Kari Jensen is group director of analytics at Saatchi & Saatchi with more than a decade of experience helping brands turn data into strategic advantage. Specialising in consumer insights and campaign performance, she sits at the intersection of analytics, strategy, and creativity, transforming complex data into clear, actionable guidance that drives more effective marketing.
Kari leads a high-performing analytics team that partners closely with strategists, creatives, and clients to uncover meaningful insights that shape campaign development and optimisation. Her approach blends advanced data science with qualitative research, ensuring that numbers translate into human-centred understanding and smarter business decisions.
Throughout her career, Kari has been recognised for elevating the role of analytics within the creative process. Notably, she developed a comprehensive Super Bowl insights playbook that has informed both media investment and creative strategy for one of Saatchi’s flagship clients. Known for her collaborative leadership style and solutions-oriented mindset, Kari is passionate about putting data at the centre of modern brand building.
Jeremiah Knight is chief operating officer at Saatchi & Saatchi responsible for agency operations and workflow. His work has included platform and integrated digital marketing for top tier advertisers including Visa, Nissan/Infiniti, Pepsi Co., ASICS, Walmart, and Gatorade, in addition to Toyota and Lexus. A veteran of the Toyota business, Jeremiah returned to us after serving as head of marketing operations at Amazon.
Before joining Saatchi’s sister agency, Team One, in late 2009 to lead digital efforts for Lexus, Jeremiah was the director of digital strategy at TBWA/Chiat/Day.
Both Kari and Jeremiah sat down with LBB to discuss the big questions that clients are asking about data and AI, as well as how brands can avoid the common biases that lead to unhelpful analysis.
LBB> What’s the number one question clients are asking about using data to enhance creativity?
Jeremiah> There are two big questions that clients are asking right now.
If that client is business-transformed, then the question is often ‘what frictions exist in the customer journey that we can solve?’ If the client is still going through a business transformation, then they’re asking ‘how can we make what we’ve learned useful before we brief new work?’ In this case, what they’re really trying to solve is how data can shape better briefs, build better audiences, or contribute to more relevant creative solutions.
What’s great about these types of questions is that they’re proactive rather than just looking back at past campaign performance.
LBB> How do you ensure data elevates creativity rather than creating a wind-tunnel effect?
Jeremiah> It depends on how you’re looking at this. If you’re a marketer thinking ‘how can I ensure that every time I’m faced with X business problem, we always answer with Y creative solution?’, you may find that the data lets you down from time to time. What seems magical in solving one problem may not always scale perfectly to the next similar problem.
This is what I love about the science – AND the art – part of creativity.
Perhaps a better question to ask is: How can data inspire a transformative business solution? In this case, identifying the landscape the brand or product is operating within may help. So would behaviours, unmet needs, clearer audiences (and the interests that tie them together), and a summation of potential ‘white space’ that our agency can push against to deliver creative brilliance that performs.
LBB> Can you share an example where data genuinely boosted creative output?
Kari> Imagine it’s December 2024. Toyota, an NFL sponsor, needed to own the holiday season. We dove into social listening, and then one of our data pros – who is also a massive NFL fan – spotted a brilliant, unexpected connection. NFL quarterback Jordan Love’s play and stats were better during Toyotathon than the rest of the season.
A small window of opportunity opened and Toyota was able to use the power of one ugly holiday sweater and a short-term endorsement deal to make Toyotathon the clear reason behind Love’s on the field dominance. A mix of data and pure human passion is exactly what sparked the ‘Jordan Love & Toyotathon’ campaign.
LBB> More brands are building first-party data practices. How can they tell if it’s truly relevant?
Jeremiah> For a business-transformed company, the answer to this question lies almost entirely in knowing their customer deeply enough to solve frictions and thereby, enable agencies and accompanying adtech/martech to orchestrate experiences for those customers to reduce spam and ultimately improve efficiencies or better yet, create entirely new revenue streams through better solutions.
For companies that are still working toward business-transformation, then it’s more about efficiency as they build towards it. It’s also true that certain categories, like CPG, that do not sell direct-to-consumers may struggle to build or find value in first-party data because the natural relationship for those products is through the retailer.
LBB> We talk about data driving creativity — what does using data creatively look like?
Kari> Data creativity also comes from the analysts’ output. Analysts aren’t just number crunchers, but strategists in their own way. They’re not just handing over reports; they’re bringing fresh angles, new perspectives, almost like different lenses on the same problem. They might pull insights from social listening, search trends, and then their own campaign performance data. Having multiple analysts look at it can be awesome because everyone brings their own brainpower to it, spotting different connections.
LBB> How can brands avoid seeing what they want to see in the data?
Kari> It’s important to avoid the common biases that lead to unhelpful analysis, including confirmation bias, selection bias, and so forth. Assuming that a brand has adequately insulated itself against those biases, then what becomes interesting is the degree to which brands accept what the data is saying, even if it isn’t telling a popular story.
The best brands are curious by nature. They become inquisitive, leaning into the data and asking themselves, ‘how can we learn from what this is telling us?’ Then they adapt, learn, and grow. Brands that have cultivated a culture that rewards outside the box thinking also helps avoid these biases.
LBB> How much of an issue is trust in data today?
Jeremiah> I don’t think trust is an issue in data today. Trust is an ever-present issue. Data is often dismissed when the person delivering the data isn’t trusted. Does that person hem and haw? Do they obfuscate or grow twitchy? Or do they have a history of being credible, knowledgeable, and helpful? Are they warm and inviting? And, most importantly, are they knowledgeable of and transparent about the data sources in a way that advances trust? These are human problems.
LBB> What does responsible data practice look like today?
Kari> There are some simple answers to this like compliance with federal and state laws, clear and transparent consent, proportional data collection, and much more.. However, there are some less tangible elements that can make a data practice truly stand out, such as transparency in reporting to engender trust, similar to creating citations in research documents to credit primary sources.
LBB> What’s the biggest misconception about data in marketing?
Kari> That data can replace creativity. Especially with the advent of AI, people can easily think that it’s all about algorithms and numbers spitting out perfect campaigns.
But the truth is, data doesn’t always tell the full human story. It’ll show you the sales numbers, the ROI, clicks, and views – all super important stuff. But it’s often missing that emotional component to a purchase, the true ‘why’ behind what people do.
And that’s why the idea that the eventual shift towards automated marketing seems difficult to grasp. Sure, some parts will absolutely be like the repetitive tasks, the hyper-targeting, and the optimisation. But automation doesn’t (yet) have taste, genuine empathy, or the ability to make those intuitive, creative leaps that truly build a brand.
LBB> What debates or developments should the industry be watching right now
Jeremiah> There are two that stand out for me:
The debate around AI-based content creation and marketing versus. the value of ‘humans in the loop’.
The debate around agentic replacement of analysts for campaign insights. Campaigns often come with context. An agent or dashboard showing results without context may be unhelpful to brands in the long-run.