Insight Agents

I help all sorts of organisations make better use of data - in the questions they ask to extract the right data ... in the genuine, human insights they surface and articulate using this data ... and in the evidence-based stories they tell using these insights. My practice is informed by my 'Using Data Better' trilogy of books: Asking Smarter Questions (2022), How To Be Insightful (2020), and Narrative by Numbers (2018).

Chief Data Storyteller

I established Insight Agents in December 2013 to help brands communicate more effectively. We use the principles and tools of strategic planning to create the most compelling and distinctive narrative for companies to tell authentic, relevant brand stories.

By taking an analytical and evidence-based approach to brand storytelling, we identify the Golden Thread that weaves together all elements of truly integrated brand communications.

With more than 25 years’ experience and perspective in multi-channel communications, our clear-thinking consultants give marketers the ammunition they need by turning insights into action.

Founder & Managing Director

Harvard Business Review

Advisory Council Member

Ebiquity plc

The reputation of companies, brands and organisations is made and broken not only by what they say about themselves and how they act but also by what diverse stakeholders think and say about them, across all facets of earned media. This includes both traditional and social media, online and offline, as well as stakeholder opinion and sentiment.
  
For Ebiquity, I look after content marketing and thought leadership for the company’s Reputation practice, which specialises in generating forward-looking, actionable insights from earned media. This role encompasses content creation, development and activation. I also represent the practice where it touches clients and prospects, from blogs to forums, and at national and international industry events.

Director, Reputation Practice

WCG, a W2O Company

In April 2013 I joined the London office of global independent communications firm WCG as Group Director, Strategic Planning. This role brings together my effective combination of corporate and consumer PR agency experience and my expertise in turning data into campaigns that resonate and deliver. 

At WCG, I am charged with helping the agency to grow, diversify and develop into new sectors and new markets, internationally. I am the champion of using clear-thinking, data-driven insights as a key driver for client and agency development, always looking to answer “Now what?” questions.

Before joining WCG, I was UK MD of Echo Research, the earned media practice of marketing performance management firm Ebiquity. I have also held strategic planning and business development leadership roles at Salt, Kaizo and Fleishman-Hillard.

For a PR man, I have unusually rich experience in analytics. I hold a doctorate in Experimental Psychology, a source of both my understanding of human motivation and behaviour and my love of telling stories with data.

Group Director, Strategic Planning

Echo Research, part of Ebiquity plc

In May 2012, I was appointed Joint Managing Director of Echo Research UK.

Together with my fellow Joint MD, Ben Lloyd, we have been charged with driving sales and profitability of Echo's UK operation, as the reputation practice of Ebiquity.

My focus is sales and business development, while Ben's is delivery and operations.

Joint Managing Director

In September 2011, I joined Echo Research as Integrated Services Director.  Working in partnership with Echo’s new owners Ebiquity, I am responsible for developing and selling integrated research services that measure the impact of earned, owned and paid-for communication on reputation.

The incorporation of Echo into Ebiquity means that, for the first time, a single company can analyse and source insight from marketing spend across all channels – advertising, sponsorship, traditional PR, and social and digital media.  Echo brought me on board to turbo-charge the integration of our services and to lead the development of new approaches that bring together all our disciplines. My mission is to support both Echo and Ebiquity clients in their need for integrated measures and KPIs.

I have a strong track record of strategic business development with blue chip national and multi-national brands. I have extensive experience growing business in retail, FMCG and professional services.
 
In a social media world, where brand management is now the province of both brand owners and their customers, only Echo and Ebiquity can measure and demonstrate ROI in the round. I’m thrilled to take on this challenge and believe that our truly integrated approach to research and measurement will prove a compelling offer to brand custodians worldwide.

Integrated Services Director

salt PR

To cut through the clutter and achieve real stand-out, brands need a clearly-articulated point of view. At salt, we use four distinctive approaches to help brands develop and express their point of view - Marketing with a Mission, Establishing Authority, Campaigning PR and Motivated Behaviour Change.

I lead our Motivated Behaviour Change practice, bringing together the best principles of behavioural psychology and social marketing. I am also charged with strategic leadership, planning and product development at salt.

Planning Director

University of Sussex

Teaching undergraduate courses (2nd and 3rd year) in perception, intelligence thinking and personality, learning and memory; psychobiology of addiction. Postgraduate tutor in research methods and statistics

Tutor in Experimental Psychology

Kaizo

Principal Consultant

Beer Davies

Account Director

The Portman Group

Director of Public Affairs

MEET SAM ► Master data storyteller, helping companies and brands make smarter use of data. I’m known for my ability to craft impactful, evidence-based stories rooted in data and statistics that have the power to persuade others to take action. I’m the author of the 'Using Data Better' trilogy of books with Routledge: 2018's award-winning "Narrative by Numbers", 2020's best-selling "How To Be Insightful", and 2022's critically-acclaimed "Asking Smarter Questions". I’m an in-demand keynote speaker, trainer, and podcaster.

