Data-Driven Discovery Is the Future of Advertising

For several weeks leading up to yesterday’s election the forecasters were at odds. While traditional polls and pundits predicted an election that was “too close to call,” as noted today by Daniel Honan, Nate Silver of the 538 Blog and other quants like the Princeton Election Consortium who use statistical analysis, data modeling and algorithms to predict political outcomes insisted President Obama would easily win reelection. 

It’s John Henry vs. the Steam Engine for the Big Data age.  And following yesterday’s election, which Silver correctly predicted in all 50 states, it seems clear that the machines (albeit machines made very smart by very smart humans) are winning.  The gut instincts and subjective analysis of traditional experts are simply no match for the clear and valuable insights to be gleaned from big data, sliced and diced by machines programmed by great mathematical minds to ingest and process huge quantities of information.

This phenomenon is happening everywhere, not just in polling and politics.  In fact, it’s making its way into the ultimate creative and instinct-driven field, Advertising. At sparks & honey, we have developed a proprietary Culture Mapping platform that allows us to absorb, aggregate and analyze a vast amount of data, leading to valuable consumer and marketing insights that drive everything from product development and strategic planning to marketing communications and branded content.  Using algorithms and statistical models developed in-house, we’re combining deep industry expertise with hard-core data science to build a better way for brands to stay in sync with culture and connect with their customers. 

And it’s here where we think the most impactful innovations will be born.  At the intersection of human intuition and big data lies a world of opportunity awaiting those willing to blaze a fresh path.  The pioneers of the next decade will fashion new ways of marrying the incontrovertible value of data with the empathy and understanding that only comes from being human.  We look forward to being a part of this new future.

sparks & honey is a next generation agency that helps brands synchronize with culture.

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