[x+1]'s VP of client services explains why creatives should have access to more customer data.

Marketers tend to be a bit long in the tooth regarding their data prowess. Whether their pride is displayed in the form of sophisticated econometric modeling for the measurement of media effectiveness, powerful data mining techniques to segment their customer base, or a tool-box of quantitative market research techniques, a significant rift exists that marketers have not fully acknowledged: the rift between data analysis and creative development.

Shortcomings of conventional approaches
The conventional approach for gathering data to develop a creative brief has been around for some time. Account planners on the agency side collaborate with their clients on executing both quantitative and qualitative market research: focus groups, in-depth interviews, web polls, phone polls, etc. What this results in is simple: conversations through a one-way mirror with a meaningful statistical sample of people that met the criteria in a screener. The results are analyzed, personas are written, a brief is developed and creative concepts are executed. Of course, this triggers more research, this time in the guise of testing.

So, what's wrong with this tried and true form of research and account planning? The problem is that the conventional approach only looks outward for strategic creative direction when, in fact, direction lies right underneath marketers' noses: within their data mining and media and site optimization efforts.

Develop more in-depth creative briefs and personas
It happens often that a marketer develops personas and creative briefs without ever looking deeply into the reality of the business-- the actions, reactions, trends and patterns that real people form when interacting with the business. Asking a group of people in a room what they think of a value proposition, creative concept or line of copy is all well and good, but observing via captured data how people react, the actions they take and who they really are, should form the core of any creative strategy. Qualitative learnings can, and should, be overlaid and used to make the analysis more connected with social and emotional drivers.

This approach looks to breed inclusion by providing creative talent with high-value information in the form of data insights. The challenge is how best to convey these insights and what insights are best to effect positive change in the creative product. The challenge is met by putting the intelligence gathered from the data mining and media and site optimization at the center of the account planning and creative development process:

As the above graphic shows, current market research efforts are still important drivers in the account planning process; however, strategic direction should come from the data gathered by data mining and optimization. What the above image also shows is that the creative testing process should also include in-market testing whenever possible. In-market testing can provide invaluable learnings when coupled with market research. Full and fractional factorial testing can provide accurate and fast reads on how creative is performing by segment, region, versus other creative and by day-part/day of week. Of course, the strategists can add and analyze any attribute that can be reliably captured. Moreover, when timing is of the utmost importance due to market pressures, product schedules, etc, testing creative in-market allows both the honing of the creative product and a live presence in the market place. Creative can be developed in an iterative process of refinement until a sufficient level of conversion is attained and full roll-out can be executed. This process of creative testing may not be best suited towards enterprise level branding efforts, but will be very effective in RM efforts and on-line advertising. 

Empower creative teams with data insights
The vehicles where insights from data analysis and market research are aggregated and formed into a creative strategy are the creative brief and personas. Those two documents are the standards used to transfer knowledge from the strategy team to the creative team, and there is no reason to change that. Providing tables and charts in PowerPoint decks or long one-off presentations is not effective in communicating complex quantitative insights to a visually oriented creative team (and, yes, I have the bruises to prove it). In addition to developing the vehicles for communication, the next challenges are choosing what data insights to communicate and how they are translated from raw tables/charts to a more accessible language.

The insights that can be the most powerful are those around segmentation. Segmentation is common, but segmentation derived from both data mining and optimization to guide the creative process is not. Segmentation derived from the descriptive modeling of customer and prospect data should be the first window into an audience the creative teams are shown. Nodes can be named, and the importance of their attributes communicated via prose. Moreover, if qualitative research of current customers is required, lists of respondents can be sourced from the data warehouse-- the segment data can be used as the first step in the screening process. The insights from qualitative research can be used to add depth and a layer of human interest to the segments. In addition to attributes and other layers of descriptors, segmentation from data mining and optimization clearly show how different strata of customers/prospects are interacting with a given organization.

The trends and patterns in how customers and prospects interact with an organization are levels of detail most creative teams are not shown, but they can receive a great deal of value from it. Insights into where, how, how often and for what reasons a customer or prospect purchases or researches a product can empower the creative teams to develop powerful visuals, calls-to-action and pay-offs. Communicating this information can be done in brief form, as just demographic and psychographic data is communicated. Creatives need to know this information, and can certainly handle its implementation.

Heath Podvesker is vice president of client services at [x+1]. Podvesker, formerly VP, planning director at Wunderman, a leading marketing communications company, developed global relationship management strategies for accounts, which included Microsoft. A frequent industry speaker, Podvesker recently presented at Harvard Business School's Cyberposium on trends in marketing technology.