Dear Anna,

Increasingly, I am hearing the phrase, “We’re moving towards becoming a more data-driven business.” What does this actually mean? I understand the question and the means of measurement, but culturally? What does it mean for creative consultancy?

Anon

Dear Anon,

You’re right, data and analytics are everywhere these days and can mean different things to different people. We’ve known that ‘knowledge is power’ since that ancient Latin aphorism was coined, but these days such phrases seem to suggest that with enough information you can conquer the world.

A data-driven business is essentially one that uses data to help make better decisions and therefore do better business. It’s a kickback against the fallibility of following your gut or trusting your intuition, because, in a business sense, if you’re wrong, your business suffers. We all get that. Businesses are in the business of removing as much risk and room for human error as possible.  

“It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.” Sherlock Holmes

It’s nothing new, as the Sherlock Holmes quote above shows us. However, in the digital age we have previously impossible levels of information at our fingertips, and that is increasing exponentially. These days we all have the ability to see the number of impressions on our tweet, or view the reach and audience insights on our Instagram account.  

Never before have we been able to truly understand what, or how much of something, our audiences are engaging with in such granular ways

While some might think that’s terrifying, I think it’s completely amazing. In particular because it can be extremely powerful for the creative and cultural sectors, which have long been thought of as amorphous or indefinable in many ways.  

Never before have we been able to truly understand what, or how much of something, our audiences are engaging with in such granular ways. Used right, that knowledge really is power: a power to unlock all sorts of wonderful things for creatives, their work and their audiences. 

I say ‘used right’ because the bit that trips me up in the MBA-speak ‘data-driven’ phrase is the ‘driven’. For me, data should never be in the creative driving seat. It is a co-pilot, a sidekick riding shotgun. It’s not at the wheel. Why? There are a couple of reasons.  

The first is because data is only as good as the questions you ask, the reasons why you ask them, and the openness with which you look at the answers.  

“People use statistics like a drunk man uses a lamppost – more for support than illumination.” Andrew Lang

If you’ve ever worked with a brilliant analyst or data scientist, you’ll know that they look at things from different angles and open up new worlds, and new ways of seeing, that can aid the creative and strategic process.  

The second reason is that while all these numbers, charts and PowerPoint decks show us incredible information that can help us understand what’s happened or happening, they can’t truly show us what’s next — because we gather data about what’s gone. But we need to make decisions or design for the future. Sure, data can form predictive models, but there are countless famous quotes about innovation that show us that’s not where some of the biggest leaps come from (see Henry Ford’s quip about faster horses).  

So in short, I’m a big believer in data being used to inform, not lead, the creative process.  Because if you do that, rather than a clinically calculated creative future, it actually means creatives can take more risks, do better work, and connect more deeply with their audiences. 

For me, data should never be in the creative driving seat. It is a co-pilot, a sidekick riding shotgun

A good example of this comes from when I was creative director at the global short form video channel Nowness. We were seen as making premium content. But the word content drove me nuts, because content is a distribution-centric view of the world, where containers – like cinema, TV stations, billboards, a social feed – simply have to be filled.  

Great creative work shouldn’t be contained; the arts, culture and the wider creative industries need to create connection. At Nowness, we used our data tools to listen closely to what our audiences told us when we put work out across our networks. So when an ad agency looking to commission a branded film told us that no one watched work over 30 seconds, we could not only tell them they were wrong, we could also show why they were wrong.

We used the quantitative data of our average film length (around four minutes), plus our completion rate (around 65%) to prove that with hard numbers. Then we layered on the qualitative data. We showed levels of engagement, comments, shares and the impact of the work – people all over the world waxing lyrical about how a short film had moved them to tears, or laughter. 

While all these numbers, charts and decks show us incredible information that can help us understand what’s happened, they can’t truly show us what’s next

Critically, we sought that qualitative information to add meaning to the quantitative data we tracked – all of which was from work that was bold and brave. Work that wasn’t always a success, but always taught us something because we were open enough to look either way.  

In marrying these worlds together to see as full a picture as possible, we pushed ourselves, our creatives and our partners further. Plus, in the process of this example, we got to make longer, better, more experimental and more effective films for both client and audience.

And if that’s data-driven business, then I’m on board for the ride. Because as the ever-marvellous Brené Brown once said, “Maybe stories are just data with a soul.”

Anna

Anna Higgs is head of entertainment at Facebook. If you have a question for her, send it via CR’s social channels, or email [email protected]