creativity & big data: cherish the exception
I was blowing bubbles in the garden with my daughter this weekend, when suddenly she asked: “Dad, why doesn’t the sun shine every day?”
“Because sometimes there are clouds in front of it”, I quickly reacted.
A little surprised, she looked up to the sky and asked: “And why are there clouds?”
- “Because clouds bring rain and that’s good for the plants.”
- “And why do plants need water, daddy?”
As you can imagine, our conversation went on like that for a little while.
why is the sky blue
My daughter is going through the why stage. Everyone who has, or has had a three-year-old will without a doubt recognise this. I think it’s fascinating how curious she is. Her desire to learn and know is still so pure and inexhaustible. There seem to be two good reasons for this. First of all, asking why is important for children’s speech and language development. Secondly, they develop their cognitive awareness between the ages of three and five, which means they start making connections. So my daughter wants to know how the world works. Hallelujah. Why stop that as we get older? By asking the right questions we can make new connections which in turn lead to new insights. This also applies to sustainability-related matters.
Global research by PwC has shown that the continuous growth of data impacts the decision-making processes of companies. Nearly half of the respondents think that the abundance of data comes at the expense of intuition and experience, those human qualities which drive our curiosity. How can we prevent (big) data standing in the way of that personal added value?
big data from a creative angle
The term big data implies something huge and cumbersome. Something difficult to manage. It includes numbers, digits and patterns; anything that is quantifiable. There’s no room for details or nuances. Big data suggests objectivity, an undeniable reality, as it were. And yet these new dataflows’ most important quality is not necessarily their size, but rather their diversity. Not the quantity, but the quality. Data and smart technology do not only generate more knowledge than ever, the resulting knowledge is also much more profound. So instead of looking at the common denominator, we prefer to cherish the exception. The key to big data is in the human choices you make and how you deal with this information in a creative manner.
human skills remain indispensable
“What are the 10 main skills which lead to professional success in 2020?” This question was asked by the World Economic Forum, a Geneva-based think tank. Human skills, like creativity and critical assessment, ranked at the top of the list. These are qualities robots don’t have. Despite the abundance of data in our hyper-technological society, human skills are and remain indispensable.
And herein lies the strength of make sense. Our team helps companies and organisations manage this torrent of data and cherish the exception. The result is then creatively translated into a campaign with a positive impact, into powerful communication that pushes boundaries and galvanises people.
Why? How? What’s next?
Cherish the exception with our creative team in Amsterdam or Ghent.