Telling Stories with DataRebecca Moody, Head of Planning

REBECCA & RACHEL: AN ACADEMIC HISTORY

WHERE DID I START WITH DATA?

WHERE DO MOST PLANNERS START WITH DATA?

GOOD PLANNERS “RETRENCH TO ALL CORNERS”

OppenheimerJames D. Watson Einstein

Science seldom proceedsin the straight forward, logical

manner imagined by outsiders. Instead, its steps forward are very often human events in

which personalities and cultural traditions play major roles.

The greatest scientists are always artists as well ... They use both fantasy

and intuition.

Both the man of science and the man of art … as a measure of their creations, have always

had to deal with … the struggle to make partial

order in total chaos.

Title quote: M-T Rainey, founding partner RKCR Y&R

WHAT IS STRATEGY?

Clear, compelling path in a complex world

Client vision

Strategic intervention

Source: Gary Duckworth, founding partner Duckworth Finn Grubb Waters

DATA: BACKBONE OF THE STRATEGIC NARRATIVE

Source: Matt Sadler, ‘Welcome to the Age of Infomagination’

YOUR POWER TO INFLUENCE

► Analysis breeds advantage

► Most marketers aren’t waving but drowning

► Client need partners to help them surf the data wave

MY SOLUTION: TREATING DATA LIKE A GOOD BOOK

‘La Comédie Humaine’ de Honoré de Balzac

DATA SIMPLY CAPTURES PEOPLE STORIES

► Real people, real behaviour, real life!

Source: ‘Jamie Oliver: A Recipe for Success’, IPA Ad Effectiveness Paper 2002

Sainsbury’s sales success =More people x Shopping more often x Spending more

on higher value foods

Source: ‘Jamie Oliver: A Recipe for Success’, IPA Ad Effectiveness Paper 2002

JAMIE GOT BRITS COOKING PRAWN CURRIES

DAWN OF THE ‘INFOMAGINEER’

► Like Seattle-based artist Chris Jordan:

► “Because statistics are so hard to connect with, we’re not going to find motivation from them… My idea… is to provide the visual. To give you the statistic in a different way that allows the viewer to experience the number more directly with their heart.”

Source: Matt Sadler, ‘Welcome to the Age of Infomagination’

7 IMMUTABLE LAWS OF STORYTELLING

1. There has to be a goal to the story

2. Stories need to be fixed in time and space

3. Characters need a voice

4. Stories should evoke strong pictures

5. Audiences bore easily

6. Stories have at least one moment of truth

7. Stories end with a meaning

1. There has to be a goal

EVERY DATA STORY STARTS WITH A QUESTION

Source: Stephen King’s Planning Cycle

Current status

WHAT STORY IS THE DATA TRYING TO TELL YOU?

GOAL SETTING: 1) WORK THROUGH A MODEL

Exposure to advertising

Brand disposition

Brand perceptions

Awareness of brand

Attitudes/communication of ads

Recall of advertising

Claimed behaviour

Actual behaviour

£££

SoftMeasurement

Hard Measurement

GOAL SETTING: 2) START WITH A HYPOTHESIS

► Danone Actimel IPA 2006 “Turning Live Bacteria into Popular Culture”

►Data case worked backwards from this newspaper piece:

“It took an ‘embarrassing parents’ commercial to make me realise that Actimel was probably rather important. Father and son ‘about 10’ on a park bench. Northern. ‘What’s wrong son?’ ‘Don’t you think mum’s been acting a bit weird?’ (She’s screaming around in the background, sliding down the kiddie slide.) Then the dad darts off like a dog and leapfrogs an innocent by-standing jogger. So the ginger-cropped, face-hiding potential copper or fireman has to watch

his parents glugging down the little phials in the kitchen (obviously a metaphor for middle-aged dope smoking). There’s stuff about good bacteria.

And the people bringing the continental-style values of 1950s Hampstead to the plain folk of Hartlepool? They’re Danone, the ‘Hmm company’ … ‘Eurovision for tums!”

Peter York on Ads, Independent on Sunday Business, 07.10.05

IT HELPS TO KNOW WHERE YOU’RE GOING

2. Stories need to be fixed in time and space

DATA NEEDS CONTEXT: THE MACRO ENVIRONMENT

The Economy

Out of stocks

Competitoractivity

NPD

Housing marketslowdown

Distributiongains

PromotionsPrice

Seasonality

The weather

War

Holidays

Flu epidemic

Negative PR

Competitoractivity

Rise in drug-taking

HAS CHERYL BEEN WEARING YOUR TIGHTS?

