Data can be the roadmap to help us better understand – and positively change – the world around us. Our digital gateway to real-life transformation. Data can build connections between us and bring people together. John Lewis’ annual How We Shop, Live and Look report, built on sales and traffic data, unearths hidden and quirky trends of the British high street.

Data has also shown the power of Attenborough to unite us, with reports of a 1,700% rise in searches – and 71% spike in sales – of sustainable coffee cups following the final episode of Blue Planet II. Data can enable real world change. It is revolutionizing patient care with companies such as Viz.ai using data-informed AI to cut wait times amongst suspected stoke victims. By scanning CTA images and auto-detecting clots, Viz.ai can reduce the risk of death and severe symptoms that occur if patients are left unseen for too long.

Household brands are also picking up this mantle including Apple Watch, with its latest iOS upgrades helping with early detection of underlying heart conditions. And for marketers, it can ground a brand’s story in insights and truths against a backdrop of ‘fake news’ and distrust.

"Companies who adopt data-driven marketing are more likely to have an advantage over the competition and increase profitability...they are six times more likely to be profitable year-over-year”

Forbes

"57% of consumers are willing to share personal data in exchange for personalised offers or discounts"

Salesforce

"It feels fair to say that data is among the most powerful, under-utilized, and incompletely understood forces in social problem solving”

Fast Company
jfk-unsilenced01

Spotify

"Unsilencing" JFK with The Times

Ford Fiesta

Spotify is the voice of the audio streaming generation. Its annual Wrapped Campaign uses user-generated data to affirm its place at the centre of music culture. From providing clues to Game of Thrones endings, documenting the Baby Shark phenomenon or revealing that Ed Sheeran – without even releasing an album – was the most streamed British artist of 2018, Spotify’s data storytelling is entertaining and engaging – with over 83m users tuning in to hear the tracks they love, or missed, every year.

The Times used data to give JFK – one of the ‘greatest orators of all time’ – his voice back after he was silenced en route to a speech on 22nd November 1963. The Times used information from 831 prior presidential speeches and interviews and processed it for patterns using AI to deliver the speech that might have been. This is not only a world first in AI audio speech, but an important step in using historical data to provide a fresh perspective to something we thought we already knew. 

To relaunch Fiesta, Ford wanted to attract a new audience by highlighting its impressive B&O Play sound system. Working with the NYU Neuroscience Department and Spotify, Ford tested the impact of different types of music in the car on the driver’s mood and identified the optimal driving music. Data driven storytelling drove attention for the Fiesta far beyond a traditional ‘features and benefits story’ and working with Vice – Ford commissioned artists to create bespoke tracks, informed by data, to enhance the Fiesta driving experience.

The content in this document was produced for The Brand Network and was originally published in the Spring/Summer Edition of their bi-annual Trends & Insights Digest.

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