Brexit Has Had No Impact On Startup Applications

That's right – we've seen no impact on the number, quality or geographical location of startups since Brexit. In fact, we've had over 300 applications of which a high proportion have been impressive quality.

And as it's that time of year where we draw close to both our investment campaign and startup application deadline, we thought we'd dig into the data and discover the startup trends of 2016/17.

Check out our favourite five snippets of what we can expect in the marketing and advertising world:

1. Around 10% of all applications from the UK are in advertising and analysis.

2. Almost 3/4 of applications are from Europe.

3. The primary focus of Israeli startups this year is on big data or blogger outreach/marketing.

4. Other than the UK, the next highest number of applicants from a European country is Spain.

5. Almost double the overall applications relate more to marketing than they do advertising.

Interesting, huh?

Guest Post from Seeker on Big Data

One of our startups, Seeker, were invited to an Ogilvy Lab Day yesterday, where the entire event was focused on Big Data. Tielman de Villiers, the co-founder and CTO at Seeker Industries, went along to find out just how big the debate is around big data. He was particularly keen to hear opinions surrounding just who owns all of this data, is it possible data can become too “clever” for its own good, and is there really that much value in “big” data? Here is his report, for those of us who missed the event.

Photo by @nicoleyershon

"There are currently many unanswered questions concerning the creation of big data, it's ownership, and it's accuracy.  Let's go through some of the issues discussed at the Lab Day.

Matt Bayfield, head of data practice at OgilvyOne Worldwide, asked what is the role of advertising, if brands start knowing everything there is to know about you? It’s not only the ownership of the underlying data, but also of the data on top the data, as Dr Trevor Davis, consumer products expert at IBM, mentioned.  For example, if you start making predictions using Facebook’s Opengraph or Google Trends, where does the legal responsibility start and end?

And what if all that personal data is actually a bit of a lie? So, even if Google, Facebook and Amazon captures, processes, segments, and targets everything users are willing to share, how “truthful” and representative is it really? Liri Andersson, co-founder of This Fluid World, spoke of examples where the “real” data is still outside of the “system”. For example, product recommendations often occur in forum-based discussions, which influence our decisions about purchases. In other words, how useful is the big data really with regards to predicting future behaviour?

Then there’s the slightly “scary” part of big data, when data analysis algorithms become so complex and relied upon by corporations that plain old human common sense goes out the back door. Stan Stalnaker, founder director of Hub Culture and the brains behind the Ven currency, warned of becoming too reliant on machine driven algorithms. Just look at what is happening in the world of corporate finance with programs driving and controlling sales in financial markets. What happens when this happens in the world of digital marketing, with the most personal of our personal data?

Big data also seems to be big grey voids. Spotting the little clusters of data with significance inside the masses of greyness (ie, “sparse” data), and doing it in “slow time” (ie, looking back at long historical trends, as opposed to right here, right now) is something which Dr Davis used to “predict” fashion trends. For those left wandering, it’s steampunk."

The Report is Dead

As Mark blogged earlier today, the report is dead. Luckily for all those data-hungry people out there, startups have the answer (unsurprisingly). One of the luxuries of being a startup is having the flexibility to evolve and respond quickly to a brand’s problem. By having a small team and flexible hours, startups are able to tackle a problem head on and create an enhanced, bespoke service for those who require it.  Alexandra Dinsdale from Unilever mentioned this issue in our interview with her last week, emphasising just how important this ability can be to large businesses.

This matter is also something Avin Wong from WhichSocial has experienced this week. During a recent meeting with one of his large clients, he created a solution to a pain-point they were experiencing  which is actually exceedingly common amongst online retailers. The problem is what to do with the large amounts of online data that is being collected from sources liked Google Analytics.  All the facts and figures are there, but brands are struggling to know what action to take. Another issue is when to consult this data;  if you are only checking it weekly, or even monthly, how can you possibly react fast enough to the results you are seeing? Monthly reports seem to hail back to an era we are rapidly zooming away from, as right now data needs to be relevant, recent, and responsive.

The alternative to way to accurately measure your ROI on social media is actually very simple. WhichSocial provide real time alerts with actionable insights. That sounds like a lot of buzzwords, so let’s break it down.

1. The brand sets a benchmark for product sales, social media interaction, or influential activity from consumer so they can judge and control what is a large response for them.

2.Whenever these criteria are broken, WhichSocial alerts you. This allows you to respond immediately to the action your shoppers are taking, and respond in an appropriate manner (for example, move the product to the shop’s front page, promote the Facebook post, or contact the influencer).

3. This uniquely allows the brand to know instantly when something goes viral (by their definition), whether it is a new video they posted on twitter, or a product that has been repined.

This kind of compelling and active response is going to only increase in importance as shopping online and social media marketing continue to dominate.

Avin is speaking at The Big Data show tomorrow, so if you're going, be sure to listen to him at 4pm.