Artful Magazine

Use data as
your storytelling
springboard
Rather than relegate technology and
automation to back-end functions of
marketing campaigns, start with data
as a guide. That might mean conducting
new surveys or commissioning
new analyses of data you already
have. Consider Kellogg’s, which
asked its social media followers to
describe their favorite bowl of Corn
Flakes; this approach enabled new
data collection to drive creative campaigns
forward.
Creativity and data both play a big
role in boosting brand awareness.
Crucial to that campaign was nostalgia,
an intangible feeling that
goes beyond the data. Reflecting on
three decades spent at the Walt Disney
Company, Duncan Wardle, the
company’s former head of creativity
and innovation, notes that not once
did he witness technology beat out
human ingenuity. Instead, his teams
relied on data to confirm human intuition
and to catalyze creative thinking
in human workers.
Wardle recalls working to devise a
way to get more British tourists to
Disneyland Paris, arguing that data
allowed the team to understand who
its ideal customers were. Only people,
however, could understand the
human fears and desires that motivated
those customers. Ultimately, the
solution required appealing to their
human nature, and in that task, writes
Wardle, “Big data was no match for
finely tuned human intuition.”
Collaborate based on
enhanced customer
awareness
Data can help creatives understand
their target audience in a way that
seems almost magical, yet some
view this additional information as
mere noise or a barrier to creative
freedom. But more information isn’t
a bad thing. With the right mindset,
companies can use data to do
work that doesn’t just get the
attention of customers, but
captures it, holds it, and
keeps them wanting
more. That’s marketing
in its highest form.
At Adidas, marketers
armed with consumer
insights are able to create
more relevant stories
and more consistent customer
experiences
Each marketing meeting begins with
a close look at consumer data, which
focuses the team's brainstorming on
what customers want.
When data showed that the combination
of brand and product-focused
ad creative was 102 percent
more likely to convert Ultraboost X
buyers than the product ad alone,
the Adidas brand and e-commerce
teams worked together to strengthen
both ads. Rather than view data as a
box of limitations, Adidas uses it to
launch fresh creative collaborations
among all teams with the power to
impact the numbers.
According to McKinsey,
businesses that have
successfully integrated
creativity and analytics
have grown twice as fast
as those that haven’t.
Think agility in
campaign execution
In McKinsey’s study, data and creativity
integrators excelled within the
agile operating model, carrying out
marketing campaigns in just weeks
or days. For integrators, it’s critical
that marketing, IT, legal, and finance
teams collaborate to enable quick
campaign approvals and execution.
Spotify, for instance, has built
a reputation for using data
to create highly personalized
consumer experiences.
Backed by
an in-house creative
team nearly a hundred
strong — as well
as vast amounts of data
on customer listening
habits — the company
cranks out national advertising
campaigns that are flexible
and fast enough to incorporate
current events and always-changing
musical tastes.
Agility, flexibility, and the willingness
to be wrong are in Spotify’s DNA.
“We have a leadership team that gives
us tremendous runway and a culture
that enables not just creativity but the
ability to move quickly,” says former
VP of brand creative Jackie Jantos.
Take your cue from these marketing
leaders. Find the combination of
data and creativity that allows your
company to provide your customers
with the most engaging experience
possible. While industry insiders may
disagree on which is more important,
brands will need a lot of both to
reach consumers in an increasingly
cluttered landscape.
YOU
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