Tell us about your role at Gravy Analytics and how you got here. What made you start a Customer Intelligence platform? 

Gravy Analytics started in 2011 as a local events discovery company, recommending interesting things to do in your area. Knowing that events are often the greatest indicator of interests and passions, and seeing the gap in understanding what customers do in the physical world, in 2016, we pivoted to become a consumer intelligence platform. Events – and the unique context that they add to location data – remain foundational to our business and are one of our biggest differentiators.

What’s the most fascinating aspect of leading a Customer Intelligence analytics team in a tech-heavy industry?

We offer an entirely new type of customer intelligence based on what people actually do – the places they visit, the events they attend – in real life (everything from a 50,000-person trade show to a swim meet at the local YMCA). Until recently this was a blind spot for marketers, but a huge opportunity for ad targeting, customer relationship management and competitive intelligence…and, we’re still figuring out more applications for this data. We’re working with customers to do things like better inform real estate or investment decisions, and even help combat ad fraud. It’s exciting stuff.

Given the changing dynamic of marketing analytics and customer insights, where do you see Gravy Analytics fitting into a CMO’s tech stack?

Fundamentally, we’re a data and intelligence provider. You can use our audiences to reach your ideal customer with your digital advertising campaigns; our data to enrich your customer database, understand meaningful customer behaviors, and benchmark against your competitors; or license our consumer attendance data for myriad purposes. Our data has become a key component of our customers’ marketing and analytics efforts.