marketing, Financial Times, said that she can't remember when FT wasn't completely dependent on behavioral data. Speaking on the "Big Data And The Modern Brand Marketer" at OMMA DDM this morning, Cripps said that data is "at the heart of everything" the company does.

PepsiCo doesn’t sell any of its CPG brands directly online, but it’s trying to use Big Data to match online and offline information to boost sales. Speaking on a panel at the OMMA Data-Driven Marketing conference, Quinn Kilbury, Senior Brand Manager,Pepsi NEXT & Pepsi Innovation, at PepsiCo, said the company is trying to align online social and other data with its truck delivery routes to help drive foot traffic to some 50,000 stores nationwide. How does Pepsi find cola drinkers? Kilbury said it relies on loyalty card …

At OMMA DDB, today, attendees shouldn't think of consumers as "ad targets," according to Michael Wolf, founder of consulting firm Activate, and formerly CEO of MTV. Rather, they should think about them as "people" -- people they can better understand to increase their chances of turning into customers, of course.

At OMMA DDM in IWNY this morning, 1-8000-Flowers President Chris McCann called data ithe next natural resource, he said. Some will have more than others. Some will be better equipped to handle it. But everyone will be seeking it.