We’re at the very early stages of Big Data, according to Chris McCann, president, 1-800-Flowers.com. Keynoting OMMA Data-Driven Marketing on Thursday, McCann said the Big Data explosion can be used by businesses in many ways including reducing costs an enhancing productivity. For marketers, it can be used to grow the top line in two ways: finding new markets and deepen customer relationships. 1-800-Flowers does both.   To enhance customer relationships, one of the keys is to understand relationships between sender of flowers or gifts and the recipient, said McCann. Tapping into social data allows the company …

Has the ad industry struck oil and perhaps they don't quite know how to process it? "We need to create the infrastructure to analyze data," Chris McCann, president of 1-800-flowers.com, told attendees at OMMA DDM. The company participated in a beta test with Affirm payment service, a startup from Max Levchin, PayPal cofounder.

Does consumer behavior drive technology or does technology drive consumer behavior? Having shepherded 1-800-Flowers.com through four waves of technological change, president Chris McCann still doesn't know the answer, he admitted to OMM DDB attendees on Thursday morning. What McCann is certain of, however, is that the "veracity of data is ever increasing," and companies planning to survive the next wave of tech innovation need to foster a "culture of analytics." Clarifying the name of his morning keynote, "Data is Not a Magic Bullet," McCann explained: "Insights don't mean anything unless [marketers are] using them correctly." As such, 1-800-Flowers is "constantly …

Does migration from desktop to mobile change the nature of content?  One thing for sure: There are limited insights.  For example, Ken Burbary, chief digital officer of Campbell Ewald, speaking at OMMA Mobile, says when it comes to looking at some mobile data -- like Facebook "likes" -- the site doesn't really tell marketers much.  "I'd like to see analytics improve -- and to compare and contrast with tablet and desktops."

Banner ads have long been the whipping boy of online advertising, and the same is now true for mobile. On an OMMA Mobile panel focusing on whether mobile display even works, agency executives gave some examples of industry categories including entertainment, travel, and auto where they’ve seen results. Steve Minichini, at TargetCast pointed to entertainment advertising in mobile as a sort of “softball” you can’t miss with if ads are designed right. “It’s really ripe for full interaction regardless of the …

Well, the "mobile display" panel at OMMA Mobile got pretty worked up when moderator Craig Weinberg mobile practice lead at MindShare, invoked the "n" word. You know, "native." Specifically, when he asked his panelists to explain what they think native advertising is. "It could mean 100 things to 100 people," said Louis Gump, CEO of LSN Mobile. "Nobody knows exactly what it will be," said Lars Albright, co-founder and CEO of SessionM. "Is Buzzfeed to blame for this whole native thing," asked Scott Swanson, CEO of Mobile Theory, adding that while it works really well on Buzzfeed's news feeds, it …

Speaking on a panel at OMMA Mobile, Steve Minichini, president of interactive marketing at MDC Partners' TargetCast, acknowledged that the agency doesn't buy many mobile banners -- yet. And it it does, it's mainly looking at them as a means to an end. "It's almost like a gateway drug," he said, noting that the real goal is to figure out how to do a "data capture," or launch a video campaign, not to serve a banner ad impression on a mobile device, per se. The mobile banner dilemma is further complicated, he said, by the fact that many client campaigns …

There's a bear in the woods. And Liz Bazner wants to bring it back. The A&W Restaurants' trademark mascot Rooty, the bear. Bazner is social & digital communications strategist for A&W and she's presenting a case study on the brand's mobile strategy at OMMA Mobile this afternoon. Bazner gets the bear, because she grew up with it. Her dad began working at A&W when she was four-years-old. But most of her contemporaries did not, and as a result, when Bazner posted her new job at A&W on Facebook, she got comments from friends suggesting, "They went out of business." Moreover, …

Responding to OnSwipe CEO’s Jason Baptiste declaration that “apps are bullshit,” Seth Rogin, VP of advertising at The New York Times, said the company doesn’t make a judgment between the two platforms, providing options for wherever users want to be. “The behavior is going to drive what we do, not just the creative tools,” he said, on an OMMA Mobile panel on Wednesday. Tracey Weber, head of Internet and mobile banking at Citi, offered that brands and publishers need to start designing browser based experiences for tablets and touch-based interaction. “We’re thinking a lot about that at Citi,” …

Yes, apps are "bullshit!" -- or, at least according to Jason Baptiste, CEO of Onswipe, which helps publishers build Web sites optimized for iPads and other touchscreen gadgets. Bullshit? Seth Rogin, VP of advertising at The New York Times, begged to differ on an afternoon panel at OMMA Mobile. Sure, "Safari is a huge part of what we do," Rogin said, referring to NYTimes' reliance on Web browsers to reach readers. Yet, "There is value in a combined app experience," he insisted. Backtracking a bit, Baptiste conceded: "Ok, We're talking about the paper of record here" -- to which Rogin …