What does a head of data science do all day? Bloomberg’s Phil Robinson explains

My job is to deepen our relationships with media agencies and advertisers, enabling our sales team to shift the relationship from a pure ad buy and see us as a strategic media partner. I do this through the incredible amount of data and intelligence Bloomberg has to offer our clients, meaning they can tap into the breadth of Bloomberg’s tools. We’re in a unique position as a media owner as we have tons of data at our disposal, which we call the Bloomberg Accelerator Framework. There are four different areas within this:

Industry Accelerator: Our thought leadership research studies, which we conduct in-house, provide in-depth insights across key topics and verticals, such as our most recent focus on Corporate Reputation and The Business Guide to AI.

Bloomberg’s Brand Accelerator: Our proprietary diagnostic tool measures hard-to-reach global elite audiences’ perspectives on hundreds of brands, culminating in a ranking system and diagnostic assessment that enables marketers to get ahead.

Bloomberg AiQ: Our data science platform provides a rich understanding of our audience’s behavior, interests and media consumption habits on and off Bloomberg.

Impact Accelerator: Our measurement of campaign success, from digital display to multi-year, multi-platform partnerships, lets us understand what worked well and where the opportunity lies to encourage renewals.

To wrap that up, I focus on bringing industry, brand, audience and impact to our business and our clients’ businesses.

There’s really no such thing as a typical week for me. Everything I do revolves around informing and inspiring, which means I’m often out and about doing anything from visiting advertisers and agencies directly to running strategic workshops. I could be speaking at an event in Saudi Arabia or visiting luxury watch clients in Geneva to provide insights into high net-worth individuals and how they’re perceived in the Brand Accelerator.

A key part of my relationship-building with clients is positioning us as partners who can help solve problems. I support the sales teams in London and the Middle East and it’s interesting to see the differences across both markets – I’m continuously tailoring insights to region and culture.

While I often travel to see clients and prospects, another big part of my role is driving internal conversations to ensure insights inform our response to RFPs as well as new ways to identify and connect with audiences across Bloomberg.

There are two ways I can describe my number one priority. The business version, which is that we’re aligning more closely with the subscriptions business, which will enable us to get a more holistic approach to defining our audience and understanding their behaviors. Or my version, which is ensuring that everyone in the commercial media business is data literate. The goal is to enable them to go and talk about what I talk about themselves, using the language and the knowledge, without needing me in the room.

The part of this role I enjoy the most is leaving people speechless at the end of a presentation or thirsty for more doesn’t get any better, particularly when you hear phrases from senior clients like “mind-blowing.” This kind of feedback lets you know you’ve done your job. Whether this is on stage in front of an audience of 200 or in a room with five people, that’s when I get the most enjoyment – leaving them feeling inspired.

I hope that everyone at Bloomberg recognizes the benefits my role brings to the business. When we’re speaking to clients or agencies, there has always been direct revenue or new briefs from creating that deeper relationship with clients. We want them to rely on us to help solve business challenges; otherwise, we go back to the old days of just responding to RFPs and not providing clients with the full value of Bloomberg Media. Ultimately, when revenue is attached, you see the real benefits across the business. I like to call it ‘return on research and data investment’ to track how much revenue you’re enabling sales to create through the conversations you’re having.

What would happen if my role didn’t exist? Well, If I’ve done my job properly, it shouldn’t have an impact. People can, or should be able to, do my job themselves (although I don’t want to say that too loudly, or I might be out of a job!). Bloomberg Media’s unique selling point is data and intelligence, so we strive to make that the starting point and end point of any campaign. Without that, you’re just another media owner. The biggest impact is making the USP and what we stand for present across everything we do.

The proudest achievement for me in this role is when a salesperson hasn’t invited me to a meeting about data and research because they feel confident enough to talk about the insights and recommendations for clients without me. That’s when I can be proud.