PODCAST | Saatchi & Saatchi, Chief Data and Analytics Officer:Individual Personal Data Is a Goldmine for Advertising

Baz Khuti: Welcome to the CDO Magazine Interview Series. I'm Baz Khuti from Modak. We are partnering with CDO Magazine, MIT CDOIQ, and the International Society of Data Officers, in a series of interviews. I have the pleasure of welcoming Das Dasgupta, who is the Chief Data Analytics Officer at Saatchi and Saatchi. If you can, please give a quick overview of your role and what you do. 

Das Dasgupta: My role is exactly what this conference is about — CDAO and another D that comes into the mix, which is digital. So, you could call it, CDAD — Chief Data Analytics Digital. This is an advertising agency which does everything from planning a campaign, figuring out target audiences, designing a story around it, planning media for it, and buying media for our customers, to campaign analytics reporting.

So, what we do for our clients is what we call the Moneyball Team, which does pretty much what the movie “Moneyball” reminds you of — using data and analytics and mathematical insights to do some predictive analytics on how a campaign will perform, and some prescriptive analytics on how to optimize your media, or your creative in combination with that media. And then it’s over to the process of machine learning — we gradually improve that process of finding the right target and sending the right message to eventually create a much more pleasurable experience for the consumer in mind. 

Khuti: I like that Moneyball analogy. It’s really well put. Your role is global, so how's that different from somebody more regionally focused?

Dasgupta: Our organization is divided across the entire world, and there are different needs in different parts of the world. Saatchi clients who are in the UK or India or other Asian countries will have very different needs.

However, the difference is in the social and cultural angles. What data does can be universal because the mathematical equation does not change. So, what we are able to do is scale data from a global basis, run our analytics, and make our recommendations.

Therefore, the only stakeholders that need to come in there from a non-data perspective are people who are looking at those local markets, and therefore they will be able to add the local nuances, the cultural nuances on the decision. What we are able to generate is actionable insights that could be anywhere around the globe. It could be worked from anywhere as well. The actionable insights that will be applied will have a local color to them. The model here is that it's a horizontal service with local verticals and regional verticals coloring their decision-making based on the data.

Khuti: I see. So, it's kind of a horizontal view, and then localize or personalize it at the edge, giving that local connection as you go forward. And I see you're going to be a keynote about the role of the Chief Data Analytics officer in driving resilience and ethical and sustainable organization. What's the primary message you want to drive home at that event for leading global organizations? 

Dasgupta: So, for our field in advertising, individual personal data is a goldmine. Globally there have been lots of different regulations, such as GDPR in Europe and CCPA in California, that will not allow us to know who in the ecosystem is doing what sort of things and activities as they go on a buying journey as a consumer.

But even if we take off all personally identifiable information, or PII, there are methodologies that will allow us to create a unique identity, something that will make it more relevant to the consumer. So, my message there would be to respect the governance bodies, respect the privacy requirements that we have. And then you will still be able to use your mathematical prowess to create something that's relevant for a unique individual without knowing their name and address. That is a very critical need for the advertising industry, because it affects you, me, and every one of us in this world right now. Because as long as people have a cell phone or a laptop, or they're watching television or they're doing social media, there is a device that allows us to know from a device ID or latitude, longitude, or IP address, or other usernames who wishes to be in the grid or wishes to be outside the grid. The whole challenge is for data scientists and engineers and data professionals to work together to make sure that we optimize our resources without violating a single constraint on the identity area. 

Khuti: So, protecting the sovereignty of the individuals and the privacy of that data yet leveraging that metadata to drive better insights, and personalizing and creating a digital identity for groups of data sets but always protecting the sovereignty, is really key. What's a key cause of action for business leaders in these organizations?

Dasgupta: A business leader should be looking at profitability as their key performance indicator. To get there, there is an existential crisis that has evolved over the last few years as the big-walled gardens like Google and Amazon and Facebook are protecting their individual identities of members and whatnot. So, that crisis should not be taken as a severe crisis by the business leaders, because here we are — the data teams who can help you get the answers you need.

I'll give you an example. One of the things that we do in data analytics for the advertising and marketing industry is what we call segmentation, targeting, and positioning. The segmentation is that of an audience. Do I want to send this message to the whole world, or is it relevant to only a few types of people in clusters?

These clusters are usually formed by what we in data science call “clustering methodology.” That allows us to take survey-level responses, or individual action-based responses, and then use segmentation strategies where they have rated something on a scale — let's say between one to five or one to 10. That gives me the numbers about their preferences, about certain products or features or functions. And we should be able to come up with those clusters and say, ‘Here are about 10 clusters of different people. Now within those 10 clusters, maybe three or four will have more market attractiveness and more differentiation for us to go target. There is a methodology that we use — it’s called the GE-McKinsey Matrix — to be able to target correctly. Positioning comes with a lot of messaging processes, such as, what will be more relevant to them? None of the above steps will be compromised without having a person’s true identity.

As long as I have noted, “Observation number one said this; Observation number two said this,” etc., where there are no actual named responses with either the surveys or activities they have completed, I will still be able to give them those clusters along with the messaging and targeting. So, yes, we can provide your solution. We know who was watching which show, we know who was looking at a desktop, or who was browsing something in a web browser or on their cell phones, without creating any identity leaks.

We should still be able to give you all that you need to stay profitable. So, business leaders should not panic about these regulations. We should be able to provide a robust solution, despite them.