Big data is shifting the balance of power between the creative 'poets' of the communications industry and the more analytical 'quants'. Yet there is still a big role for creative minded people in a Big Data world. A lateral, humanistic view on Big Data yields better, more insightful truths, and data can be fuel for creative development. Here's how.

1. 22nd February 2012
POETS AND QUANTS
HOW BRAND PEOPLE CAN LEARN TO LOVE BIG
DATA
Tom Morton, chief strategy officer, Euro RSCG NY
@TOMMORTON @EURORSCGNY

3. IT’S A
QUANT’S
WORLD

4. “Market and technology factors are the
In 2010, people two most powerful external forces
generated 800BN GB affecting your organization today.
of data The four biggest challenges you identified
were the explosion of data, social media,
the proliferation of channels and devices,
A MacBook Air of shifting consumer demographics.”
data for every person
on earth
McKinsey estimates
that the US workforce
needs 1.5m data-
literate managers to
cope with this
explosion

5. IT’S A QUANT’S INDUSTRY

7. “Everyone is coming to the same place, trying to
find the sweet spot between tech, creative and
data.
"The largest brands in the world were getting
incomplete solutions from their myriad vendors.
Clients, in my view, are finding it more credible to
reach into marketing from technology rather than
the other way around.”
Glen Hartman & Brian Whipple, Accenture Interactive

8. “The Old Spice campaign was a wildly
expensive manual execution.
When you ask, „How do you do that
at scale on an ongoing basis?' the
room gets quiet.”
Glen Hartman, Accenture Interactive

9. Les Binet Gareth Kay Sarita Bhatt
european director chief strategy officer MD, digital planning
DDB Matrix Goodby Silverstein Euro RSCG NY
William Charnock Paul Matheson Marc Blanchard
chief strategy officer chief strategy officer creative director
RG/A New York BBDO North America Euro RSCG 4D
Jess Greenwood Suzanne Powers Matt Blasco
US editor global strategy officer MD, analytics
Contagious Magazine Crispin, Porter + Bogusky Euro RSCG NY
Richard Huntington Rory Sutherland Richard Notarianni
chief strategy officer former president executive director
Saatchi & Saatchi UK IPA Euro RSCG NY
HOW ARE CREATIVE INDUSTRY LEADERS RESPONDING?

10. THERE’S STILL A PLACE FOR POETS

11. ATTENTION POETS:
THERE’S NO OPT-OUT FROM BIG DATA

12. “This is a wholly artificial division that if we don't
stop is going to get out of control.
It will be a disaster for strategic planning in
particular:
allowing some planners to exempt themselves from
the data they can't be bothered to investigate,
and allowing other people to think that they are a
strategist though they haven't a brand strategy or
creative bone in their body.”
Richard Huntington, Saatchi & Saatchi

13. ONCE UPON A TIME, POETS AND
QUANTS LIVED IN HARMONY

14. "The account planner is that
member of the agency's team
who is the expert at working with
information and getting it used -
not just marketing research but all
the information available to help
solve the client's advertising
problems.”
Stanley Pollitt

15. THE MORE THE INDUSTRY
SEPARATES DATA FROM
CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT
THE LESS OPPORTUNITY
THEY HAVE TO
INFLUENCE EACH OTHER

16. DATA VISUALIZATION IS THE GATEWAY DRUG

17. Someone does a TED talk Russell Davies interprets it A cool Swedish agency
on a subject for the creative industry does something with it
THE CREATIVE INDUSTRY ADOPTION CURVE

19. OUR AMBITIONS NEED TO BE HIGHER THAN BETTER GRAPHS

20. BIG DATA IS TELLING US THE TRUTH
ABOUT HOW BRANDS GROW
(AND IT’S WHAT THE POETS BELIEVED ALL ALONG…)

21. Audiences don’t see
rational differences and
RTBs between brands
Brand growth is due to
penetration growth
Promotions don’t grow
brands
Communication is low
involvement
Emotion and memories
are the most powerful
way to communicate

22. A MORE LATERAL, HUMAN APPROACH TO
BIG DATA IS YIELDING A MORE INSIGHTFUL
PICTURE OF HOW PEOPLE BEHAVE

23. Atlantic City Foxwoods & Mohegan Sun
(Combined Properties)
69% 68%
EXAMPLE: UNDERSTANDING THE ATLANTIC CITY AUDIENCE

24. AT FIRST GLANCE: NO COMMON GROUND?

25. SPOTTING THE
SHARED TRAJECTORY
THEY’RE PURSUING THEIR GENERATION’S DISTINCT VERSION OF “THE GOOD LIFE”
THEY’RE ALL DOING WELL AND LOOKING FOR RECOGNITION AND REWARD
Rising Young Singles Established Gen X Super Elites Booming Boomers Active Seniors
Families Drive new cars
Rely on mobile Expensive toys (sail boats, Like driving luxury autos
technology Pay “anything” for tech jet ski, kayak, water ski, and buying antiques Strive to keep things
they want snowboard,) simple and stay
Eat junk food but Active, fit, in-motion
healthy
prefer gourmet Active, fit, playful Super fit, high energy
Power boats, golf and Understand and value
sports-people
Buy same stuff as Buy stuff they see in gardens the idea of duty
celebrities shows and movies Are the people you see in
Like to look Dress conservatively
movies
Like to make unique Like to stand out in a conservative and look and read the fine print
fashion statements crowd Like to do yoga and for style that stood test
Can’t say no to their
weight train of time kids
Love shopping in new Love shopping for
stores clothes Everything they wear is Financially secure, time Good at managing
best quality vs. Money their money
Getting to top of their Money is the symbol of
careers success Crave recognition of their
success

26. BIG DATA STILL NEEDS BIG INTERPRETERS

28. DATA IS A RAW MATERIAL FOR CREATIVITY

29. NIKE+: VISUALIZING LONDON’S EARLY RUNNERS

30. 120 DATA FIELDS
IN EVERY
TRANSACTION
WHAT COULD
YOU MAKE WITH
THEM?

31. NIKE FUEL: CREATED FROM DATA + CREATING DATA

32. BUDDY: CREATING SOCIAL GOOD THROUGH BIG DATA

33. FROM OPTIMIZING AT
THE END OF THE
PROCESS
TO INSPIRING AT THE
START OF THE
PROCESS

34. THE POETS’ APPROACH TO BIG DATA

35. Creative use of data, leading to more inspiration
at the beginning of the development process
Mashing the behavioral, transactional, social and
attitudinal data surrounding today's brands.
Applying deep rigor and discipline to highly
speculative leaps of faith.
DATA JACKING
DATA NARRATING
DATA FUELLING

36. You can’t let big data do the talking without an
intelligent psychological model to work with.
Time for Poets to put themselves forward as
interpreters.
DATA JACKING
DATA NARRATING
DATA FUELLING

37. Data offered upfront as raw material for creativity.
Here are the data fields we collect about
customers: what could you create from them?
DATA JACKING
DATA NARRATING
DATA FUELLING

38. “Journalists need to treat data as a
character in one of their news stories.
Data‟s just a source. You need to knock
on the door and ask the data if it has a
story to tell.”
Aron Pilhofer, New York Times

39. A HUMAN, LATERAL APPROACH TO
PSYCHOLOGY CREATED QUAL RESEATCH
A GENERATION AGO
A HUMAN, LATERAL APPROACH TO
BIG DATA COULD CREATE A NEW
PRACTICE TODAY