DATA STORYTELLING ► Leaders in marketing, research, insight, and analytics come to me when they’re concerned their teams aren’t making data work hard enough for them. Some are frustrated that their data-driven stories don’t engage target audiences because numbers overwhelm narrative. Others are under pressure to surface and articulate genuine insights but end up having to make do with just data points or casual observations. And a few are frustrated that the questions they ask don’t yield relevant, useful data that could drive the business forward.

PUTTING YOUR DATA TO WORK ► There are six Golden Rules of data storytelling which, when applied consistently to the stories you tell, enable your organisation to sound like a person and talk that rare business dialect: Human. Using data to underpin your storytelling requires humanity, empathy, and understanding the data tolerance of your audience. Finding and using only relevant data, avoiding the Curse of Knowledge, and balancing the emotional with the rational are skills that amplify storytelling impact. Analytics + Storytelling truly does = Influence.

SPECIALITIES ► Data storytelling, insightful thinking, asking smarter questions. Best-selling author, Professional Speaker, Trainer, Mentor, Podcaster, Consultant.

WEBSITES ► www.insightagents.co.uk, www.narrativebynumbers.com, www.HowToBeInsightful.com, www.asksmarterqs.com

LET'S TALK ► Ring the bell 🔔 on my profile to get notified about my posts. Message me on LinkedIn, email sam@insightagents.co.uk, follow me on Twitter @samknowles and @insightagents

Sometimes, it takes an entirely different way of thinking to crack hardy perennial challenges.

Revolutions can start from within, but more often they are ignited by stimulus and inspiration from other worlds.

When it comes to changing how public relations understands, measures, and reports on its true impact, the industry has foundered for generations.

But thanks to a small handful of super-smart individuals trained in other, far more rigorous disciplines than traditional PR, the profession is starting to move on from its sadly too-deserved soubriquet of “the colouring-in department”. Individuals like Stephen Waddington, the founder of Wadds Inc.

You see Stephen started life as an engineer, and through the many agencies he’s grown and led in his daily practice in his professional advisory business today, he’s always brought the rigour of that engineering background to public relations practice. “It gives you a respect for repeatable, scientific process,” he says. A rare – but vital – sentiment indeed in PR.

And I’m delighted to say that Stephen is my latest guest on Data Malarkey Podcast – the podcast about using data, smarter. Our episode drops first thing tomorrow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all good audio podcast outlets.

If you’re not already a Data Malarkey regular, follow one of the links in the first comment below, hit subscribe, and wake up to a most excellent discussion.

Sam Knowles

MEET SAM ► Master data storyteller, helping companies and brands make smarter use of data. I’m known for my ability to craft impactful, evidence-based stories rooted in data and statistics that have the power to persuade others to take action. I’m the author of the 'Using Data Better' trilogy of books with Routledge: 2018's best-selling "Narrative by Numbers", 2020's critically-acclaimed "How To Be Insightful", and 2022's eagerly-awaited "Asking Smarter Questions". I’m an in-demand keynote speaker, trainer, and podcaster.

DATA STORYTELLING ► Leaders in marketing, research, insight, and analytics come to me when they’re concerned their teams aren’t making data work hard enough for them. Some are frustrated that their data-driven stories don’t engage target audiences because numbers overwhelm narrative. Others are under pressure to surface and articulate genuine insights but end up having to make do with just data points or casual observations. And a few are frustrated that the questions they ask don’t yield relevant, useful data that could drive the business forward.

PUTTING YOUR DATA TO WORK ► There are six Golden Rules of data storytelling which, when applied consistently to the stories you tell, enable your organisation to sound like a person and talk that rare business dialect: Human. Using data to underpin your storytelling requires humanity, empathy, and understanding the data tolerance of your audience. Finding and using only relevant data, avoiding the Curse of Knowledge, and balancing the emotional with the rational are skills that amplify storytelling impact. Analytics + Storytelling truly does = Influence.

SPECIALITIES ► Data storytelling, insightful thinking, asking smarter questions. Best-selling author, Professional Speaker, Trainer, Mentor, Podcaster, Consultant.

WEBSITES ► www.insightagents.co.uk, www.narrativebynumbers.com, www.HowToBeInsightful.com, www.asksmarterqs.com

LET'S TALK ► Ring the bell 🔔 on my profile to get notified about my posts. Message me on LinkedIn, email sam@insightagents.co.uk, follow me on Twitter @samknowles and @insightagents

Empowering companies to make smarter use of data via storytelling | Three-times, award-winning business book author with Routledge | Creator and host of Data Malarkey podcast | Consultant | Trainer | Keynote speaker

It’s a common mistake to start visualising a data-driven narrative before you know the story.

