New services are trying to reconcile consumers’ urge to avoid risk with their longing for adventure. Melanie Howard explains the world of the curated experience.

There has been a development in the “what lies at the heart of marketing’ zeitgeist over the many decades since marketing began – which as we know was long before it was actually called marketing. It started with trust.

The growth of ‘big data’ – quintillions of bytes of behavioural data on consumers - now allows for the creation of ‘personalised defaults’, which have the power to customise and tailor a choice, experience, product or service to meet a consumer’s

Studies in human psychology have found that if we are told something through narrative, we are more likely to relate to the message, absorbing it further and remaining engaged from start to finish.

In recent years, we in business, and society as a whole, have put growth up on a pedestal. But is ‘more’ always a good strategy?

Alex Batchelor, COO of BrainJuicer and former chairman of The Marketing Society, writes the second chapter of his story of data, taking us back to the first days of picture messaging and what they teach us about how to use data.