Independent agency, Imille, explain how they use unique consumer data to link creative and strategy.

“With our creative and strategic teams working closer together, our entire agency is seeing better results.”

Full service agency, Imille, sees itself as a “creative partner” to brands that are “ready to embrace the future”. 

Helping brands make the digital transition is their number one priority. To do this, they believe in starting with consumer insight - the kind that actually makes an impact. 

But recognizing that the real value lay in connecting strategy and creativity, they needed to make that link stronger.

The challenge 

Doing every brief justice.

Like many independent agencies tasked with creating the right recommendations, strategies and experiences for a lot of clients – each with their own unique set of needs – there’s one thing they have to get right: answering the brief.

This is how they unleash the full potential of each brand.

Focused primarily on developing digital projects, especially in the B2B social media space, one of their biggest challenges was finding the data that would have a real impact on the brief at hand. 

“We have so much data, but we need to find only what’s right or useful for the brand”,  says Stefano Panini, Digital Strategist.

“There’s no point in giving someone insight that has no real value.”

Despite having a whole host of sources at their fingertips - from first-party analytics to third-party market research - the data they had only went so far as to tell them what people were doing. 

If a project came their way that meant going deeper into the mindsets of their target consumers, they lacked the insight to do it justice.

To do the briefs justice and bring creative and strategy closer together, they needed to answer why their target audiences were doing what they were doing.

The action

Using data to connect creativity and strategy.

“Data is the starting point for every one of our projects”, says Stefano.

For Imille, this has always been the case. Without reliable research to back up their ideas, they know they’re fighting a losing battle. 

But a lack of attitudinal or psychographic data meant there was still a considerable gap between the strategic and creative sides of their work, which presented challenges.

Turning to GWI, they wanted to fill this gap, especially when it came to serving new clients or prospects. 

“We use the platform mostly for social media projects, which accounts for about 50% of what we do. For B2B clients in the pharma industry, for example, we can start by identifying which social channels are best to invest in.”

Sharing an example, Stefano outlines the work Imille is doing with a famous Italian beer brand. 

Using GWI, the team recovered surprising insight into the high usage of YouTube among a potential target audience of those who don’t drink the beer.

From this, they were able to outline in detail the ROI opportunity that existed in investing in that platform and audience.

The brand agreed, and the agency team is now developing creatives for their first YouTube campaign.

Starting with the basics, here’s how the team goes beyond audience actions. 

• Start by creating an audience based on information provided by the client.
• Ask questions on the platform to identify their behaviors.
• Profile further to analyze their motivations, interests and attitudes.

“Before we had access to this data, we could see what people were doing, but not why they were doing it.”

This ‘why’ Stefano says makes a huge difference to their creative output. 

“You might know how many people are engaging with Facebook, but knowing why is what has the biggest impact on a creative.

Take influencers, for example - everyone knows they can work well when it comes to marketing, but using GWI, we can ask our target directly why this is, and what kind of people influence them most. That qualitative aspect is crucial.”

This, Stefano says, is how they form that essential link between creativity and strategy: 

“We don’t just stop with the information we get at brief stage. We go as deep as possible with the wealth of data we have in GWI. What’s key then is how we link this to our creative work. Our clients really value this approach.”

When it comes to actioning the insights they uncover, the Imille team use them to guide both their clients’ marketing strategies and their own.

The result

Putting revenue front and center.

For Imille, having access to a wealth of data around motivations, attitudes and interests (among others) is a game-changer. 

Not only does it mean they can give clients far more comprehensive and original insight, improving this link between creativity and strategy for them is all about driving business outcomes.

“It might sound obvious, but when your strategic and creative teams are singing from the same hymn sheet (or in this case, the same insight), it’s inevitably more linked to business revenue”, says Stefano.

Pitching ideas they have a solid reason to believe will work means there’s less risk involved, which is a key consideration for brands when it comes to allocating their budget.

“With this data, we’re better able to construct successful strategies.

It’s a very human perspective, but with our creative and strategic teams working closer together, our entire agency is seeing better results.”