AND DATA SOURCES NEED CLEAR CONTEXT

3. Characters need a voice

THINK REAL PEOPLE

THE DANGER OF PUTTING WORDS INTO MOUTHS

► A cautionary ‘old school’ tale about Flymo

“What is the most important thing in your life?”

► A. My Flymo► B. Other

► Results?

THESE DAYS WE CAN LISTEN TO REAL BUZZ

http://trendistic.com/flymo/iphone/sex/football/wife/_24-hours

4. Stories evoke pictures

DATA IS BEAUTIFUL

Source: www.informationisbeautiful.net

MOUNTAINS OUT OF MOLEHILLS

INTERNATIONAL NUMBER ONES

WHEN SEA LEVELS ATTACK

5. Audiences bore easily

PACK A DATA PUNCH

MOBILE BRAND X: BUSINESS ON THE UP

Total market share increasing

New customers joiningSECTION E: Live Customers by joining month @ 29th February 2008

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Joning Month

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12 month contract 18 month contract 24 month Contract Other contract length

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22.6 22.3 23.1 22.4 23.9 23.1 23.7 22.9 23.1 21.5 20.7 20.1 20.2

25.0 24.8 25.1 26.1 24.3 25.0 25.4 24.9 24.8 25.3 26.5 25.5 24.2

16.0 16.6 18.4 17.7 17.2 17.2 16.8 17.3 17.6 19.4 19.7 18.8 19.2

9.9 10.4 8.9 9.5 11.0 12.1 12.3 11.2 10.8 10.7 9.79.2 8.7

20.4 20.1 18.4 17.9 16.6 15.8 15.0 16.4 16.4 16.0 16.3 18.2 17.9

6.1 5.8 6.1 6.3 6.9 6.8 6.7 7.2 7.3 7.0 7.2 8.1 7.4

0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.3

0.0%

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W03 08 W04 08 W05 08 W06 08 W07 08 W08 08 W09 08 W10 08 W11 08 W12 08 W13 08 W14 08 W15 08

Others3VodafoneVirginT-MobileO2Orange

.

New customers are lower monthly spenders

And represent lower marginSECTION E: Customer tenure by MARGIN

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£8 and under £9 to £12 £13 to £20 £21 to £26 £27 to £32 £33 to £47 £48 to £85 £86+ Unknown

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BUT ATTRACTING LOWER VALUE CUSTOMERS

BRAND PERCEPTION WEAKENING

EXISTING CUSTOMERS DISSATISFIED

Likelihood of recommendation half that of competitors

Not a network that people are proud of

REJECTION OVERTAKING CONSIDERATION

4535 29 23 20 15 18 12 15 13 18 14 13 12 10 10

2225

2629 36

3840 45 44 46

44 49 5145 49 48

3035 39 43 38 40

39 38 37 37 35 33 33 41 38 40

3 5 6 5 6 7 3 5 4 4 3 4 3 2 3 3

Q1'04 Q2'04 Q3 '04 Q4 '04 Q1 '05 Q2 '05 Q3 '05 Q4 '05 Q1'06 Q2 '06 Q3 '06 Q4 '06 Jan/Feb'07

May/July/Sep '07

Q4 '07 Jan/Feb'08

HardConsideration

SoftConsideration

Brand Rejection

BrandUnaware/DK

Rejection steadily rising

With likelihood to sign-up steadily declining

ONCE PEOPLE LEAVE, UNLIKELY TO RETURN

6. The Moment of Truth

‘PERIPETEIA’

► “Peripeteia swiftly turns a routine sequence of events into a story worth telling." Or, put another way, it marks a ‘game change’

7. Stories end with meaning

DULUX: HIGHS AND LOWS OF THE DECO JOURNEYH

OP

ES

FEA

RS

Decision to decorate

DULUX: THE REGENERATIVE POWER OF COLOUR

TO RECAP

► Planners need to “retrench to all corners”

► This is the age of the ‘Infomagineer’

► Stories are about people; data simply captures people stories

► Read your data like a good book

► Tell your stories according to the ‘7 Immutable Laws of Storytelling’

► Put your big pants on

► Pull out your magnifying glass and calculator

► And enjoy hours of meaningful but imaginative fun…