LOS ANGELES — You can’t go to a digital industry conference these days without someone espousing the value of “data”.

For ad group Group M Worldwide’s chief digital officer Rob Norman, data’s value is clear: “Data is to marketing as science is to religion. The more facts you have, the less faith you need.”

But marketers are still unpicking exactly how to apply data from what Norman describes as consumers’ “digital footprints” to brands’ real wish to understand the value of marketing to sales.

“One of the big new sciences in data and marketing is going to be to … place some kind of value on all those revenue events and (like top-line awareness and email opt-in). That’s going to change planning in media over time.”

We interviewed him at the 4A’s annual leadership meetingSee the rest of our coverage here.