Future is about people data not big data says Unilever’s Mathieu

“We need to deal with the fact that people want control of their data. It will happen in the next 12 months,” he said. “Data science will change the way we do marketing. We need to grasp, it’s not about big data or analytics as targeting, it’s about people data and understanding data for the people we serve.”

Mathieu also talked about how marketers must stop thinking of digital as a type of marketing but rather “the context in which we market”.

“Technology and digital has changed the way we build brands. Think about interactions with Google etc, it’s based on my terms, based on my needs as opposed to the brand being in my face. We need to integrate the fact that it’s not about using digital to interrupt but how we can use it to pull our brand into their lives and be useful,” he said.

He also referred to how marketing is no longer about creating a myth and telling it – the old TV advertising model – but about finding a truth and sharing it.

Mathieu cited the work Unilever had done setting up www.allthingshair.com which was based on utility rather than interruption. “We created a platform with Google to identify hair trends and worked with vloggers to create content. They used our brands as part of their tips on a the non-brand platform. It got 16 million views in the first six months and by end of 2015 it’ll be in 10 markets.”