intelligentVIEW reports show the top banks used by target households.
“We live in a data rich world. But if you can’t access it, what’s the point?” asks Tim Leys, Partner, Sales and Strategy at Consumer Intelligence Group (CiG). “What marketers lack is quick access to data to guide their marketing strategies.”
CiG’s core product, intelligentVIEW, is a web-based marketing insights tool clients use to support their marketing planning, campaign development and media selection. “It’s more granular and easier to use than any other analytics platform on the market” says Leys.
CiG has met with success since opening its doors four-and-a-half years ago. Today with a client roster of top Canadian brands, including 5 of the 7 top banks, CiG’s solutions are addressing a fundamental need of marketers – real time access to insights.
CiG is not a research company. It doesn’t create the data, it collects and aggregates existing data and puts it into an on-demand, user-friendly platform. The company has taken what is a complex, resource-intensive job for marketers and made it simple.
Leys says the company’s tagline ‘simplifying marketing’ embodies its approach to turning data into insights. “When Kevin Klein and I started CiG, we mapped out a plan on the back of a napkin that started with the idea that there had to be an easier way to generate insights from data and tie it directly to planning and media – and we’ve built it.”
intelligentVIEW generates customizable targeting and profiling, via visualized reports that can be shared with everyone involved in the project. Agreements with data providers such as Statistics Canada, Ethnic Technologies and Equifax Canada give clients access to thousands of data attributes in one tool.
Leys says that many clients share the reports with their agencies and other departments, “they become the briefing tool for understanding customers and prospects. As a planning tool they can say, ‘my customers watch these kinds of TV shows, listen to these radio stations.’ And, if direct media is part of their marketing mix, we can tie those insights directly into the list selection process by targeting only customers who match the profile. This increases the ROI of our clients’ campaigns.”
For clients, CiG’s Saas model means there are no concerns over software, systems integration and IT involvement. There is no exchange of a client’s customer files, mitigating privacy and security issues, particularly important for financial services companies.
“Financial institutions have massive analytics teams and a lot of classified data,” says Leys. “What they lack is quick access to insights and external views of their customers to guide their marketing decisions and activities.”
When working with clients, CiG’s first step is establishing objectives, whether they’re strategic or tactical, and then understanding their market. intelligentVIEW will tell the marketer more about those people – beyond what they can glean from their own database.
“Knowing more about customers and markets rounds out the picture,” explains Leys, “so marketers can make strategic decisions, and assess opportunities and risks.”
With plans for further expansion in Canada and the U.S., plus an upcoming release of intelligentVIEW with new features built in consultation with clients, CiG will continue to simplify insights-driven marketing.
