Latest news with #JustinGraham
The Star
3 days ago
- Business
- The Star
Culture key for M+C Saatchi as agency rolls out fresh proposition
PETALING JAYA: The ability to grasp and effectively resonate with culture has become critical for driving brand growth in today's media landscape. With the growing fragmentation of media, audiences are now more spread out and difficult to reach. 'The role of the marketer in building brands has been fundamentally challenged and is more complex than ever,' said Justin Graham, Asia-Pacific chief executive officer of M+C Saatchi Group. As a result, it is essential that agencies quickly adapt. In light of this rapidly changing environment, M+C Saatchi Group recently unveiled its global 'Cultural Power' framework, developed to unite deep cultural insight with creative strategy across all its touchpoints. 'We're bringing this notion of creating and curating Cultural Power to the centre of our proposition. Recognising that brands are built through culture, it's an extraordinary space for us to understand short-term and long-term trends, and how brands can be built in an enduring way,' said Graham. This proprietary approach aims to go beneath the surface data to uncover cultural truths that shape consumer behaviour. 'While data shows us behaviours, culture reveals the values and tensions behind them,' he explained. Underpinning the framework is the Cultural Power Index, M+C Saatchi's AI-powered, data-driven diagnostic and insights tool developed to measure a brand's cultural power and identify its effect on business performance. Using AI-enhanced analysis and expert workshops, the index examines and compares brands around the world, tracking brand desire, influence, and presence. From there, it then also takes into account cultural moments and their impact. Graham: While data shows us behaviours, culture reveals the values and tensions behind them. — ART CHEN/The Star 'We live in a dynamic world where there are constantly new trends, movements, and shifts in how people think about themselves and how they relate to the culture,' Graham said. 'What are the moments that brands should be buying into? What are the ones that are not relevant to them at all? We've all seen brands that have jumped onto something and thought, why is that bank involved in that funny TikTok trend? Why is that telco company doing this?' To help brands harness their cultural power, the index provides these insights and translates them into strategy to deliver authenticity and emotional resonance. Additionally, its real-time tracking component monitors shifts in cultural perception, ensuring brands are able to stay ahead. As the framework rolls out across the group's global network, Graham shares that each market will see a level of localisation based on its unique cultural context. 'I think it will look very different, as there are various nuances within Malaysia, Singapore, and Australia. 'In fact, the Malaysian market has arguably embraced brands into the cultural context more than others, whether it be festivities, religious holidays, or cultural moments. So there seems to be more permission for brands to drive cultural resonance and cultural power here in Malaysia.' Datin Lara Hussein, chief executive officer and founder of M+C Saatchi Malaysia, adds that the ethos of using culture as a springboard has guided some of the agency's most resonant past campaigns, such as Axiata's 'Getaran Story'. Ahead of Merdeka celebrations, the brand launched a film titled Getaran Pertama, which followed the journey to form the first choir that would sing the national anthem for a new independent Malaya. Featuring documentary-style interviews providing first-hand accounts, the film showcased how Malayans of different races and backgrounds came together in an emblematic unity that echoed the hopes for the new nation. 'It was a very human, heartfelt story that avoided cliché. We were able to find the real people, who are in their 80s now, but were young kids back in 1957,' Lara said. 'It's about finding that nuance that's going to have an impact and make a difference, as opposed to superficial storytelling.' The Cultural Power identity refresh, she noted, further cements M+C Saatchi's commitment towards embedding cultural knowledge at every stage so that clients can connect on a strategic and human level. Graham adds that this approach often brings a multiplier effect that extends beyond traditional lines between bought media, earned media, owned media. 'On the owned media side, it is also about how we can create culturally resonant and relevant stories and experiences within organisations, so that it's as meaningful for the people that work there as it is for the customers that they're talking to,' he said. 'It's really broadening out the scope of what a brand can look like, and showing how it is one of the most powerful assets an organisation can have.'
