What does social intelligence mean to you?
It means AI + HI . With the use of Artificial Intelligence applied to digital data we can listen to and process what is happening in the world at speed and with scale. Based on this we can make predictions, understand trends and understand behaviour in other countries and categories of influence better than ever before. It all sounds amazing; however, Human Intelligence is key. Without the right structure, framing, context and business application social data loses its value and becomes just another number or another metric that has no place in business decision making.
What motivates you in your work? What makes you want to keep working in social intelligence?
People, innovation, and growth. I love working with my team – they are all incredibly smart – I learn a lot from them every day and that makes my job exciting. I love working with clients as well: as people they drive and motivate me as they challenge me to answer some of their business questions faster, better and through new technologies. The innovation part on everything we do is essential, particularly in the digital space where platforms, access to data and regulation changes every day. The growth element in this context refers to scaling. It is important to create and think, but it is also important to scale. That is the challenging part and the one I get most excited about: how can I help clients in an organisation globally and not just locally?; how can I take Kantar’s Digital Analytics to every market in the world?; how can I help Kantar partner with the best to move this industry forward across the globe?; how can I accelerate the scaling of knowledge and understanding of social intelligence?
What do you think makes you successful in your work?
A can-do attitude, a strong network, strong team and willingness to learn. Not being afraid of making mistakes. Appreciation for the imperfect.
What are the key skills that have contributed to your success?
Openness to learn and conviction in my approach. I have to confess that when I started my journey in this space, I did not believe in social data as a credible source, and I asked one of my colleagues (Marine Escande) to prove me wrong. Her passion and strong believe in the data convinced me and as time passed, I understood and saw what I had not previously seen. It is almost like learning a new language, you can’t see what you can’t see until you are able to experience first hand the power of the data for brand positioning, new product development, trends understanding and benchmarking. I also think having a strong mix of arts, science and business in my pocket helped.
What makes social data special compared to other data sources?
Social data makes us an observer of people’s lives as opposed to an intruder, and as we all know; this is key when understanding human behaviour. It is rich with not only text data but also location, time, images, voice, video content. The fact that we can access it anytime, anywhere and over multiple years makes it invaluable when trying to understand, trends, perceptions around brands and just human behaviour in general. What I also love about this data source is the ability that it gives us as researchers to play with ‘new toys’ meaning, AI technologies.
What does being a social intelligence pioneer mean in the context of your work?
For me it means starting any conversation with an open growth mindset. How can I help brands, people around me and the business to grow? How do we grow with velocity (speed & direction)? How do we overcome the key barriers we are facing today? It is about making things happen and celebrating small wins that take you to new places. Being a pioneer also means teamwork and collaboration. A strong, smart team that backs you up, teaches you and is sincere when things aren’t working.
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