I’ve got enormous respect for the art (and science) of data visualisation – from Florence Nightingale (and her maps of infectious disease spreading in field hospitals) to David McCandless, from Minard (and his ever-diminishing line marking the retreat of Napoleon’s troops from the disastrous Russia campaign) to Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic.

But words must always come before pictures. Otherwise, you’re simply going on what statisticians like to call a fishing expedition, much more likely to indulge in finger-in-the-air hypothesis proving rather than properly rigorous hypothesis *testing*. Getting to the story first - being able to answer the question "So what?" and explain what the data mean - helps minimise data malarkey.

As this post drops, I’m en route to the University of Westminster to give a guest lecture on the Data Science & Analytics MSc titled “How to tell powerful and purposeful stories with data”. There’s more about the course in the first comment below.

I love spending time with the next generation of data and analytics professionals, working with them to elevate the role of narrative and story structure in their armoury.

Just as narrative and numbers are much better together than they are apart – appealing to the emotional brain that makes decisions and the rational brain that goes on to justify those decisions – so data-driven stories supported by first-class data visualisations square the circle. They’re the music + lyrics of data storytelling.

What’s more, we don’t all process information in the same way and understanding comes from catering to all learning modalities.

Thanks so much to Rolf Bänziger for inviting me to speak at Westminster. I can’t wait to spend time – in less than a couple of hours from now – with you and your Masters (and also undergraduate) students.

As you can see from this picture, I know PRECISELY where to come – I was running a workshop just around the corner last week.

Might even bump into you David Lancaster, John Brissenden, Trevor Morris ...

When it comes to the fire and ice formula of data storytelling, which should come first?

The spreadsheet or the narrative?

To be more powerful and persuasive in our communication, we need to balance the rational (the data) and the emotional (the story). The story needs to have effective narrative structure and be validated by the data underpinning our claims.

But too often in corporate and brand communication, data – too much data – is presented as if the data alone was enough. As if the data speak for themselves. The truth is that we speak for the data; we imbue them with meaning.

As Wadds Inc. founder Stephen Waddington puts it: “We’re not going to convince anyone of an argument by sharing an Excel spreadsheet. I think numbers and data give you credibility that gives you a foundation for a story.”

And Stephen is my latest guest on Data Malarkey Podcast – the podcast about using data, smarter. Our episode went live first thing this morning on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all good audio podcast outlets.

Follow one of the links in the first comment below for a masterclass in effective data storytelling, something that Stephen values highly and has always placed at the heart of the very sound communications advice he gives his clients.

If you start a business, is there an immutable law that says it must scale?

Provided your offer, pipeline, sales strategy, and ability to adapt are keen enough, it’s perfectly possible to create businesses that are sustainable but not on the pathway to exponential growth.

Indeed, only very few ideas ever make it from start-up to scale-up – perhaps shockingly, fewer than one in ten ever succeed on that journey. Seven times that number – fully 70% - are here today but gone in years 2-5, the so-called Valley of Death.

To take a pioneering innovation from a founder-entrepreneur’s brainchild to exponential growth and tens of millions in turnover too often takes luck. Making each and every one of the pioneering decisions necessary to scale at the right time is hugely demanding.

But I get a very real and strong sense that the worlds of agentic and frontier AI may be on the verge of changing all this. I’ve been thinking and reading a lot about this recently with purpose.

And I’ve just set out some thought-starters in a provocation for Fourteen Forty in a blog titled “Start-ups both with and without scale-up ambitions”. Many thanks to my friends and long-term collaborators Guy Corbet and Robin Grainger for the platform.

There’s a link to the blog in the first comment below.

How can we prevent differences of opinion from leading to polarisation?

For data-driven comms expert, Stephen Waddington, argument is something that should be encouraged.

“We have this fear of critical thinking,” observes Stephen, currently researching for a PhD at Leeds Beckett University in communications and management. “One of the skills you’re taught as an academic is critical thinking. And yet in the media environment in which PR practitioners work, argument is viewed very quickly as polarisation and something that’s dangerous. In fact, it’s something that should be prized and encouraged.”

I’m delighted to welcome Stephen as my latest guest on Data Malarkey Podcast – the podcast about using data, smarter – where he details why his approach, rooted in his study of engineering more than 30 years ago, is something that should be prized and encouraged.

The episode is already live on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all good audio podcast outlets. And it drops in all its audio-visual glory on our YouTube channel @Data Malarkey first thing this Wednesday.

If you’re not already a Data Malarkey aficionado, follow one of the links in the first comment below, hit subscribe, and never miss another episode.

You’ll find out how to apply the skills of critical thinking in a productive, energetic way.

And how to start making sense.

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