Yahoo
05-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Turn on all the lights: why your AI fails without the right data
In our latest episode of Lexicon, we speak with Justin Graham, Director of the Innovation Solutions Center at Barge Design Solutions, and Jake Dein, PE, Technology Solutions Developer. Together, they demystify a crucial challenge in the age of artificial intelligence: why so many organizations are failing to derive value from AI, and how to address this issue. Their message is clear: before you bring in AI, ensure your data is in order. Also, subscribe to IE+ for premium insights and exclusive content! Jake opens the conversation with a powerful metaphor called the "streetlight effect." As he explains, this is a cognitive bias where people tend to look for solutions where it's easiest, rather than where it's most effective. 'It's where we tend to use data that is easily accessible to us, but not necessarily the best to answer engineering questions,' Jake explains. 'We borrowed the term from an old parable about a person looking for their keys at night under a streetlight—not because that's where they dropped them, but because that's where it's easiest to look,' he added This behavior is widespread across industries, particularly as companies rush to adopt AI without first connecting the dots between their siloed systems. 'AI, to be really effective, needs to leverage all the relevant data, not just what's easiest to find,' he explained. The episode's title comes from a core idea that Justin and Jake repeatedly return to: 'turning on all the lights' before diving into AI or advanced analytics. In practice, this means integrating and organizing fragmented datasets across an organization to create a single, trustworthy source of insight. 'Creating visibility into your business systems—integrating siloed data from HR, finance, customer service, design specs, project archives—is what turns AI from a gimmick into a true decision-making tool,' Justin says. He illustrates the point with a vivid example: Barge's relocation project. 'We had a warehouse full of 70 years of project records—paper boxes stacked to the ceiling. No one knew what was in them. Without visibility, without a system, even if the answer is in there, it's useless if you can't find it. That's no streetlights, just darkness.' One of the podcast's most actionable takeaways is deceptively simple: don't start with the technology. Start with a clearly defined problem. 'We see a lack of clearly defined problems all the time,' Jake explains. 'A problem well stated is a problem half solved.' He compares poorly scoped AI projects to going to a mechanic and asking for a front-end alignment when your car pulls to the left, without first checking if that's the issue. 'A good mechanic will confirm the real problem before fixing it. Otherwise, you're just wasting time. The same is true with AI,' he added. The highlight of the conversation is a compelling case study: how Barge helped a water utility save nearly $1 million by modernizing workflows and integrating systems. 'It started with a client goal—improving customer satisfaction. But instead of jumping to customer-facing solutions, we looked internally for inefficiencies and silos,' Justin says. The key wasn't just technology; it was fixing how information flowed. 'They had great systems: inventory, purchasing, HR, customer service, SCADA. But none of them were talking to each other,' Justin explains. 'So we integrated them, reduced workflow friction, and the impact was huge.' 'That kind of return—10X, 50X—isn't magic. It's the payoff of turning on all the lights,' he explained. The duo is candid about the less glamorous side of AI readiness, data hygiene. 'Good data hygiene isn't a delay—it's an accelerator,' Justin emphasizes. 'It's often overlooked because it's hard and not very sexy. But it's the foundation.' Barge even built a simple archive search tool for internal use that ended up saving $350,000 per year. 'That's just from reducing the time people spend looking for information,' he notes. 'It's not flashy, but it's incredibly impactful,' he explained. Both guests are skeptical of AI implementations done for trendiness rather than utility. 'We've seen plenty of flashy AI solutions that don't solve real problems,' Jake says. 'Without proper integration, they under-deliver—or worse, mislead.' He shares an example of a health and safety plan that they developed. 'It used to take 8–10 hours to write a good plan. With integrated systems and generative AI, we can now complete a draft in 10–15 minutes. That's the power of doing it right.' But they stress the human role isn't going away. 'We're big on the 'human in the loop' idea,' Justin says. 'AI should augment decision-making, not replace it. The goal is to free people to do higher-level thinking, not to automate away responsibility.' As the conversation wraps up, both guests offer practical advice for organizations excited about AI but unsure of where to begin. 'Just take action,' Justin urges. 'Start with a specific point of friction. Solve one real problem. That's how you gain clarity.' 'Ask yourself: how do you know what you think you know about your business? Can you point to the data that backs it up? That question alone reveals gaps you need to address,' Jake explained. 'Every company should be doing that—AI or not. Avoiding the streetlight effect is just good practice,' he concluded. As for what's next, Jake is optimistic, 'AI's need for integrated data might finally push industries to break down silos. But it will take critical thinking and focus. APIs exist—it's the people and processes that need to catch up.' Justin agrees, emphasizing balance, 'security and access need to be aligned. That's the art—pulling the right data without exposing everything.' Justin and Jake don't just preach best practices; they live them, showing how thoughtful data integration leads to real savings, smarter workflows, and better decisions. 'Turn on all the lights,' Jake says in closing. 'You'll build better, more effective solutions.'
