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Being present at London Data Week at the start of July was invigorating. As an analytics expert, I felt as if I had found my tribe as a host of people presented engaging visualisations, infographics, trends and interactives.
Interesting data is what makes my brain light up, and this event reminded me how much we all use data to form decisions in our everyday lives to achieve better outcomes, even if some of us wouldn’t consciously consider ourselves to be ‘Data People.’
Reflecting on this, it’s clear how data tells a story of what’s happening in the world, not just in business or technology but in all areas of society, culture and daily life.
Unsurprisingly, the most Googled word next to ‘England’ is football. Looking at football from a cultural perspective, (albeit, now potentially a sour subject for many readers), the recent success of the England football team at major international tournaments can be partly attributed to a new approach working with academic data.
The implementation of “avoidance-oriented” coping techniques has significantly contributed to England’s recent successes, supported by years of research and psychological preparation on penalty shoot-outs. Although specific details have not been disclosed to the media, the FA’s “knowledge-based, academia-positive” approach has been instrumental in developing resilient players and enhancing their performance under pressure. This strategy has resulted in England winning three of their last four penalty shoot-outs, a notable improvement given their history of being eliminated on penalties six times between 1990 and 2012.
At home, the selection of which film to watch on your favourite streaming service is often chosen based on a person’s interest or recommendations from friends, reviews or trusted colleagues (or even the platform itself) – which is another form of data. In April, the question “Have you seen Baby Reindeer?” was prolific across offices, workplaces and social gatherings, and word-of-mouth recommendations significantly boosted the Netflix programme’s viewership, rising 64% from 1.7 million viewers in its first week to 3 million viewers in its second week.
It is also integral in politics; vast quantities of data are used by political parties to appeal to influential swing voters: meet Operation Cinnamon Bun
The Liberal Democrats’ recent highly targeted UK election strategy to unseat as many Tory MPs from the ‘Blue Wall’ focused on the seats won by the Conservatives in 2019 where Liberal Democrats came in second place. As part of the campaign, party activists were told to heavily target any town outside London with a Gail’s, a bourgeois bakery chain, in a strategy nicknamed “Operation Cinnamon Bun”. The Liberal Democrats were very successful in its localised campaigning and achieved a gain of 61 seats, predominantly from the Conservatives, marking their highest number of seats won since 1923.
Ultimately, data is knowledge acquisition. But insight is action. While data and insight can often be used interchangeably, it’s insight that drives us forward.
Research psychologist Gary Klein described insight as an “unexpected shift in the way we understand things” and that shift comes in the way we are explained something.
Insight has always been a key part of earned storytelling. That is why Brands2Life’s stance on data has always been two-fold.
1. BETTER STORIES – to use data to support narratives that are compelling, emotionally resonant, and based on real-world experiences
2. BIGGER IMPACT – to use data to understand the desired outcome of campaigns and create a tangible and measurable impact on the issues at hand
Data democratisation: In the context of PR and communications, data democratisation refers to making data accessible to everyone within an organisation to enhance decision-making and foster innovation.
We believe in data democratisation across the agency to ensure context is added to all of our programmes. So, while our data analysts might be the ones initially uncovering patterns or correlations, our strategists make it accessible and understandable, helping to explain the context and uncover the underlying reasons behind the data.
Data without context is just numbers; and data without the human, storytelling element is nebulous and difficult to understand at best, and unnerving at worst…
Storytelling is the easiest way to democratise data because it transforms numbers into relatable narratives that everyone can understand and engage with.
“Storytelling is CONTENT with CONTEXT to enable understanding” (Andy Kirk, data visualisation expert and author)
Context is crucial to understanding as it is data being put through personal experiences, previously conducted research, specific knowledge, community advice, or past occurrences of trial and error.
At Brands2Life, our goal is to help people realise their love for data by transforming it into insightful and relatable storytelling that connects business and the real world.
Data helps us shape empathetic and culturally relevant stories that connect with real people, real challenges and real conversations.
We call this approach: World-In / Brand-Out.
World-In is where we collect data that gives us insight to the trends and topics relevant to the outside world. Brand-Out is how we tailor business messaging to the trends and topics.
Reflecting on this, it’s clear that data is much more than just numbers; it’s about the stories and insights they reveal. At Brands2Life, we’re passionate about turning data into engaging narratives that resonate and make an impact.
Our World-In / Brand-Out approach ensures that we stay connected to global trends while effectively communicating brand messages. Through this approach, we aim to inspire a deeper appreciation for data and its power to drive meaningful change and informed decision-making in communication strategies, enhancing engagement and delivering measurable results for our brands.
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