Let’s do this as swiftly and succinctly as possible (a real challenge for the likes of myself). As an organisation, company, brand, whatever, you’ve basically got two types of data/insight available to you - the WHAT data and the WHY data.

So, first the WHAT. That’s data that tells us about the consequence of something that happened in the past. It derives from an action or decision that you or your audience did yesterday/last month/last year/whenever. Actions such as purchases, follows, views, streams, downloads, likes, posts, positions. That's all well and good, but it doesn't tell you the all-important WHY?

WHY data is there to explain the WHAT, give context to the WHAT, provide a human lens to cold data and an emotive explanation to those actions and decisions made. WHY data should also be helping you with the decisions that you make that generate the WHAT data.

Ok, everyone still with me?

Well that's it really, but just to bang on about this a little longer, when Big Data came along, everyone got all weak at the knees about the possibilities of being able to understand, predict and target consumers. It was the fabled ‘silver-bullet’, it was just so easy. Well, guess what, nothings that easy.

The thing is, almost all of what makes up Big Data is simply WHAT data. To purely rely on that, especially during these very strange times we find ourselves in, is not a great idea.

WHY data is essential if you’re looking to take your brand into the music or cultural space, because at their very core these spaces are shaped and reflective of irrational, emotive, human reaction. If you’re wanting to create engaging brand experiences and drive enduring audience connections, without that type of insight you are potentially walking blindfolded into a minefield.

Its why at Sound Effects, we’ve developed tools that bring together the WHAT and the WHY data, to give brands a clear view of whats ahead.