Quantifying Creativity: Engagement Vs. Data Dependence

New York agency Sarkissian Mason has taken an interesting approach to illustrate the point that consumer engagement via unique, compelling creative ideas is ultimately what will drive sales and brand loyalty – and not an obsessive dependence  on data to fuel a brand’s every decision.

The agency wired their office with sensors, tracked the results with a single-board micro controller, and are publishing the real-time results of their data gathering on their homepage.  The data visualization exercise facetiously calculates the agency’s collective creativity at a point in time, informing viewers on life at the firm as tracked by smoke breaks taken, f-bombs dropped, project scopes changed, ideas generated and shot down, and the like.

The site redesign and PR stunt will doubtlessly generate some impressions for the agency, but is also a pretty creative means of capturing a discussion that can’t be answered in absolutes.  What is a more important consideration in driving brand loyalty and sales?  A highly creative idea, or a thorough analysis of consumer and sales data in crafting the right strategy?  In a real-world scenario, data analysis should help identify the right opportunity, best way to reach consumers, and track where sales have gone (or may be going in the near future).  It arms strategists with sufficient information to take the leap in developing a “big idea” from which creative can be born.  Can one rely on data alone?  Absolutely not – particularly if that data mostly speaks to the past, and not the future.  A certain level of gut instinct and calculated risk taking is critical to any great idea – but you can’t just develop (and sell) a great idea if it isn’t rooted in some sense of purpose or context for the opportunity it can deliver for a brand’s business.

Kudos to Sarkissian Mason on a clever site redesign – ironically, one where data helps provoke curiosity from – and engage visitors.

[via EXP]