Why insight alone is not enough

Written by
Fifty Team

25 Apr, 2020

In the last decade, the ability for marketers to learn about their customers’ behaviours and mindset has increased manifold. And yet, despite the insights industry booming, with brands creating in-house teams and the rise of data insight agencies, many marketers still feel that there is a disconnect between insight and action.

The novelty of insight itself has worn off. It is no longer enough for brands to turn to data-led media agencies to uncover insight about your customer – you want that insight to translate into strategy. But even in April 2020, only 3% of marketers believe they are exceptionally effective in turning data and intelligence into marketing action, and 72% state that it takes them too long to act on insights (source: CMO Council).

At Fifty, insight is the basis of everything we do. It is the start, not the end point, of our relationship with clients, and how our clients then foster a relationship with their customers.

Everything begins with our Fifty platform, which ingests billions of data points, creating audience insights based on cookieless, contextual and first-party data. The result is dynamic segmentations and visualisations that begin to tell the story of your audience – but that is just the start.

Many companies organise their customers into segments based on a variety of things such as demographics, attitudinal surveys and behaviours. But how to translate this understanding of an audience into real world business actions? It can still be overwhelming to decide – which audiences should we prioritise? Which platforms? At what time? And brands then reach out to multiple agencies to deploy different parts of their strategy. It’s a siloed, old-school approach to insight.

Instead, what we decided to do at Fifty is to create an ad-technology stack that could deliver not only insight, but execute that insight into media strategies across a range of mediums including web, social, mobile, audio and Connected TV. We have created a bespoke data product that is precise and can target your most engaged customers’ precisely where they are. And we have built a live catalogue of a catalogue of consumer groups from across the globe, who are dynamically segmented based on shared passions, beliefs and purchasing inclinations – which you can then target immediately.

Insight remains as important as it ever was. It is absolutely essential to understand your audience. But without the ability to deploy that understanding and turn it into effective media strategies, insight is little more than some interesting factoids for your next dinner party.

Catch up on the latest developments within Industry & Tech here.

To understand how Fifty's audience insights can power effective media strategies, book a platform demo today.

Three Nominations, Two Awards: Fifty Shortlisted Across The Wires & Global Digital Excellence Awards 2026

Fifty celebrates multiple shortlists at The Global Digital Excellence Awards and The Wires 2026.

Related Articles

Three Nominations, Two Awards: Fifty Shortlisted Across The Wires & Global Digital Excellence Awards 2026

Fifty celebrates multiple shortlists at The Global Digital Excellence Awards and The Wires 2026.

From Terrace Culture to Trail Kits: The Many Routes Into Fashion

The fashion market contains very different routes into the category. Understanding those routes can reveal where a brand has permission to play, which audiences could drive future growth, and how media and messaging should change around them.

How Audience Intelligence Can Sharpen Back-to-School Media Strategy

Fifty’s latest back-to-school analysis shows where retailers can build around common motivations, and where audience behaviour suggests media, creative and influence strategies should start to diverge.

From Global Launch to Local Relevance: An Audience-Led Approach to Gaming Media

Discover how audience intelligence can help gaming brands build more relevant media strategies across markets, from targeting and channel mix to creative and investment.

Tom Holland, Spider-Man and The Odyssey: What Audience Intelligence Reveals for Media Strategy and Planning

Tom Holland sits at the centre of two of this summer’s biggest films. But look beneath the surface and the audiences around The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day reveal very different motivations.

The Hamilton Effect: Decoding the Power of Personal Brand in F1

We explored how Hamilton’s audience divides across three groups: those aligned with Hamilton alone, Hamilton and Ferrari, and Hamilton and Mercedes.

MAD//Fest Replay: How Bentley Is Using Audience Intelligence to Build Brand Relevance

How Bentley is building a richer understanding of the audiences shaping its future.