Andre Agassi is a former world #1 ranked tennis player and one of only 5 men to achieve the Career Grand Slam. As great a player as he was, he ran into someone even better in the person of Boris Becker, who broke on the scene with a wicked serve that many, including Agassi, struggled to deal with.
Agassi dropped his first three matches in a row to Becker.
So he tells us he went to the video data, studying Becker’s serve over and over again, trying to understand what made him so effective.
And then, there it was. Agassi found that “a-ha” piece of data we in analytics prize. He found that as Becker went into his serve motion, he would stick his tongue out. More importantly, the direction he stuck it out accurately predicted which direction he would serve....out wide or down the t/or to the body. Weird, but true.
Agassi had found a tell.
So good data and good analysis had provided Agassi with a reliable means to accurately predict what was coming. He then goes on to tell us he had to consider how to use this data, and how he converted it into a plan. That, to me, was the breakthrough.
In his words:
“The hardest part wasn't returning the serve. The hardest part was not letting him know that I knew this so I had to resist the temptation of reading his serve for the majority of the match and choose the moments when I was going to use that information...to break the match open.”
Brilliant.
Agassi went on to win 9 of the next 11 matches against Becker.
Agassi says "Tennis is about problem solving".
And so is marketing.
In marketing and advertising we talk a lot about data and analytics but not as much as we should about how planners and strategists, both client and agency side, can use these resources.
As Agassi shows us, the data isn't the plan and the analysis isn't the plan. What makes a difference in effectiveness is the way a planner builds a story and then actions off solid analytics.
Far from constraining creativity, data and analytics, when used properly, should be a springboard for planning and creative idea generation.
Had Agassi simply applied the findings of his analysis as a hard and fast rule, Becker would have quickly figured out something was wrong and dug into his own data to find his own tell. And once he did, Agassi's advantage would be gone.
Now, even though Crater Lake provides advanced analytics and we feel we can find those hidden advantages for clients, I think our best work has come in collaboration with gifted planners who can take things further than we can.
So the next time someone tells you data or analytics or AI is going to displace creativity, remember Andre Agassi and the extra spark a good strategist can bring to the table, and the better results that follow.
Agassi’s story, in his own words:
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