The Pandemic-Induced Personal Data Explosion

Background Government and private responses to the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the generation and dissemination of personal data not previously available in the public sphere. Focus of the Article This “Notes from the Field” paper reflects on the implications of this surge of new data for the study and practice of social marketing. The paper examines how this phenomenon impacts on the following aspects of social marketing: (1) Setting of explicit social goals; (2) citizen orientation and focus; (3) value proposition delivery via the social marketing intervention mix; (4) theory-, insight-, data-, and evidence-informed audience segmentation; (5) competition/barrier and asset analysis; and (6) critical thinking, reflexivity, and being ethical. Research Question How are the government and private responses to the pandemic shaping the generation and use of personal data, and what are the implications of this eruption of data for the social marketing scholarly community? Approach The paper highlights how the pandemic resulted in significant changes in behavior of government and citizens alike, and how these changes, in turn, spurred the generation and dissemination of new personal data. Subsequently, we draw on the Core Social Marketing Concepts framework to explore how the aforementioned data explosion impacts on the six dimensions of this central framework. Importance to the Social Marketing Field The COVID-19 pandemic is more than a temporary public health event. Therefore, it is important to consider the lasting consequences that may stem from the pandemic-induced personal data explosion, for both consumers and social marketing scholars and practitioners. Methods This paper comments on a topical matter, and discusses its implications for the social marketing community. Results We find that the data explosion creates conflicting social marketing goals, and that inequalities in access to digital technology are increasingly impacting what voices are heard, and which concerns are prioritized. Moreover, new innovations may be enabled or needed, leading to the improvement of firms' ability to create value for individual citizens; the creation of new datasets—particularly among demographics that previously had a limited digital footprint—enhances the ability to segment markets and target social marketing activities. Furthermore, the pandemic-induced data explosion may lead to the identification of additional barriers to positive social behaviors that have emerged, diminished, or even disappeared during the pandemic; but researchers need to critically examine the consequences of the government and private behaviors at the macro, meso, and micro levels. Recommendations for Research or Practice We propose a research agenda for the social marketing community, consisting of 21 research questions. Limitations Our analysis focuses on the behavior of government and citizens in North America and Western Europe.