With our industry continuously evolving at an exponential rate, marketers are now demanding unprecedented speed, agility and performance from their agency partners; and why shouldn’t they? Millions are being invested in our industry and every dollar deserves a clear return on investment. Adapting to the growing speed of change can certainly prove challenging but the benefits of embracing this trend are significant.
Agencies’ analytics initiatives are designed to provide clients with optimal performance and cost-effectiveness. The decision to invest in the latest analytics technologies proves to be harder in a tough economic climate. The irony in cutting budgets for these initiatives while chasing operational efficiencies during economic downturns is that this is when they are, in fact, needed the most. We all need to keep in mind that the competitive nature of our industry makes complacency and stagnation a dangerous path to follow.
Marketing has long been seeking tangible proof of its effectiveness, be it at campaign level or beyond. We as agencies have been playing an increasing part in defining the tangible benefit we’re delivering to our clients, whatever the specialist discipline. More than ever, we have data to achieve this and technology to do it fast. But is it enough? What about quality and accuracy? For this, we need more: ideas and skills. More than that still, we need the right ideas and the right people.
The right ideas
Data is only as valuable as the quality of the insights we glean from it. To get the right answer, the one that will solve the problem at hand, we must ask the right question. The same goes for an analytics solution; we need to ask the right question to achieve the desired goal. Looking at data without purpose is like following a map in the dark: you’ll get nowhere fast. Armed with the right question, an analytics team will
be able to understand what functionality the system needs to have. Analytical projects or tools that do not allow users to get the answers they are looking for end up in failure.
The right people
The job of developing powerful and reliable, yet user-friendly, analytical tools managing complex back-end calculations is today given to what we have come to call data scientists. Described as one of the most sought after jobs of the 21st century, the data scientist plays a pivotal role in all marketing investment decisions. Thanks to their unique blend of skills, they drastically slash the time required to solve the most complex industry problems. These are currently the marketing equivalent of a unicorn, but so strong is the demand that they will become ubiquitous in agency and client teams alike. Data scientists actually have a blend of three key skills:
- Programming & databases: Their expertise in coding and scripting languages allows them to structure data so that we can automate and manipulate it for seamless analysis and visualisation.
- Mathematics & statistics: By applying different statistical techniques, such as clustering, logistic regressions and machine learning, they can produce advanced analytical solutions required by advertisers. With statistical programming languages, they can automate outputs that include marketing mix models, market segmentation, price sensitivity analysis, channel optimisation, attribution modelling and many more.
- Industry expertise: Making sense of the above by translating data-driven insights into decisions and actions can be a daunting task. Knowledge of visualisation tools, people skills and innovative thinking, coupled with storytelling talent borne out of curiosity and passion for the business, will lead to effective decision-making.
This multi-tasking-mathematician-statistician-programming-storytelling unicorn is no fancy figment of the imagination. It is already in high demand and not just in New York or London. LinkedIn has recently shared the top skills employers are looking for in the UAE in 2016: statistical analysis and data mining took the top slot, with algorithm design closely behind in third place.
The difference between success and failure could well rest in the hands of data scientists and their cleverly designed user interfaces. We have witnessed ROI potential in data science projects, both from the learnings of processes and the development of powerful data solutions. Finding, or creating, the talent to engineer hasn’t been easy but is well worth the effort. Placing highly motivated problem solvers at the heart of your organisation will be the soundest investment decision as we enter the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Bassam Rizk is the Director of measurement & data analytics at OMD UAE
