New ADVAN boss stresses data imperatives in marketing

THE newly-elected President of Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN), Mrs Folake Ani-Mumuney has stressed the importance of effective data application in marketing campaigns, even as she pledged the commitment of the association’s new executives towards partnering with relevant stakeholders to build capacity and  create more values for industry stakeholders.

The new ADVAN boss, who is the Head of Marketing and Corporate Communications, First Bank Nigeria Plc, attributed the failure of some campaigns in the past to the wrong application of data in planning and execution of campaigns.

Ani-Mumuney, who replaced David Okeme, as ADVAN’s  president  at the association’s  2017  Marketing Day, held in Lagos, recently,  argued that through data,  businesses are able to predict their  customers and attract clients to their side.

“Data provides the insight to make informed decisions. And ultimately, if you do not make informed decision, marketing will not be effective, and if it is not effective our return on investments will be challenged and questioned by our chief financial officers,” she argued.

The new ADVAN boss warned that  data, riding on the speed and ubiquity of the internet, had come to significantly challenge traditional marketing beliefs and practices, adding that it had become imperative for marketing practitioners to hone their skills to enable them remain relevant and profitable in the new age.

“Giving that we are in the cyber age where the internet operates and artificial intelligence has come to disrupt what we know as traditional marketing, big data and policies that govern what we do with big data will become more important as time goes on and that will be a key area ADVAN will focus on,” she said.