QOTW: Something about following a trail of data breadcrumbs

In the coming decade, almost every action will leave a trail of data breadcrumbs both in the digital and real world, and Big Tech will be harvesting and processing them for their own commercial use.

Quote from Mario Gavira, a tech executive, angel investor and board adviser, in an article on PhocusWire this week.

Airline distribution in 2030, part 1: Gravitating towards airlines, intermediaries or tech giants?

This suggestion isn't that far off from being a reality. In fact, most of the tech giants outside of the travel industry started collecting our data years ago.

There have been countless occasions over the last few years where many people without a working knowledge of how advertising works have expressed surprise (then usually concern) that something they're been discussing using Google's Gmail has led to ads appearing about the same subject in the sponsored ads on the service.

It sometimes feels quirky, sometimes intrusive - yet that is how the system works.

It's presumably successful as a technique that was created within the dark caves of Google, as there has been no particular changes to it since it first surfaced, despite the odd outpouring of negative publicity.

The Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal that emerged during 2018 may have got some users ruffled to the extent that some have stopped using the network - but Facebook still has hundreds of millions of users and still uses the data it collects from activity to serve "relevant" ads and suggested pages.

In other words: Brands are doing (with Amazon perhaps the best of all), and will continue to do, the one thing that helps make them more efficient as marketing machines. And they've only scratched the surface.

But this collection of the data breadcrumbs, as Gavira calls it, arguably shouldn't be the preserve of the Tech Giants.

Travel brands are also heading down this route, with hotels and airlines perhaps leading the way as they harvest the preferences and customer history of travelers that use their services - all under the umbrella of improving the overall experience.

But these are mostly suppliers. Over time, such slicing and dicing of customer activity will become a key element in the Battle Of The Platforms.

The brands at the center of this fight know that the collection of traveler preferences, search and booking patterns, pre- and post-trip activity, in-destination usage on mobile and other breadcrumb-leaving behavior is gold dust for them.

The desire to "own the customer," apart from being a fancy phrase favored by marketing wonks, will be more important than ever as the next decade unfolds.