Performance Marketing

Big Data's Big Image Problem

It's been a buzzy concept in marketing circles. That's actually making some of its biggest advocates nervous

The information technology sector may have coined the term “Big Data,” but advertisers have embraced it as their own. The moniker has become a popular, catchy way of summing up the complex world of analytics used to measure consumer preferences and behaviors.

But with consumers already uncomfortable about their data being collected for marketing purposes, promoting a term that sounds a lot like other industry-based labels with negative connotations—such as Big Brother, Big Tobacco, Big Pharma and, in an election year, of course, Big Government—has some marketers scratching their heads.