Today’s post is by Angela Costanzi, Vice President, Creative Technology.
A video that goes viral. Powerful social media campaigns designed to change behavior. TV spots remembered years later. What do these things have in common? The answer: the ability to make a powerful connection. And, while any smart creative or marketer knows this, it’s gotten much harder to do.
Quite a bit has changed since the “Mad Men” days of mass advertising and “old-timey” ideals. Martini? A catchy slogan won’t get you very far in today’s what’s-in-it-for-me-right-now world. Sure, there’s still plenty of creative talent charged with finding ways to connect on a deeper, emotive level, but how, where and when it’s done now is far more complicated. Even the most savvy creative can’t go it alone. To chart a navigable course, you’ll need lots of information…and individuals who understand how to make sense of it. Meet the data guys.
Gone are the days of making one-size-fits-all assumptions based on large populations or simply measuring and reporting on past performance. To guide today’s sophisticated consumer down a sales-cycle path, we must utilize a forward-looking, data-driven approach.
Thanks to the explosive growth of digital devices and the actionable data derived from them, there is no shortage of information. What’s lacking, however, are the number of data scientists needed to make sense of it all.
Nothing is sure to stifle the creative process more than a whole bunch of numbers. But, if data is modeled to show what is likely to happen if X leads to Y as a result of a particular incentive, image, etc., creatives (and key stakeholders, alike) will most certainly be interested.
“Great creative thinkers typically value actionable insights that can provide them a springboard to more unique and effective creative solutions. Despite concerns by traditionalists, these insights shouldn’t and couldn’t replace creative inspiration, but instead, when properly utilized, be a powerful catalyst for it.” — Wired, Innovation Insights
Getting to the big idea starts with getting the right people in the room. Today, this means a far more diverse list of attendees. In addition to creatives and the account team, brand and media strategists, developers and data scientists should take a seat.
“In today’s leading edge firms, a diverse group of cross-disciplinary creatives and data scientists not only sit side-by-side but collaborate, finding new ways to hard wire opportunities for data capture and utilization throughout the creative campaigns. This partnership with data scientists is fostering a new breed of creative thinker who is imagining new ways to add value to consumer experiences by deepening stories and tailoring content to individuals.” — Wired, Innovation Insights
This group-think positively influences creative strategy — revealing customer insights so they may be applied directly to the planning, content and creative development process.
“The right message brilliantly communicated to the right people at the right time will resonate, and data-driven intelligence is the only way to ensure that happens to both deepen the relationship and move them to the desired action.” — Graham Clark and Max Fresen, 2013
What’s most exciting is that data-derived insights can make good creative even better. By continually evaluating performance and incorporating learnings along the way, marketers can create highly desirable journey paths.
Photo credit: Intel Free Press via Flickr
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