From Loyalty Cards to Creative Gold: Saatchi's Data-Driven Odyssey

Ruth Bates sees data as a wellspring of inspiration rather than a limitation. As Saatchi & Saatchi’s newly appointed chief data officer, Bates views data not merely as numbers and algorithms but as a catalyst for creative ideas that break through the noise and resonate on a deeper level. “Some of our best ideas come from deliberately looking beyond the average,” she says, underscoring her belief that thoughtful data use can reveal unexpected insights and fuel groundbreaking creativity.

The new role for Bates sees her step up from her previous role as head of data arts while joining the agency’s senior leadership team. She will aim to meet the agency's ambition to delve deeper into the complexities of data to enhance its award-winning creative work. “As consumers, our everyday experience is shaped by a complex ecosystem of data and algorithms,” she says. “As advertisers, we need to live and breathe that complexity if we want our ideas to influence the real world.”

This appointment, continues the agency's commitment to investing in data-driven creativity and bolsters its industry-leading Data Arts programme.

Under her guidance, Bates reveals her priorities are to integrate data-driven tools seamlessly into the creative workflow and to align these tools with the broader Publicis Group vision. “It’s about making Saatchi’s work more data supercharged while ensuring it’s integrated into a system where the best creative work in the world reaches the right people. Without that, the impact we aim for won’t be realised," she explains.

Turning Data into Creative Gold

Bates' career reflects this philosophy. From her early work on loyalty programs for Boots, Game, and BP Nectar, where she developed her expertise in applying statistics and crafting targeted messages, to her current role leading innovative data-driven strategies at one of the world’s most creative agencies, Bates has consistently demonstrated the power of data in enhancing creativity. “My role involved determining who should receive which messages, and I gained deep technical skills there, particularly in applying statistics to data and uncovering real insights,” she explains.

Her tenure at Deloitte Consulting furthered her expertise, especially in customer analytics and data science. Bates fondly recalls a standout project for the BBC, where she worked on personalising user experiences as the broadcaster shifted to requiring logins. “I was exploring how to use the data we had to inspire new ideas,” she says. Collaborating with creative minds allowed her to see firsthand how data could ignite creativity rather than hinder it.

The next significant leap came with her role at Saatchi & Saatchi as head of data arts in 2018. Initially, the concept of integrating data with creativity faced resistance. Bates recalls with a smile the early feedback from a survey she conducted: "The responses ranged from 'measurement' and 'Excel' to someone describing it as a 'soul-sucking creativity killer.' I thought, 'Oh no, what have I done?' But over time, people have started reaching out, asking for insights and recognising the value of data. It’s been a long journey, but we’re in a great place with it now."

Supercharging the Creative Engine

As Bates transitions into her new role, she will collaborate closely with Richard Huntington, chair and chief strategy officer, to develop custom products and services that inject real-world audience insights into the agency’s work. She will also continue contributing to Publicis Groupe’s portfolio of data-centric products.

The promotion is one of a number made by the agency recently, including the elevation of Sam Wise to executive strategy director, Emily Lewis-Keane to head of planning, and James Addlestone as head of data Arts, succeeding Bates. This reshuffle signals a broader investment in the agency’s strategic and creative capabilities, reinforcing Bates’ pivotal role in shaping the future of Saatchi's data-driven creativity.

Under her guidance, the Data Arts department is evolving to better merge technical precision with creative flair. “It’s about interpreting data and realising that getting the most out of it for creativity is as much an art as a science,” Bates describes of the approach.

She works closely with Addlestone, who handles day-to-day client interactions, while Bates focuses on long-term vision and impact.

Ultimately, Bates is dedicated to understanding real audience needs and delivering messages at the right moments. She elaborates, “It’s about truly understanding what consumers want from a brand and matching the right message with the right context.”

By combining operational data with broader contextual insights, Bates and her team are setting the stage for creativity that resonates deeply and drives meaningful results.

You’ve spoken about the complexity of data and algorithms in shaping consumer experiences. How do you plan to adapt to or even predict changes in these ecosystems?

Prediction is a tricky thing—it’s often seen as the holy grail, with people asking, "Can you predict the next cultural trend?" But I’d never claim we can do that, because it downplays the role of creativity. A brilliant creative idea can spark a trend from nothing.

What’s always crucial is that everything we do—whether it’s an advert through a media partner or someone posting something on social media—interacts with personalised platforms. These platforms tailor what we see, and we respond accordingly, creating feedback loops. So, understanding targeting approaches and why someone might receive certain content is essential.

We can’t change or influence the algorithms, but we can understand them and figure out how to work with them to ensure our creativity cuts through. The key is knowing how our messages will reach people. Will the targeting be contextual, based on what they've been looking at? Or will it be influenced by their past interests? By understanding the algorithms behind what people see, we can adapt our creative ideas to ensure they resonate when they finally reach the audience.

How are you using insights into emotional moments to shape your approach to content and creativity?

While I often find myself in my own little bubble, I enjoy looking into what people are engaging with. Right now, we’re exploring different moments in people’s lives, and I’m particularly interested in uncovering various emotional states. For instance, we’re examining times when people feel bored—whether that’s at work, during their commute, or even while they’re with friends. I’ve been digging into some data about boredom and noticed that people experience it in surprising contexts, which has sparked my curiosity.

