Lions Live 2020: 'Data and tech aren't benchwarmers any more'

The global chief creative of Isobar, Ronald NG, was thankful that times have changed within progressive advertising agencies and tech and data teams have progressed from being benchwarmers to making it into the starting line-up.

 

He said, “One of my former bosses said always said write your TV script, set the big idea and then send it your digital and tech f****** to do some madness and add tech work. Those were the days when everyone waited for the creative team to deliver that big idea. Those were also the days when data was being optimised. The tech team was called last minute before the pitch to give some cool ideas just so that the agency looks innovative and cool.”

 

He added, “Since the progression has been made, using tech agencies are being able to make the previously impossible possible.”

 

He showed three pieces of work to emphasise this point:

 

Go back to Africa - FCB

Project revoice - BVM Dentsu

 

Flipkart Hagglebot – Dentsu Webchutney

 

Ronald stated how attitudes towards data are changing but one has only scratched the surface so far before giving an example of how NBA teams are using tech in a big way. 

 

He quoted NBA’s Adam Silver, who said that analytics are part and parcel of virtually everything they do now before going on to talk about how data helps teams function.

 

“We see five players on the court but what we don't see is - every NBA team has a dozen data analysists who use state of the art video tracking tech to analyse every play, every shot and the trajectory. They work with coaches and players to study opponents. When players sleep they use data monitors to study rest patterns and fatigue levels. The data is overwhelming. It's how the data is applied with the coaches - they apply human creativity to apply game changing winning strategies. Fuelled by data they completely unleash their creative magic to win games,” said Isobar’s global chief creative officer.

 

He linked the NBA’s use of data to the creative industry. 

 

“It's the same for our creative industry. When the emotional narrative thinkers work from the beginning with data thinkers is when data is transformed from information to unique human insights. Tech allows us to achieve unlimited creative potential. Creativity is a team sport and it consists of data, tech, strategy, creative in the starting line up from the beginning. It's more like the NBA not a relay race.”