Reflecting on the first episode of Mad Men, there’s a scene that stands out vividly to me. Someone from research hands Don Draper a report, and he briefly scans it before chucking it straight into the trash. Watching that, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of recognition. It highlights a common belief in advertising: the idea that data and creativity are somehow at odds.
For too long, data teams in agencies have been pigeonholed into providing basic analytics—pulling numbers, visualizing data, and creating reports on demand. While these tasks are undeniably important, they represent only a fraction of what a truly integrated data team are capable of when involved in the creative process itself.
In the rapidly evolving advertising landscape, where consumer behaviour and client expectations change so quickly, it’s critical that agencies unlock the full potential of their data teams. It’s time for agencies to reconsider how they structure and utilize their data teams, transforming them from reactive data gophers into proactive strategic and creative partners.
While leading root, the Data Strategy at Publicis Canada, I’ve seen the incredible things that can happen when data is seamlessly woven into the work. From my experience, here are the three most important things in building a data team that will deliver on both your data and creative goals.
Hire for curiosity first
I know, I know—this might sound unexpected coming from someone leading Data Strategy. But hear me out. I believe real innovation and creative inspiration come from a data team that is continuously curious. Sure, proficiency in Python and SQL is essential; but it can be taught. But curiosity? That’s something you can’t teach. Technical skills are definitely needed. But, if you want your data team to boost creativity, they need to be motivated by an inherent desire to explore, ask questions, and dive deeper into the unknown.
Sweat the context and connect the dots
In today’s digital world, where everyone has access to an abundance of data, what really matters is how you use it. We’ve all got access to research studies, reports, search and social data, but what takes a data team up a few notches is combining that with the latest tech to turn all that raw data into meaningful insights.
A couple years back working on a global electronics retailer, we used our proprietary technology to map search patterns and sequence around smartwatches. Our key finding: how consumers search for a smartwatch differs wildly based on intended use case: runners wanted GPS, hikers – durability, swimmers – waterproof.)
So we mapped specific smartwatch product features back to intended consumer uses and briefed our teams. The result was a new creative approach, and an overhaul of the media strategy to create a wildly targeted campaign and personalized landing pages. The end result – a 30% increase in sales conversion for the campaign. All made possible by early partnership with our creative teams (and some pretty sweet proprietary technology).
Don’t settle, forge new solutions
Build teams that are both great at traditional analytics, and also scrappy and resourceful enough to build capabilities when ones don’t exist in the market. In Canada, where data privacy is king, and where we often don’t have the luxury of access to our client’s data, we have embraced this approach by developing our own proprietary tools to mine publicly available data for insights. root is a team comprised of data analysts, data strategists and data scientists all focused on uncovering truths about brands, products and topics and unearthing insights from where you don’t expect.
If you’re thinking, well it’s easier to innovate when you’re part of a large holding company, you’re wrong. 7 years ago we were a data team of 3 – obsessed with finding the best possible consumer insights to fuel great creative. So we built custom algorithms and stitched them with existing tech – letting us get closer to consumers behaviors and perceptions than our competitors. Better insights meant growth for the agency – and our team grew to support them. With the right team, innovation is fueled by the mindset of never settling and the curiosity to explore the possibilities.
In 2022 Google announced that Gen Z was using TikTok more as a search engine than Google, but we knew third party social listening tools weren’t doing a great job at capturing the TikTok conversation. So we built our own product to identify top trending content, capture user comments, and mine for insights using our proprietary process and NLP.
The future of successful agency data teams is all about expanding their role so they’re both analytical and also innovative and deeply involved in the creative process. Prioritize curiosity, connect the dots, and build the tools needed to navigate an ever-changing landscape. By doing so, you’ll not only harness the potential of data but also elevate the creative itself.
By Regina Azevedo,VP of Data Strategy