Account Manager Ben Magnuson explains that big data is incredibly important to a digital strategy, but to also consider thick data. Ethnographic studies are just one way to gain business insights that can change how you approach your marketing efforts.

1. NOV 2-4, 2016
Fortifying Big Data and Making
Insights Count

2. NOV 2-4, 2016
Ben Magnuson
@1N_Ben

3. NOV 2-4, 2016
The Data Driven Organization

4. NOV 2-4, 2016
Decision Making is Changing
§ B2B seeing substantial growth in marketing technology
and data
§ Companies more likely than ever to state their decision
making is data-driven
§ Leaders in companies “substantially outperforming their
competitors” are 166% more likely to make decisions
based on data*
*Source: IBM’s Analytics: A Blueprint for Value

5. There Is More to Data Than Numbers
§ Big Data – extremely large
sets of data, often
unstructured, used to find
patterns
§ Thick Data – ethnographic
and qualitative measurements
that introduce stories of value

6. NOV 2-4, 2016
What is measurable isn’t the
same as what is valuable.
– Tricia Wang, Ethnography Matters
“

7. The Data Takeover in Sports
§ The 2000s saw a data
revolution take over baseball
§ Talent evaluation positions
once held by former players
were going to 20-something
Harvard graduates
§ “The people that we’re hiring
and other baseball teams are
hiring, we’re competing with
the Apples and the Googles of
the world.” – Billy Beane,
interview in WSJ on 9/21/15

8. Sabermetrics, A History of Data in Baseball
1977: Bill James
publishes the first
edition of The Bill
James Baseball
Abstract
1981: Stats, Inc founded
to record detailed score
sheets for every
baseball game
2001: Bill James
introduces Win Shares
in his The New Historical
Baseball Abstract
2003: Michael Lewis
publishes Moneyball on
the use of analytics by
the Oakland As to find
value

9. Sabermetrics, A History of Data in Baseball
2003: Bill
James offered
position in
Boston front
office
2004: Red Sox win
world series
2009: Baseball-
Reference adds
Sean Smith’s
version of WAR
2011: Moneyball the
movie, starring Brad
Pitt, debuts

10. NOV 2-4, 2016
Interesting Color
Full Image

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Mike Trout – 10.3 WAR
Miguel Cabrera - Triple
Crown Winner
2012 MVP Race

12. NOV 2-4, 2016
When Spreadsheets Aren’t Enough
§ The success of baseball analytics led to similar
movements in other major sports
§ While this introduced great new insights into game
strategies and team performances, there was a struggle
to introduce similar player valuations like WAR

13. Two Advanced Approaches
§ Football Outsiders
§ DVOA – A method of evaluating teams, units or players. It takes every single play during
the NFL season and compares each one to a league-average baseline based on situation.
§ When we say, "In 2014, Marshawn Lynch had a DVOA of 23.1%,” what we are really saying
is “In 2014, Marshawn Lynch, playing in Darrell Bevell’s offensive system with the Seattle
offensive line blocking for him and Russell Wilson selling the keeper when necessary, had
a DVOA of 23.1%.“
§ Pro Football Focus
§ Grades – PFF takes a different approach and tries to assess value by observing every
individual play and assigning a grade from -2 to +2
§ Tries to address the variability of different schemes and teammates by judging their
execution in each individual play

14. NOV 2-4, 2016
PFF Grading Process
Step 1: Every player
in every play is given
a grade from -2 to 2
Step 2: A second
scout grades the
same play
Step 3: Reconcile
the differences
Step 4: We verify by
sending tape to the
Pro Coach Network

15. NOV 2-4, 2016
Providing Context

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Comparing Big and Thick Data
§ Relies on machine
learning
§ Reveals insights with a
particular range of
quantified data points
§ Loses resolution
§ Relies on human
learning
§ Reveals the social
context of connections
between data points
§ Loses scale
*Source – Tricia Wang, Ethnography Matters
Big Data Thick Data

17. NOV 2-4, 2016
Measuring Value - Review
§ Identify goals
§ Establish key metrics
§ Measure results
§ Optimize performance

18. Complementing Big Data: Case Studies
§ Target has been at forefront of
big data analysis and particularly
predictive analytics
§ Earlier in 2016, the Minnesota
Star-Tribune reported that Target
CEO Brian Cornell was visiting
customers homes “hoping to
understand such things as
consumers’ food choices, fashion
trends and shopping habits”

19. Case Study: Grocer
§ Harvard Business Review published a story on the CEO of a high-
end grocery chain in Europe that was seeing it’s sales decline
§ Customers were no longer shopping there as frequently or buying
as much
§ Conducted a survey, where customers said they were willing to
pay more for quality
§ If that was case, why weren’t they going to the high end store?

20. NOV 2-4, 2016
Case Study: Grocer
§ They ran an anthropological study where they
embedded recorders with their customers for 2 months
§ Found that the idea of the family dinner was frayed
§ Customers were shopping less because often on the go,
and shopping at smaller stores that offered quicker
meals
§ Revamped stores to have “mini-stores” within. Sales
improved.

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Practical Applications of Thick Data

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Classic Monochromatic
Full Image

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Takeaways
§ Digital data insights is an active
experience
§ Find your KPIs and organize
your analytics to measure the
success of your goals
§ If the measurements are telling
you the what, but not the why,
use thick data techniques such
as interviewing and usability
testing

24. NOV 2-4, 2016
Questions?

25. NOV 2-4, 2016
Fortifying Big Data and Making
Insights Count