Peter DeLorenzo:

How so? No matter how much Big Data is floating around for car company marketers to tap into it will never replace the Big Idea. I can assure you that a boatload of marketers has lost sight of this one crucial fact: Even with all the data they desire at their fingertips, if there isn’t one good idea in front of it nothing good will come from it.

But that will not dissuade automotive marketers from craving it even more.

At any rate, what about Big Data? Where is it? For something that’s bandied about in this business does anyone really know – really know – about it other than those two words? It’s information. Detailed information that’s distilled down to focused details that allow marketers to target consumers in such a personalized way that they increase the likelihood of reaching them, so that they’ll actually buy something. Yes, social media and the digital age fuel it, but now it has become much bigger than that. It’s the be all and end all of the business. It’s also a panacea that is starting to stunt creativity, from where I sit.

But it doesn’t really matter, because Big Data is the runaway freight train to targeted consumer success. Or it could be the train to nowhere, depending on how you look at it.