Within the RESEARCH module of the educational program AcademIAA, future leaders in the field of communications have the opportunity to learn about the value and challenges of the current research practice, its functionality and features. Katarina Pribićević, head of strategic planning at McCann Beograd, held a workshop entitled “Creative Use of Data.”
“I had an idea to deal with the legends and frequent stereotypes in the area of research, their questioning and discovering some new possibilities that data can provide,” said Katarina, highlighting some frequent stereotypes which she presented to the students of the AcademIAA program.
LEGEND 1.
“Function of research in a creative agency”
TRUTH: Today we no longer have a two dimensional image of people whom we are addressing in front of ourselves, but complete human beings that live their lives mostly outside the world of our brand. They live within their communities (friends, colleagues, neighbors, the club they support, bars they go to etc.) We don’t address them – we try to connect with them.
In this context, non-standard, quality and specially designed research studies are very good instrument and a great help for the creatives, who seek to answer the question “WHO is this man really? Do I know someone like that? …”
LEGEND 2.
“Data and creativity don’t go together” or rather “Data are ruining the creative magic”
TRUTH: Today, there are so many examples to the contrary, some of which can be found even among the most awarded campaigns and among this year’s Cannes winners, where the data was exactly what contributed to the creation of magic.
LEGEND 3.
“Companies today have huge amounts of data at their disposal which have no value at all”
TRUTH: The question is not “Do we have the data?”, but “What can WE do with them?” Sometimes the data are a boring guideline or a support for business decisions, and sometimes they are a means to communicate something, or even to concretely engage someone.
Such value of research and other data is discussed even today, and it particularly inspired projects that now have their own category at the Festival in Cannes. One of the most serious projects this year, which could serve as an inspiration to both agencies and clients, is an example that comes from Ecuador and their Institute for Statistics.
