Credit crunch – data challenge

There’s an interesting opinion piece by Nick Backhouse (ex director of McCanns) in the current IDM Journal in which he looks at the effect of the credit crunch on the way marketers target customers. The ‘recency, frequency and value’ approach to modelling data now needs reviewing in the light of the downturn in the economy. Whether you’re involved in financial services or retailing customers attitudes have changed significantly. They’re more cautious about borrowing and more interested in getting value from their local supermarket. Although Nick doesn’t develop an alternative approach to segmentation he does conclude that there are new opportunities for those of us involved in marketing to develop new thinking around targeting and segmentation.

David Patrick