Saatchi & Saatchi 'secret weapon' is agency's first CDO

Further evidence of adland’s increasing reliance on the power of data-driven marketing and insight has emerged with Saatchi & Saatchi appointing its first chief data officer as the agency seeks to bridge the gap between consumer insight and creative output.

Ruth Bates moves up from head of data arts at Saatchi & Saatchi and Publicis Groupe UK, to the role which also sees her join the agency’s senior leadership team.

Having started her career in 2007 as a marketing analyst at 5one, Bates spent seven years at Deloitte, the last two as senior manager at Deloitte Digital and joined Satchi & Saatchi as head of data arts in 2018. Within a year she had expanded her role to cover Publicis UK.

Now, Bates will lead the agency’s ambition to use data to understand the complexities of the real world in which audiences, brands and ideas live, and implement those insights across its creative output.

Over the past six years, Bates has developed the department and delivered a suite of methods and products that enable the agency to rapidly deliver insights for planning, creativity, and production.

The agency says her promotion continues its commitment to investing in and bolstering its data and insight specialism, including the Saatchi & Saatchi Data Arts offer.

Bates will work closely with chair and chief strategy officer Richard Huntington to create and implement custom, agency-owned products and services that inject real-world audience insights into work for new and existing partners. She will also continue adding her expertise to Publicis Groupe’s portfolio of data-centric products.

Huntington said: “For six years, Ruth has been a secret weapon, shaping our data capabilities as an agency and as a group. Now, she is not so secret. In creating this new position, we are not only recognising Ruth’s value to our work but also recognising that data arts have come of age at Saatchi & Saatchi.”

Bates added: “As consumers, our everyday experience is shaped by a complex ecosystem of data and algorithms. As advertisers, we need to live and breathe that complexity if we want our ideas to influence the real world. It’s exciting to be working alongside a leadership team committed to leveraging the full potential of data.”

Bates’ promotion follows a series of promotions in Saatchi & Saatchi’s strategy team, with Sam Wise elevated to executive strategy director and Emily Lewis-Keane promoted to head of planning; James Addlestone has been promoted to succeed Bates as head of data arts.