In BI, often what happens is the analyst gives the Marketer “exactly what they asked for”, which often doesn’t make any sense and is headed for failure to begin with. Whether the analyst knows this and actually acts on it is a matter of culture - many have faced the “when I want your opinion I’ll ask for it” response when challenging ideas and are reluctant to comment. Others simply don’t know enough about the business to form an opinion on actionability.

Ron P, I wonder if anybody has ever studied the real accuracy of online demographic information? There’s lot’s of anecdotal stuff around, but I wonder…if I took a segment of visitors, say Male 18 - 24, I wonder how many of them would actually be Males 18 - 24? And what would that say about using demos for online segmentation?

Thanks for the follow through! I particularly like how you framed the common hang up of “faulty segmentation logic” being aided by the disconnect in marketing information (Deconstruction of Marketing ). I see a lot of truth in that. I also couldn’t agree with you more that demographics do NOT indicate online behavior.

Why does this happen (so often)? I don’t think it has anything to do w/ the capabilities of the analyst. I think it’s an all-too-common bias on the part of analysts to focus on, or search for, that “killer insight” — that “AHA!” moment when the stars align and the heavens part to shine a light on the great mysteries of the world.

Lest anyone think I’m pointing fingers at others, no way — been guilty of this way too many times myself.