Boosting data literacy in marketing

Splended’s customer in the food industry discovered that to maintain competitiveness, their brand managers needed to enhance their data literacy. This would enable them to run more effective campaigns and collaborate better with media agencies, which had taken on much of their promotional work. Recognizing this need, we, Splended, Gaasly, and GOODIN, united forces to enhance marketing data literacy at a Finnish food company. Let’s explore how our collaborative effort elevated data literacy within their marketing teams.

At first, Marjut Sadeharju, the CEO of Splended, partnered with customer leads to create customized learning paths tailored to the requirements of the company’s global brand managers. Together with the marketing team leads we designed engaging and interactive learning experiences. These experiences included pre-tasks, tutorial videos, training sessions, and coaching aimed at supporting performance.

Next, Kai Lemmetty, CEO of Gaasly, an international digital marketing agency, teamed up with Splended to help coach and train the customer’s team. Our customer wanted to become more data-driven in marketing and the goal was to help employees utilize more data in their day-to-day work. Under Kai’s interactive and supportive guidance, the team learned to analyze data in an environment that encouraged experimentation and continuous learning.

To ensure a robust coaching team, we brought Kira Sjöberg, co-founder at GOODIN, onto the project to offer invaluable insights into data literacy. GOODIN specializes in data empathy, advocating for people-centric approaches to data utilization. Kira’s expertise assisted participants in understanding fundamental data literacy concepts and developing essential skills for effective data interpretation and utilization, particularly in complex topics such as relevant metrics and KPIs this time in the marketing realm in particular.

Our collaboration resulted in the creation of comprehensive learning paths for 25 global brand managers. These paths covered various topics, including campaign data and customer journeys, tools for data analysis, and data-driven decision-making. Throughout the project, we extensively used learning data. Discovery calls with participants, interviews with leaders and managers, surveys to gauge skills and confidence, and qualitative data collected during training and coaching sessions were all utilized to tailor learning needs effectively.

Participants gained practical experience in using digital data to inform campaign designs and marketing strategies. Equipped with newfound data literacy skills, they made more informed decisions and engaged in more meaningful collaborations with media agencies. Moreover, the initiative heightened awareness and appreciation for data literacy within the organization since data as a concept was made approachable. After all, data and numbers tell stories that enhance and develop business. With the Splended approach participants emerged with enhanced confidence in using data effectively, enabling them to interpret information in their internal systems and dashboards. One participant commented on their experience:

“Down to earth trainers really invested in teaching us. Good learning methods with coaching sessions in between. Great that you have a task to do before training and a good balance between listening and discussing in small groups.”

Our collaboration proved useful for the food company. By using learning design principles, data, and expert coaching, we successfully boosted data literacy and empowered global brand managers to better apply themselves in a data-driven world. This will ultimately benefit the organization on a larger scale, as the data collected transitions from being data points to becoming a valuable utility, serving a purpose beyond mere collection. This innovative approach to collaborative learning not only enhanced performance according to the data, but also increased commitment to the company’s goals.