Brian Cox: without data you're stuffed

Professor Brian Cox, the man whose dulcet tones and trendy clobber have made science sexy at last, has dismissed the argument that creativity is king and data creates nothing by insisting data is knowledge, “and the more knowledge you have the better it is”.
Speaking to Campaign magazine – hardly the publication of choice for the data professional – Cox insisted the creative process and the success of any marketing campaign could always be improved by using data.
He enthused: “Data is never bad. It’s never restrictive. You’re asking about a framework within which you can operate. Your theory is wrong if it conflicts with that data, it’s very simple.”
“If you just throw mud at the wall is that a more effective strategy because you will get it right occasionally?
“You might not be able to interpret a dataset you get, but I don’t see how a dataset can be a negative,” he added. “It’s just knowledge, and the more knowledge you have the better it is.”
Cox went on to admit he finds most advertising annoying, but conceded that he did welcome ads when he was looking to buy something, “which must be the point of targeted advertising”.
He then explained just why is a data lover: “I strongly believe the more our civilisation as a whole respects data, respects measurements, respects the modelling of that data, then the more likely we are to prosper.
“It seems like an obvious thing to say but I think it needs saying and it’s true. The opposite means we’re trying to argue that the less knowledge we have then the better we’d be, and I can’t really support that argument.
“The acquisition of knowledge will always be better than not acquiring knowledge.”
Cox’s views would appear to send adland luvvie Sir John Hegarty off with a flea in his ear. Last year, the co-founder of BBH launched a scathing attack on the data industry, insisting data has never created wealth, adding “data creates nothing; but creativity has all the time”.

Brian Cox: without data you’re stuffed

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