Oh shit, Analytics.Huge

October 13, 2015

About Huge.

What we do:We help transform brands and

grow business.

Our Culture:Make something you love.

Hire the best people. Work on incredible projects.

Have fun.

1,200 employees worldwide.Our offices.

Research & analytics.Focus groups & surveys

Ethnography & usability studies

Social listening & trends spotting

Website, social & campaign analytics

Data platforms.

Strategy & planning.Brand planning & marketing

Product strategy & business consulting

Communications planning

Search strategy (SEO, SEM)

Discipline specialists (e.g., CRM, mobile)

User Experience.Content strategy

Information architecture

Interaction design

Mobile experience

Creative.Visual Design

Copywriting & editorial

Campaign development

Mobile, emerging & in-store digital

Technology.Ecommerce

Technical leadership/architecture

User interface development

Mobile & emerging platforms

Social platforms

Rapid & enterprise development

Quality assurance & deployment

Social engagement.Content strategy

Information architecture

Interaction design

Mobile experience

Studio.Photography

Motion

Video creation & production

Animation & illustration

Production

Media.Media planning

Media buying

Campaign management, optimization & analysis

Media partnership development

Program Management.Project management

Planning & roadmap development

Resource management

Risk mitigation

Enough shameless self

promotion.

What is analytics?

What is analytics? Data.

Data is the right experience for the right people

time

place

Data is the right experience for the right people

time

place

ROI

A small piece.

But let’s step back.

1. Business Goals. Why does this experience exist?

2. Objectives. Specific strategies utilized to accomplish business

objectives.

4. Metrics. Numbers.

3. KPIs. How are we doing against objectives?

Good relationships start with good planning.

Measure

Analyze

Socialize

Test

Refine

InsightImpact

Collect.Integrate online and offline data collected throughout

the user journey.

Store.Implement best of breed

data stores and data management platforms.

Model.Execute goal and need

driven segmentation and predictive algorithms.

Target & Personalize.

Optimize the ecosystem to drive

positive KPIs.

Visualize.Creating interface and

user experiences through data.

Communicate.Build a CRM based

communication loop to improve customer value.

Analyze.Drive business insight

based on user behavior.

Syndicate.Expose API to increase

secondary monetization opportunities.

REACH.

LAND.LEAD.

CONVERT.

SCORED RETARGETING

INCREASE TRAFFIC

AttributionMarketing analyticsSEO Optimization

INCREASE ENGAGEMENT

TestingWeb analyticsContent & offer optimization

INCREASE SALES

Lead scoringCRM analytics /data miningEmail testing and optimizationBuy-flow optimization

LOOKALIKE TARGETING

ENGAGE.

PERSONALIZATION

DATA

ANALYTICS

CALL CENTER.

CRM

OUTBOUND EMAIL PERSONALIZATION

3rd PARTY DATA

Help me know.

That’s all well and good Jon…but now I have these guys sitting in my office.

You and your analyst..

(Feed and caring directions for your new pet).

You don’t know what you’re talking about.

We don’t know what we’re talking about.

You?

Us.

Us.

You kind of know what we’re talking about.

We kind of know what you’re talking about.

Find common ground through beauty. We’re all here for the same reason. It is very easy for data folks to prejudge creatives’ decisions as opinion-based and without any empirical basis. Similarly, creative teams look — often rightfully — at analysts as mathematicians who want to optimize the soul out of their ideas. The truth is that analysts that end up at creative agencies are there because they like creativity. Analysts need to remember that they’re there to help create make beautiful experiences, not just a perfectly A/B tested wireframe. And creatives need to remember that optimization need not mean losing their vision any more than a tailor destroys the vision of a beautiful suit: The goal is to create a perfect fit for the end user.

Creative instincts are analytical hypotheses in the making. OK, basic rule: No patronizing each other. Creative teams, instead of asking for a specific analysis, ask a question you need answered and make it clear why it’s so important. Asking for specific analysis constrains in the analyst’s own creative instincts (yes, these do exist). Analysts need to keep in mind that there are no stupid questions in a creative process. You might think that the answer to something is self-apparent: It’s not, or your colleague wouldn’t be asking about it. There are connections between things like design and UX it’s hard for analysts to see because they tend to removed from the creative process. And while it’s an analyst’s job to be objective, it can also make it easy to get all judgmental about the simplicity (or lack there of) of a specific need.

Don’t get pissed off. No one wants to be told that their baby is ugly. That is equally true for both creatives and analysts. It is very easy to be defensive if someone criticizes your work, particularly if that criticism is coming from someone with a fundamentally different worldview. In the early part of projects, we build hypotheses built on instinct and experience. The job of an analytics team is to test those ideas through a formalized process (we do love a good process formalization). Sometimes those hypotheses need modification in order to adhere to user needs that might be unanticipated. It’s important to give yourself the allowance to incorporate challenges to your core assumptions. Analysts need to keep in mind that data does always tell the full story. Not even close. Your ideas and analysis are no more precious than those of your creative peers. Accept that the role of creative teams is to take your analysis into account alongside multiple other inputs. My rule of thumb is that typically one-half to one-third of my most brilliant analysis will ever be used in a specific project. Yeah, it sucks to spend hours in your data-crunching package of choice and then find out that much of it gets left on the cutting-room floor. You know what? That happens to creatives, too.

Three people.

28 people.

3 years ago. Now.

What happened?More clients.New types of work.Deeper relationships.More offerings.

Relationships not projects.

Data Science offerings.

Digital & media analytics: Planning, implementing, using, reporting.

Personalization & Targeting: Planning, platforming, algorithms, execution, testing.

Enterprise data systems:Strategy, platforming, analysis, visualization, modeling.

Some lessons from mistakes.

Unless you are super cheap analytics cannot be sold as a stand

alone service.

Shoot big to get little.

Your clients need to know that no one owns data.

A lot more money is made on strategy than analysis.

Someone will call you on your bullshit. But not that often.

But seriously, it’s a big deal.

On to the discussion....