Consumer insights can drive brand-building and product development. However, the ability to capture and analyse the data required to develop those insights is still evolving. According to an EIU survey of senior executives in large consumer goods (CG) companies, gathering consumer insights to improve product (44%) and marketing programmes (35%) are important objectives of their direct-to-consumer efforts. "Social media, and Facebook in particular, is proving to be extremely rewarding in helping us listen to and understand consumers and to help our brands build different types of relationships with consumers," says Alex Tosolini, vice president of global e-business at Procter & Gamble (P&G).

Access to the right data is critical to marketers' consumer-focused initiatives. Nearly three-quarters (72%) of respondents agree that their ability to capture and analyse "big data" has improved their efforts to attract and retain customers. In addition, 58% believe their
organisation is "very effective" at leveraging customer data and insights to improve interactions with consumers. Unsurprisingly, this figure rises among larger companies: 72% of respondents at companies with revenues of US$5bn-10bn say they are very effective at leveraging customer data. Some are still getting their arms around big data sets. Twenty-nine percent say they collect plenty of consumer data but do not have the tools to analyse them effectively, while 32% believe they do not collect enough data to develop meaningful consumer insights—high numbers given advances in the tools and technologies used to capture, store and analyse consumer data.

The goal for many of these companies is fi ne-tuning their methods for leveraging the data they are collecting. The good news is that CG marketers do not have to strain their budgets to figure out the best approaches, because digital media enable them to test and learn quickly with minimal investment. "With social media, you can test, learn and expand quickly on a limited budget," says Howard Friedman, senior vice-president of marketing for Kraft Cheese & Dairy. "You don't have to spend a million dollars to see if something works."