Our work with Heartlands is giving us deeper insights into everyday life. What excites me is not just seeing the patterns in our own lives but really understanding what drives emotional experiences for others.

In my approach, I look at data and insights to spot trends or themes that catch my interest and then dive into them. It’s not the numbers themselves that fascinate me; it’s the thematic stories behind them. The exploration of boredom is one example of this, and it’s an area I’m eager to explore further.

How is the role of consumer insights changing as data becomes more central to creativity? Any trends that excite you?

Consumer insight has definitely evolved. We’ve moved from traditional surveys to leveraging real-world data to grasp the complexity of what's happening. However, there’s a concerning trend I’m seeing. People often ask if we can use tools like ChatGPT or AI to derive insights or perform analyses for us.

My first manager in loyalty marketing used to say the most important thing is to really engage with your data. When you’re involved in the process of analysis—whether it's setting up a survey or cleaning data—you begin to form theories and understand the bigger picture. It’s in these close-to-the-ground tasks where you start to piece together what the real issues are for a client, brand, or market.

There’s a lot of buzz around replacing parts of the consumer insights process with AI, but my perspective is that as we strive for efficiency, we must remain close to the raw data. The excitement should come from how being deeply data-driven helps us uncover deeper insights. It's not just about automating tasks; it’s about being an integral part of the process to truly understand and interpret the data.

It’s about blending the art and the data aspects. It’s the ability to oversee the entire process from start to finish. This doesn’t mean we can’t use tools that enhance efficiency—our agency has integrated significant efficiencies to streamline operations. However, it's crucial that we maintain our role as strategists and resist the temptation to completely remove ourselves from the process. Balancing efficiency with the depth of strategic insight ensures we’re truly engaging with the data, not just automating it away.

There’s a lot of data methods out there, and many focus on finding the average—what the most common behaviours are. This is brilliant for efficient media targeting and identifying trends. But some of our best ideas come from deliberately looking beyond the average.

By directing our methods towards the edges and seeking out the outliers—those unusual or unexpected occurrences—we gain much richer insights into people and situations. These outliers, though often seen as anomalies, can reveal intriguing patterns that are incredibly valuable for sparking creative ideas.

That’s why I’m passionate about not just relying on data to replace the human touch. It’s about using data to identify those outliers and then applying our creativity to explore and expand on them.

How are evolving data regulations in the UK affecting your approach to data-driven advertising, and are you finding it more challenging to comply with these stricter standards?

Almost all the tools we use are supported by the Publicis Group. This means we get a lot of help with compliance and ensuring our tools and data collections are up to standard. The support and training provided by the group make it easier for us than if we had to manage everything on our own. That support network is brilliant.

From a data perspective, our focus is on understanding trends rather than engaging with people directly. It’s about using data on a large scale to grasp the underlying differences and trends that drive creativity.

One of our key partners is Google, and Google Trends data remains one of our primary tools for understanding large-scale trends. We also work with social listening companies to ensure we’re grasping how our messages are being received. Our goal is to identify messages that truly resonate and cut through.

We focus on uncovering fundamental insights that are inherently human—insights that will resonate no matter who the target audience is. Regarding the data sets we work with, we ensure they’re compliant and haven’t seen any significant changes in terms of their effectiveness. The data remains powerful and valuable for what we do.

How are the data and creative teams working together to turn insights into strong creative work?

We’re initially brought in by account teams or brand management teams, who ask us to assess the commercial situation for their brand or account. Our role is to ensure we fully understand how the brand operates on a day-to-day basis and keep brand managers updated with all relevant information. We work closely with strategists to identify the major commercial challenges, pinpoint the target audiences, and determine the key moments and cultural occasions for the brand to be relevant.

Our collaboration with strategists is crucial in finding the right answers to the briefs we work on. Occasionally, we discover insights during our process that are particularly compelling or noteworthy, which we can then share directly with the creative team.

At times, creatives approach us with specific problems, such as talent casting. We help them understand how different talents might resonate with audiences, which is an exciting area for us. Sometimes, clients may love a creative idea but lack the confidence to fully commit to it. In these cases, we assist creatives in selling their ideas by modelling how they might perform.

We’re also involved in testing and measurement, an area where data and advertising have long intersected. Our involvement spans from addressing the initial commercial challenge through to evaluating who appears in the ads.

How is Saatchi & Saatchi adapting its approach to make sure big creative ideas truly resonate in today’s diverse media environment?

The area where our industry seems to struggle is in ensuring that our big creative ideas truly resonate. Despite the diversity of media channels and media mixes available, many of the skills we've developed still centre around traditional approaches.

At Saatchi, we’ve been pushing for some time to shift this. We’re now adept at starting with people’s data and their environments, understanding where the audience is and how to break through. By beginning with data and deeply understanding people’s everyday lives, we can adopt an audience-first approach in developing ideas and content. This means considering where and how our ideas will be presented to make the greatest impact.

Being truly mindful of our approach means not prioritising ourselves or our contacts first.

We’re all under pressure to produce outstanding creative work quickly and efficiently. What we’re focusing on is how to access insights swiftly and reliably, in a productised way that ensures we get to the right conclusions. Given that campaigns need to perform across multiple platforms, the ability to work quickly and efficiently is a significant advantage.

However, the creative brain is still essential for shaping these insights into a compelling big idea or execution. The challenge for our industry is to balance efficiency in parts of the process with the necessary creativity, ensuring both elements work together to drive success.