Jason Dooris
Why do people still treat data and creativity as if they are two separate streams, running in parallel but never quite meeting?
Why do people still treat data and creativity as if they are two separate streams, running in parallel but never quite meeting?
Everyone talks about blending the two. But who is walking the walk? It’s ludicrous to think that data and creative teams still sit on separate floors, or that one is brought into the conversation earlier or later than the other. One is just as important as the other.
It’s like going on a date. Data gets you in front of potential suitors. But creativity gets you invited upstairs for coffee. In a world rife with programmatic buying, targeting and retargeting, the strength of your creative messaging is still what hooks consumers.
One of the biggest issues is a pervasive mindset across many agencies that these areas are mutually exclusive. The different skillsets required for a tech and data guru are usually very different to those required for a creative strategist or a content marketer. I’m not suggesting marketing execs and agency folk should be all things at once, but this could be as simple as creating teams within your business that combine different skillsets. The waters of the Nile can merge.
The obvious (though rarely implemented) solution is to create client teams that have multiple skillsets. Sit a data genius with a media executive, a PR practitioner and a creative strategist. Make sure each disparate skillset is involved in major projects from the onset, otherwise you’ll find that data leads and substandard creative enters the equation as an afterthought, or creative leads and the data specialists are brought into the equation far too late when they have no space to truly shine. This is a relatively simple solution but not many businesses are actually doing it.
A lot of it comes down to the culture – this is a top down approach but you need to find ways to actually get your creatives and your data specialists interacting with one another and learning to work together. The performance elements of a campaign should both influence and be informed by the branding components.
There are some great examples of brands which blend the two, who mine data in order to find the right consumers, and who then carry this approach into their creative messaging. On a grand scale this can achieve amazing things.
I was particularly impressed with a campaign I saw last year in Brazil, where deodorant brand Axe used a data-led approach to segment its audience, then used adaptive creative to feed bespoke individualised creative to each consumer. The ‘Romeo Reboot’ campaign fed a different Shakespearean story to each consumer, based on their personal profile and on the brand’s insights as to which creative would resonate with which audience.
Campaigns like this only come about when a range of skillsets are put into a room to nut out a project from all angles. The perfect marriage of programmatic and branding.
The truth is that data can never truly be void of creativity. The real benefit of data is the human element, the insights we glean, and this inherently involves creative thinking. What’s more, the act of gathering data is frequently underpinned by creative execution.
For example, in the build-up to this weekend’s election, financial comparison site, RateCity, has created a unique ‘Election Calculator’ which gathers data about consumers through a fun quiz that tells people what vote will hit their wallets the hardest. Or take a look at Mazda’s ‘Build Your Own Car’tool on its website – the tool allows consumers to build their favourite car from scratch, while gathering invaluable audience data for the brand. These examples indicate how creative, interactive or engaging tools can entertain consumers while gathering useful information which can then inform a brand’s future marketing efforts.
The truth is that you can never really separate data and creativity. But in order to exploit the full potential of their union, you’d be well advised to tear down the imaginary walls in your business and bring together as many disparate skillsets as humanly possible. The greatest potential lies in diversity.
About Jason Dooris
Jason Dooris was born in Ireland and grew up in Africa and Europe, spending his young adulthood in London. Jason Dooris then settled in Australia via New Zealand. To date its been quite an adventure for Dooris. Jason Dooris “I have enjoyed my roots-down travels that being that I’ve tried to spend long periods in most of the places that I’ve lived in, giving me time to absorb the culture, the people and the business community.”
Jason Dooris started a career in advertising in London in 1996. “It was a wonderful time and place to learn and Ogilvy & Mather were the ideal parents to kick start a global career. My experience is unusual in that it includes product development, marketing, media, creative and management consulting - if I was fond of cliches I could say its a true end to end, full cycle experience, which indeed it is.” Jason Dooris
To date Jason Dooris has been privileged to work for some great global organisations like MediaCom, Deloitte, Saatchi & Saatchi and Dentsu while Dooris represented a broad range of successful and challenger clients brands, many at quite exciting times in their development such as Nike going digital, Qantas going online and Emirates sponsoring Chelsea’s and SoftBank launching Pepper the Robot.
In 2010 Jason Dooris set up Atomic 212, a creative media business. Dooris sold the business 2018 a year after being named New Zealand & Australian Agency of the Year and with a. Roster of leading BlueChip clients.
A change of direction in 2018 saw Dooris focus on the growing sports technology category where he developed a range of products designed to aid injury recovery and assist peak performance athletes. “Now in use by some of Australia’s leading athletes, a natural extension, particular in todays world, was use by first responder services and the military to assist in battlefield injury recovery.” Jason Dooris. The research developed in the past year of two has by far been my most rewarding career years to date.
“Its been an exciting first half!” Jason Dooris